"IDE" to CF adapter

I think it should be as easy as you expect (but have not dealt with CF cards). I have seen plenty of adaptors some of which is perhaps what you need at DX ( dealextreme.com ), I think they were under "hardware parts" or something like that.

Dimiter

Yeah, I already took a browse through DX's listings. Most of their adapters are large (I am space constrained) and *all* of them would require making a special cable to mate the "adapter" to the on-board connector. :>

I was hoping to find something that made a CF card look like a 2/5" drive (only *smaller*) *and* with the "drive connector" at right angles to the CF card. I.e., the connector on my device has pins standing up at right angles to the board yet the CF card must be situated *parallel* to that board. So, a female 0.1 gridded connector soldered *into* the adapter board (i.e., so that the connections are perpendicular to that board) would allow the adapter board to mate with mine and still be parallel to my board...

Actually, that might not be a bad idea! Glue a female header/connector to a small piece of perf board (this gives me the "right angle" needed to ensure the board ends up parallel to the main board) and a socket (or male header) to the board a few tenths of an inch away and just do point-to-point wiring by hand.

I've done this successfully. A bit painful soldering wires from a ribbon onto the CF socket, but it worked.

Clifford Heath.

Apart from the last requirement, easy. The need to look like a 2.5" drive precludes the "connector at right angles to the card" request. All the adapters I've bought are a small PCB with a right-angle 2mm/

44pin connector at one end and a CF slot at the other, and they retrofit into a 2.5" HDD application with just a little double-sided tape.

I added a few of those to one of my dealextreme orders a while ago and used them to convert some old HDD-based micro-laptops (Sony Vaio Picturebook) into SSD "netbooks". It's as simple as you'd think.

btw IDE44 is 2mm not 100 mil. Also, the adapters I bought have through- hole IDE connectors so you could desolder and resolder if that's your need.

Persistor Instruments used to make an adapter called the "1-2 Punch" that sounds exactly like what the OP asked for. It's not on their web page now, but they might still have some in stock.

The board even had pads for a second CF connector--presumably so one CF card could be master and the other the slave. The second connector on the board I have isn't placed, so I've never tried that.

You can find contact info at

Mark Borgerson

Check out one of the SD to IDE adapters like this one

SD cards are cheaper than CF now days. I've used an adapter similar to this for about a year now in a test system. The test is for a external device that has to power on/off the host system. I wanted to go solid state due to the frequent power on/off cycles.

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Joe Chisolm
Marble Falls, Tx.

*Way* too big. I have just barely enough space for the CF card *if* the CF card's connector was at right angles to its body. The (proprietary) board (module) that is intended to be plugged here is shorter than a CF card -- and a tiny bit wider (to span all of the pins in the IDE44, naturally).

The change in interface is transparent as you suggest. Just deal with the mechanical issues. The only problems that creep up are ones you have to deal with if you intend to hot-plug the CF card. Then you need smarter firmware, something to detect the card detect pins, and possibly some hardware to protect your IDE controller pins electrically.

If you want details, the CF spec is available by googling.

Chris

Are you constrained just in board area---or total system volume? If there's extra volume, a cable and some ingenuity in 3D packing might suffice. I guess the key would be whether the adapter + CF card is thinner than the 2.5" drive by the thickness of a ribbon cable--if you want to use the same space.

I run into that situation all the time in oceanographic instruments where there's a lot of above and below the PCBs in cylindrical cases. The boards just have to get narrower as you stack them.

Mark Borgerson

This is just a "one off" (well, maybe "half-a-dozen-off") project (i.e., "repurposing some equipment"). Otherwise, I'd layout a little PCB and be done with it.

A 2.5" laptop drive works directly with the interface (the I/F was undocumented -- I took a guess that it was IDE44 and used the laptop drive to prove it to myself). But, there is no way to mount a laptop drive. And, if installed *anywhere*, it would interfere with the PCI card that sits in this area (it's a

1GHz/1GB PC with a single PCI slot that fits in a 2x8x10" box).

I can operate with the laptop drive if I leave the case "open" with the drive "flying". But, I would like to be able to button up the cases and slide them out of the way (think: "appliance").

The existing, proprietary "flash modules" are too small (512MB, IIRC) and too *scarce* to meet my needs. But, I figure a small (capacity) CF would fit in the space *and* give me enough elbow room to be useful (the 512M device is more than enough for a working "system" but doesn't give me much room to play).

I could also plug in a thumb drive but then there's something dangling out of the case...

Have you looked into the mini flash drives? The form factor can be so small you hardly notice anything sticking out of the case.

Seems like this is a small qty issue. I'd do like Mark said and use the ribbon cable and double sided tape. Are these things going out to customers or internal use only?

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Joe Chisolm
Marble Falls, Tx.

Good point. I think there may be two ports on the rear of the case (so I could leave the two on the front accessible for other "removable" things)

They're just for my own use. I am trying to replace more conventional machines with quieter, smaller, lower power alternatives. OTOH, once done, they "have to work" (i.e., I don't want to wonder why my name server stopped working only to discover that something got jiggled loose when I bumped the case, etc.). Consider it the difference between "jury-rigged" and "jerry-built" -/

I can't get a laptop drive to fit in the case *with* a PCI card (unless I carefully select the PCI card to minimize component height, etc. -- recall the PCI card mounts in a riser card so the PCI card's components compete with the laptop drive for the space inside the case).

I think I will try to get *one* box working with a "big enough" CF card that I can PXEboot the other boxes and run them truly "diskless". It means everything will depend on that first box but I think that's something that I can live with (?).

That's not a concern. I could (conceivably) *solder* the CF card into place (but I wouldn't!). It's role, here, is "like a disk"

Check to see if the motherboard has USB headers. If it does it's pretty simple to build a small prototype board that would plug in to the header and have a USB connector on it. You can buy setups for taking MB headers to a case IO slot. Small cable with a 100mil plug on one end and a USB A on the other. Take it apart and use it on the inside of the case.

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Joe Chisolm
Marble Falls, Tx.

It's not a "motherboard" in the classic sense. These were originally X terminals (not really but that's a good first order approximation to the hardware available within). E.g.,

- audio in/out

- two serial ports

- parallel port

- 10/100 NIC

- 2x2 USB

- DVI + VGA video (dual)

- PS2 keyboard/mouse

- two DDR DIMMs

Plus this wonky IDE44 connector that talked to their proprietary FLASH module.

But, architecturally, it is very much like a typical PC. So, it is relatively easy to get other things running on it (perhaps controlling the front panel LED might be a bit of a challenge :-/ ). That was the initial appeal for using them to replace "real" machines...

I recall seeing one of these with a PCMCIA card socket. I will see if I can find that one -- I can stuff a CF adapter into the PCMCIA slot and save myself a lot of hassle! :>

Make your own life time more simple take the loan and all you want.