CompactFlash to PC parallel adapter: good for cannibalizing?

Question

Hi all,

I've been looking into how to interface huge and cheap consumer flash memory cards with hobby projects powered by an AVR, PIC, or MSP430. A lot of the advice seems to be to use MMC or SD memory cards in SPI I/O mode. That seems like a good approach, but (1) sockets for these cards might be hard for a new hobbyist like me to solder, and (2) I already have a bunch of CompactFlash cards I'd like to use.

How about this PC parallel port CompactFlash adapter, apparently sourced from the RCA Lyra MP3 player?

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For $10, this offers the hobbyist a socket and some glue logic and doesn't require SMD soldering.

I have one (bought the Lyra long ago), but I was wondering if anyone has reverse-engineered it for use with microcontrollers. Anybody tried it, or come across something?

Thanks! John

Stephane Guyetant · Accepted Answer

Do they support ATA interface?  That seems like a good approach, but (1) sockets for these cards

Tim Mitchell · Answer

In article , Happy Segfault  writesI've made a CF to 8051 module, it isn't hard to solder the CF socket and doesn't need any glue logic. The only tricky bit is implementing FAT16 in the software, but you'd have to do that with your solution as well.-- Tim Mitchell

Tech Support for IDE-CF · Answer

You still need to figure out the software translation from 8 bits (parallel port) to 16 bits ATA mode or more bits in memory map mode.

For $8, you can get an IDE-CF adaptor from

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IDE's 40 pins 0.1" spacing is not any more difficult to prototype than

25 pins D-shell. Basically, you write a 24 bits block address and read/write a sector (512 bytes) at a time, all using the 16 bits data port.

Joseph Goldburg · Answer

have an app note on 80c51 and cmpact flash .You will have to dig deep on the sst site to find the ap note.JG

CompactFlash to PC parallel adapter: good for cannibalizing?

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