CFFA3000 board for Apple Vintage computers

For more infos,

http://dreher.net/?s=projects/CFforAppleII&c=projects/CFforAppleII/main.php

Project Introduction:

This page describes a project to create a CompactFlash / USB-Flash Interface card for Apple II computers (][+, //e, //e enh or //gs) that started back in 2002. Over the years I have build 2000 CFFA cards in 8 batches. The card is in its third generation which dropped the IDE support and added USB flash storage support. It also supports FAT16 and FAT32 formatted devices for easier transfer to/from your PC. I did the original wire-wrap prototype over the span of several months. This project is very much a case of old technology (the Apple II computer) meets new (CompactFlash cards and Altera CPLDs). My reasoning for this project is described in detail in the Background section, but suffice it to say, I wanted to be able to pull out my old Apple II and use it from time to time to reminisce about the early days of personal computers. I wanted a reliable way to store my Apple II programs and data files for many years to come. Due to the long term reliability prospects of floppy drives, and my general laziness, I decided a mass storage device is what I needed.

CFFA3000 project Introduction:

At the end of 2008 I sold out of my 6th run of CFFA cards. Instead of making another batch to meet demand, I decided it was time to design something new. The main shortcoming of the CFFA card was its lack of support for operating systems other than ProDOS. It was not possible to store and run DOS 3.3 games from the CFFA. So I decided to try desiging a new CFFA that would have these new features: 1) Floppy disk emulation at the nibble level and 2) USB flash drive support for storage of .dsk image files. The effort to design a new CFFA now called the CFFA3000 took about 2 years. The long development time was mainly because this is a hobby for me and not my normal job, also the CFFA3000 is about twice as complex as the orginal CFFA.

418 Mb Archive on MEGA for your CFFA3000 : https://mega.nz/#!UFllWL5J!hoUD-GIPMw_deOEkW5a8Rq5V2JOtdfrTe99qUdtJiXc

General info: CFFA - Older version 1.2 Rev B card with 1.30 firmware. This is a procedure on how to get 8 partitions on a CF card, for a IIgs quickly and easily.
What you'll need:
Older CFFA Card.
Compact Flash Card, I used an 8 GB.
Cider Press for PC
Copy II+ 7.1 ProDOS
Set of 32 mb hard drive images from:
http://www.whatisthe2gs.apple2.org.za/cffa-card-review/
1) Format the CF card in your PC in Fat32 format.
2) Set the jumpers on the CFFA to the IIgs setting.
3) Move the CF to the CFFA and power on the IIgs.
4) Let the CFFA initialize the CF card to its default 4 partitions.
Reboot the IIgs with the Copy II+ disk and then format the first "drive" of whatever slot your CFFA is in. (ie, slot 7). When you format, choose ProDOS.
5) Power down the IIgs and remove the Compact Flash card.
6) Put the CF card back in your PC and start Cider Press.
7) Using the Volume Copier tool, open the CF card and DISABLE the read-only setting. You should see 4 partitions and the remaining space on the CF card as (unknown).
8) Copy the hard drive images to the 4 visible partitions on the CF. Make sure the System Boot image is in the first partition.
9) Copy another image to the FIFTH (unknown) partition. It doesn't matter that the size will show as much larger than 32 megs after the copy completes.
10) Eject the CF card and put it back into the CFFA on the IIgs and power on.
11) Chose an OS System to start with once the CFAA boots up. (I used system 6.0.1)
12) Once the GS boots to the desktop, it will complain about new partitions being unreadable. Go ahead and let the system format these 3 new partitions.
13) Congrats! You now have 8 total 32 mb partitions on your CF card, readable by the IIgs.
Big thanks to Alex Lee for making those super convenient drive image files.