DO-ABLE? --> Ram Drive in the JP1 USB interface ?

Forum for the discussion of JP1 Interfaces, hardware hacks, etc.

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TimH
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Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 8:46 am
Location: Panama City, FL, USA

DO-ABLE? --> Ram Drive in the JP1 USB interface ?

Post by TimH »

It occurs to me that a very cool feature would be to have a ram drive built into the JP1 USB interface. Any of you hardware gurus know if that is even remotely feasible?
classicsat
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Post by classicsat »

Remotely, but why? Any capacity you could accomplish would be miniscule and slow.
TimH
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Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 8:46 am
Location: Panama City, FL, USA

Post by TimH »

Why?

To hold the Delcom drivers of course :P
Mark Pierson
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Post by Mark Pierson »

Assuming that having the Delcom drivers on a ram drive would even work to begin with, I seriously doubt the added expense and construction difficulty could be justified. I'm no hardware expert, but we're certainly talking about more than just adding a memory chip. Then of course, you'd still need drivers for the ram drive hardware, and that would probably negate the whole reason for doing it in the first place.
Mark
TimH
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Joined: Fri Dec 26, 2003 8:46 am
Location: Panama City, FL, USA

Post by TimH »

If you cared about supporting the range of o/s, which I don't (but I know you do look at it from that perspective Mark), ram-drive drivers would be an issue. I use Lexmark usb drives at work, and on xp I've never needed drivers, just plug em in and go, so I know that at least on xp it's possible to do usb ram drives without external drivers.

Generally speaking, I still think it would be way cool, though granted a corner case. If you could add a small ram drive, say big enough to hold the tools, rdf's, and a few IR saves... well what would be better than that?

I seem to always find myself in the position of IT specialist for my family, extended family, and friends. I make my living, and most of my life, by being able to put my hands on tools, of one form or another.

I have a complete set of parts for another usb interface on hand. If any of you hardware guru's decide it might be fun to take a whack at a design, I'd be more than happy to take the time, and potentially trash the parts, to take a stab a putting it together.

Don't know if anyone else would be interested in being able to tote thier jp1 kit around, in thier interface, but I would :D
daveoram
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Location: Yorkshire, UK

Post by daveoram »

Simple (?) answer could be:
Buy a cheap (8Mb) USB Drive, and one of them small USB hubs about the size of a telephone adaptor. Plug your USB interface and Drive into the hub. Bind the whole lot together with some heatshrink tubing.
Voila! your all in one portable interface/toolkit - It may not look nice, but for the number of people who would probably need it, it would be the most cost-effective method
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