I’ve been using a slim DVD drive that fits in a 5.25″ bracket that holds the slim drive and a 3.5″ device in my A4000T and really liked the look. I thought about adding one to my Amithlon but didn’t know what I’d put in the 3.5″ area (it can remain empty or contain a device you don’t need access if you leave the 3.5″ cover attached (it’s a break off piece)). I use a CF Card reader in my A4000T in that spot. I also have a 3.5″ USB multi-card reader in my A4000T so I figured adding one of these would be beneficial to my Amithlon setup as well. I actually replaced the tray-loading slim drive in my A4000T with a slot-loading one so I decided to do the same here. Slot-loading slim DVD-RW, 3.5″ Multi-card USB reader, both in a 5.25″ bracket, replaced the 5.25″ DVD-RW drive that had been there. I had an open USB header on the motherboard so connected the multi-card reader to it, attached the IDE cable to the slim to IDE adapter that was attached to the drive and booted up. I had to add the additional ports in Poseidon (AmithlonUSB.device 4 and 5) and all was good.
I had installed BB3&4 package earlier and felt everything was good until I tried to launch Shapeshifter….which caused and immediate “emulator crash…” reboot of Amithlon. It’s either something being loaded as a module to replace the kickstart modules or something in the ‘Amiga OS ROM update” file that the BB3&4 skips. I also didn’t see any advantage BB3&4 was adding to my system so I wiped it once more and started the install again from a blank HD. This time I installed with the intent of getting a good base setup that I can restore if needed. So, I installed Amithlon’s OS 3.9 (which includes BB1), AOSXLUpdate1, BB2, AmithlonUpdate131, MUI 3.8, Poseidon/Arakattack, Picasso96 2.1e, Roadshow and icon.library and layers.library + loadmodule. With this all functioning I copied the contents to another partition I created named Backups: I’ll hide this with the Workbench prefs program which only hides the device to Workbench, you still have access from the shell. If something goes crazy from either me experimenting with software patches or libraries, etc…I can easily wipe and copy my “backup” back to the SYS: volume in seconds.
So, new slot loading DVD-RW drive with a Multi-card USB reader, all functioning with a backup made to quickly and easily setup again if I screw things up.
*Shapeshifter now has a real Macintosh feel, you drag the disc icon over the trash and it pops the disc out instead of opening the disc tray. A small bonus with the slot-load drive 🙂