Rich Dreher has announced that a new run of CFFA3000 boards will be available sometime later this year. Pre-orders are not currently being taken, but you can get on his email list to be notified about details as they become available. This will also help Rich gauge interest in the next run.

Project Status:

4/23/2013:
There has been a lot of interest in the next batch of CFFA3000 boards (Run#3). Here are answers to a few questions being asked:

Run3 boards should be available some time this autumn (N. Hemi). We are aiming for Sept 2013.

They will probably cost the same US$149.95 + shipping as the previous run.

Preorder are NOT open yet, I am only collecting email addresses currenlty.

If you would like to get on the email list to be notified for a Run#3 please send me an email Here!

Rich Dreher has released a new firmware (3.1) for his popular CFFA3000 card.  This latest update offers, among other things, folder support on FAT volumes, “making it easier to organize a large number of disk image files.”  Per David Schmidt’s post to comp.sys.apple 2, here’s a list of everything you can expect when you flash the new firmware:

== Folders ==

Now allows folders on FAT volumes, making it easier to organize a large number of disk image files. Folder names will appear with a trailing ‘/’. Press <Return> on a folder to navigate into the folder. Press ‘-‘ (or use <Ctrl>X, or <Apple>UpArrow) to move back up to a parent folder.

The firmware will remember the current folder for both the CF and USB media. The path shows up at the top left, above “Items:” to separate the current-folder lines from the contents below. The current folder always resets to the top level when you insert the USB drive or CF card.

You can use folders inside folders, up to 8 levels deep. The item list can only show up to 255 items in a particular folder; if you have more files than that, please break them up into sub-folders.

== Assignments Screens ==

<Crtl>B: Now reboots the slot for which you’re making assignments.

Disk II assignments: Comma and Period rotate among the panes.

SmartPort Assignments: When there are more configured images than the “SmartPort Devices” setting, the extra ones appear at the bottom of the right-hand column, marked with ‘*’, and if you highlight one you’ll see “(Unavailable – SmartPort full)”.

Pressing ‘-‘ in a right-side pane deletes an assignment (like Delete / Control-D).

<Apple>Space in the right-hand column toggles between SmartPort and Disk II assignments.

Apple IIgs only: <Shift>Tab cycles backwards through the panes (like Comma does).

== Menus ==

When a menu item for an adjustable setting it highlighted, ‘<‘ and ‘>’ indicators now show which ways the menu item can be adjusted.

The “Quit” or “Boot” menu item now lets you choose which slot to boot from, using the Left and Right arrows.

Quit: Without Booting
Boot: Slot N
Boot: Slot N (Continue)
Boot: Reboot

In the “Other Settings” menu, replaced “Delay for Menu Key” setting with “Menu at Boot” which may select from “Always”, 0.1s..0.2s….up to 25 seconds.

If you choose “Menu at Boot: Always” and your Apple II finds the CFFA3000 at startup, you’ll be able to press Return to continue booting the CFFA3000, or use the arrow keys to choose another slot.

The menus use some MouseText characters (when running on an Apple IIgs or an Apple //e enhanced). If you don’t want to use MouseText, you can turn on DIP Switch 2.

== Performance ==

The CFFA3000 does read-ahead caching from USB or CF, while the Apple II is busy copying the previous block. This requires CPLD v6. Which version you have may be checked any time by going into the menu and selecting the “About” menu. The CPLD version is displayed near the top of the screen.

Various speed improvements in the 6502 and 65816 firmware including faster coordination with the CFFA3000’s microcontroller, and faster entry for ProDOS and SmartPort calls to the card.

== New DIP Switches ==

DIP Switch 1: Flip on if your Apple II or Apple II+ has a “lowercase chip” to allow the CFFA3000 to display lowercase letters.

DIP Switch 2: Flip on if you don’t want to use MouseText.

DIP Switch 4: Flip on if you are using an Apple III. Since Apple III requires the GS DIP Switch to be on, this lets the CFFA3000 know whether it must use the 6502 firmware or the 65816 firmware.

Note 1: To use the CFFA3000 on an Apple III, you must turn on both the GS DIP Switch 7 and DIP Switch 4.
Note 2: The firmware will optimize for the GS’s 65816 when the GS DIP Switch 7 is on and Switch 4 is off.

== Compatibility ==

The end of the Disk II slot ROM now more closely resembles a real Disk II. This makes at least one version of Karateka work.

If you already have the 3.1b2 firmware loaded, here are the specific changes that come with the final 3.1 firmware:

* Pressing ‘-‘ in a right-side pane deletes an assignment (like Delete / Control-D).
* In addition to the existing “go up” methods, Left arrow now navigates Up to Parent Folder in the source column.
* Changed message to “Unavailable: SmartPort full or bad file.” instead of just “(Unavailable – SmartPort full)”.
* New Blank Image: When choosing the size, show the can-adjust indicators, ‘<‘ / ‘>’ (MouseText when available).

Download the new firmware here.

(HT: David Schmidt)

For anyone still waiting for your CFFA3000 to arrive in the mail, here’s something to help tide you over. Blake Patterson of the Byte Cellar has posted a nice write-up and demo video of the highly-regarded Apple II card in action.  Check it out here.

The July 2012 episode of Open Apple, the Apple II community’s only co-hosted podcast, is now available.

This month, Mike and Ken speak with Rich Dreher, developer of the CompactFlash For Apple (CFFA) card. The first batch of CFFA3000 cards sold out in 2011, and the second batch is now shipping with similar sales numbers. Rich dishes on other II hardware developers Vince Briel and Mike Willegal before we look at the astronomical numbers rare Apple-1 computers are fetching on eBay and at Sotheby’s. HyperCard turns 25 while Atari turns 40, though Mike objects to the latter. David Finnigan’s new book is out, and Robert Tripp is hot on his heels when an updated and digitized version of the classic What’s Where in the Apple — and we have the exclusive interview with Bob! All this content and all these guests make for our longest episode ever, perfect for listening to while you drive to next week’s KansasFest.

Find the show on the Open Apple Web site or in iTunes or the Zune marketplace.

Rich Dreher updated his project status page yesterday with the following:

The assembly house has just informed me that they have shipped 280 (a little over half of the batch) CFFA3000 boards and Remotes to me. They should be here next week. The remaining 220 boards will follow in a few more weeks. I will be opening up and order page and sending out an email to everyone in a week or two.

This is great news for everyone who missed out on the first batch of cards and for those of us who, having sampled the card the first time around, are hungry for more.

(HT: Sean Fahey)

Rich Dreher has announced his plans for a second run of CFFA3000 cards.  This is great news for those who didn’t get in on the first run of cards last year.  From Rich’s page at dreher.net:

“We are now in the process of getting final quotes on parts for run #2 of the CFFA3000. We hope to be placing orders for the parts this week or next. We have not made a final decision on the run size yet, but we are looking at quantities of 400 and 500. The price of the next run will likely stay the same at US$149.95. It should be available in summer of 2012.  We are also adding support for image file directories to the firmware and making a lot of optimization to speed up all disk operations. Time permitting we will also be looking into DMA support, but there is still much work to do before we have something to test.”

 

Volume 16, Issue 4 (September 2011) of Juiced.GS, the longest-running Apple II publication in print, is now arriving in subscribers’ mailboxes. This 24-page issue features reviews of the CFFA3000, the Steve Jobs biography, and the Tiger Learning Computer; an interview with Kristi Petters, the former Apple employee who licensed the Apple IIe technology for the TLC; a behind-the-scenes look at David Schmenk’s Escape! From The Homebrew Computer Club; a tribute to Steve Jobs by the colleagues who knew him in the Apple II days, including Bob Bishop, Paul Terrell, and Lane Roathe; and much, much more!

This is Juiced.GS’s fourth quarterly issue of 2011. The entire 2011 volume is now available as a bundle; 2012 subscriptions are available for $19 for United States customers and $27 for international customers.

The August 2011 episode of Open Apple, the only co-hosted Apple II podcast, is now available. This month, Mike and Ken keep the KansasFest vibe going with first-time attendee David Schmenk, getting his perspective on the greatest products, sessions, and experiences of last month’s Apple II convention, from the CFFA3000 to Sweet16 and more. Ewen Wannop’s publication of an online magazine archive leads to a brief discussion on the creation and consumption of PDF scans, after which Tony Diaz gets on the line to clarify a hardware matter. eBay offers a bounty of pins, buttons, and games, before the hosts get ready for a special guest at this month’s Denver Apple Pi user group meeting.

Find the episode on the Open Apple Web site or in iTunes.