Buddha

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Buddha Plus One (2024)
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20-year anniversary edition (2018)
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Buddha Flash (1998)

Contents


Overview

Buddha is an IDE controller for the Zorro slot of Amiga computers.

  • Autoboot with Kickstart 1.3, 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2
  • two IDE-Ports for up to four IDE-devices, additional clockport
  • compatible with nearly every IDE/Atapi devices:
    • harddisks
    • DOM (Disk-On-Module) modules (40-pin)
    • Industrial-CF cards
    • CD/DVD drives
  • Installer for automatic partitioning and installation of OS versions 1.3, 2.1, and 3.1
  • Automatically installs support for CD/DVD drives
  • OS 3.2 can later be installed over the OS 3.1 installation (also from CD)
  • Installation of OS 3.1 and OS 3.2 both work with either OS 3.1 or 3.2 ROMs installed.

Transfer rates of more than 2.2 MBytes per second can be reached. The raw data transfer rate is only limited by the zorro bus: 3.58 MBytes per second. The latest 20-year anniversary edition can even reach higher speeds using the Fast-Z2 mode of the Z4 board.

Harddisks larger than 4GiB have been a problem for the Amiga for a very long time. The Buddha supports both the TD64 and NSD64 standards to overcome this limitation. The included automatic installer can partition, format and install drives of any size, and it comes with the PFS3 filesystem to format partitions bigger than 4GiB.


Hardware Installation

Jumpers

The 20-year anniversary edition has two jumpers, J2 and J3. These jumpers control the power supply for use with DOM (Disk On Module).

WARNING: J2 and J3 MUST be open when using the controller with other devices connected via an IDE cable. Not doing so may damage the controller and/or your devices.

LED Connector

The 20-year anniversary edition has a connector for two LEDs. The middle pin must be connected to the RED wire of the LEDs, the top pin should be connected to the BLACK wire of the LED that indicates activity on the first (left) IDE port. The bottom pin should be connected to the BLACK wire of the LED that indicates activity on the second (right) IDE port.

Clockport

Please notice that a RTC module can not be used on the clockport of the Buddha controller - this is because it uses a different chip select than the Amiga OS expects for the RTC.

  • connect Silversurfer facing away from the controller
  • connect RapidRoad and other iComp USB devices with a cable so the red wire faces up (to the IDE ports)


Revisions

Buddha Plus One

  • released January, 2024

Buddha Plus One adds a few features to the extremely successful design - please look at the separate page.

Buddha IDE (revised 20-year anniversary edition)

  • released June 2022, software-only ("tidied-up") version 1.4

This is a software-only update to the Install DOM (Disk-On-Module) to version 1.4: CD/DVD support out of the box and during installations, support for OS 3.2, improved installer, tidied-up software package. For updating, see BuddhaUpdateRestore.

  • released July 25th, 2019

Package for updating your Buddha 20-year anniversary edition's install DOM to version 1.2. This includes updates to the flash ROM, Professional Filesystem 3, and graphical Installer. Simply copy the archive contents over the install DOM's install partition. It is recommended to perform the flash ROM update if you are running Version 1.0 (not changed since 1.1).

  • released june 2019, 2x 40-Pin IDE and 1x Clockport

This version of the controller is almost identical to the 2018 version, so the name and online product description were not changed. Only tiny changes were applied to adjust the design to availability of components on the market. Of course this version of the controller is shipped with the latest CPLD version as standard, and there is no need to attempt an upgrade (it would not work anyway, as the CPLD is a slightly different version). Rest assured that you have the latest version and all features available. The DOM contents and driver flash were slightly changed: An error in the driver was fixed to support very large harddrives, and the installation procedure was changed to create a maximum "work" partition of 100GB, because the "PFS" file system does not have sufficient testing for partitions that are larger than 104GB.

Buddha IDE (20-year anniversary edition)

  • released 2018, 2x 40-Pin IDE and 1x Clockport

In addition to two IDE-ports, there's a clock port for hardware originally designed for the A1200 computer. A new feature of the controller is that the IDE ports can supply power for a DOM module. Modern 3.3V technology saves power and only causes moderate temperature increase inside the computer.

The controller is being shipped bundled with a 128MB DOM which contains OS 1.3, 2.1 and 3.1 plus an installer that works with harddisks that are bigger than 4GB (automatic 64-bit file system installation).

Starting with controllers shipped after february 12th, 2018, the CPLD of the Buddha Flash 20-year anniversary edition has been updated to also support the Fast-Z2 mode of Z4 boards; the feature can be switched on with the BuddhaFlashTool V1.3 or higher. This implements the same functionality as the "Maxxelerate!"-version, but is expected to be much more reliable, as solid state media is not using long IDE cables these days.

Buddha (Phoenix edition)

  • released 2006, 1x 40-Pin IDE and 1x 44-Pin IDE for Laptop Harddrives. Could optionally be equipped with a connector for the front-slot of the A1000-Phoenix board. (green board, SMD components, golden zorro contacts)

Buddha Flash Maxxelerate!

  • released in 2000, discontinued in the same year. Based on the same hardware as the Buddha Flash Gold Edition.

This special version supported the Fast-Z2 mode of the Z4 board for the A1200. It reached a good higher performance, but due to the IDE ports not being terminated, operation was not reliable with longer cables. We have therefore discontinued this product.

Buddha Flash (gold edition)

  • released 1998, "gold edition" second run in 1999 - 2x IDE (40-pin), 26-Pin Port for Hypercom3+ and Clockport (of which one can be used at a time) (black board, SMD components)

Some features have been added to the new version: The controller has got a 32KByte Flash rom now, so you can install new firmware (that means a new rom) without having to open your computer. With the old version, replacement of the rom chip was necessary. Another new feature is the clock-port on the card: You can install hardware on this port, that has been designed to be used on the Amiga 1200. The hardware designed for the A1200 clock-port is very cheap, and now you can use the low-cost hardware in zorro systems. As a small "thank-you" to our devoted customers, in the second run the zorro-connector of the board is golden.

Buddha

  • released 1997, 2 IDE Ports (40-Pin) and 1x26-Pin Port for Hypercom3+/Silversurfer limited edition. (green board, all THT components)


Download

Please use the latest software package on our Install DOM to avoid confusion with older versions. For CD/DVD support, use BuddhaCDSupport/L/CacheCDFS (v60.5) and the accompanying device icons in Storage/DOSDrivers. An installation with our installer is not strictly required. Please read the README for a lot of additional information.

The following material is outdated/obsolete:

Only for revisions before the 20y-anniversay edition:

  • TD64 patch for FastFileSystem (necessary for harddrives larger than 4GBytes: File:Ffstd64.lha
  • Flash utility, readROM and older ROM files: File:Bflash.lha Caution: This is for old Buddha Flash controllers until 2007!
  • Install disk: File:Buddha.lha Caution: This is the unmodified disk for controllers until 2007. The 20-year anniversary edition already comes with this software available in the DOM.

See also


Shop

Retrieved from "http://wiki.icomp.de/w/index.php?title=Buddha&oldid=10016"
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