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Hey everyone,

Thought I would pass this along.  I have been playing around with the CDS video slots recently and wanted to see if I could replace the internal harddrive with compact flash instead.

Parts you will need:
1 x 4GB capacity compact flash (fixed disk mode by default)
1 x IDE to CF Adapter

If you do this project yourself be aware that not all compact flash are created equal.  There is a setting on compact flash called "fixed disk mode".  Some flash cards do not turn this option on by default and you will have a cf card that is non-bootable.  I was unsuccessful with Kingston but was successful with using Transcend brand.  So be aware of this before you go and do this modification.  I have heard that SanDisk may be bootable but also may require an additional proprietary utility to run on it to turn the "fixed disk mode" on.  Not worth the hassle, just use Transend brand.

As for IDE to compact flash adapters, they are pretty much all the same.  I bought a lot of 5 for $10 on eBay from someone in Hong Kong and they work just fine.  The CDS machine uses a standard computer molex cable for power, and I made a small adapter that carried over just the red and black wires to the cf adapter.  The cf adapter supports a 4-pin floppy disk pinout, but I just soldered my cable to the power/gnd pins instead of trying to make another adapter for the cables.

As for moving the contents of the harddrive over to the compact flash device I just cloned the drive under Linux using the #dd command to ensure all sectors (including the MBR) were transfered to the compact flash.  If you are not familiar with this you should seek assistance or you could end up messing up the wrong devices on your computer.

Below are some pictures of before and after:

(BEFORE) Stock Setup
(http://www.stolistic.com/slots/CDS-IDE1.png)

(AFTER) CF Installed
(http://www.stolistic.com/slots/CDS-IDE2.png)

(AFTER) CF Closeup
(http://www.stolistic.com/slots/CDS-IDE3.png)

nice mod. :3- :3- wish the gaming used more CF

This is great info. K+.  What version of Linux do you use?  Is it cd based or installed on your hard drive?

Thanks,
Wayne

I prefer Ubuntu.  It has a bootable CD based ISO you can burn, but I installed it on a spare harddrive so it will boot faster etc.

What about SD media ? CF is becoming less popular as SD is smaller.

Adapters exist for those too but at a much higher cost since they require many more components.  As for being smaller, the adapters are about the same size and the final install is still swimming with room so that really isn't an issue.

I do agree that SD is more popular and most people probably have some extras hanging around over cf.  Its probably about a wash for cost depending on what you already own.

way to go jim  :3- :3-, your cei poker cabinet should be there in a couple of weeks, maybe next weeekend if i can make it;
later  :88- :88-

Jim. Is fixed disk mode the reason that some San Disk Compact flash cards made before a certain date will work on a Williams Bluebird and why others disks made later will not.
Someone said it was some thing about the firmware or something on them that made the difference.
Thanks,
Eric

I'm not too familiar with Williams Bluebird, but the premise sounds right.  SanDisk did change their manufacturing at some point.  There is a utility (atcfwchg.com) that is floating around the net that will patch the older cards for you, but l'm not sure how that will affect the Williams Bluebird issue you speak of.

 Thanks Stolistic . Great info,now where did I put that Linux boot cd  :103-

hi all
carlos selaxza am from Nicaragua, i have 25 machines CDS deals reel poker and want to know where this printer port for the printer but not the configuration of the cables my email is selaxza@hotmail.com

Carlos,

It is better to update your profile with your Email address than put it in mid post. Sometimes web crawlers pickup this information and use it to send spam.

hi this other email  maquinas@palmsmanagua.com

That's a great modification switching to CF cards Stolistic! :3-
I like seeing mods like that!
My question is: What prompted you to try that?
Or did you just want to see if it could be done?

I did it to try it and also see if I could use an alternate source for hard drives, since they are getting harder and harder to find those specific parts.  Rather play on a CF and put the original on the shelf.

hi
i am doing it with all my cds hard drives and have been able to to  fix corrupt drives that dont initialize successfully. or have missing missing files and a few other things. the reasons i have gone to using the cf is because not only are drives almost non existant (able to clone working drive on drives up to 10 gb for the 4 gb original)but my biggest reason is that just like a personal computer those hard drives are only rated to work for a set number of hours. i am guessing 10,000, after that you are on borrowed time. nice thing about the cf is you can bounce it off the wall and put it back in and it works. for a relatively cheap price you can eliminate hard drive crashes permantly for your slot. Additionally my slots are noticeably faster coming online from powering up. DRAMATIC big difference. from like what seems to be about 3 or 4 minutes to at least half that time if not more.
jim if you are reading this i have some updated gdd and game versions i have ran across that is not on the master list. is this a list that you maintain or someone else? How does it get updated?

I update it myself.  I'd be glad to include your information, please PM me with details.

I have been playing with these for a while on "Embedded" Linux boxes i use to control radios remotely.
BE CAREFUL with these, some are bootable...some are NOT!
This version I have here IS bootable.
About $6.00 from the nice people at www.geeks.com 


Kirk

Great mod!! k+

Im starting to do this mod and have some questions I was wondering if someone could please help me with.
I bought Acronis True Imagine software to clone the original hard drive(Easy Street,1920 machine).I think it cloned it correct,both are the exact same size.I used a regular IDE hard drive as the destination drive till I order a compact flash version.
I put it in the machine,just sits there saying please wait.Isnt booting all the way.
What should the jumpers be set at for the cloned drive?Master,slave,none?

Hi Laneman
i think you must to set cable select in those jumpers, in other models of machines only can read in this mode those hard drive or CD rum. i used this software for make system or game image PowerQuest Drive Image 7.0

Thanks for the info.
Do they the have that option on CF drives?I thought they have just master and slave.

With some help from Paul thats on here(thanks Paul!)its running off the CF adapter with no problems.

I mounted mine a little different.They sell one I could plug right into the IDE socket on the Adastra board instead of using a cable.