APDL fast IDE Interfaces

APDL produce our own range of IDE interfaces. There are three versions.

• ARCIN for all machines with a standard 'podule' connector (A310, A400, A540, A5000, A7000 and RiscPC)
• Ultra fast Blitz for the RiscPC owner who wants the very highest performance
• A3IN for the A3000, A3010, A3020 and A4000.

RISC OS 4 Compatibility - all our IDE interfaces are fully RO4 compatible. Even if you bought yours years ago it will work with new format drives using long filenames. If you purchased your interface after about February '99 you should already have IDEFormat 3.52 which supports the new E+ format, if not you can download IDEFormat 3.53. here.

You need a backplane to use an IDE interface on the RiscPC. Most models already have one (it's the vertical PCB behind the floppy drive and plugs into the motherboard at the bottom) but if you don't we can supply 2 slot backplanes for £32 or £28 when ordered with an interface. Please check availability before ordering.

The main features of all models are -

• Hard discs and CD ROMs supported with CDFS and ATAPI CD drivers in ROM.
• Four devices can be connected, either four internal or two internal and two external except the A3IN where you can fit an internal 2.5" hard drive to the card and have two external drives. Any combination of CDs and hard discs can be used.
• ARCIN uses DMA when fitted to the RiscPC or A7000 so it's fast, more than twice as fast as the built-in IDE controller. If you want even higher speed then you need the Blitz which is even faster!
• Drive partitioning is supported with up to eight partitions. With pre RO 3.6 machines this means you can fit drives up to 4Gb. You don't have to partition a large drive with RO 3.6+ but you can do so to avoid the LFAU problem which can devour huge chunks of hard disc.
• Partitions can be password protected, either Read Only or No Access. This guards confidential data, and schools will see the advantages of having programs and fixed data on a Read Only partition where it can be Loaded or Run but not deleted 'by accident'.

With most modern drives the ARCIN can achieve around 3.6 Mb/sec sustained or up to 4.5 Mb/sec burst when fitted to a RiscPC or A7000 (the Blitz is much faster). This is real, unlike some figures you'll see in adverts. Most 'fast' SCSI interfaces I've tested aren't much quicker than this, and they're around three times the price!

Prices are -

• ARCIN - Just £52. Price includes 1 data cable.
• Blitz - Just £119. Simply the best. Price includes 1 data cable.
• A3IN - Only £52. including cable and mounting screws for a 2.5" drive.
• Accessories
  Prices in brackets are if the accessory is purchased with the interface
  • External adaptor plate for ARCIN £12.50 (£10.50)
    Fits in place of Podule blanking plate with a 37 way 'D' socket and a short cable to attach to the interface. Connects external devices neatly.
  • 37 way D to 37 way D screened cable to connect external drive or CD £6.70
  • 37 way D socket on PCB with short cable designed to fit in external case and provide a link between the 37 way D plug and the device. £7.20
    Both above items purchased together £12.90 (£11.50)
  • 37 way 'D' to 40 pin DIL ribbon cable. Alternative way to connect an external drive but not as neat as the screened cable and adaptor. £12.00 (£10.50)

The APDL Blitz IDE interface is the fastest thing you can put in your machine. Lightning fast, nearly 7 Mb/sec (I've actually tested a drive at a read speed of 8.2 Mb/sec and write speed of 7.3 Mb/sec).

Blitz works on any RISC PC or A7000 with a backplane, with or without RISC OS 4. It has All the features of our standard ideA upgrade, but 32 bit so it's capable of much higher speeds. Now you can fit low cost EIDE drives and get superior speed to a 'fast' SCSI setup costing much more.

Although the Blitz is fastest with DMA it's capable of higher speeds than any other interface without it, too. In fact, it's faster without DMA, 4.2 to 4.4 Mb/sec, than some 'fast' SCSI interfaces with DMA. This makes it the ideal companion for a machine fitted with a Kinetic, which disables DMA.

Upgrades from the standard ideA interface are available.

Unlike some companies we don't think you should have to pay an annual fee for bug fixes so the latest versions of support software and firmware are available here.

  IDE Format.     New version available
The latest version of the IDEFormat program is 3.53. If you have anything earlier you are strongly advised to download this as it fixes a couple of bugs present in earlier versions with very large drives and supports E+ format for RISC OS 4. Version 3.53 has also been slightly re-structured to simplify initialising single partitions.
  IDE Format 3.53. - (29K ArcFS archive, Aug. 2002)

  ARCIN and Blitz Flash upgrade.
Latest version of the modules for the ARCIN flash EEPROM version. This contains version 3.28 of IDEFS and ATAPI driver 0.28. IDEFS now has a configurable start-up delay to reduce the wait for people who have drives that respond quickly at switch on. The latest version of the ATAPI driver works with most older drives while still giving fastest possible data transfer with modern drives (40x and better).
  ARCIN Flash upgrade. - (168K ArcFS archive, 13.10.2001)

  Blitz Flash upgrade. - (168K ArcFS archive, 13.10.2001)

  Problems with CD ROM drives.
Although we thought the latest version of the ATAPI driver now worked with almost all drives there have been reports of a few problems. If you get just an hourglass when you click on the CD icon try the appropriate ATAPI driver below. These will only work with APDL interfaces.
  ATAPI driver 0.24. for ARCIN interface - (8K ArcFS archive)

  0.26 ATAPI driver. for Blitz or ARCIN - (8K ArcFS archive)

  RISC OS 4 icon height fix.
Although the ideA interface works perfectly with RISC-OS 4 drive icons will appear at the wrong height on the iconbar. Put this small program in your Boot.Tasks directory and it will align them correctly.
  RO4 height fix - (240K ArcFS archive, 5.10.99)