BlueSCSI v2 Pico - Low cost, open hardware, fast SCSI device!

chuck.dubuque

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May 21, 2023
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So would it be with the BIN files inside the ZIP, or you are working on BIN updates for a future release. They are at the 2026.03.01 level now and just don't want to open the case if they can avoid it. Should have snaked out a usb cable IMO...
 

eric

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From jflitton

Hi there, not sure if this is of interest to you all, but I recently moved one of my BlueSCSI v2 units into a 486SLC with an Adaptec 1542. I installed Slackware 3.6 on it just for some nostalgia and it worked really well, but I wanted DaynaPORT SCSI/Link support, so I wrote a new driver for the Linux Kernel 2.0 series to do just that. It's working pretty well! Getting about 65kB/sec down.

I might try an old 68k Debian release next in my Quadra 605 to see if the driver works on that hardware as well. I think it will, as it's a pretty high-level driver but I guess we'll see!

Here's the code if anyone is interested. Full disclosure: I'm a software engineer but not an experienced Linux kernel contributor, so I used Claude Code to fill in some of my knowledge gaps. Use at your own risk!

 

eric

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Also a bit of an announcement I'm going to stop doing order fulfillment (since BlueSCSI sellers do a great job of it) to focus full (free) time on BlueSCSI firmware development and retro projects - first one will be something I don't think anyone will see coming.

I setup a patreon if you'd like to support me doing weird stuff - but of course it'll all be public after the patreons see it first.

https://www.patreon.com/c/nulleric - Going to post it July 1st in a few days!
 

xc68000

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Aug 19, 2025
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awesome work! For v3 would it be possible to include an external antenna connector for the scsi/wifi feature?
 

eric

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awesome work! For v3 would it be possible to include an external antenna connector for the scsi/wifi feature?
If the Pi Foundation gives us a module with such capabilities - sure! But really unlikely due to that changing how it's certified (FCC/etc) - you can find guides online to mod the RM2 module.
 

eric

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What's your process for implementing something like this?
I touch on it in the blog post but akuker from PiSCSI had already done captures of the protocol and documented it on there wiki years ago and I had helped him test it way back when. We just never thought BlueSCSI could do this because we don't have that much free RAM as a full Pi has to hold a frame buffer. The trick is all in software - don't have a frame buffer on the pico at all and just pass through the video updates to a more powerful/other computer over USB. The recent migration away from Arduino showed me how to setup more than one port with TinyUSB (serial console + serial usb msc + (now) video data).

So really just years of tinkering with things then a random thought on how to avoid the unavoidable problem and walla here we are with SCSI video. I have some more thoughts on how to make it more streamlined as well and (possibly) not even need a modern machine.
 
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