The original BlueSCSI project is a fork of ArdSCSIno, with some code bug fixes to improve compatibility with later Mac OS versions. Mac OS 9.2 can be booted on a G3 using BlueSCSI, which is pretty cool if you ask me.
This thread is for focusing on BlueSCSI variants which are available to use / buy. Whether it's an alternate firmware for the original blue version, a fork of the original ported to a new microcontroller, or totally different PCB hardware to use, these are the focus.
I've created quite a few hardware variations on the original BlueSCSI which can be found here: https://github.com/androda/PCBDesigns/tree/main/BlueSCSI
I also have a software / hardware fork called "F4 BlueSCSI" (sometimes also called BlueSCSI F4). This is a port of the firmware to a newer STM32F4 microcontroller. It was originally intended to see whether a newer microcontroller all by itself would improve performance, and indeed it did. On faster systems (68030 and above) usually there's a 20% or greater speed up in read and write speeds. In some cases it's 70% faster (1800k read, 1300k write on my beige G3).
The main upside is the perf boost, but the STM32F4 series also has more RAM and flash which will allow additional feature development in the future (hoping for scsi-2 support among other things). F4 is currently in progress of being open sourced (the original fork was from the pre-GPL BlueSCSI days).
"F4 Lite" is yet another hardware variation I have available for sale. It's running the F4 codebase but at a slightly lower clock speed - with no readily apparent performance hit compared to full F4. Pretty nice, these microcontroller modules don't seem to have been hit by chip shortages yet.
Designs using the F4 / F4Lite fork are available on my website and the PCB manufacturing files will be made available under creative commons non-commercial whenever life stops choking away all my free time.
BlueSCSI Software Forks Of Interest:
BlueSCSI Hardware / Software Forks Of Interest:
This thread is for focusing on BlueSCSI variants which are available to use / buy. Whether it's an alternate firmware for the original blue version, a fork of the original ported to a new microcontroller, or totally different PCB hardware to use, these are the focus.
I've created quite a few hardware variations on the original BlueSCSI which can be found here: https://github.com/androda/PCBDesigns/tree/main/BlueSCSI
- Desktop, SMD and through-hole (THT) styles
- Use the through-hole version, the SMD one isn't as optimized and doesn't support a plug and play external activity LED
- PowerBook, several versions of this
- V4 is much better than previous versions, but still not quite all the way there
- Macintosh Portable, a semi-prototype design which needs polishing but works
I also have a software / hardware fork called "F4 BlueSCSI" (sometimes also called BlueSCSI F4). This is a port of the firmware to a newer STM32F4 microcontroller. It was originally intended to see whether a newer microcontroller all by itself would improve performance, and indeed it did. On faster systems (68030 and above) usually there's a 20% or greater speed up in read and write speeds. In some cases it's 70% faster (1800k read, 1300k write on my beige G3).
The main upside is the perf boost, but the STM32F4 series also has more RAM and flash which will allow additional feature development in the future (hoping for scsi-2 support among other things). F4 is currently in progress of being open sourced (the original fork was from the pre-GPL BlueSCSI days).
"F4 Lite" is yet another hardware variation I have available for sale. It's running the F4 codebase but at a slightly lower clock speed - with no readily apparent performance hit compared to full F4. Pretty nice, these microcontroller modules don't seem to have been hit by chip shortages yet.
Designs using the F4 / F4Lite fork are available on my website and the PCB manufacturing files will be made available under creative commons non-commercial whenever life stops choking away all my free time.
BlueSCSI Software Forks Of Interest:
- https://github.com/mynameistroy/BlueSCSI
- Working on CDROM support, among other improvements
- https://github.com/androda/F4_BlueSCSI
- My F4 fork
BlueSCSI Hardware / Software Forks Of Interest:
- GreenSCSI, which targets the Teensy 3.5: https://github.com/dkgrizzly/GreenSCSI
- FreeSCSI, which targets the Raspberry Pi Pico: https://github.com/rezafouladian/FreeSCSI
