Workz_777
Senior Member
My apologies, I meant the SIO2SD is the one I got. Bloody typos!
I'm really just trying to figure out why there was a 2nd version, and what differences there are, since I have apparently made V1 (SIO2SD), I did ask this once but someone just said they were basically identical. I'm just curious as to what other differences there are, apart from the case being different. I can see there are some extra parts on the MX version. Sorry I got confused between MC and MX I guess, that is probably where half of my confusion comes from.
TL;DR: What is the difference between SIO and MX that needed a 2nd version? And would I need to know anything specific for the SIO version that I got from the front page. Cheers.
EDIT: I do know the name had to change due to the atari or amiga thing, I can't remember which, but I know about that. My main question is, was that the main reason for the change, and the cosmetic and part changes were just for easier access to parts? Or are there any actual functional differences?
And thanks for clearing up my stupidity and mixing up MC and MX and forgetting I made the SIO. Duh to me on that part. No confusion there now. Thank you.
Oh, and while I'm typing, I was wondering, for any of the mods here or all of you. Since I will be selling these with a custom case of some kind, would you like me to put anything in particular to label it or anything? I plan on giving you guys full credit for the design and telling people to come here for help if I can't help them myself. I don't want to go down that MC route at all.
Hey @MetalMonkey ...so this (in bold below) is from the MX4SIO hardware designer Takeshi:-
"MX4SIO (Memory eXpansion For SIO) is an adapter for the PlayStation 2 that lets you connect SD cards to the memory card slot. SIO is the name of the PlayStation's interface chip. In the PlayStation 2 it is called "SIO2".
The version you went with, SIO2SD, was the first of two generations, SIO2SD (1st gen) and MX4SIO (2nd gen). They function exactly the same, and for the most part they share the exact same components, and both have 2 x top facing LEDs. However, MX4SIO can also have 2 more extra LEDs added on the sides of its PCB (4 x LEDs in total).
So the SIO2SD does have a few less components when compared to MX4SIO. SIO2SD has 1 x Mosfet and as a result less resistors that would have teamed up with that extra Mosfet, whereas MX4SIO has two sets of Mosfets and as a result a few more resistors. MX4SIO also has a MLCC capacitor to filter out any AC noise on the power rail, whereas SIO2SD is lacking this MLCC capacitor and has no AC filtering on its power rail.
SIO2SD's PCB is 1.0mm thick, MX4SIO's PCB is 1.6mm thick, because SIO2SD was originally designed so end-users could fit that PCB inside their own PS1 or PS2 memory card case, thus reducing costs / price for the end-user. The devs then thought this was a bad idea because they feared it would drive up the price of PS1 and PS2 memory cards, which wouldn't be fair on people living in countries where the cost of living isn't easy. And also this could have caused a shortage of PS1 / PS2 memory cards, as people would have bought them up to fit the SIO2SD inside of those cases, and then what would have happened to those original PS1 / PS2 memory card PCBs after that, is a question.
So for these reasons, and also because the name "SIO2SD" was already an existing product on the market for Atari 600XL 800XL 65XE 130XE, the devs decided to rename and redesign / improve SIO2SD into what it is today:- MX4SIO. Now the new PCB could be produced cheaper as 1.6mm is more common than 1.0mm at PCB fab houses, and the devs decided to slightly improve the inner workings of the MX4SIO, (as mentioned above with the extra components and options). For example, the new PCB version can accept either a MicroSD socket or a larger SD card socket, both options are avaliable on the newer PCB version.
I guess you could look at it like this, SIO2SD was the devs' prototype, and MX4SIO is the final product. However, it's important to know, both SIO2SD and MX4SIO function the exact same way. It's just MX4SIO has a few more build options available on it's PCB.
