Hi,

I recently bought a Philips NMS 8250. I've been searching the internet and found out that there are a lot of modifications available for this machine

Now, one of the things on my wish-list is to add an HDD to my machine. I know that there are Sunrise cards available to connect an HDD, but that's an external card, with an external HDD, and I want the HDD to be an internal HDD (including the interface card).

Is this possible? Can I buy this anywhere, or do I need to make it myself? Has anyone done this before?

It is possible, but it won't be easy. Some of the issues include space, connecting to the slot and power. Perhaps if you have a laptop HD it's power requirements are low enough to just run on the internal supply. If you have only one drive that is, also for the amount of space needed. I don't know if the interface only uses I/O lines or not, if that's the case it'll be a bit easier too. I would just use a slot expander and dump the whole lot in a nice-looking PC case. Anyways, you may want to talk to Bas K. He's like a diamond-cutter or something, but seems to know a lot about hardware...

It´s true that Phillips MSX2 machines are really "modificable"...and your idea is really interesting.No idea about making that,but I think that if you could "take" an internal slot on this machine....well,with some skills it could be possible ( always if you own an IDE adapter from sunrise or similar and want to put into the machine ).Catching the volts from the powersource,maybe could be possible.

Time for hardware-advanced users to tell us about this possibility! :-)

I already intended to replace the powersupply with an Tulip (nice, small and silent) PC (AT) power supply, so power isn't a big problem.

Next, the HDD could well reside next to the floppy drive. Then, I'd only need room for the interface card.

I noticed above the Floppy-drive connectors on the Main Cirsiut Board an (empty) 40-pins connector. Maybe that has something to do with it..?

I've heard of people that already did this. It's very possible.
From the MSX point of view there is no difference between internal and external slots, so you can just connect the IDE cartridge internally to a free subslot in slots 0 or 3 (which are usually the internal ones). People tend to tape cartridges like that to the top casing.
A normal 3.5" HD fits comfortably in one of the drive bays.

If you want to make it REALLY easy, skip the HDD. Revert the side of one of your Cartridge slots. Insert a IDE / Compact Flash cart inside the 8250 box (with some cabling t should be rather easy. Use a Compact Flash card instead of a HDD --> no need for power supplies. And the best part, it will be much more silent.

Why making things complicated when they can be simple...

More silent and less consuming, yes, but also more expensive, I'm afraid. I already have a power supply and a HDD. Ah well.. I can always buy that Flash card should the noise make me crazy

But i was wondering. Where do I buy such an IDE interface? Sunrise is in Switserland, and I live in the Netherlands. Does anyone know an address? (HTTP)

www.msx.ch. You'd be surprised of how fast the post can deliver :-) I live in Belgium and got mine within a couple of weeks. Beside it also seems to be faster than your regular HDD and price is ridiculously low.

Sunrise is in NL. The swiss chapter just hosts the page.

Ah That makes life easy Now I only hope that I can buy without Paypal. Anyway, that's an other matter.

Ehm. Their interfaces are built into a cartridge. I could remove the cartridge and rewire it to connect it internally? Or does that destroy the interface?

It is possible, of course, but it's by no means easy. You will have to have solid soldering skills to do that, and make sure none of the leads ever fault. Taking it out of the case should have no effect at all, other than that the flash connector may become more difficult to use. Let us know how it went, by the way... Good luck.

Quote:

Ehm. Their interfaces are built into a cartridge. I could remove the cartridge and rewire it to connect it internally? Or does that destroy the interface?

You could remove the cartridge, but it makes a great place to put glue on, doesn't it
You're better off (if you can fit it inside) to keep the casing around it.

Then it's a matter of getting a female cartridge connector on a ribbon cable, and soldering the other end to the right place on the mobo (I have no idea what the right place is tho ).

There are some schematics on the internet for making full a3rd slot inside a 8250/8255/8280, if you want to use it for other hardware aswell.
And if you do not need a compact flash as a harddisk you might want to get yourself an older Sunrise IDE: the older ones are smaller (konami-size cartridge) and I think that would be a lot easier to build inside the 8250 case.

Lightner. why don't you visit the upcoming fair at Tilburg on saturday the 24 april.
You can get there info from "Sunrise" and Bas Kornalijnslijper.