RaSCSI Zero Turns a Raspberry Pi Zero Into an Ultra-Compact External SCSI Drive Emulator

from hackster.io

The RaSCSI project — which turns a Raspberry Pi single-board computer into an emulated SCSI device for connection to vintage computers — has a new board design, and it's built to take up as little footprint as possible: the RaSCSI Zero.

Originally developed by Gimons Developer Works in Japan for use with the Sharp X68000, the Western fork of the RaSCSI project boasts a range of added features and broader compatibility with other host devices. In all cases, the key functionality is the same: Hook in a Raspberry Pi and the RaSCSI can turn its microSD into a SCSI-compatible storage device for loading and saving data.

It can emulate multiple SCSI devices concurrently, provides a control interface to attach/detach drives, as well as insert and eject removable media," pseudonymous developer LandoGriffin explains of the fork he maintains. "Simply launch the software, connect the RaSCSI interface board to your SCSI capable computer/sampler and the devices will be recognized as physical SCSI devices!"

"[RaSCSI Zero] is the ultra-compact version that is the same size as a Raspberry Pi Zero. It lacks the 50-pin ribbon connector, so it will need to be used as an external device."

Like its predecessors, the RaSCSI Zero is provided as open hardware under the permissive BSD three-clause license. Interested parties can download design files and source code from GitHub, while hardware kits — to which you'll need to add a Raspberry Pi — are available on LandoGriffin's Tindie store at $30 each.