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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: trekiej on May 14, 2011, 08:13:18 AM

Title: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: trekiej on May 14, 2011, 08:13:18 AM
Would you buy a FPGA Amiga that would fit into a 3.5 inch bay?
I think it would be a nice addition to an A500, A600, or A1200.
The host computer could act as a keyboard or mouse.
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: Franko on May 14, 2011, 08:41:26 AM
Don't quite understand why you'd just want it to fit into a 3.5" bay just to use the keyboard os say an A1200 ???

Surely you would be removing the MB in the first place and replacing it with the FPGA board (Natami for example)... :confused:
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: Kesa on May 14, 2011, 08:56:04 AM
Quote from: Franko;637727
Don't quite understand why you'd just want it to fit into a 3.5" bay just to use the keyboard os say an A1200 ???

Surely you would be removing the MB in the first place and replacing it with the FPGA board (Natami for example)... :confused:


Idiot. Obviously he wants to put the FPGA where the floppy drive goes so he can put the floppy drive where the trapdoor is. Makes perfect sense...
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: trekiej on May 14, 2011, 09:04:34 AM
You could put a stack of those in a pc case.
Well you would not necessarily have to remove the main board.
Someone could hook their keyboard straight to this board with the main board removed.
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: mfilos on May 14, 2011, 09:50:39 AM
Actually is a nice idea if you wanna have a "real" (although hardware emulated) Amiga into a PC :)

I made the opposite some years ago
- A1200 in DBox Tower case
- VIA Artigo Pico-ITX kit (5 1/4 case)

I had a PC inside my miggy that runned windows XP just fine :)
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: Franko on May 14, 2011, 10:07:11 AM
Quote from: mfilos;637740
Actually is a nice idea if you wanna have a "real" (although hardware emulated) Amiga into a PC :)

I made the opposite some years ago
- A1200 in DBox Tower case
- VIA Artigo Pico-ITX kit (5 1/4 case)

I had a PC inside my miggy that runned windows XP just fine :)


That sir is a hanging offence round these parts... ;)
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: oddsocks on May 14, 2011, 11:48:49 AM
Quote from: trekiej;637723
Would you buy a FPGA Amiga that would fit into a 3.5 inch bay?
I think it would be a nice addition to an A500, A600, or A1200.
The host computer could act as a keyboard or mouse.


I suppose it's kind of been done before.

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=39

But I've never heard of anyone actually owning one of these.
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: pwermonger on May 14, 2011, 02:39:33 PM
There was an Amiga clone that fit a 5.25" bay. http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=39
 
its a good idea since it could use the windows PC as kayboard, mouse and display. Much more interesting in my opinion than a case dedicated to Amiga at this point and more versatile. I think it's a great idea just as I thought the Access was a good idea that unfortunately couldnt survive once Commodore went under and wasnt pickd up by anyone that could do anything with it.
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: Ral-Clan on May 14, 2011, 04:01:04 PM
Hi honestly would love to have an Amiga that fit on a PCI card or in an internal drive bay in my PC.  Like an Natami on a card...

I would love to have a real hardware Amiga (I am pretty happy with UAE but would probably be even happier with a hardware Amiga)....but I just don't have the room to set up two desktop computers side by side. (and before you say just set up the Amiga - I need modern web access and modern video editing CPU horsepower the classic Amigas can't provide)....but I love my classic Amigas for a whole slew of things and it would be nice to have a hybrid hardware system like this.
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: save2600 on May 14, 2011, 04:20:09 PM
Quote from: Kesa;637729
Idiot. Obviously he wants to put the FPGA where the floppy drive goes so he can put the floppy drive where the trapdoor is. Makes perfect sense...

Then all you'd have to do is cut a slot out of the bottom of your desk for "easy" access to the floppy.  :lol:
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: Iggy on May 14, 2011, 05:01:48 PM
I'm not sure about the 3.5" form factor, but a small FPGA based Amiga would be useful.
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: Belial6 on May 14, 2011, 05:27:22 PM
A 3.5" would be great, but honestly, a 5.25" would be almost as good.  Most computers still come with DVD drives.  That means that most cases still have the drive bay for a 5.25" device, yet most people don't use their DVD drive.  On most of my computers, I would probably use and Amiga more than I would the DVD.  In fact, I have mostly moved to a single USB dvd drive passed around the house when needed.

The key would be to be able to pass the keyboard/mouse AND display into the PC itself.  Dedicated ports would be good, but being able to click on a window in your primary OS to bring up a window that displayed the output of a hardware Amiga would be cool.

Best of all would be to have two joystick ports on the front, AND having the joystick data passing bi-directionally to the PC connection.  That way you could use 9-pin joysticks as HID devices, and PC joysticks to control the hardware Amiga.
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: Rob on May 14, 2011, 10:11:54 PM
Quote from: oddsocks;637753
I suppose it's kind of been done before.

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=39

But I've never heard of anyone actually owning one of these.


Red sold one a few years ago and it went for quite a tidy sum.  I read some time after that one of the companies that formed Acube (maybe soft3) were selling them off relatively cheaply either towards the end of the 90's or early 2000's.  Wish I 'd known about it as I'd have snapped one up for myself.
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: Matt_H on May 14, 2011, 10:28:05 PM
Quote from: Rob;637832
Red sold one a few years ago and it went for quite a tidy sum.  I read some time after that one of the companies that formed Acube (maybe soft3) were selling them off relatively cheaply either towards the end of the 90's or early 2000's.  Wish I 'd known about it as I'd have snapped one up for myself.


I was tracking these things way back when they were in development, but I had no idea they ever made it to market until Red's sale a while back. I think they could have sold a ton of these if people actually knew they were available. So unfortunate...
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: Crom00 on May 14, 2011, 10:32:44 PM
That has got to be the best implementation of an Amiga clone ever. That form factor is killer. Made so much sense it was never released...
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: Motormouth on May 14, 2011, 11:26:23 PM
Quote from: Matt_H;637833
I was tracking these things way back when they were in development, but I had no idea they ever made it to market until Red's sale a while back. I think they could have sold a ton of these if people actually knew they were available. So unfortunate...


Unfortunately marketing of the Amiga has always been a problem.............
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: trekiej on May 15, 2011, 03:32:24 AM
I am thinking the mini-mig would be a good candidate.
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: Kesa on May 15, 2011, 03:40:32 AM
Or even better the NatAmi! I can't wait for these things to come out. I've already started saving up for one :)
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: JimS on May 15, 2011, 04:05:35 AM
This board used the custom chips from a 1200, or at least some of them. I seem to remember reading that they couldn't get enough to build a lot of these.
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: persia on May 16, 2011, 04:07:36 AM
How is an FPGA Amiga any more "real" than a UAE Amiga?

Quote from: mfilos;637740
Actually is a nice idea if you wanna have a "real" (although hardware emulated) Amiga into a PC :)

I made the opposite some years ago
- A1200 in DBox Tower case
- VIA Artigo Pico-ITX kit (5 1/4 case)

I had a PC inside my miggy that runned windows XP just fine :)
Title: Re: Amiga in a 3.5 Inch Bay
Post by: mfilos on May 16, 2011, 06:00:17 AM
Quote from: Franko;637745
That sir is a hanging offence round these parts... ;)
Hahaha, I could agree on that if it wasn't so convenient back in the days that I used it :P
Also, I always loved mixed systems from the old days: A2000 030 with Commodore 386 bridgeboard, A4000 with GoldenGate 386 etc... :)

Quote from: persia;638067
How is an FPGA Amiga any more "real" than a UAE Amiga?
Real was inside quotes.
Apart from that, sales of Minimig or future FPGA Arcade and Natami can prove that most peepz will support and like FGPA efforts.
I don't have any issue with UAE since I so much love WinUAE and use it in daily basis. Enthusiasm over newly created hardware emulating our favorite hardware with features that we couldn't have back in the days... is another thing as opposed to plain software emulation (at least imho).