Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: McTrinsic on August 03, 2006, 09:29:56 AM
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Hi all,
after receiving many encouraging notes about my system including prompts to tell more people about it, I finally gave in and would like to tell you about my Amiga.
Sorry if its the wrong forum.
It is an A1000/Phoenixboard system, with the following setup:
System:
- A1k /w Phoenixboard, 2MB CHipRAM + SCSI, SCSI-Hack
- KS 1.3, 2.1, 3.1, 3.5 (3.1-Exec-Patch by Piru included )
- Derringer 030 @ 50 Mhz & 32MB RAM
- Video-Konverter (Electronic Design Germany)
. for S-Video and colour FBAS-Out
- Delfina Clockport Vers.
- Highway USB-Interface
- Norway Ethernet-Interface
- Hypercom 3+ Interface-Card
- IBM 1GB HDD
- HD-Floppy
- ICD Flicker-Free Video 2
- 1084S Monitor
- External DD-Floppy
A few pics can be found here:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?mode=viewthread&forum_id=15&thread=28&z=1
The assembled case does not show anything noteworthy(except on the back of course), so I decided to skip pictures of that.
As I mentioned, I am not really sure if people outside of a1k.org are interested, but hey, its a nice system, so why not.
Yours,
McTrinsic
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well done!
congrats and enjoy it! :-D
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Sounds breathtaking :-o
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damn!
I bet this is the most awesome A1000 around... :-o
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Very cool stuff !! THese phoenix boards are new ??
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OK,
You completely win the "pimp my A1000" contest :lol:
They should do that at an Amiga show.
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Does 1990 sound new to you? ;-)
AFAIK 25 unfinshed boards were put together and sold in 2004/2005 and there are/were some efforts to restart production, dunno if there still is any activity...
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Very nice! :)
For the uninformed among us what is info/history on a Phoenix board?
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You can find info Here (http://home.pacific.net.au/~nadir/mainboard.html)
Also here (http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/sirius/phoenix.htm)
and also here (http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/phoenix)
and the best info can be seen here too Here (http://phoenix.a1k.org/index.php?lang=en&id=0x1)
Hope that helps!!
Sebastian
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Hi all,
thank you for your kind replies.
The phoenix board is, in short, a replacement motherboard for the A1000. See http://amiga.resource.cx for details. Recently a new production run was made and sold, almost completely to the a1k.org folks. New boards are still available, though. Inspired by the board, new hardware was developed for it, among them a Buddha IDE-Controller, a Turbo(Accelerater)card, a RAM expansion and a ficker fixer - see also link above (look for "Phoenix"). The Budha is a commercial development, the other expansions are hobby projects (see http://www.gb97816.homepage.t-online.de/ ).
The phoenix makes a machine somewhere between the A500 and the A2000 out of the A1000. The special thing about it was that it was totally pre-funded: 540 people bought it before development began. In the end, a total of about 1000 units are estimated to have been sold originally. Be aware that new boards are still available. It also features a nice poem and special inscriptions on the pcb.
http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/sirius/phoenix.htm
Oh, by the way, there are one or two freak projects going on on a1k.org, any help is appreciated. If anyone want to help, we an speak english!
Yours,
McTrinsic
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very interesting system, McTrinsic!
The only A1000 "monster" a saw, was the one by Paul... "Frankenthousand, the monster A1000!" have you ever seen it? (different approach than yours but nice anyway)
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That is so cool!
The Amiga 1000 case design is, IMHO, one of the best designs Commodore ever came up with and it's great to see people keeping them going like this.
If I had the money (and a spare A1000 case) I would definitely buy one of these boards :-)
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@framiga
I have read about that Frankenthousand (I really dont like that name, btw) in Paul's sig... do you have a link? Never seen something about the system itself.
@techie
You can actually mount the system in any AT-Formfactor case, the screws will fit. It got an according connector for power. Admittedly, you will need a naw backplate, but those are easy to make. And the board is not that expensive. What about putting it in a nice IBM-Workstation case from back then?
The A1000 case is the best PC case ever for me - that's why it was so utterly important for me that you don't see anything on the outside. The modern deisgners of new PC cases all fail to solve one problem: where do I store the keyboard? That quastion is, for example, important for home theater systems. one example is the Shuttple XPC series: wonderful design ... but where the heck am I supposed to put the keyboard? :)
@spihunter
Uhm... was that "pimp my Amiga" something good or bad? I know MTV's "Pimp my ride"... which used to totally screw the cars on the outside. I wanted an Amiga 1000 - just with slightly ( ;) ) better options. Thats why you don't see anything on the outside.
@all
I just wanted to make sure that I don't an applause belonging to someone else. I only organized that project and gave some money. I did not actually build it!
Anyways - thanks a lot for your kind replies, folks!
McTrinsic
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As I mentioned, I am not really sure if people outside of a1k.org are interested, but hey, its a nice system, so why not.
Yours,
McTrinsic
Sure! Congrats on your kick ass A1k. Thanks for posting (wishing I had USB on my Amiga). The old A1000 was my first Amiga, so it's nice to see others who can really expand the beast! :lol:
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The Amiga 1000 case design is, IMHO, one of the best designs Commodore ever came up with and it's great to see people keeping them going like this.
FYI, the A1000 case was not originally designed for the A1000. :)
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@gdanko:
Not? WHat system was it designed for?
And what was the A1000 originally meant to look like?
Got some sources? Links?
I'm highly interested!
Have fun,
McTrinsic
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I believe it was a successor to the CBM900 Unix machine. That project was scrapped and they had a ton of cases so the A1000 was shoe horned into it. If you look at a stock A1000, everything is kind of stuffed in there haphazardly.
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McTrinsic wrote:
@techie
You can actually mount the system in any AT-Formfactor case, the screws will fit. It got an according connector for power. Admittedly, you will need a naw backplate, but those are easy to make. And the board is not that expensive. What about putting it in a nice IBM-Workstation case from back then?
The A1000 case is the best PC case ever for me - that's why it was so utterly important for me that you don't see anything on the outside. The modern deisgners of new PC cases all fail to solve one problem: where do I store the keyboard? That quastion is, for example, important for home theater systems. one example is the Shuttple XPC series: wonderful design ... but where the heck am I supposed to put the keyboard? :)
@McTrinsic
It's neat that it fits into an AT-Formfactor case as well as the A1000, but quite frankly it just wouldn't be half as cool if I put it in a AT case :-)
I agree that the board isn't really that expensive, unless of course you just happen to be coming out of University and you haven't found a job yet :lol: In which case anything over 50bucks tends to look a little expensive :-D
Still a fantastic little system and IF I can find a job soon I'll be sure to set some money aside for one :-)
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@McTrinsic
Sorry, but there are no more boards avaible. 50 new board were built and 48 were sold to users in whole europe, the last 2 are for Andrew (the developer). :-)
@All
You can found more information about the phoenix board on the new official site: http://phoenix.a1k.org/index.php?lang=en&id=0x1
The boards were built in down under from Andrew and Pyng and then shipped to germany. The project startet in 2004 (2004.12.08) on amiga-news.de and was finished this year (2006.04.25).
Andrew gave me the first Phoenix board ever built for this project, you can see it here:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?mode=viewthread&forum_id=15&thread=20
This are pictures from the new produced turboboard for the phoenix from George:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?mode=viewthread&forum_id=15&thread=22
And here some pictures from the Phoenix Buddha IDE controller from Jens (still avaible!):
http://www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?mode=viewthread&forum_id=15&thread=23
The whole new phoenix story will be released in english and german in the next Jurrasic Pack Diskmag (the whole mag is in english):
http://jurassicpack.de/
Ok, I think this is now enought information for every A1000/Phoenix freak, if you want to visit us, you are welcome (we speak english). ;-)
Best regards, aPEX
Amiga & Phoenix Community
http://www.a1k.org
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@McTrinsic
Sorry, but there are no more boards avaible. 50 new board were built and 48 were sold to users in whole europe, the last 2 are for Andrew (the developer).
@a-pex
So I take it that means there won't be any more boards unless another big order comes in eh :-( Or was this last batch really THE last batch?
@All
Ok, I think this is now enought information for every A1000/Phoenix freak, if you want to visit us, you are welcome (we speak english)
@a-pex
I think I'll have to visit now that you and McTrinsic have peeked my interest
:-)
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I must admit, I am in awe of the Phoenix System. It is a well laid out piece of hardware. Even comes with a Zorro and Video Slot. Compared to my Amiga 500, I would have prefered the Phoenix. (Too bad there aren't any left- I'd quickly put my Amiga 500 back in storage)
-Miked
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@techie
No, it was not necessesarily THE last batch.
Andrew (the developer) sell them for money (hint! hint!), ist just that he can't afford to have tto much money lying around in the shape of phoenix-boards.
Have fun,
McTrinsic
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@McTrinsic
McTrinsic wrote:
Andrew (the developer) sell them for money (hint! hint!), ist just that he can't afford to have tto much money lying around in the shape of phoenix-boards.
That seems perfectly reasonable, after all there's no point making more up if they're just going to sit around collecting dust. Hopefully there are still enough people out there who want this board to make it worth while to do another production run.
Incidentally, is there some form of subscription service people can sign up for to get news of a new production run? I only ask because I was just thinking that maybe a service like that might be a good way to keep interested people informed of new developments and at the same time provide a way for the developer to gauge if there is enough interest to do another run. Just an idea I had anyway :-)
Sorry if I've gone off topic. I know I should probably be asking these questions on the A1K.org forum but when I went to the site I couldn't find a dedicated English subform :-? so I was a little hesitant to post anything as I know some people can get annoyed when you don't post in the official language of a form.
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you guys are cool.
:roll:
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Wow...
So you mean they started this project in December of 2004 and completed and entire motherboard redesign in under a year and a half?!?!?
And since then there have been accelerators and ide interfaces and scandoublers made for it?!?!?!
Why does that seem soooo Un-Amiga?
Nobody develops that fast...
P.S.
I'd be intersted in one too! (How much are they?)
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because they stated in 1990 isch?
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>So you mean they started this project in December of 2004
>and completed and entire motherboard redesign in under a
>year and a half?!?!?
No, only the reproduction of 50 boards were done in this time. No redesign, it is 100% original, made with original (like the plane board) and some new parts.
>And since then there have been accelerators and ide
>interfaces and scandoublers made for it?!?!?!
Yes, the expansions were a private project by George, the designs are avaible on his homepage, if you want to build something... Only the turboboard was build in small production run (about 30 pieces I think).
>Why does that seem soooo Un-Amiga?
If the community work together without conflicts, everything is possible. ;-) :-)
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What really surprises me is that actually so few people seem to know about the phoenix...
Have fun.
McTrinsic
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@McTrinsic
I can't speak for everyone but I have heard of the phoenix board before, only from what I understood the board wasn't supposed to exist anymore (apart from the lucky few people who already owned one). So it really came as quite a pleasant shock to hear that someone was producing them again even if it was only in limited number.
I hope you'll keep us all informed about any further developments :-)
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RE: Frankenthousand.
Yes, now I have seen it.
Pics are here:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?mode=viewthread&forum_id=15&thread=5
An impressive machine.
Have fun,
McTrinsic
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More pics!
See original link.
Have fun,
McTrinsic
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@McTrinsic
i wrote years ago (2002 or so) a little review about it for an italian Amiga magazine.
The pics are (more or less) the same as that link.
About the specs, i have the original one than (AFAIK) Paul have upgraded/changed a bit.
Probably is better that Paul himself, will post it :-)
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a-pex wrote:
>So you mean they started this project in December of 2004
>and completed and entire motherboard redesign in under a
>year and a half?!?!?
No, only the reproduction of 50 boards were done in this time. No redesign, it is 100% original, made with original (like the plane board) and some new parts.
Does anyone know why only 50 new boards were made? Was it just that 50 boards were found somewhere and they installed the components on them, or was it an actual production run of 50 new boards?
What would it take to make another 50? Are the parts even available anymore?
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Pardon my ignorance, but does this mean someone actually made a new production run of Phoenix boards :-?
Just read further and it appears to be so :-o
Ok, so how much for me to get a production run for myself? :-D
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@amigadave:
The Phoenix board was designed and manufacturered as a replacement board for the A1000 originals motherboard. The Amiga specific components, ie the custom-chips, had to be lifted of the original A1000 mainboard and re-mounted on the Phoenix. This way Phoenix got a way with having no Commodore / Amiga license.
More on the Phoenix can be found at Amiga Hardware Book (http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=46) and at the A1000 (http://www.a1k.org) users site.
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gdanko wrote:
I believe it was a successor to the CBM900 Unix machine. That project was scrapped and they had a ton of cases so the A1000 was shoe horned into it. If you look at a stock A1000, everything is kind of stuffed in there haphazardly.
This is incorrect.
The A1000 case is from the original Los Gatos team, the keyboard garage was their idea.
You're thinking A2000. The front panel design is similar between CBM900 and A2000, but it is not the same size and the drive bays are different.
Some images from The Secret Weapons of Commodore (http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/):
http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/cbm-900-white.jpg
http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/cbm-clip-900.jpg
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@aolmurder &
@amigadave
Well, the board itself is sort of standard-hardware.
It is a question of money to have a new production run.
Don't ask me how much money, though.
Refer to http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/sirius/phoenix.htm as mentioned earlier, but be ready to deal with Andrew... he can be slow at times. Reminds me of a weird professor at times: a genius at work, but unablbe to use all these numbered buttons on this telephone-thingy ;) .
The 50 new boards were made because of the estimated numbers of buyers from Germany. We made a project out of it, and as one result, a1k.org was born. Please be aware that we paid in advance. On the other hand, it was the only new Amiga-classic-motherboard since the demise of Escom. And yes, they were newly made for us.
I think it's worth it. Also be aware that only some chips are available. The custom chips still need to come from some old amiga, and afaik Andrew works on some mods to some chips to allow for example mor than one type of Agnus for 2MB Chip setup.
Did that answer some questions? Do you have more?
Have fun,
McTrinsic
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Yes, very cool! Where do I sign up?!? :-D
My biggest problem with classic Amigas at this point is the hardware is failing. No fun to be in middle of something and have the thing just die. A brand new MB, especially a Phoenix board, would be sweet. I always wanted one. The business side of me also wouldn't mind a stack of them for resale. :-D
Someone have an inidividual one for resale yet? :-D
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or two....
anyway what are chance of this type of thing happening to say a 3000, where we could make a new board with lets say AGA. IFcourse we would have to supply our own chips and stuff.
I know if most likely imposible. I however would be willing to put some cash down IF we could find sombody who could actualy pull this off.
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I'd guess probably impossible for a replacement A3000 board, unless someone hit the lottery and wanted to bankroll it, as AFAIK there were no aftermarket MBs made. AFAIK the Phoenix board board was the only 3rd party MB for the Amiga.
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how much did it cost for the a1000 3rd party boead... (a lot im sure..)
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@all
Just make sure to visit
http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/sirius/phoenix.htm
and
http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/sirius/ABOUT.htm
for information and contact.
Just make sure you can bear with the long time it usually takes for Andrew to respond.
Have fun,
McTrinsic
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>What would it take to make another 50? Are the parts even >available anymore?
No! Maybe Andrew can made something like a Phoenix-II (in the future), but for the moment all needed parts were gone.
I started this project with 15 orders and it grows up to 50 orders from WHOLE europe. I wrote sometimes a newsupdate on amiga-news.de, but it seems that the news was not translated for amiga.org.
I think I have to talk to Andrew again. :-D
Maybe, maybe there is something possible, but we need much time and the price for one board with shipping and tax will be about 300 euros!
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>Pardon my ignorance, but does this mean someone actually
>made a new production run of Phoenix boards
Yes, I made this. :-D I spend one and half year on this project...
If you are interested in the "New Phoenix Story", you can read it in the english amiga-scene magazine Jurassic Pack #16.
Get it here:
http://www.diskmag.de/downloads/JP16.lha
http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=25938
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I have never heard of the phoenix, and when i started reading this thread i got so excited.. but it went away as soon i read there were no more left :(:(:(
I really want one..
I have my old A1000 stuffed away..
Anders/Sweden
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Hi ncc1701d
Have you seen this thread? Phoenix Revival 2 (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=24430) You might find it interesting :-)
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Small update.
The USB/Ethernet part had to be exchanged, they were not fully functional.
Complete setup now is:
- A1k w/ Phoenixboard, 2MB ChipRAM + SCSI, SCSI-Hack
- KS 1.3, 2.1, 3.1, 3.5 (3.1-Exec-Patch by Piru) selectable by switch
- Derringer 030 @ 50 Mhz w/ 32MB RAM
- Video-Converter (Electronic Design Germany) (S-Video)
- HD-Floppy Disk
- ICD Flicker-Free Video 2
- Hypercom 3+ (Hi-Speed SER & PAR)
- Delfina Lite (Sound)
- Xsurf4Phoenix (Ethernet)
- Subway (USB)
- 80GB Festplatte (2,5" IDE)
- Pioneer Slot-In DVD-Brenner
For pics, see:
A1k.org (http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=6731)
You now can see a bit more of modification because of the slim slot for the DVD, but, hey ... ;) Pics of that mod will follow.
Hope you like it,
McTrinsic
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Very impressive indeed.
I'm a huge A1000 fan (it remains my single favourite computer of all time) and I've often thought about joining a1k.org but I wasn't sure how welcome I'd be given that I'm not fluent in German. I also have something that I think may be of great interest to a1kers. It's my notes from the first Amiga Developers Conference held in Monterey, California in 1985. Its especially interesting as many of the notes are handwritten as the proper notes hadn't yet arrived from the printers. Here are some photos:
(http://www.vex.net/~falco/Amiga/Pic1.gif)
(http://www.vex.net/~falco/Amiga/Pic2.gif)
(http://www.vex.net/~falco/Amiga/Pic3.gif)
Sorry about the quality. I'm a lousy photographer. You can't really make it out but the little thing at the bottom is a spare bouncing ball logo as was found on the first run of Amiga 1000s.
I wonder what that lot of rare Amiga history is worth... :)
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Please excuse my following up my own posting but I've registered (near as I can tell) at a1k.org. My inability to comprehend German makes it difficult to know for sure. I received what I assume was a welcome message and I responded. I hope this works out. :)
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I looked at the frankenthousand. I don't think this is a Phoenix 1000. I think this is butchered Rejuvenator 1000. They are apparently an order of magnitude rarer than the Phoenix board. I think because they are more fragile.
There are two more here:
Rejuvenator 1000 #1 (http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6751)
Rejuvenator 1000 #2 (http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6737)
McTrinsic wrote:
RE: Frankenthousand.
Yes, now I have seen it.
Pics are here:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?mode=viewthread&forum_id=15&thread=5
An impressive machine.
Have fun,
McTrinsic
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McTrinsic wrote:
Small update.
The USB/Ethernet part had to be exchanged, they were not fully functional.
Complete setup now is:
- A1k w/ Phoenixboard, 2MB ChipRAM + SCSI, SCSI-Hack
- KS 1.3, 2.1, 3.1, 3.5 (3.1-Exec-Patch by Piru) selectable by switch
- Derringer 030 @ 50 Mhz w/ 32MB RAM
- Video-Converter (Electronic Design Germany) (S-Video)
- HD-Floppy Disk
- ICD Flicker-Free Video 2
- Hypercom 3+ (Hi-Speed SER & PAR)
- Delfina Lite (Sound)
- Xsurf4Phoenix (Ethernet)
- Subway (USB)
- 80GB Festplatte (2,5" IDE)
- Pioneer Slot-In DVD-Brenner
For pics, see:
A1k.org (http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=6731)
You now can see a bit more of modification because of the slim slot for the DVD, but, hey ... ;) Pics of that mod will follow.
Hope you like it,
McTrinsic
Awesome A1000!!!
I hope that my GB A1000 project will turn out half as well as your A1000 has. Your Phoenix board is the original design that was part of the production run of 50 boards a few years ago? Or is your Phoenix board one of the originals?
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@Terse
Yes, the Frankenthousand is a Rejuvenator.
Soory if I left you with the impression it might be Phoenix - 1000.
Have fun,
McT
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@amigadave
The GB-1000 will be even more impressive. It two or three generations more advanced, plus offering lots of modern manufacturing technologies.
I whished I had the time to join this project, but I will rtaher spend the time with my kids. I have the Paladin to play with, after all. Might not be worst A1000, so it isnt too bad. ;)
This particular board is one of the "newer" boards from three years ago. It does feature the SCSI-hack and the modified driver. We still seek permission from the original author to publish it. Since I earlier bought an other Phoenixboard with this driver, I presently am one of the few legally own this driver. The GB-1000 doesn't need it anyway, though.
Have fun,
McTrinsic
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@Golan
If you get lost, try the international section. Most folks are quite helpful. Please be aware, that there are no new GB-1000 to be bought presently, if thats what you are after.
The GB-1000 is a *complete* DIY-project.
Have fun,
McTrinsic
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McTrinsic wrote:
If you get lost, try the international section. Most folks are quite helpful.
Will do.
Please be aware, that there are no new GB-1000 to be bought presently, if thats what you are after.
The GB-1000 is a *complete* DIY-project.
Yeah, I know. I didn't get in on the order for boards because I don't have the skills to make such an item (I'm software, not hardware). Who knows though, I might find someone interested in making a buck or a thousand. :)
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And for those sections that are not available, you could try and view the site via translate.google.com . It's machine translation and thus far from perfect but it sometimes can help a bit.