Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Bug_racer on February 01, 2007, 01:16:57 AM
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Can anyone work out a price (if possible) to make an old Amiga 500 into a laptop ? I'd love to have one to play all my Classic amiga games while on the moove !!
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Ten Million Pesos!
(http://www.chickenshop.co.uk/acatalog/costum/smallimg/mexicansm.jpg)
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Wouldn't it be more practical to use the A600 or CD32 motherboard for such a project, as they are smaller than the A500's mb?
Someone figure it out and provide a parts list and directions to accomplish it and I will give it a try.
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Cheapest x86 laptop you can find + Amiga Forever = cheap Amiga laptop.
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it would be more practical to use the cd32 for a laptop over the 500 for 1) size 2) cd32 has the right chip set, and design 3) speed and 4) it was one of the last products of the old commodore era. I estimate $3k on a do it yourself. someone actually did a laptop off a 600 motherboard. crude looking though! do a search on amiga laptops a link should come up somewhere. A viable concept for nostalgia if it wee to be produced...I'd get one! or just use emulation on a windoze blaaaa!
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Sit on the money for just a little longer and get a Minimig mainboard and some old Dell/Compaq/ Laptop for a few cents. Then normally I guess all that's left to make it a working combo is soldering some adapter cables to get signals on/from the right pins.
Why Minimig mainboard?
- A500 compatible
- New
- Due to FPGA big potential for other projects as well
- Low power consumption
- Has a scan-doubled VGA output
- Has PS/2 connectors for keyboard
Why an old PC laptop?
- Shouldn't cost a limb and an arm
- Should have the right connections (or atleast connections that could easily be adapted)
- Gives a good reason for printing a nice little sticker to be stuck on the case: "What's an Minimig doing inside a Satelite? A lot more than the PC-board ever did!' ;-)
Cost wise? All depends on the final price of Minimig and the price you pay for the laptop.
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Emulating an Amiga on an X86 laptop removes the fun and possible learning/innovation from building your very own pure Amiga hardware.
I think a CD32 motherboard coupled with an SX32-Pro would make a great Amiga laptop.
There was a case design available once called 'PAWS' for A1200 and A4000 but it was way too big. To make it truly portable some research into battery life would be a good start.
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Someone put an A1200 into a Commodore SX64 case, used the original color monitor too. It was a CLEAN job, very nice, it was at AmiWest a couple of years ago. Not exactly a laptop but quite portable.
Paul T
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What's one of them!?
:-D
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Bug_racer wrote:
Can anyone work out a price (if possible) to make an old Amiga 500 into a laptop ? I'd love to have one to play all my Classic amiga games while on the moove !!
Would not a a600 be better suited for this task? And it all depends on your skills and how picky you are about the looks.
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odin wrote:
Cheapest x86 laptop you can find + Amiga Forever = cheap Amiga laptop.
There is still not a single software emulator that can emulate it properly.
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Tomas wrote:
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There is still not a single software emulator that can emulate it properly.
Thanks Thomas for stating just that :-) I felt like I'm the only one with that idea of emulation just doesn't cut it, no matter how many gigahurts are used to do so.
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But ofcourse! Minimig stuck inside an old laptop sounds like a brilliant plan.
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Hyperspeed wrote:
I think a CD32 motherboard coupled with an SX32-Pro would make a great Amiga laptop.
If you had seen the size (or rather depth) of the combined SX32-Pro & CD32 motherboard you wouldnt say that.
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by alexh:
If you had seen the size (or rather depth) of the combined SX32-Pro & CD32 motherboard you wouldnt say that.
Well they both fit inside the CD32 which is itself only 2" thick. So if the CD32 motherboard and SX32-Pro are 1¾" thick then that's not much thicker than an A600 mobo with Apollo 630.
I'm just wondering if an A600 keyboard could somehow be rigged to another type of Amiga... standard Amiga keyboards are too long.
A portable ECS machine even with an '030 is not as exciting as an AGA machine with maybe an '060/PPC in it.
Due to miniaturisation I think it's only fair to expect a homebrew Amiga to be a bit bigger than your average laptop but it has to be less than the 'luggable' PAWS solutions that were around back in '98.
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To make an Amiga laptop would cost about 200-300 depending on how much stuff you have and take a lot time. I also don't know how long it would run from the battery.
To have an Amiga laptop would be cool it wouldn't be useful as my Mac Book Which is why I'm not going to make it just at the moment but if anyone finds the list useful I'd like to see an Amiga laptop one day
Amiga laptop how to
What you need
1 Amiga 600
1 Universal 120W Silent PSU and DC Converter Kit (http://www.mini-itx.com/store/?c=10)
1 Amiga RGB to VGA Monitor Adapter (http://amigakit.com/)
High Capacity External Universal Li-ion Battery Pack (http://www.bixnet.com/unpowbat.html)
(note: any battery will do as long as it gives you the right power output.)
1 15" TFT Screen that takes a 12V power supply
Options ( to make to any good)
1 AMIGA PCMCIA WIRELESS CARD (http://amigakit.com/)
1 Kickstart 3.1 ROM (http://amigakit.com/)
1 AmigaOS 3.1(http://amigakit.com/)
1 Slim line CD-ROM
Follow the instructions from here ( http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/amiga_hacks/Amiga_Power_supplies/body_amiga_power_supplies.html) to connect the ATX power supply to your Amiga.
Use the second hard drive connector to connect the monitor power. If its 12V the it should be easy.
Next job is to build a case any way you want.
I suggest putting the main-board on the back of the monitor and then Putting the power supply and battery below the keyboard.
The main-board needs to go behind the monitor due to the keyboard being so thick. You could if you wanted re-wire the keyboard and use smaller keys but its a lot work.
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Using a PC laptop case because of the case only is ok.
But don't kid yourself that the TFT could be used with only a soldering iron and a couple of wires. The Amiga does not output a signal suitable for most laptop displays.
And just so that there are no misunderstandings; this is not a refresh rate issue like with VGA monitors. The TFT panels used in laptops require more driving than just colour signals and sync.
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That DC Li-Ion battery link is pretty cool.
Only thing is, doesn't the A1200 need -12v, +5v etc?
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+5 V is easy to create by a voltage regulator (ask me for a simple circuit).:-D rkauer@gmail.com
-12V is tricky, need for audio output, parallel AND serial. Is a reference voltage only, but very needy. :-(
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I too, would suggest the Minimeg as the best available option. The trouble will definatly be from the LCD issue. One possible solution for the screen is this:
http://galaxy22.dyndns.org/shuttlecraft/psone_lcd/index.html
This is my website and I have played with the PS-One screen extensively on the Amiga. It isn't perfect because it is small. However, there may be larger LCDs that would work.
I can say one thing for sure.. a typical laptop screen WILL NOT WORK unless the minimig designers decide to incorporate the matrix drivers for that particular screen into the design. Otherwise, forget it..
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Hmm... How about the Efika? :idea:
EDIT: I mean an Efika in an old Laptop case... :lol:
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I think I can say counter-arguments to Jope's post:
The Compaq LTE series have:
(I think) PS/2 style keyboard(?) and mouse: OK for Minimig?
The floppy drive and IDE-harddisk are based on the "normal" signals.
The TFT display input is: Color components in parallel bits, and some sync signals. I have been too lazy to try to connect one ot these TFT:s to an Amiga 500 main board. I have downloaded a number of datasheets, including those for the display driver chip in these older laptops.