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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: blanning on June 24, 2010, 03:27:42 PM
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I'm talking with a certain famous (to us) commodore hardware guy. He's expressed interest in making some new amiga hardware, starting with a slingshot. He's requested an actual slingshot loaned from someone (I don't have one) so he can make some measurements. Does anyone have one they could offer up for a while?
If anyone is interested in buying such a thing, let me know who you are and what you might be willing to pay for one.
And if you can suggest simple improvements, that might be interesting also. Although I think the obvious memory and ide upgrades might happen later, making this just a regular slingshot.
And lastly, can anyone point to a supplier for the expansion bus edge connector on a 1000/500? Thanks.
brian
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Having had a Slingshot for a while (it has since sold), I'd suggest reducing the width of the damn thing. Should not take up ANY more space than the edge connectors, their pins and the 74LS86 needed for certain cards. In other words, no more than a couple inches. The original board is too damn big and unnecessarily so. If a nice rigid ribbon cable could be used (think TI Peripheral Expansion Box), that might be superior. I know the cables can't be too long for bus/noise reasons, but nicer cables do exist. Ones that are better shielded, have less resistance, etc.
I just thought of something else. When I had my Slingshot (hooked to an A1000 and A500 at different times), the one thing I wished it had, was another Zorro slot! Either sticking straight up, in the middle of the board or just under/over and parallel with the first one. Getting a little more ambitious now, but what the heck. We can dream. And Joekster is right... gotta keep the price down :)
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I would be interested in up to 4 of them depending on the price. I would probably pay about $20/ea. The only suggestions that I would make would be to have more than 1 zorro-ii slot and a connector for an external power supply.
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I'm not sure what the price would be. I suspect the edge connector will be the biggest part of the price.
External power sounds like a great idea.
I think only one slot would work because more than one would require a bus controller (buster?) iirc. Maybe I'm wrong.
brian
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I think only one slot would work because more than one would require a bus controller (buster?) iirc. Maybe I'm wrong.
brian
No Buster required. The single 74LS86 chip (if needed at all for certain cards) seems to handle multiple slots just fine. At least on the 2-slot Zorro II expansion I had once.
Power supply would be great, but now we're talking total circuit re-design and components to keep said power from getting back into the Miggy. There goes the price! lol
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No Buster required. The single 74LS86 chip (if needed at all for certain cards) seems to handle multiple slots just fine. At least on the 2-slot Zorro II expansion I had once.
Power supply would be great, but now we're talking total circuit re-design and components to keep said power from getting back into the Miggy. There goes the price! lol
Instead of a power supply, it might just be easier for everyone to use an ATX power supply with the 500, maybe even include one with the slingshot.
I was thinking about a case for the contraption so we wouldn't have a zorro card or two hanging out in space. It would be nice to have a place to put a hard drive and a dvd-rom also. The atx power supply could go in that box, then one of the hard drive power connectors could be hacked to pass power over to the 500.
Too bad I'm a woodworker instead of a metal worker.
brian
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Yeah, all that sounds great - in one box. Before I sold my Slingshot, I put it and a 2091 card in a 1541 drive case. lol Looked kinda neat sitting there! Fit everything perfectly too. I imagine a smaller power supply would fit as well.
Re: woodworking... I'd rather cut and bend sheet metal in a bench vise than work with wood any day! lol Be really cool to see a wooden Zorro expansion box for an A500 or A1000 :)
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If I remember, the A500 side connector is 86 pins, 0.100inch pin spacing, 43 pins per side. Haven't looked around for those.
I have just a couple days ago been looking for the 100pin Zorro connector. It's a FoxConn es05006 edge connector. Hard to find these days. Pull them off broken scrap Amigas, or check out
http://www.dfsales.com/mark/displayresults2.asp?PARTNUMBER=ES05006
I plan to order some soon from here.
Other ideas I've had in the past, include a genuine A2000 Buster chip. Almost everything needed is on that side connector. Not sure if other things are completely important or not, might be able to bring wires out if they are. Compare A2000 and A500 service manual schematics. Alternative to including an A2000 Buster, use an FPGA and make your own Buster. :)
Another idea is to make a connector to plug in a Zorro backplane daughtercard from A3000 desktop. (Or A4000 desktop, not sure how different they are beyond the video slot) This lets you minimize the new slingshot design in terms of board size and what you need to do with it, and use an existing, established card for the rest.
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There is a guy on AmiBay.com that makes Zorro2 adaptors so he gets them ok.
Look for TomThul
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Yes, I have one of Toms Zorro adapters, really nice looking and cheap too, about 20 dollars IIRC
Find out more here Zorro 2 to A500 adapter (http://amiga.erkan.se/index.php/amiga-500-zorro-2-slot-adapter/)
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If I remember, the A500 side connector is 86 pins, 0.100inch pin spacing, 43 pins per side. Haven't looked around for those.
I have just a couple days ago been looking for the 100pin Zorro connector. It's a FoxConn es05006 edge connector. Hard to find these days. Pull them off broken scrap Amigas, or check out
http://www.dfsales.com/mark/displayresults2.asp?PARTNUMBER=ES05006
I plan to order some soon from here.
Elbox has them too because they make Elbox Z3 risers. They are not too expensive to buy either if you want to remove the zorro connector for them.
http://eu-shop.elbox.com/en_US/p/Z3-riser/24 I have one of these risers myself.
http://www.dfsales.com has minimum order of $100 and $250 outside US. They also have no idea what are the shipping costs before item is bought and packed. I just asked A4000T U102 (PCA EP8700) from them yesterday so I know this.