Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: djos on June 16, 2012, 02:45:58 AM
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Hi All, my 500+ finally arrived and so I eagerly took it apart and inspected it - not in the best of condition unfortunately and going to need either surgery or a heart transplant.
The battery has definitely leaked and some how caused corrosion to the Gary Socket Contacts which mostly disintegrated when I removed the Gary Chip - The chip itself seems to be fine and I was able to clean it up quite well.
Gary Socket:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Photo%2015-06-12%206%2051%2008%20PM.jpg
Not yet cleaned up Gary Chip:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Photo%2015-06-12%206%2052%2007%20PM.jpg
Bad battery!:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Photo%2015-06-12%206%2051%2031%20PM.jpg
Bad Battery Removed showing some surface Damage to the PCB - I wonder if this has killed the Mobo?:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Photo%2015-06-12%207%2028%2008%20PM%20(HDR).jpg
There was also a tiny amount of rust on a couple of the Shields but it hadn't done any damage to the Mobo.
So Im hoping I can just replace the broken Gary Socket (AJ, might need your help on this one as I dont have a de-soldering station) to revive my poor 500+ otherwise it's going to need a heart transplant. :nervous: :eek:
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*runs away and hides*
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*runs away and hides*
What do you reckon AJ, do you have the skilz to de-solder the Gary socket and help me put in a new one? (the installing socket part I can manage, it's the removing part I cant)
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Damn that is a lot of acid damage to the mobo... its crawled its way to many IC and sockets :( so sad to see a A500+ in this condition.
The Gary chip should be okay, the socket might clean up well without needing to replace. A thin stiff brush and alcohol to clean away all the mess. The resisters on the right hand side of the removed battery look bad, maybe if you going to resolder a Gary socket you should replace these as well.
Best of luck! Hope you can revive this poor Miggy
Az
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Damn that is a lot of acid damage to the mobo... its crawled its way to many IC and sockets :( so sad to see a A500+ in this condition.
The Gary chip should be okay, the socket might clean up well without needing to replace. A thin stiff brush and alcohol to clean away all the mess. The resisters on the right hand side of the removed battery look bad, maybe if you going to resolder a Gary socket you should replace these as well.
Best of luck! Hope you can revive this poor Miggy
Az
Nah the socket is totalled - see the pic below (contacts are broken, some literally shattered when i removed the chip.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Photo%2015-06-12%207%2028%2021%20PM%20(HDR).jpg
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did you buy this as "working"?
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did you buy this as "working"?
Bought as "powers up but can't fully test". I'm not too bothered as restoration is half the fun. It might have actually worked as is had I not pulled out the Gary chip for a Look. :cool:
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looking at the pics, I don't think it would have worked at all.
I could be wrong, but it appears there's tracks corroded completely through.
bit late now, but I would have tested it before removing the ic :p
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looking at the pics, I don't think it would have worked at all.
I could be wrong, but it appears there's tracks corroded completely through.
bit late now, but I would have tested it before removing the ic :p
Yeah good old hind sight, I underestimated how much corrosion damage there was to the socket - oh well, I'm putting out feelers for a new mobo and I might buy a 1200 when petro makes them available. :D
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Are you wanting to sell the faulty 500 plus board? You can take all the chips etc out, just needing the component above the denise chip. Will take a photo and up it a little later.
Although my soldering skills suck ;-)
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Are you wanting to sell the faulty 500 plus board? You can take all the chips etc out, just needing the component above the denise chip. Will take a photo and up it a little later.
Although my soldering skills suck ;-)
I was either going to keep it and use the chips for spares or once I hopefully get a new mobo sell the spare chips etc to recover costs. See what happens tho.
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Btw if anyone has a Gary compatible chip socket they can sell me I am going to try to repair my 500+ board first.
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Buy two 24 pin sockets from jaycar for 60 cents each ;)
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Buy two 24 pin sockets from jaycar for 60 cents each ;)
Good idea! I'll pay them a visit tomorrow. :cool:
Btw, I figured out how to remove the broken socket, just used my side cutters to break it up into small pieces making de-soldering easier. :)
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Did you get this from the UK? If so, how much was the postage?
Shame about the damage, Most of the A500+ ECS compenents should fit in a standard A500 mobo that you could easily get from ebay.com.au, the only chip you may have problems fitting without adjustments is the fatter agnus. Good luck, would like to hear how you go with this.
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Shipping was 50£ but I don't regret it. :)
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Shipping was 50£ but I don't regret it. :)
Ohh Man that's a pain. Bad luck. That damage looks pretty comprehensive…
Understand the urge to resurrect it. A500+ is a rare beastie. It's possible some of the tracks and components are in the same state as the Gary socket. But I hope not/
Hate to see such Amiga enthusiasm hit a wall.
Tell you what, if can’t get it working as a consolation I can send you a working Plain A500 with v5 Motherboard, For Free, postage only.
Don't give up on it.
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Thanks mate, i really appreciate the offer :)
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The A500+ are Rev8a motherboards if I remember correctly... different Agnus socket + pin arrangements compared to a normal A500.
I would just replace every green socket or surface soldered chip as possible. Resisters will be available from electronics places, IC's from a standard A500 should swap. Solder in your new sockets and jumper any corroded tracks if able. See if you can bring it back from the dead :)
Amiga's are much nicer with 2meg chip ram!
Az
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Thanks Az I'll be working pretty hard to fix my 500+ :cool:
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Just got back from Jaycar with 2x 24 pin ic sockets and a new can of isoprophyl, gonna have to wait till later tonight tho as off to see my folks for the arvo.
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If you lift any of the green protective paint off the copper tracks with your alcohol, go buy some cheap girly nail polish, a bright colour!
This can be painted over any exposed areas of the motherboard/copper you need to repair, works well.
Also, if you have small sections of track that are suspect or badly corroded, buy a rear window demister repair kit from a local car spare parts/autobarn/repco. The silver conductive paint can be used to redo the damaged tracks for short distances. Wait until dry then cover with nail polish :)
Az
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Good tips, thanks as the last proper techie job I had was in the late 90's so I've forgotten a lot of these tricks. :)
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Well after a hard nights careful de-soldering (last night) I was able to remove half the Gary Socket and only have the other half to go (old solder is a pain to work with).
I was also able to clean the motherboard with Isoprophyl and a toothbrush/rag and it came up really well, so well in fact that I couldn't find a single damaged trace or area missing lacquer (mainly just discoloration) so now Im really optimistic that I'll be able to return my Miggy 500+ to full health! :cool:
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Well after a hard nights careful de-soldering (last night) I was able to remove half the Gary Socket and only have the other half to go (old solder is a pain to work with).
I was also able to clean the motherboard with Isoprophyl and a toothbrush/rag and it came up really well, so well in fact that I couldn't find a single damaged trace or area missing lacquer (mainly just discoloration) so now Im really optimistic that I'll be able to return my Miggy 500+ to full health! :cool:
Good to hear!
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Good to hear!
Indeed, just need to finish replacing the socket and plug her in when my new PSU shows up. *fingers Crossed* :)
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pics? :P
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pics? :P
Will try and take some tonight, wife was giving me the hurry up. :D
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Awesome! Good to hear about the tracks after the clean up... replacing sockets is a pain, make sure you do not make any solder bridges on the legs. Check with a magnifying glass if you have one.
Hope Gary works for you.
Az
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Awesome! Good to hear about the tracks after the clean up... replacing sockets is a pain, make sure you do not make any solder bridges on the legs. Check with a magnifying glass if you have one.
Hope Gary works for you.
Az
Thanks, yeah removing a Socket is really hard, I wish I had a nice Weller Soldering/de-soldering station like back in my techo days as solder suckers are close to useless and de-soldering braid can be tricky to use on such small holes.
I do all this sort of work with a mag-glass mounted on my little small-pcb holding stand thingo. :D
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When you have this A500+ working again, you will find very little speed increase with the 68010 at standard clocks + no cache
you need to find one of these! http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/adspeed
I have one in a box somewhere :)
oh, I also have one of these! http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/mtec520i
(installed in my a2000 atm with budha card+ 4gig HD, cdrom, amber flicker fixer and a picasso II )
and one of these http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/blizzard500
and 2x of these as well :) http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/supra28
finally one of these http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/pamc500
(installed in another a2000 with gvp8+ 2gig scsi + cdrom)
yeah, I have too much stuff... some in boxes never installed :(
ah well.... Amiga is addictive!
Az
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LOL, very nice - I mainly got the 68010 so that I can switch back to workbench from WHDLoad installed games.
Im going to order the latest Gen 68kIDE adaptor with CF module, 8MB Processor Ram module and 1MB Chip Ram board as soon as I've resurrected my 500+ - that'll give me 10MB Ram total and a 4GB CF HDD. :cool:
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Some goodies arrived in the mail today from AmigaKit:
Miggy PSU, cr2032 lithium battery kit, 2nd Comp Pro Joystick, RGB-SCART Cable, Miggy-VGA Adaptor
and my 68010 also arrived, just need to finish restoring my 500+ now (hopefully i'll get a chance tonight)! :D
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Keep up the good work!
Hope we hear a success story soon
Az
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Managed to finish removing the corroded socket and install the replacement tonight but still have some work to do before my 500+ is fully working.
I reckon I need some finer grit sandpaper than I have to clean the feet on the Gary chip as I put it in and powered it up (just composite for now) and All I got was a flashing screen and an occasionally flashing Power Light (sort of dims to flash).
anyway here's some pics so far:
Lid on:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-06-17%2018.18.32.jpg
Half the socket gone, board mostly cleaned:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-06-20%2018.55.41.jpg
New Socket install (2x 24pin):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-06-20%2020.55.19.jpg
Gary Chip in socket to make sure it fits + battery area and for a quick but so far unsuccessful test:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-06-20%2020.57.44.jpg
One thing that does concern me is I popped a trace on the bottom of the mobo where it connects to a Gary socket pin and it pulled several centimetres off the board - I was able to solder it directly to the pin and gave it a coating of nail polish but am still unsure if that is enuf (time will tell i guess - might put up a pic tomorrow night).
I also tested all the socket pins with my multimeter to makes sure none of them where accidentally connected and got perfect results first time so happy with that.
If I cant fix this board I have discovered that getting hold of a Rev6a board is quite cheap from Europe and I should be able to transplant all the ECS chips and half the ram. :cool:
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tin the pins on the IC to clean them ;)
don't put massive blobs of solder on them though :p
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Good idea, I'll try that.
Btw when looking at the pics can your trained eye see any pcb damage I need to repair?
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Btw, I quickly took some pics of my socket soldering work (bit amateur - been a long while & I miss having a proper desoldeing station) and the trace I had to repair:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-06-21%2007.59.53.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-06-21%2007.58.45.jpg
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That lifted trace, you might want to see where it starts and solder a wire link from source to socket pin.
Insert Gary and see if the machine boots. The trace might look solid and connected along its length but more than likely there is a break in it.
Az
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That lifted trace, you might want to see where it starts and solder a wire link from source to socket pin.
Insert Gary and see if the machine boots. The trace might look solid and connected along its length but more than likely there is a break in it.
Az
Good idea, thankfully I have some fine stiff wire lying around from a c64 reset switch mod. ATM I don't even get the insert disk screen likely due to the Gary chip feet needing more of a clean than I've given them.
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Btw when looking at the pics can your trained eye see any pcb damage I need to repair?
its too hard to tell in the pics.
a lot of the tracks look discoloured, it could just be the coating on the board, or it could be the track under the coating...
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LOL, very nice - I mainly got the 68010 so that I can switch back to workbench from WHDLoad installed games.
Im going to order the latest Gen 68kIDE adaptor with CF module, 8MB Processor Ram module and 1MB Chip Ram board as soon as I've resurrected my 500+ - that'll give me 10MB Ram total and a 4GB CF HDD. :cool:
Hi Mate, where are you going to order the 68kIDE adaptor from? As these still available new? Or are you hoping to get one second hand?
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Hi Mate, where are you going to order the 68kIDE adaptor from? As these still available new? Or are you hoping to get one second hand?
MKL (aka mika) on amibay makes and sells the very latest version for about 50 Euros. :cool:
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So I took another crack at reviving my 500+ board last night:
I replaced the faulty trace with a direct wire connection:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Photo%2021-06-12%207%2042%2033%20PM%20(HDR).jpg
I also tinned the feet of the Gary chip and tested a bunch of traces around the battery area with my multi-meter to ensure they weren't broken (none were) and then fired up my 500+.....
and got this: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Video%2021-06-12%208%2003%2052%20PM.mov
:cry:
It doesnt even attempt to boot from a floppy either so Im calling this mobo BUSTED! Oh well, it's been fun trying to repair it as I havent done any board level repair work sine about 1998!! :D gave me a good excuse to buy a new soldering iron too. :cool:
Anyway, all is not lost, I ordered a tested and working Rev6a Mobo from germany and will swap all the ECS chips onto it and upgrade the on board ram to 1MB using the chips from my Rev8a so it''l pretty much be a 500+ regradless. :D
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you made an 8 second video thats 20 megs?!?!
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you made an 8 second video thats 20 megs?!?!
a 720p iPhone video will do that! :D
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LOL.. yeah that was a monster video
okies, I would swap the CIA chips... and see if that gets any further into the boot process
from the cycling power light I would say Gary is faulty, a probable memory or bus conflict.
Before saying the mobo is dead, you really should swap other chips (other than agnus) and see if the board will boot, or gives the customary colours on boot. Better able to see the fault with the colour.
Az
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LOL.. yeah that was a monster video
okies, I would swap the CIA chips... and see if that gets any further into the boot process
from the cycling power light I would say Gary is faulty, a probable memory or bus conflict.
Before saying the mobo is dead, you really should swap other chips (other than agnus) and see if the board will boot, or gives the customary colours on boot. Better able to see the fault with the colour.
Az
Ok I'll swap the CIA chips and see what happens - at least the new mobo will give me a working Gary chip to test as well.
I also hooked up my miggy to my GBS-8220 via MiggyRGB-VGA adapter to GBS-8220 and I got a very distorted green screen that had rolling and tearing and the GBS-8220 couldnt lock onto it.
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@djos So you sourced a new a500+ board?
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@djos So you sourced a new a500+ board?
Not a Rev8a board, it's a Rev6a but I believe it can handle the ECS chipset without any mods and can take an extra 512k ram on-board basically making it a 500+ minus the battery backed RTC. :cool:
EDIT: my fatter Agnus may not work in the rev6a board tho but im happy if I get at least 1mb chip ram + 8mb CPU ram from tomthul.
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It's a shame you couldn't get the A500+ boardworking, would you consider sending it to AmigaManiac for repairs? He's in NSW and can repair most Amiga problems. I just think it's a shame that such a good motherboard would go to waste, I have a busted one here which I'm going to send to him too.
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It's a shame you couldn't get the A500+ boardworking, would you consider sending it to AmigaManiac for repairs? He's in NSW and can repair most Amiga problems. I just think it's a shame that such a good motherboard would go to waste, I have a busted one here which I'm going to send to him too.
Im not aware of him? how much does he charge?
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Im not aware of him? how much does he charge?
Amiga Maniac has a web site here: http://www.amigamaniac.com/
I've bought a few items from him over the last couple of years, always been pretty good service, he's based in NSW.
He sells rom chips at a good price aswell.
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It's a shame you couldn't get the A500+ boardworking, would you consider sending it to AmigaManiac for repairs? He's in NSW and can repair most Amiga problems. I just think it's a shame that such a good motherboard would go to waste, I have a busted one here which I'm going to send to him too.
Wow thanks Cammy, I also have an A500+ in need of some love. Forgot all about Amiga Maniac, although haven't heard from him in awhile.
Sent him an email about some other stuff but no reply. Might try emailing him again :-)
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Amiga Maniac has a web site here: http://www.amigamaniac.com/
I've bought a few items from him over the last couple of years, always been pretty good service, he's based in NSW.
He sells rom chips at a good price aswell.
Cheers, I sent him an email. :cool:
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Cheers, I sent him an email. :cool:
Great guy and makes some good hardware :-) Have a couple of his creations.
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Wow thanks Cammy, I also have an A500+ in need of some love. Forgot all about Amiga Maniac, although haven't heard from him in awhile.
Sent him an email about some other stuff but no reply. Might try emailing him again :-)
I bought a DB23 connector from him a couple of weeks ago and kickstart roms a few months ago so he`s definately still around. He does sometimes take a little while to reply but I think he runs it as a hobby rather than a business.
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Well I finally got around to finishing making my DB23-GBS Cable and I also swapped around the two CIA chips to no avail - on a positive note my flashing screen is in colour (green)! :D
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-06-22%2019.21.41.jpg
PS, the power light blinks 2 times by my count so I need to look that up.
PSS, I dont drink Carlton Mid, that is actually a Coopers Clear (wife has me on a diet from my normal Pale Ale, all for 20 bloody calories!)!
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Ok found some doco here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-on_self-test#Amiga_POST
Tells me bad Chip-ram or Agnus Chip (i'd reseat it but lack a PLCC extraction tool) - I'd be inclined to think the traces from Gary to the chip ram are damaged based on this. :eek:
Looks like my Rev6a is gonna get a 512kb chip ram and a Super Denise upgrade when it arrives (will have to look out for an 8372B Fatter Angus so I can got to 2MB chip ram later on).
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The busted A500+ here also has a flashing green screen and the blinking power LED. The battery damage on this board didn't look too bad, so I hope it can be fixed. Sorry I can't help, but good luck!
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Cheers Cammy. (bloody Ni-Cad Batteries!)
I do have some good news tho, I have been offered an Agnus 8372AB which is a 2mb unit that is pin compatible with the Rev6a Mobo (8375 from rev8a isnt) I bought so I'll be able to turn the Rev6a board into a 500+ spec board minus the battery backed RTC. :cool:
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Sad to hear the result djos. But it sounds like you haven't totally given up. Even if you have a suitable replacement option.
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Sad to hear the result djos. But it sounds like you haven't totally given up. Even if you have a suitable replacement option.
Yeah not entirely, next weekend I'll get a small fine wire brush (eg toothbrush size) and try to clean up some more joins and then freshen up the solder as I think there may be 1 or 2 dry joints needing sorted.
Failing that I'll pimp out the Rev6a Mobo I've ordered so it's Full ECS - I even managed to find a Super Fat Agnus 8372AB 2mb chip in the USA (8375 from 500+ wont work in a rev6a Mobo). Im trying to talk Tomthul into making a 1.5MB chip-ram trapdoor board with Battery backed RTC for those with 6a's wanting to pimp them out to 2MB. :D
It's a fun project tho and in the mean time i've been teaching myself Amiga using WinUAE (very handy training tool, I even simulated formatting my CF Card and installing WB3.1 on it using a 2GB USB Stick). :cool:
PS, Yesterday I ordered an IDE68k from Mika and from FleaBay a SanDisk 4GB CF Card and an IDE-CF Card module so it's all staring to come together nicely.
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you should get one of these... would be very nice for your project i think...
Checkmate A1500
http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=6
Micronik 500 Tower
http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=1340
GVP (Great Valley Products): A530
http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=68
DCE: Viper 530
http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=67
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The Viper 530 looks impressive but to be honest I'll be happy with what im aiming for, which is:
68010 (so F10 works to exit whdload games)
Full ECS Chipset
2mb Chip Ram
8mb Fast Ram
IDE68K -> CF Reader -> 4GB CF Card
once I've got all that up and running I'll prolly look for a 1200. :D
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Are we there yet ?
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Nope, looks like the rev8a board is toast, plan b is to pimp out the rev6a board I've ordered to full ECS levels including a super fat agnus 2mb 8372AB I bought via amibay - I've now ordered my 8mb ram board from tomthul and ide68k from Mika. :)
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Btw I've been discussing the possibilities of a 2mb chip ram trapdoor board for 500's fitted with 8372ab or b super fat Agnus chips and he has found as I suspected that it would work as long as the onboard chip ram is disabled. :cool:
So if you don't have a mini megachip for your 500 i suggest you track down an 8372ab or 8372b (from the 3000, they are pal/ntsc agnostic too) and pm tomthul ASAP! :D
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I Finally solved my WinUAE 500+ w/ KS3.1 ROM issue (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?p=698407#post698407) and I'm now happily formatting my 4GB CF Card into 2x 1.9GB partitions in Workbench 3.1 .. happy days!
Just need some more bits and pieces to show up now so I can use the CF card as a HDD in my real 500+! :cool:
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My 8MB Ram Module and Agnus 8372AB (Rev6a pin compatible 2MB Agnus) showed up today; Im just waiting on my replacement Mobo from Germany so I can bring my 500 back to life!
In preparation for it arriving, i've cannibalised all the socketed chips from the rev8a board (was slightly careless and destroyed a CIA chip, DOH!) so when my Rev6a arrives all of the ECS chips (Super Denise & Agnus 8372AB) are going straight in along with the 68010 which is already sitting proudly on top of my 8MB Ram module from TomThul. :D
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Tells me bad Chip-ram or Agnus Chip (i'd reseat it but lack a PLCC extraction tool) ..
have you tried the usual simple pushing down on it?
might help.
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have you tried the usual simple pushing down on it?
might help.
Yep, removed it and reinserted it. There's obviously trace damage to the memory lines from the battery leak that I can't see.
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My IDE68k v402 arrived today, here it is with my 68010 and 8mb RAM Board sitting on top of it - I had to remove the IDE connectors plastic shroud to get the ram board on as if I'd gone the other way I wouldnt be able to install the keyboard. As it is the RF shield no longer fits and has been retired. :cool:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-17%2019.41.00.jpg
Ordered a nice simple switch operated rom switcher today from a chap in Germany but still waiting on my replacement mobo!!! :rolleyes:
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new stuff for your project...
Our new accelerator for the Amiga 500 has already been discussed in user forums, but will be released with some changes, so customer demand is met in both price and features. The ACA500 is powered by a 14MHz CMOS-68000 processor with 2MBytes RAM and a mass-storage controller for CF-cards and CD drives. Autoboot from CF-card is possible from Kickstart V1.3 and higher. Thanks to our TrueIDE technology, any CF card can be used, even if the card identifies as “removable device”. A CD-ROM drive can be connected to the easily reachable IDE port on the side of the A500.
The relatively moderate increase in speed is enough to run WHDload. For those who want more CPU power, the ACA500 has a CPU-slot compatible with our accelerators for A1200 computers. This makes even our top model ACA1231 available to the A500 computer. The ACA500 will be available from all resellers for 79,90 EUR. We’re currently negotiating about including Kickstart licenses into the ACA500, so the built-in flashrom can be pre-loaded with different Kickstart licenses.
link:
http://oldschoolgameblog.com/2012/07/17/individual-computers-new-products-for-the-commodore-64-and-the-amiga/
:)
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Yeah I saw that but frankly I've already spent triple what my 500+ cost me and the wife will get suspicious if the CC doesnt start going down RSN! :eek:
PS, I so want the ACA500* + ACA1220, what a sweet sweet combo!!! :afro:
*Only thing I dont like is the 2mb Ram, really should be 8mb!
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Seems like you are enjoying yourself with the Plus. Here are some images from my collection showing the Checkmate, Cards, Sidecars and a problem battery I had with a machine I repaired. Happens a lot sadly, many forget the Plus had the battery.
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz86.htm
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz382.htm
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz48.htm
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz493.htm
Anyway, well done bringing the Miggy back to life. Always very rewarding.
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It not quite back from the dead yet but it will be shortly :)
Nice collection of miggy's tho!
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It not quite back from the dead yet but it will be shortly :)
Nice collection of miggy's tho!
Hey, I just wanted to tell you how impressed I have been reading through this thread. I hope you get the 500+ working! You have put in some really hard work and deserve a working machine!
Cheers!!
-P
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Hey, I just wanted to tell you how impressed I have been reading through this thread. I hope you get the 500+ working! You have put in some really hard work and deserve a working machine!
Cheers!!
-P
Cheers, been a fun project so far and gave me a chance to dust off my soldering skills and diagnostic after not having used them properly for a long time (my c64 restoration project was much simpler as it was 95% replacing socketed chips). :)
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Are you wanting to sell the faulty 500 plus board? You can take all the chips etc out, just needing the component above the denise chip. Will take a photo and up it a little later.
Although my soldering skills suck ;-)
Lurch, I've started salvaging the mobo for parts, which one exactly do you want?
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DOH, working from home today (little daughter is sick and wife has no carers leave left) and get an email from the work mail room that I have a delivery and now I have to wait till tomorrow to find out what it is - it's either my rev6a mobo has finally show up or my rom switcher has arrived!
Thankfully tomorrow is Friday so I dont have to wait the whole weekend to find out what it is! :D
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Wooo Hoo, It was my Rev6a Mobo that arrived, Tonight my Miggy will LIVE!!!!!
:biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:
So once I get it up and running im going to see if I can get and IDE CD or DVD-ROM drive to work at the same time as my CF-IDE module, If I can Im going to look for an old External drive enclosure to build an ATX PSU into it to power it and the Miggy instead of my little 25watt unit. :cool:
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Wooo Hooo, it's alive!!!! :D :D
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-20%2019.31.59.jpg
and now with extra Bits:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-20%2020.42.09.jpg
Only issues I have now is my Floppy Drive sounds like a tractor (clean and lube hopefully will fix), the 512k expansion board I have gives me the green screen of death (might try the chip-ram mod before I write it off completely) and the 3.1 Rom I got is DOA! :p
On the Plus Side, my Agnus 8372AB works perfectly and so do my Super Denise and 68010 chips mounted on Tomthul's 8mb ram + Mika's IDE68k v402 (need a 3.1 rom and some soldering to test 100% tho).
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the 3.1 Rom I got is DOA! :p
try cleaning the pins, or plugging and unplugging it a few times.
Mine didn't work at first either, removed and replaced, and it worked, the next day it didn't work again... did the same thing, and its worked ever since.
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Ok, I might give them a light fine sanding. It's weird tho as my 1.3 and 2.04 Roms work perfectly.
Btw, is yours a ceramic EEPROM?
EDIT: nup, shined those pins up perfectly and tried several insertions and totally dead, I get no signal into my GBS at all.
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how was it actually packed? from what you've said, I take it the foam was wrapped in foil first? but it had gotten mashed in transit?
mine was just stuck in a block of foam, but fortunately worked.
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To be honest im struggling to remember exactly how it was packed as i received so many chips and bits in the last few weeks - not a big deal tho as the seller has been awesome and is sending me a new one and im only paying the $5 postage. :cool:
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Lurch, I've started salvaging the mobo for parts, which one exactly do you want?
I'm all sorted djos, thanks though. My 500+ lives, managed to source a board which had little battery damage. Cleaned it up removed the battery and it's working (touch wood).
Going to attempt soldering a replacement battery on and then tackle the 402 mod :-)
Have been watching your thread though as I've been taking a similar path.
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I'm all sorted djos, thanks though. My 500+ lives, managed to source a board which had little battery damage. Cleaned it up removed the battery and it's working (touch wood).
Going to attempt soldering a replacement battery on and then tackle the 402 mod :-)
Have been watching your thread though as I've been taking a similar path.
No Worries, glad you found a 500+ board, I gave up looking and pimped out a Rev6a to the same Spec (minus on-board 1MB Chip Ram - did the mod to make my 512k trapdoor chip-ram).
Good Luck. :)
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Well folks I've had a bloody good day working on my Miggy Today, got most things working and learned a few things along the way.
First up I soldered on some wiring for the IDE68k v402 (salvaged from an old PC):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-21%2018.12.10.jpg
Then I took my floppy drive apart and gave it a clean and lube and it's working perfectly now and no longer sounds like a tractor. I also did the chip-ram mod (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Xform-A500.pdf) to make the trapdoor ram useful (see the extra graphics ram in WB):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-21%2018.13.34.jpg
Then I fired up Tomthul's boot disk to see if my 8MB Fast Ram was there (happy days, it works):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-21%2018.19.26.jpg
and then for today's biggest surprise, for the sheer hell of it I dropped my KS3.1 ROM back in the damn thing worked! :eek: Im blaming a static build-up, due to poor packaging from the seller, dissipating for its miraculous revival and Im not telling him to keep the replacement (serve him right for not packing it right + I had to pay $5 shipping):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-21%2018.24.37.jpg
I also managed to get WB 3.1 to recognise my 4GB CF card however it didnt play entirely nicely in HD Toolbox so im re-formatting it in UAE to see if that works better and then I'll do the HD Install on my 500+. I had attempted to boot off it (worked in UAE) earlier but it didnt work for whatever reason.
As for a couple of the lessons I learned Today:
1/ My Agnus 8372AB Chip doesnt like my 512k Trapdoor board and gives me alternating Yellow / Green screens (works fine with it removed) and the chip-ram mod (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Xform-A500.pdf) didnt make any difference. 512k Trapdoor board works fine with my 8372A - I wonder if the 8372AB doesnt like the 80ns (slower than onboard 70ns ram) ram and wants uniform speeds. either that or it will only work with a 1mb (or 2mb?) trapdoor ram board.
2/ 24 year old Floppy Disk drives and their media are a little finicky - im just glad I backed up my workbench and fast-ram disks onto other floppies cause I've managed to invoke read errors already on one disk (re-copied it and it now works again).
3/ not having 2 floppy drives sucks balls for copying!!! :D
Project Stage 2 (after I get the software side of my 500+ up and running):
I dug up and old LG CD-Burner Today from the Shed and im hunting for an old really cheap largish External 5.25" scsi CD-ROM style enclosure with PSU (no drive) - PSU & electronics can be faulty or missing (cause they're coming out any way) so I can build in an ATX PSU and install my CF-IDE and CD-ROM into (PM me if you have something you want to sell).
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One thing I forgot to mention, my tank mouse's right button wasnt working all that well so I took it apart and gave both micro switches a good spray of isopropyl - a couple of clicks later both buttons both work like new. :)
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Looks like that 3.1 rom is stuffed after all, today my miggy just started being really flaky and then wouldn't boot or do anything even as simple as display the insert workbench disk screen!
At first I thought it was my add on bits and went back to bare miggy with an original 68000 chip and still nothing. Starting to get desperate I swapped the the rom back to 2.04 and much to my relief it came back to life straight away! I put all my extras back in and they work too (ide68k excepted as it needs ks3.1). :p
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Sounds like things are going well'ish. Working with old Amiga kit can be a challenge. My A1200 stopped working a couple of weeks ago, had to take everything out of it clean it all and put it back together. Hopefully your new 3.1 rom will complete it.
How's the video quality of the VGA adaptor?
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Yeah, im having fun - it's almost more about the journey than the result for me. :D
the GBS-8220 is pretty good for $35 but not perfect, you do get a bit of artifacting while mousing in workbench etc.
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Was off crook today (blasted head colds!) and to amuse myself I grabbed an old 250watt ATX PSU and did some research and testing in preparation for converting it to a Miggy PSU and to drive my powered CF-IDE card and CD-ROM Drive.
Found the ATX Pin-out info HERE (http://pinouts.ru/Power/atxpower_pinout.shtml) and the Miggy Pinouts HERE (http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/amiga_hacks/Amiga_Power_supplies/body_amiga_power_supplies.html#Rewiring_your_Amiga_power_lead) so it looks like making a Miggy PSU is a piece of cake!
The only thing on my PSU that I found was different to the spec's I found, was that on mine you need to keep the Green & Ground connected to turn on the PSU (it's an older 20pin ATX PSU without the extra 4-pin CPU power connector).
I also did some research on using an IDE CD-ROM and discovered IDEfix97 so now all I need is a nice old SCSI CD-ROM case* to mod and a Miggy Power cable (found one on FleaBay for $14 shipped).
*Something like this would be awesome:
(http://www.recycledgoods.com/zoom_s_p_35474_1.jpg.ashx)
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What type of plastic is used in that CDROM reader? PP?
(seems like a nice case)
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No idea, unfortunately those sun cd cases seem to be quite expensive on evil bay:-(
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http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/amiga_hacks/Amiga_Power_supplies/wired-atx-psu.JPG
Only link you need is link you already found, Ian Stedman home page
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yeah Im not going to keep the ATX connector, it's going completely as will everything else I dont need - I will keep the disk drive power loom tho.
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Spent most of this evening planning my external CD-ROM + CF-IDE Combo Project and have mostly finished my plans plus found & bought most the parts I need to build it.
I eventually gave up on the idea of integrating the ATX PSU into the CD-ROM case as I'd need to find an external LTO or DLT Drive and they are frickin expensive!
The drive I decided to mod is a Yamaha external SCSI CD-Rom ($22 delivered from fleabay):
(http://www.yamaha-online.de/prodfotos/p519_1.jpg)
and I found some great little 2" long Female to Male IDE cables:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/IDE_Cable_01.PNG)
which I plan to install into the removable sidecar slot door (the length and location is so perfect to connect to the IDE68k it's not funny!) and the second will go into the left hand side of the CD-Case (external Ribbon cable will have to run under the CD-rom to the side of my 500+ but im ok with that). Inside the CD-ROM chassis I'll use a stock dual connector IDE cable and a male-male joiner to connect up with the short IDE cable.
I intend to mount the CF-IDE pointing out the back of the case (so I can remove the CF card if I want to) and hopefully the CF slot will line up with one of the soon to be empty SCSI connector holes without much dremel'ing.
I'll definitely remove the PSU and electronics from the CD-ROM to make room for the CF-IDE card and cabling. Im still thinking about what sort of connectors I'll use from the PSU to the back of the CD-ROM to provide power to the chassis (prolly just use a molex connector).
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Pico psu.... :-)
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pico psu.... :-)
$$$$
:d
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/PICO-PSU-120SV-Mini-DC-DC-ATX-Power-Supplier-12V-Input-120W-/320942384445?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item4ab9a8253d
$26 USD with free shipping, then just need to find an old laptop power adapter to match. :-)
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I have my reservations about that kind of solution to be honest.
EDIT: It would be a minor pain to get the -12v needed from the Mobo connector but I must admit i'm going to have a think about it. :)
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I have a spare scsi case, not sure if its big enough though.
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I have a spare scsi case, not sure if its big enough though.
Cheers mate but I've already paid for the Yamaha cd-rom case.
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http://www.ebay.com/itm/PICO-PSU-120SV-Mini-DC-DC-ATX-Power-Supplier-12V-Input-120W-/320942384445?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item4ab9a8253d
$26 USD with free shipping, then just need to find an old laptop power adapter to match. :-)
Major issue with these Pico PSU's is your power brick needs to produce a car battery like 10-20 amps to run them (they are designed for use in cars).
If were to go down that path, then this is the combo I'd be looking at (PSU Board should fit nicely down the side of the drive case):
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251058262482&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en#ht_1259wt_886
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-12V-10A-Adapter-Power-Supply-LCD-monitor-Cord-/290458208188?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item43a0a887bc#ht_2198wt_1120
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Ok i'm sold on using a power brick + internal Power supply board (as above), I'll wait till I've got the CD-ROM case and done the other mods first tho as I want to make sure there is enuf space in the case before proceeding (plus i've blown my hobby allowance for the month). :D
One thing I did buy last night was a cheap hot glue gun, cant believe it was only $3.88 with free shipping from evil bay! :eek:
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Well I bit the bullet and ordered a 12v 10amp LCD power supply and the mini itx car power supply linked to earlier - cant wait for all my bits to arrive as having the miggy PSU, cf-IDE and cd-rom all in one unit is gonna be a really neat solution and fun to build. :)
Btw, I have some spare miggy chips and other components for sale over at Amiga bay:
Miggy chips: http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=32879
Ram: http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=30731
2.5" HDD: http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=30735
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Works real well, have one pico and a laptop adapter myself :-) Just have decided on how to mount it yet :-/
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Neat, are you thinking of using an external CDROM chassis too?
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Got some more bits today and so did some more work on the miggy. 1st thing I did was replace the 3-pin pc fan connector for the "Gayle" IDE support with a proper 2-pin connector and took the chance to remove all the excess cable:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-31%2019.36.47.jpg
and my ROM Switcher arrived today so I installed that too:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-31%2019.36.20.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-31%2019.36.37.jpg
now im just waiting for my replacement KS v3.1 Rom to arrive.
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Inspired by another project I've seen recently, I knocked up this Colour ROM Switch sticker:
Hi-Res: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/ROM_Switch_01.png
When printing, I found is about perfect sizing is about 15% of original size.
and my quick and dirty temporary install: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-31%2021.12.48.jpg
Enjoy. :cool:
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Inspired by another project I've seen recently, I knocked up this Colour ROM Switch sticker:
Hi-Res: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/ROM_Switch_01.png
and here is a version shrunk to 15% of original (which I found is about perfect sizing):
Small: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/ROM_Switch_01s.png
and my quick and dirty install: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-31%2021.12.48.jpg
Enjoy. :cool:
You should have got the nifty and cotton buds out before you stuck that down. Lots of dust there djos!!!!.
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Yeah, that was just a test install, next version will be printed in highres on the colour laser at work :D
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Got my External CD-ROM yesterday and started work on it by gutting it and removing the Yammy SCSI CD-RW and replacing it with an IDE DVD-ROM Drive (they are shorter than most CD-ROM drives so give me more space to work with):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-03%2011.03.57.jpg
I then used the almost perfectly sized and positioned lower SCSI connector hole to mount my powered CF-IDE Adapter behind to so I can remove my CF Card. Last night I glued the mounts for the CF card in place and then this morning I removed the CF-Adapter and dremel'd the hole ever so slightly wider.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-03%2011.08.56.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-03%2011.04.23.jpg
Now im just waiting for my mini-itx power board, external power brick, my short IDE adapters and Miggy Power lead so I can finish this part of the project off. :cool:
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Woohoo, the postie just showed up with my replacement KS3.1 Rom! :D
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-03%2012.19.42.jpg
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Gratz! I very nice ongoing build!
Az
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Gratz! I very nice ongoing build!
Az
Cheers :)
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Some great fun read here, progressing quite nice, ill keep reading :)
Waiting for you to get your Pico-psu and see some more pics :)
Great work and effort tho, keep it up!
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Thanks Som :)
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Thanks Som :)
You made a decent deal on the Pico-PSU and AC/DC adapter also :)
Where I live I can order these two equivalent 150W PSU's w AC/DC adapter for 74 resp 80€
http://mini-itx.se/images/picoPsu150-XT-Kit-2.JPG
http://mini-itx.se/images/64-1.jpg
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Yeah it took a fair bit of searching to get a decent price and I even scored free shipping in the process! :)
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Just for kicks my Miggy went large tonight, 50" large to be precise! :D
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-04%2020.24.38.jpg
And without a scaler or flicker fixer too, turns out my Pioneer 50MXE20 professional plasma monitor supports 15khz via vga-RGB input.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-04%2020.25.45.jpg
:cool:
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I made myself a Null Modem cable today and got Amiga Explorer working (very handy tool) and for lol's I benchmarked my Miggy (it's faster than an A600 and slightly faster than an A2000):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-06%2018.31.33.jpg
and I've started playing one of my all time favorite games, Space Quest II:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-06%2019.26.18.jpg
(I'm much further along now - been playing for about an hour)
Oh and my Amiga Power Cable arrived today so just need the power supply components and some IDE connectors to show up and I'll be able to complete my DVD/CF-IDE/PSU Combo Drive. :D
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Epic score for me on Wednesday, I thought that back in '96 when I sold my original a500, I'd sold all my software with it ...... Well Apparently not, I just found an entire box of Miggy disks hiding in the Garage with my old IBM boxes of 3.5" disks!!!
Im absolutely amazed, somehow these disks have followed me from Adelaide in '97 to Sydney, back to Adelaide in 2000, then to Melbourne in Mid 2000, and then back to Adelaide in 2007!!! That's almost 5,000kms of travelling over 15 years and have lived in 11 houses!!!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-08%2016.06.25.jpg
Today was a good day too, I got some new cutting discs for my Dremel and did some more work on my DVD/CF-IDE/PSU Combo project. Also helping things along was the recent arrival of my Miggy power Cable.
First thing I did was dremel a hole into the bottom of the case so I can pull the IDE cable through (de-burred it etc so it wont cut the IDE cable):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-10%2015.19.21.jpg
and from the inside:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-10%2015.18.56.jpg
I also modded the section under the old power socket so the Miggy Power cord can be installed under it - Im actually recycling the Power socket and have removed all 3 pins. My intention is to drill a hole in the center of the socket and mount the 12v Power connector inside it.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-10%2016.00.10.jpg
and here's pretty much what it will look like when finished - the only thing missing externally is the 12v socket inside the old mains power socket:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-10%2016.18.40.jpg
So all I need now is the power Brick and pico PSU to arrive and im almost done. :D
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Awesome work! Nice use of the dremel too. Will be a very unique A500 setup when complete.
Az
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Awesome work! Nice use of the dremel too. Will be a very unique A500 setup when complete.
Az
Cheers, I like unique. ;)
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My pico PSU arrived the other day:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-13%2007.58.03.jpg
and last night I finally got a chance to do most of the wiring work (hadnt finished the heat-shrinking in this shot):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-13%2020.15.14.jpg
Amusingly I broke the ciggy lighter I usually use for heat shrinking (and burnt my thumb in the process - doh!) - this forced me to improvise so I tried the wife's hair dryer (not hot enuf to be useful). Then I realised my wife's GHD hair straightener might work - sure enuf it works brilliantly and quickly so i'll be using that to cure heat-shrink in future! (wife was pretty shocked when I told her as the GHD is about $300AUD - I had to show her that it didnt actually melt the HS and do any damage to the GHD.) :biglaugh:
I also decided to recycle the old removable power board tray and glued some thin wood risers in-place and the PSU board will be hot glued on top of these (when my glue gun arrives).
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-13%2014.25.02.jpg
and here is the pico PSU power socket mounted inside the old mains socket (I shortened the cable for this too as it's very stiff wire and took up extra room that I didn't want to waste):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-13%2009.51.49.jpg
I've also decided to change tactics with the connectivity to the External DVD/CF-IDE Drive - I realised the PATA cable isnt going to give me the freedom I want to move the a500 keyboard about on the desk when im using (as I like to do).
So to solve this problem I've found a solution that involves using IDE to SATA/eSATA adaptors so stay tuned for more info (ordered all the parts I need & cost less than $20AUD :D ) - I really hope my solution works (it's driverless so it should). :idea:
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Reading about your journey made me decide to start working on my poor A1200 :)
Now I can't wait for Amigakit and Vesalia to ship my goodies!
Thanks, and keep up the good work!
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Cool, feel free to post a link to your project so we dont miss it. :)
PS, Im currently drooling over the Zeus68k, I so want one when they are released (hope they are affordable!). http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=65047
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Cool, feel free to post a link to your project so we dont miss it. :)
PS, Im currently drooling over the Zeus68k, I so want one when they are released (hope they are affordable!). http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=65047
I will post it when all thing arrive :)
The Zeus is really nice but im waiting for the ACA-500, IDE with autoboot, 14MHz 020, and 2MB fast mem, BUT the best part is that you can use an aca-1220 with it = extra 128MB fastmem on the A500, that's just crazy!
I would put WHDLoad games in a ramdrive and just enjoy those games that are on tons of floppies like Monkey Island 2 on the A500 :D
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Yeah I've seen the ACA-500 and it's possibilities but I think it would be over $200AUD when combined with an ACA-1220 and im not sure I can justify the cost all in one go. :(
If the ACA-500 came with 8mb fast ram I'd be happy buying one and an ACA-1220 later on, but it comes with only 2mb which is lame imo.
Btw, everything i've read indicates the the ACA-500 comes with a plain-jane 68k, not an 020 or even and 010.
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There's always the Zeus68k option, which should give a 50MHz 68000 and 8MB fast ram.
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There's always the Zeus68k option, which should give a 50MHz 68000 and 8MB fast ram.
You mean the one I mentioned here: ;)
PS, Im currently drooling over the Zeus68k, I so want one when they are released (hope they are affordable!). http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=65047
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A shame the Zeus isn't at least a 68010 as from what I've read and witnessed on my a500 the quit key in WHDLoad doesn't work with the 68000... which was why I upgraded to a 68010 :-)
As for Monkey Island 1 and 2 I have that running very nicely with my current setup with WHDLoad :-)
Space quest series is the only one I'm having issues with speed wise.
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Agreed, I'm running an 010 myself and it definitely benchmarks well @ the same speed plus gives you the handy quit key you mentioned.
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You mean the one I mentioned here: ;)
Yup, that one! Must have missed that post. Still, it looks like a nice bit of hardware, especially if the price is right.
As for the 68010 - do Freescale manufacture them still? I guess the modern 68ks are still made, on a cheap but still relatively advanced process, hence the faster clock speeds.
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Yeah Im not really sure why they wouldn't use a 68010 unless they weren't available - i suppose compatibility might also be a factor?
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I got sick of having to manually remove the plug pack from my GBS-8220 so today I made this cable:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-16%2011.06.42.jpg
Using 3.5mm mono audio plug - I also installed a 3.5mm Mono audio socket into the DVD/PSU/CF-IDE combo using the 5v rail. This will allow me to turn all my Amiga gear on/off with a single switch. :cool:
I haven't actually installed the socket into the back of the Combo unit yet (hence no photo), as Im waiting for all my eSATA bits to arrive so I can decide where im installing them first.
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Nice work, great to have posts about classic gear :-)
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Arrrgh, finally got around to trying out the pico-psu on monday (my power brick arrived) and the darn thing is faulty, it worked for a few mins and then died and now it shuts itself down after being on for 2 seconds even if all im powering is a 12v fan!
I've lodged a request for a replacement board with the seller but it's very annoying as I cut my nicely soldered and heat-shrunk wiring loom to bits while trying to find the fault! :(
Btw, I have decided on one more change to my build tho, the CF-IDE is now going to live inside the 500 near the Trapdoor opening so I can get it out on the rare occasions I'll need to. This gives me more room in the DVD/PSU combo for my IDE-eSata conversion. :)
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Oh one more update, I realised while chatting to some other PAL a500 owners that my miggy was defaulting to NTSC output for some reason (explained why some games wouldnt play nice), and so after some investigation I discovered that the previous owner of my rev6 mobo had soldered JP4 closed.
So I de-soldered it and voila now it defaults correctly to PAL. :)
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Arrrgh, finally got around to trying out the pico-psu on monday (my power brick arrived) and the darn thing is faulty, it worked for a few mins and then died and now it shuts itself down after being on for 2 seconds even if all im powering is a 12v fan!
I've lodged a request for a replacement board with the seller but it's very annoying as I cut my nicely soldered and heat-shrunk wiring loom to bits while trying to find the fault! :(
Btw, I have decided on one more change to my build tho, the CF-IDE is now going to live inside the 500 near the Trapdoor opening so I can get it out on the rare occasions I'll need to. This gives me more room in the DVD/PSU combo for my IDE-eSata conversion. :)
I hope your PSU issues resolve, nice to see you keep up the good work, I would also put the CF/Converter near the trapdoor for ease of access :)
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Cheers, hopefully the seller will replace the PSU board.
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Finished converting my DVD-ROM/PSU Combo to eSATA this morning. :)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-08-30%2008.33.49.jpg
Just need to hookup an ATX PSU to test it all while waiting for a replacement Pico-PSU board.
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Looking good, I myself is thinking of going a similar route, since I got heat issues atm with my A1200 I guess I have to ditch the internal DVD mounting plans :/ So might steal some of your ideas ;)
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Go for it mate! :)
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I really liked the style of the power board i'd bought but have decided to give one of the below style pico-psu's a shot - on the plus side, they are tiny and cheap!
(http://www.kcheungshop.com/iwannebuy/pics/b_pc_board_cable_red_01.jpg)
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BN-12V-120W-DC-DC-MINI-ITX-ATX-Power-Supply-Car-Vehicle-/330579617831?pt=AU_CablesConnectors&hash=item4cf814a827#ht_1973wt_906
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That's the style I have which are more like the official PICO brand. Works really well :-)
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Good to hear, the nice big solder pads on the PCB should make life easier too. :cool:
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I got Lazy today and ordered an Amgia/pico-PSU adaptor. :D
http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/designs/Amiga_ATX_Adaptor/amiga_atx_adaptor.html
Pic: http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/designs/Amiga_ATX_Adaptor/picoPSU_connected.jpg
$20aud shipped and less hassles = a good deal imo :cool:
I also have Kipper2k's rev5 autoconfig 8mb a500 ram board arriving soon - It has a second socket which will allow me to move the IDE68k away from the keyboard and especially the CPU as i've found having an IDE cable draped across a CPU = overheating after about an hour. :p
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Nice, I would like to have one of those 8MB boards for my A500 :)
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Kipper is selling them via AmiBay and his own site:
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=32896&page=25
This is the PCB for the Rev5 Board:
(http://kipper2k.com/amiga/a500/a500rev5.jpg)
I intend to install my IDE68k into the horizontal socket above the Ram.
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Kipper is selling them via AmiBay and his own site:
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=32896&page=25
I know, I just can't start another project now when im not even finished with my A1200 :P So by the time im done maybe ill see the ACA500 and ACA1220 for the A500 :)
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I know, I just can't start another project now when im not even finished with my A1200 :P So by the time im done maybe ill see the ACA500 and ACA1220 for the A500 :)
:D
yeah I know what you mean, I intend to get an a1200 for my next project but funds and SWMBO wont allow me atm and my a500 isnt finished yet either! :S
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You "NEED" more than one of each Amiga, so find the funds for more and more machines and upgrades!
Yeah I speak from experience....... I'm in the enviable place of having too much Amiga stuff :)
Az
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Lol, I completely agree! :D
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I just moved house, I have so much Commodore and Amiga stuff its nearly ridiculous, last count was 17x monitors! 1081,1084, 1701, 1702, 1802 etc
wayyyyyy too much really... some work, some don't and some I have never tested :)
Az
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That is nuts! :D
PS, I take donations. ;)
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That is nuts! :D
PS, I take donations. ;)
1+ me to ;)
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I must say a 1084s would sure be nice. :cool:
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Forgot the 1960 monitor hooked up to one of my A1200, NEC 3D hooked to another A1200 when I get new house organised.
Yeah, I do have a few too many Amiga monitors, as said previous, some in shed for storage now and I have not even checked they work!!
Well, if you ever drive past Benalla, Ned Kelly country in north east Vic I might donate a 1084 to a worthy Amiga user :)
az
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What would shipping to lil old Adelaide for a 1084s cost? :D
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But postage would not be the same as face to face show all my cool Amiga + Commodore stuff to another user :)
And you might end up with some extra's if you had a car to fill with bits n pieces!
Got a box or 3 filled with C64's n 1541-11's etc
Az
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Lol, RoadTrip! :D
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I have Lurch to thank for me finally getting hold of a rev8a replacement board (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?p=706632#post706632) making my 500+ a real 500+ again (when it arrives)! :cool:
In a couple of weeks I'll have a full ECS Rev6a PAL a500 board for sale if anyone is interested - I can also change it to NTSC with a solder blob if desired and it has the chip-ram mod to convert trapdoor to chip-ram. If you are interested PM me.
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For Sale? Who sells their Amiga stuff???? Mind Boggles :)
Keep the Rev6a for when the Rev8 dies a mysterious death ie, agnus socket craps itself! They tend to do this during hot Aussie summers
Az
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Who am kidding, spare it is! ;)
EDIT: my pico-psu and adapter showed up today and they are tiny and will work great - I hope to install them into and fire up my external PSU/DVD combo tonight and maybe test out my sata ideas too. :)
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Arggh!! My luck with tiny power supplies seems to suck, I think my 12v 10a power brick is either faulty or not delivering enuf juice for the pico PSU and as a result it doesnt work! :(
I hooked up a trusty old full ATX PSU to my PSU-Miggy adapter and everything works fine so im confident my wiring is good.
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Well ignoring my PSU project issues, i have had some success finally getting my CF-IDE to play nice and operate at decent speeds etc (PFS3 was the answer).
I've also changed Kickstart switchers to an all-in-one unit which will fit under Kippers 8MB automount Ram board I have on order (other one I have is too tall as it sits in the socket with both roms mounted on top).
New KS Switcher/ROM and CF-IDE Installed: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-09-15%2010.21.58.jpg
Installing ClassicWB (actually works now): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-09-15%2010.24.54.jpg
One issue i've come across, that I can replicate in WinUAE too, and is a PITA on my real miggy is with the non-automount ram board from tomthul; ClassicWB boots up perfectly without the autoaddram command in the S:startup-sequence file, but If i put the C:autoaddram command into the S:startup-sequence file I get an "intuition is trying to reset WB" error and when WB appears my icons are the wrong colour.
It doesnt seem to matter where I put the C:autoaddram command either, I still get the error, the only time I dont is if I run autoaddram after WB has finished booting with results in bugger all chip-ram left and WB is a lot slower because it's not in fast ram.
Any Ideas folks?
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Can you please copy n paste your startup-sequence here so we can see what you do/don't have??
Az
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Can you please copy n paste your startup-sequence here so we can see what you do/don't have??
Az
Here you go:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Startup-Sequence.txt
I tried putting it right at the end just before the "C:LoadWB" command and that so far is the only place that doesnt seem to cause the issue - It does result in only 300-400k of chip-ram left.
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Is the autoaddram command fully resident? I mean it exits without screwing up A0-A4 or D0-D7 registers when it exits back to the command line after executing?
Intuition is different between KS1.3 and KS2.04+ due to the primary colour pallet it assigns to the WB from within the preferences file. KS1.3 is limited to 4 colours if I remember correct with its LoadWB command.
With ClassicWB it assigns 8 colours to WorkBench and therefore Intuition as well. Have you tried to copy preferences from a WB1.3 disk onto the HD to see if this allows the autoaddram to exit without forcing Intuition to reset?
Maybe you could also try these commands
c:autoaddram >NIL:
to collect any junk pointers left on the stack at program exit
I also notice that
If exists c:stackattack
is in the startup-sequence twice, is this needed? Not sure why it would be so maybe remark one instance out and try?
Hope this helps
Az
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Thanks Az I'll have a play and see what happens.
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Is the autoaddram command fully resident? I mean it exits without screwing up A0-A4 or D0-D7 registers when it exits back to the command line after executing?
Intuition is different between KS1.3 and KS2.04+ due to the primary colour pallet it assigns to the WB from within the preferences file. KS1.3 is limited to 4 colours if I remember correct with its LoadWB command.
With ClassicWB it assigns 8 colours to WorkBench and therefore Intuition as well. Have you tried to copy preferences from a WB1.3 disk onto the HD to see if this allows the autoaddram to exit without forcing Intuition to reset?
Maybe you could also try these commands
c:autoaddram >NIL:
to collect any junk pointers left on the stack at program exit
I also notice that
If exists c:stackattack
is in the startup-sequence twice, is this needed? Not sure why it would be so maybe remark one instance out and try?
Hope this helps
Az
Nice calls mate, moved c:autoaddram to the top, added >NIL: and deleted the first lot of StackAttack (second one had the auto option so kept that) and I no longer get that intutition error and I have over 500kb chip ram free. :)
Now I just need my autoconfig 8mb ram board and it'll be even better.
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Cool, glad I could help. The autoaddram program should leave you with more chip ram, because most programs/buffers should go into the fast ram first.
If I remember correctly there was a small utility program available on Aminet that forced exec library to use memory from the top down, ie, force more programs to use fast ram when available.
Can't remember the name tho... sorry
Oh, at the bottom of your s:startup sequence you should probably have c:avail flush command to give us much memory to workbench as possible.
Az
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Cheers Az, I'll add that one in too. :)
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okies found the util I used to have for memory allocation from Aminet
util/sys/PoolMem.lha
use the "nochip" option to help force more programs into fastram :)
Az
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okies found the util I used to have for memory allocation from Aminet
util/sys/PoolMem.lha
use the "nochip" option to help force more programs into fastram :)
Az
You're the the man, I'll try it tonight. :cool:
Btw, I have my 68010 on top of toms 8mb fast-ram board which is on-top of Mika's IDE68k and I've found after about an hour my system get's too hot and crashes - all the major chips are pretty warm (68010 & Denise in-particular) so I've ordered some self-adhesive aluminium Ram Heatsinks to help keep the major chips cool (I dont want to install fans if I can help it). :)
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When I was installing 6X A1200's into 19inch rack mount systems we had many over heating problems. Lisa usually was the hottest custom chip.
Small heat sinks on top the custom chips solved most heat related problems. Use very small heat sinks, compound and use hot-melt glue on the corners to hold the sink in place.
Az
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When I was installing 6X A1200's into 19inch rack mount systems we had many over heating problems. Lisa usually was the hottest custom chip.
Small heat sinks on top the custom chips solved most heat related problems. Use very small heat sinks, compound and use hot-melt glue on the corners to hold the sink in place.
Az
I reckon the self adhesive should be fine, its come a long way in the last 10 years.
Btw, i tried poolmem and it doesnt seem to make any difference using the NOCHIP option, I havent really tried any other options yet tho.
Not a big deal tho as I have a rev8a board and 1mb trapdoor ram board on the way and will soon have 2mb chip ram + 8mb autoconfig fast ram. :cool:
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I have Lurch to thank for me finally getting hold of a rev8a replacement board (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?p=706632#post706632) making my 500+ a real 500+ again (when it arrives)
Glad I could help you spend some money ;-) 2MB Chip RAM is the way to go, WHDLoad works great on an A500+
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Hehe, good thing my wife has no idea how much I've spent or I'd be dead! :D
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What will your wife say when you mention "honey I'm driving to north east victoria to pick up some Amiga stuff" :)
Az
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What will your wife say when you mention "honey I'm driving to north east victoria to pick up some Amiga stuff" :)
Az
Don't come back! :D
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Well folks I got all the various bits I needed to try making my 500+ work with sata/e-sata but unfortunately even after trying every trick in the book I couldn't even get my Miggy to boot from my CF card let alone work with the external DVD-ROM!
I strongly suspect the limitations are caused the IDE68K adapter which doesnt seem to like having anything other than a "master" device connected. I couldnt even get my CF-IDE and DVD rom to play nice using stock IDE connections. :(
Oh well, for now Im just going to run with my 25watt Amiga power brick and a basic config and not worry about having a higher powered PSU and External DVD drive.
I'll prolly get a Zeus68k accelerator when they come out and revisit my experiments then but for now my 500+ does make a great little WHDload Machine as is (been playing the Space Quest Series again and loving it!).
:cool:
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Well folks I got all the various bits I needed to try making my 500+ work with sata/e-sata but unfortunately even after trying every trick in the book I couldn't even get my Miggy to boot from my CF card let alone work with the external DVD-ROM!
I strongly suspect the limitations are caused the IDE68K adapter which doesnt seem to like having anything other than a "master" device connected. I couldnt even get my CF-IDE and DVD rom to play nice using stock IDE connections. :(
:cool:
I bet if you installed OS 3.9 it would work! Save those things for a proper computer. The A2000 ;)
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It's an IDE68k HW limitation, not software - everything lights up and is active but KS3.1 cant recognise the CF Drive on the sata bus. If the IDE68k was a buffered IDE device it would most probably work fine.
I'd have a 4000 if I could afford one! :D
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Got my RamSinks today and promptly installed them in varying quantities on all the major chips although I did have to remove the one closest to the camera from the 68010 as it prevented my keyboard from sitting all the way down:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-09-26%2018.43.52.jpg
and to see if they fix my overheating problem (was only lasting for about an hour before crashing) I have SWIV on Floppy currently looping it's intro screens and music. :D
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WoooHooo, overheating problem sorted! After an 1/2 an hour of looping the SWIV intro then extracting a highly compressed zip (a Demo) and then running the demo via WHDLoad for about 40mins (Fairlight & Virtual Dreams) my Miggy is still 100% stable.
I checked the RamSinks and most of them are very very warm so they are clearly doing their job of extracting heat from the chips. :cool:
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What did you use to stick the sinks on the ram chips?
I use "Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive" to fix heatsinks, it's permanent but it does the job a lot better then sticky heat pads that some use :)
Just a tip, good tho that you sorted it out :)
(http://www.quietpc.com/images/products/as-silveradhesive.jpg)
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What did you use to stick the sinks on the ram chips?
I use "Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive" to fix heatsinks, it's permanent but it does the job a lot better then sticky heat pads that some use :)
Just a tip, good tho that you sorted it out :)
(http://www.quietpc.com/images/products/as-silveradhesive.jpg)
I've read that the thermal tape does quite a good job really. Although I haven't tried it myself yet. Positive point about the thermal tape is that it can be removed like you say. I'd be too much of a wimp to use the permenant solution. :nervous:
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What did you use to stick the sinks on the ram chips?
I use "Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive" to fix heatsinks, it's permanent but it does the job a lot better then sticky heat pads that some use :)
Just a tip, good tho that you sorted it out :)
The RamSinks I bought have very thin adhesive thermal pads on them and are more than good enuf - 2mins after switching off my 500+ the formerly hot RamSinks where cool to the touch. Interestingly my case around the CPU/Denise area used to get warm to the touch, now the RamSinks are doing such a good job of transferring the heat into the air that my case no longer feels warm at all. :)
Considering the Miggy's chips where designed for use without heatsinks, I dont believe there is any need for a higher quality thermal adhesive. :cool:
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I'd been having some major speed issues with my IDE68k (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=62621) which I've now resolved and I suspect that I may be able to get my 500+ use sata now, so stay tuned, it may work after all! :D
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I ordered some clear 3mm thick acrylic the other day and a cutting tool to make a nice little stand for my GBS-8220 ScanDoubler/Scaler. I think it turned out quite well as it's very stable and the VGA cable doesn't cause it to tip backwards any more - but I may make some improvements (use some different stand-offs and maybe makes sides and a top for it):
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-10-05%2020.40.55.jpg)
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The Amiga is now a full A500Plus with 2meg chip ram?
Az
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I've got the 1mb trapdoor card, still waiting for my replacement rev8a board tho - hopefully it will show up this week.
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Arrrgh, still waiting for my rev8a board :(
I also have one of Kippers 8mb auto config boards on the way and I bought some 20pin IC sockets for my rev6a board as im going to move the extra 512k from the trapdoor card to the Mainboard (because I can). :D
I've also ordered a bulk lot of resistors (I was completely out of them) with the intention of modding my video lead that connects to my GBS-8220 - the intent is to try to remove or reduce the slight ghosting issues using Ian Steadman's "LCD Fix" schematic (just the 330ohm resistor on Composite-sync as Im not using the 12/5v DC outputs).
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/SCART_cable_with_LCD_Fix.png)
Once all that's done I prolly wont be doing much to my miggy aside from using it as I need to be a bit more cautious with how I spend my "tech allowance" due to our second Bub now on the way (due May 2013). :cool:
PS, I will still keep an eye out for the a500 accelerators that are currently in development and one of those is likey to be my last purchase for a while.
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Update time!
last week I got my resistors and added a 330 ohm resistor to pin 10 (as per previous post) but unfortunately it made no noticeable difference to the slight ghosting the GBS-8220 produces. I left the resistor in place seeing as it doesn't make things worse either.
I ordered a stack of mini-toggle switches recently too as I want to be able to turn on and off my GBS-8220 with having to pull its power cord out all the time (and I've iced the external PSU/DVD combo project for now) and I also want to be able to disable my A1010 without removing the cable from the back of my Miggy (thus reducing wear and tear).
Despite having spent the day in hospital having core samples removed from my liver (thank god for the drugs!), I fired up the soldering iron and hot glue gun tonight and did the power switch mod to the GBS-8220 and Im pretty happy with the result (hopefully it's not just the drugs). :p I also changed the PCB feet to some much nicer looking units. :)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/IMG_1089.JPG)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-11-09%2021.50.45.jpg)
Yay it works!
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-11-09%2021.54.09.jpg)
It's a fairly crude mod and im blaming the drugs Mmmmkay! :D
Btw, I never did get that Rev8a Mobo and because I was too patient and waited longer than 45days, (UK shipping can be 4-8 weeks), eBay are being douche bags and wont help.
I suspect the a$$hat never sent it as he has a pretty bad feedback rep (stupid me never checked it prior to purchase). Anyway I've now asked my Bank CC dept for my $50 back and ordered another Rev8a board - this time from a Seller with a top rating!
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I bought a KCS Power PC Board today - It should be really handy having a full XT PC with SoundBlaster & Adlib Support inside my 500+ :D
http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=333
http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/powerpc
I believe I got the v4.2 500 edition not the 500+ plus version so im not sure if it'll work with a Rev8a Board (there is a plus model too I discovered). If it doesnt work with the rev8a board I'll build a second a500 with my spare Rev6a board specifically for it. :D
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Looks like you've been busy, good luck with A500+ board purchase! ;-)
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Looks like you've been busy, good luck with A500+ board purchase! ;-)
Cheers, hopefully I'll actually get this one! :p
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Cheers, hopefully I'll actually get this one! :p
BTW - the PC board looks pretty cool.
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BTW - the PC board looks pretty cool.
Yeah I saw it on fleabay for $68 and couldn't resist as I'd read about them in various places as being quite a neat solution.
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I scored a Roland MT-32 MIDI Synth Module for $41USD today from Fleabay!
I've wanted one of these ever since Sierra started supporting them in their Quest Series of Games! :D
I'll have to keep a look out for Amiga MIDI Modules now (I have a USB-MIDI adapter for my PC already)!
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My wife is gonna kill me, I just scored a sealed German a500 with KS v1.2 shipped for $60 from fleabay to use as my "DOS" Amiga Box - somehow I think she will notice that I now have 2 Amiga's! :p
Im hoping it's a Rev5 Mobo in it (not a rev3) so I can pinch the US layout Keyboard for my 500+ (I really dont like the stupid UK layout). :D
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Hmmmmm, trying to decide whether I go CF-IDE68k or HxC for my 2nd Miggy ..... might be nice to have it really stock with 512kb chip Ram & 512kb Ranger Ram and play games and demos from ADF files on SD card. :p
EDIT: thinking about it more, I will prolly solder an extra 512kb ram to the mobo for 1mb chip ram.
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My wife is gonna kill me, I just scored a sealed German a500 with KS v1.2 shipped for $60 from fleabay to use as my "DOS" Amiga Box - somehow I think she will notice that I now have 2 Amiga's! :p
Im hoping it's a Rev5 Mobo in it (not a rev3) so I can pinch the US layout Keyboard for my 500+ (I really dont like the stupid UK layout). :D
Nice work, thats a good price!
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Hmmmmm, trying to decide whether I go CF-IDE68k or HxC for my 2nd Miggy ..... might be nice to have it really stock with 512kb chip Ram & 512kb Ranger Ram and play games and demos from ADF files on SD card. :p
EDIT: thinking about it more, I will prolly solder an extra 512kb ram to the mobo for 1mb chip ram.
Whats the difference between the CF-IDE68k or HxC ? I'm not really upto speed on my A500 expansions.
On a different topic, are you thinking about connecting your A500+ to your home LAN? I know you weren't keen on the ACA500 but I think Jens is thinking of adding a NIC at some stage.
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Whats the difference between the CF-IDE68k or HxC ? I'm not really upto speed on my A500 expansions.
On a different topic, are you thinking about connecting your A500+ to your home LAN? I know you weren't keen on the ACA500 but I think Jens is thinking of adding a NIC at some stage.
CF-IDE68k is just an IDE add-on + CF adapter (a600 gayle emulation) and HxC is a floppy emulator that uses images stored on an SD card:
http://torlus.com/floppy/
I havent bothered with networking, until something decent comes out I just put my CF cards into WinUAE and copy stuff that way.
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Nice work, thats a good price!
Considering it's coming from Germany I was stoked with the shipping, normally something like that would cost $70-$100aud to ship so im not complaining that it was $60 all up. :D
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Doh, I thought 20euros was a bit cheap for shipping, seller just asked for another 40euros!
.... and I really want this 500 so I paid it even tho its obviously his mistake. :(
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Yay some toys arrived today! Got my a500 extension board and 8mb fast-ram board today from Kipper and they work great!
Getting a bit crowded in here now! :D
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Photo%2016-11-12%2011%2049%2010%20AM.jpg)
So I decided to mount my CF-Reader facing out so I can remove the card when I want to transfer files:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Photo%2016-11-12%202%2010%2054%20PM.jpg)
Much Better, now I can easily remove it to copy files around! :cool:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Photo%2016-11-12%202%2012%2002%20PM.jpg)
I also got a prototype 1mb/2mb Trapdoor card from TomThul for use with a3000 2mb agnus chips (8372B and 8372AB) that have been transplanted into a500's with rev6 Mobo's - as this is a prototype it isnt working 100% atm ... yet. :)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-11-15%2022.52.14.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-11-15%2015.48.15.jpg)
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looks like spaghetti inside your case
tho nice new shiny pcb's have been stuck inside as well :)
nice A500 system you have now...
so, what is the next project? :)
Az
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oh, djos if you need a spare a500 keyboard USA layout let me know
I have about 6 of them lying un-used in my shed
can have for postage :)
Az
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looks like spaghetti inside your case
tho nice new shiny pcb's have been stuck inside as well :)
nice A500 system you have now...
so, what is the next project? :)
Az
Cheers :)
My next project is my second a500 which is getting a KCS Power PC (not PPC, XT PC trapdoor card) installed and I'll prolly put a HxC into the FDD bay and just run KS1.3 only in it - although I do have a couple of space KS Switchers and spare roms of various versions lying around that I could use (might do a 1.2/1.3 setup). :p
oh, djos if you need a spare a500 keyboard USA layout let me know
I have about 6 of them lying un-used in my shed
can have for postage :)
Az
That would be awesome, how much is postage for one to Adelaide, 5039?
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Finally my replacement rev8a board arrived (on a Saturday too - nice one AusPost!) and while it had a small amount of battery acid damage, it had been rescued in time and works perfectly!
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-11-17%2013.40.56.jpg)
This cap needs to be relocated so I can install my fast-ram board:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-11-17%2013.53.41.jpg)
sorted including mount points for Gayle emulation by the side-car connector:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-11-17%2014.27.18.jpg)
everything now installed :cool: :
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-11-17%2015.37.18.jpg)
and my 500 is now a true 500+ again and has 2MB chip-ram: :D
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-11-17%2015.43.59.jpg)
The last two days have been very productive, Im so happy with the current state of my 500+ that I did up the case screws once everything was confirmed to be working! :p
PS, I also told my wife a bought a 2nd 500 which went down surprisingly well - this was prolly helped by the fact that i "forgot" to mention the cost of shipping. :D
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Some nice chip and fast ram numbers :)
Cute little cpu adapter you have there
Az
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Awesome! There isnt many A500+'s in Australia. I think I've only seen 1 on ebay Australia in the last 5 years.
In my opinion the A500+ was one of the nicest Amiga's ever made.
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Some nice chip and fast ram numbers :)
Cute little cpu adapter you have there
Az
Cheers. :)
Yeah it is neat. I had asked kipper to make a version of the 8mb fast-ram board that moved the CPU away from the keyboard so there was room to install an IDE68k as well. he then came up with the idea of the adapter as he was already making an adapter for his ram board to fit into a1000's without blocking the floppy connector.
Needless to say it works great and made mounting my cf-card reader easier too. :)
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Awesome! There isnt many A500+'s in Australia. I think I've only seen 1 on ebay Australia in the last 5 years.
In my opinion the A500+ was one of the nicest Amiga's ever made.
Cheers. I had to import mine from the UK - I'm not sure they where ever officially sold here.
Me too, IMO it's the pinnacle of the consumer ECS/OCS Amiga's, the only thing that let it down, back in the day, was the 2.04 rom.
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Ahem... A3000 was the pinnacle ECS machine :)
Az
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Ahem... A3000 was the pinnacle ECS machine :)
Az
I did clarify with the word consumer. :) the 3k was a business machine IMO.
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Just noticed your wb screenshot and since I have also A500 setup, I would suggest that you install MCP 68000 version and turn on no icon borders.
Doesn't take much resourses or memory, but makes it look much better
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Just noticed your wb screenshot and since I have also A500 setup, I would suggest that you install MCP 68000 version and turn on no icon borders.
Doesn't take much resourses or memory, but makes it look much better
To be honest I like wb3.1 just the way it is. :cool:
Btw, dose anyone know the best way to change a partition to FAT without killing the remaining PFS partitions? Obviously I'll lose anything on the partition I want to change to FAT but that's fine with me.
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Got my German a500 last week and last night finally got a chance to take out the rev5 mobo and drop in my rev6.
I had to do some work on the Rev6 cause i'd been using it to experiment with (Agnus 8372AB + 2mb trapdoor card from TomThul) - basically I reverted it back to stock with trapdoor as "Slow Ram" as im going to install a HxC SD Card Floppy emulator in it (ordered that the other day with Blue LCD) and I want maximum game compatibility.
While reverting it I managed to destroy one of the solder pads at JP7 (DOH!) but luckily it was the one closest to the bottom of the board and I was able to drop a patching wire down a connector hole in the trace and connect it to the middle JP7 solder pad. I still have no idea how I destroyed the solder pad!
I also soldered in 4 DIPP sockets so I have the option of taking chip ram to 1Mb but discovered the keyboard wont go all the way down with ram chips in it! I think if dremel the square edge off the top of the chips the keyboard should go down properly.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Photo%203-12-12%209%2004%2045%20AM.jpg)
Anyway so it's all working perfectly now and I was playing SWIV till quite Late and also played with a few Aussie Demos from my original Amiga software collection - anyone remember these two? :biglaugh:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-12-02%2022.09.20.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-12-02%2022.15.08.jpg)
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I Thought this is a new thread :D sorry but anyway my post might be useful...there you go:
A very talented man in Sweden does similar stuff unfortunately I do know know him in detials but he might be a user here as well! Check out his magic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0Qbrs_3Gk&feature=plcp
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Rings a bell, Public Domain software?
I do remember playing SWIV till my thumbs almost dropped off! Ironically with a joystick similar to Ammojammo's post.
I probably had it but it probably got thrown out with all my other stuff years ago:(
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Rings a bell, Public Domain software?
I do remember playing SWIV till my thumbs almost dropped off! Ironically with a joystick similar to Ammojammo's post.
I probably had it but it probably got thrown out with all my other stuff years ago:(
They are the Steve Vizard and Derryn Hinch demo's from around 1990 by an Aussie demo scene group called Decay! :D
Steve Vizard Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgL53qxAIYk
Derryn Hinch Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq5dCniC8NI
SWIV's awesome but I suck at it and play with all cheats on! :lol:
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I Thought this is a new thread :D sorry but anyway my post might be useful...there you go:
A very talented man in Sweden does similar stuff unfortunately I do know know him in detials but he might be a user here as well! Check out his magic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj0Qbrs_3Gk&feature=plcp
Wow, some impressive skills there! I was being lazy and just replaced the board as mine had far more damage than the one he fixed.
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Got my KCS Power PC Board (XT PC Board, rev 4.2) for my 2nd a500 a few days ago.
More info:
http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showha...cgi?HARDID=333
http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/powerpc
I've read the manual but it's not very helpful and doesn't even explain what the "123" jumper is for!
I had to clean the trapdoor connector several times with Isopropyl before the board became stable - I also cut off the battery as it was completely dead. I might put a new one on in a proper coin holder later.
So once I got it working properly it works great, I found the v4.5 disk which made a big difference as 3.5 would only work in CGA mode. Anyhoo I ran a few tests and fired up SQ2 for fun:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-12-10%2009.37.44.jpg)
CheckIt 2.0:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-12-10%2009.36.07.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-12-10%2009.49.07.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-12-10%2009.39.37.jpg)
Space Quest ][:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-12-10%2011.44.51.jpg)
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Cool, have you tried any other programs?
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I also soldered in 4 DIPP sockets so I have the option of taking chip ram to 1Mb but discovered the keyboard wont go all the way down with ram chips in it! I think if dremel the square edge off the top of the chips the keyboard should go down properly.
Have you thought about putting in low profile dip sockets?
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I also soldered in 4 DIPP sockets so I have the option of taking chip ram to 1Mb but discovered the keyboard wont go all the way down with ram chips in it! I think if dremel the square edge off the top of the chips the keyboard should go down properly.
It's not worth the effort, if you populate it then you can't have a trapdoor expansion & that means no real time clock. Besides, you can use the trapdoor expansion for 1mb of chip ram.
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Cool, have you tried any other programs?
Not yet, im going to try DOS 6.2 but until Kipper to starts making the a500 Fast-Ram plus CF-IDE boards (as the v4.5 KCS software supports Gayle IDE) i'll prolly not do anything too serious.
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Have you thought about putting in low profile dip sockets?
I hadn't but it's not something im bothered by, was more for fun. I'll keep things as is but plan to add 4mb of real fast-ram as mentioned above.
It's not worth the effort, if you populate it then you can't have a trapdoor expansion & that means no real time clock. Besides, you can use the trapdoor expansion for 1mb of chip ram.
I have 1mb on my KCS Power PC trapdoor card and that makes 512k available as slow ram + an optional 512k battery-backed RAD disk.
I need to put a new battery on the board tho as the old one was dead (thankfully it was a lithium, not a nicad).
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My "HxC RevC SD Floppy Drive" arrived yesterday! :D
works great too during my limited testing! :cool:
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and here it is in action:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-12-21%2020.53.34.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-12-21%2020.53.11.jpg)
I just need to dig up a longer FDD cable from my "junk" collection and install it internally. :)
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Why can't I see it in action ? :-)
Have had one for over a year now well worth getting. :-)
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Why can't I see it in action ? :-)
Cant you see the drive activity light on while loading WB1.3?
Have had one for over a year now well worth getting. :-)
Can you explain to me how I queue up several disks for multi disk games when using the autoboot manager? (I dont mean load 1 disk in df0 and one in df1, that's easy)
EDIT, never mind, I worked out the slot system ... eventually :p
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I have 1mb on my KCS Power PC trapdoor card and that makes 512k available as slow ram + an optional 512k battery-backed RAD disk.
You should be able to make the 512k slot into chip, by cutting/joining some traces. However I wouldn't bother, it's more compatible having it as slow ram anyway.
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I know and compatibility is what I want for this machine. This one is going to be dedicated ks1.3 machine but I'm getting a custom 1.3 rom burned with a 2.05 scsi.device burned in so I can have a hdd too for multi-disk & hdd native games.
I'm might even sell my 500+ as this machine is giving me a great retro experiance :-)
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Wow, the HxC sure is flexible, I was able to put DOS disk images (.imz) on my SD card for my KCS Power PC Board and they work perfectly too!
Brilliant!!! :D
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Cant you see the drive activity light on while loading WB1.3?
None of the pictures were loading for some reason. Loading now though. I still don't think the website is 100%
Can you explain to me how I queue up several disks for multi disk games when using the autoboot manager? (I dont mean load 1 disk in df0 and one in df1, that's easy)
EDIT, never mind, I worked out the slot system ... eventually :p
LOL yeah takes a bit to work out the slot thing, I've setup mine to change disk when I remove and put the sd card back in so I don't have to cut anymore holes in my case. Have extended the LCD so will eventually install it on the other side opposite where the floppy drive is :-)
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I built a lower shelf today for my Roland MT-32 Synth and Amiga external Drive (missing its mechanism atm), it's a bit rough but works great! :)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-12-29%2014.29.39.jpg
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My a500 project is coming along nicely now, I finally got around to mounting the HxC internally which required making a longer power cable and floppy cable (easy stuff) - luckily my a500 was supplied with an Epson FDD mounted on a tray (instead of stupid oversize Chinon style case) and a couple of old pc stand-offs did the trick nicely:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-01-13%2013.57.58.jpg)
The SD card even sticks out of the FDD slot perfectly after I removed a small amount of plastic:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-01-13%2014.34.01.jpg)
Today I ordered a bunch of momentary switchs, prototype boards and female headers so I can relocate the Display and switches to the top of the case. I also ordered 2 replacement Capacitor kits for my a500's yesterday to make sure my Miggy's live long and prosper ... so stay tuned. :D
I've also got a custom KS rom being made for me by the chap that supplied my dual rom for my a500+ - it'll be dual rom too but the KS1.3 rom will be patched with the SCSi Driver from KS3.1 so I can install a CF-HD and run it under WB1.3 for Adventure games etc.
Btw, I removed the KCS Power PC board as found I wasnt really using it now that I have DosBox working with my Roland MT-32 on my PC so I'll prolly sell it. Pm me if interested. :cool:
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Got a few mins tonight to start modding the a500 case and finished installing the display into the top of the case. :)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-01-13%2021.44.31.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-01-13%2021.46.37.jpg)
Im not completely happy with the exposed hole and might see If I can find a bezel to cover it like some others have done on their Amiga's. I also found some slightly taller standoffs for the HxC which makes it easier to get the SD Card out of the FDD slot. I just need the switches etc to show up now so I can finish the HxC work off. Im also considering adding a toggle switch to enable/disable the 2nd virtual Floppy drive for when I want to plug in my a1010.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-01-13%2021.49.52.jpg)
Next upgrade will be one of the a500 CF-IDE Adapters Kipper is working on and a 4mb fast ram card although I do have one of TomThuls 8mb cards lying about and might use that instead.
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I finally came across an a520 Modulator on fleabay for a decent price ($15) and so I grabbed it - I also ordered a couple of packs of assorted capacitors and a few S-Video Jacks ($3 for 3) as this will be my next Amiga side project.
When they all arrive i'll be modding the a520 for S-Video output so I have some more portability without dragging my GBS-8220 around. :)
I found the plans for the mod over here: http://members.iinet.net.au/~davem2/overclock/a520.html
Dave uses the existing RCA jacks to supply the Y/C but I'll be installing a proper S-Video jack for better ease of use. :)
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Case looks great Derek! Are you really considering selling the A500+ ?
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Thanks Ben, TBH prolly not although if I came across a suitable and affordable a1200 then I would consider it more seriously.
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I got a Bag full of Amiga Caps today and an a520 too - Faaark the Picture on those is BAD and the colours suck too!
This Pic actually makes it look far better than it really is!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-01-22%2019.46.01.jpg
Anyway modding for s-video should be fun. :)
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I scored a Mitsubishi Diamond Digital DV191B 19" LCD Monitor (Black) from fleabay today for the auction starting price ($20) because it was pickup only from Victor Harbour (which is 1hr south of Adelaide and apparently too damn far to drive :p ) and I'll be there next weekend with family so I can pick it up then!
This monitor officially supports 24kHz-80kHz (lower then the normal 31kHz) so im hoping it might also unofficially support 15kHz too. *fingers crossed*
http://www.mitsubishielectric.com.au/1578.htm
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I started making the extension cables for my HxC last night, I got the connectors for the display all nicely soldered onto a prototype board, then soldered on the extension cables, then put some hot glue over the cables to add strength when I realised I'd made the damn cables too short!
*facepalm*
:p
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*smacks you back of the head*
Measure twice, cut once :)
Az
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*smacks you back of the head*
Measure twice, cut once :)
Az
Yeah my enthusiasm got the better of me! :D
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So I tried out Ian Stedman's latest video cable design (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/SCART_cable_with_LCD_Fix_v2.png) (It add's 3x 220uF 10v Caps to the RGB Lines) and the result was quite good, a slight but noticeable improvement in PQ - Less vertical banding and a little less motion artefacts around the mouse when using my GBS-8220.
I even managed to fit it inside the Connector shell! :D
Not my best soldering work (I've re-used that connector a few time hence the mess) but you can't see it inside the shell so I dont care! :p
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-01%2010.30.43.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-01%2010.34.28.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-01%2010.35.22.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-01%2010.39.18.jpg)
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Did some more work tonight - I started by making some nice long extension cables for the display which worked great this time around. I still need to trim the ProtoBoards with my dremel (which is why they are shown installed back-to-front) but im really happy with the results: :)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-01%2021.14.38.jpg)
Temporary Install for testing:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-01%2021.22.33.jpg)
Yay, it works!:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-01%2021.26.06.jpg)
So now All I need to do is wire-up and Install the switches! :cool:
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You seem to be a happy little vegemite :)
Getting close to the end of this project... anything new on the horizon?
Az
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djos : Your pictures links seems to be broken.
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Nice work, I love to see your updates, I keep reading :) The picture looks good from the photo :)
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You seem to be a happy little vegemite :)
Getting close to the end of this project... anything new on the horizon?
Az
Yep it's been a lot of fun and almost finished now, just need a custom 1.3 rom with the 3.1 scsi.device on it and a cf ide68k to finish it off.
For the next project I may have ordered an a1200 from Petro. :D
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Nice work, I love to see your updates, I keep reading :) The picture looks good from the photo :)
Thanks Som :)
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djos : Your pictures links seems to be broken.
Dropbox may have had an issue as they are working atm
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Picked up my 19" LCD today, still cant believe I got it for $20 and it has a superb picture! :)
I was hoping that it might support 15khz but it doesnt - im not really surprised tho and my GBS-8220 does a decent job of converting the pic so im not complaining. :cool:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-02%2020.15.13.jpg)
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I finally found some time to trim down the ProtoBoards today - they fit perfectly around the right way now. :)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-03%2014.53.37.jpg)
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I found some time to drill holes for and Install the HxC case mounted buttons today, just need to wire them up now.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-05%2014.02.15.jpg)
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Working from Home is awesome as I was able to finish the switches off on my lunch break! :)
Finished the soldering, just need to test the switches:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-05%2015.28.03.jpg)
Works great 1st time! :)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-05%2015.30.21.jpg)
Fully installed now with some hot-glue for protection:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-05%2015.42.56.jpg)
Final test, working perfectly! :cool:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-05%2015.45.47.jpg)
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Do you have any more photos of the buttons and the block connection?
Deciding how to go about connecting mine or if I even want to. :-)
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Do you have any more photos of the buttons and the block connection?
Deciding how to go about connecting mine or if I even want to. :-)
I can do better than that! :)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/HxC%20Floppy%20Switch%20Connections.jpg)
and the Display cabling is even simpler, just a 1 to 1 mapping of the pins.
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Now that is very useful, have been looking everywhere for a layout for the buttons. The LCD part I sussed out but couldn't work out what was needed for the buttons.
Best layout, thanks Djos !!!! :-)
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Now that is very useful, have been looking everywhere for a layout for the buttons. The LCD part I sussed out but couldn't work out what was needed for the buttons.
Best layout, thanks Djos !!!! :-)
No worries but I cant take the credit, I got that from cjcliffe via AmiBay (http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?p=398165#post398165). :cool:
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I'm so stoked right now, works great!
Where did you find the diagram or did you do it yourself? Makes so much more sense than the one in the PDF :-)
Ahhh thanks in part goes to you for providing the link. cjcliffe big thumbs up!
Now just waiting on my 1200 for the HxC to be installed in :-) My motherboard is still with Amigakit :-(
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I'm so stoked right now, works great!
Good to hear it works for you too. :)
Where did you find the diagram or did you do it yourself? Makes so much more sense than the one in the PDF :-)
Ahhh thanks in part goes to you for providing the link. cjcliffe big thumbs up!
:)
Now just waiting on my 1200 for the HxC to be installed in :-) My motherboard is still with Amigakit :-(
I've ordered a NOS a1200 from Petro so I'll be starting on that one day too. :D
I'll have to sell my a500+ to fund it tho so if anyone wants a mint a500+ with KS 1.3/3.1, WB 3.1, 68010, 2MB Chip-Ram, 8MB Fast-Ram, IDE68K w/ 4GB CF-HDD im selling it for $200aud + postage (Aus Preferred) which is actually less money than I've put into it.
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Was told by the other half that I had to sell my A500 plus. Put it on the local trademe auction site.
Didn't sell (what a shame) so have put it all away on a shelf and she's forgotten about it.
But wanting to sell it to fund a 68060 card :-)
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Was told by the other half that I had to sell my A500 plus. Put it on the local trademe auction site.
Didn't sell (what a shame) so have put it all away on a shelf and she's forgotten about it.
But wanting to sell it to fund a 68060 card :-)
Lol, yeah I've managed that trick once or twice myself! :D
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LOL one of the guys I know who flies model aeroplanes, he takes a monthly photo of his wives shoes closet. Every time there is a new pair of shoes he goes and buys a new plane :)
There is no arguments with photographic proof!
Hmmm I wonder if I have a spare 1200 Aussie keyboard in the shed? Probably
Az
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Lol, I like that!! :D
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This bad boy is now officially mine! :D
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Sale/Amiga%20Magic%203%2025.1.2013.JPG)
Petro confirmed He got all the funds this morning and yesterday I ordered the 16mhz aca1220 & RTC module for it too! :D (wife is sooo gonna kill me but totally worth it!) I just need to get a CF Adapter now and I've emailed Kipper2k for one of his external modules.
I asked Petro to sign the bottom of mine because after looking him up I think it'll be a nice touch to add to my a1200's history and value to me. :cool:
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NICE!!!! NIB A1200 and signed by Petro. Very nice indeed :)
>colour me slightly jealous<
Az
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Cheers, I can't wait to get it! :D
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Congratulations! You are soon the owner of a beautiful machine!
I love the 1200 and hope it will give you much joy :)
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Thanks mate, it's gonna rock my world! :cool:
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Try a find the netgear MA401 wireless pcmcia card, only WEP protection which can slightly compromise your network but wireless Amiga 1200 is lots of fun!
Az
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I've got wired Ethernet everywhere (cat6) so I might find a wired network card instead - I've got a couple xircom cards lying around but I think I saw something about them not being any good?
Actually that reminds me, I do have a wireless extender that is wep only so I could create a widely network just for my miggy :D
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Try a find the netgear MA401 wireless pcmcia card, only WEP protection which can slightly compromise your network but wireless Amiga 1200 is lots of fun!
Az
Just for lol's I had a look on fleabay for a netgear MA401 and found one straight away - it was $30aud shipped, so I grabbed it! :D
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My ACA1220 and RTC arrived today, just waiting on my 1200 and CF Adapter now. :)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-22%2012.48.52.jpg)
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Oh and the postie also brought me this rather nice NOS Boot Drive Selector:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-22%2014.29.37.jpg)
Which works great with my HxC and A1010 External Floppy - sometimes you just need to boot from a real Floppy drive and this makes it very easy - comes with a little toggle switch that i've installed on the rear of my a500. :)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-22%2014.33.56.jpg)
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So many goodies... who was a good boy lately :)
lol does your better half realise the postie is delivering all these new computers bits?
Az
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So many goodies... who was a good boy lately :)
lol does your better half realise the postie is delivering all these new computers bits?
Az
Lol, naughty boy is more like it, have been going over my monthly "toy allowance" by quite a bit lately. :whack:
Funnily enuf I went for a walk at lunch and just came around the corner as he had left my place so I waved and he pulled over on the street and gave me my parcel after I signed his little PDA thingo. He's never really asked me what all my parcels are tho. :D
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My NOS 1200 arrived today! :)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-26%2013.19.54.jpg)
I had to clean the cables and remove Petro's Sig from the top of the case but the a1200 is in spectacular condition!
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-26%2013.22.31.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-26%2013.28.25.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-26%2013.38.47.jpg)
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Yaaaaay! It works great too!
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-26%2014.27.02.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-26%2014.29.44.jpg)
So I chucked in my ACA1220 and that works great also:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-02-26%2014.46.35.jpg)
Im just running some ram tests on it now to see if it's stable (& so far it is). :)
EDIT, no memory errors so maybe i dont need the timing fixes? :)
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it looks fantastic Djos. Congrats man. Couldn't have gone to a better home...
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Thanks Gertsy! I'll be dead before this beauty leaves my possession! :D
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Awesome Amiga you have there!
Very cool that he signed it... should have signed the bottom tho :)
Az
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There is any test which indicate that the A1200 mobo' needs any time fixes ?
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Awesome Amiga you have there!
Very cool that he signed it... should have signed the bottom tho :)
Az
Yeah I was slightly annoyed he signed the top when I asked him to sign the bottom only and he only signed the top and the Box.
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There is any test which indicate that the A1200 mobo' needs any time fixes ?
Im not sure, it's seems 100% stable so far but i'll be able to test it more once I get my CF-IDE adapter from Kipper in a few weeks and can run some AGA demo's. The OCS demo's & games I've tried so far have have been flawless.
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Btw folks, my 500+ is now officially for sale (SWMBO has decreed I will sell it as promised):
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=64302
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It was my Birthday last week and my awesome wife bought me a couple of retro T-Shirts: :)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-03-15%2017.41.11.jpg)
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and today I got the below IDE-CF Adapter which seems to work very well (it's very fast) but I have one small issue, I dont get a HDD activity light - any ideas?
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-03-19%2011.44.39.jpg)
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Man, that is another beautiful system you've got there. Just add an Indivision and you'll be all set, although after that then you'll probably want a PCMCIA network, and USB, and... ;)
Re: your question about the hard drive light, seems pretty common. Here's one link that might help you:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=35893
PS - I sent that link with the cool shirts to my girlfriend, said "if I only had an awesome girlfriend like this guy's awesome wife *hint hint*". I'll probably be sleeping on the couch tonight, ha!
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Man, that is another beautiful system you've got there. Just add an Indivision and you'll be all set, although after that then you'll probably want a PCMCIA network, and USB, and... ;)
Re: your question about the hard drive light, seems pretty common. Here's one link that might help you:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=35893
PS - I sent that link with the cool shirts to my girlfriend, said "if I only had an awesome girlfriend like this guy's awesome wife *hint hint*". I'll probably be sleeping on the couch tonight, ha!
Cheers mate, looks like i'll be modding my cf adapter tonight! :D
Yeah an Indivision sure would be nice - might just stick with my GBS for now tho. I aleady have a pcmcia wireless network card (netgear) - just need to spend the time to get it working. :)
hehehe, nice one, hopefully your GF takes the hint and doesnt get mad at you. :D
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Well that was pretty simple, turns out mine is reversed as others have found here:
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=4565
but the fix is just as simple:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-03-19%2018.59.48.jpg)
and the result, all 3 lights now work! :)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-03-19%2019.10.58.jpg)
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Last night I finally got around to modding my A520 for S-Video using these instructions:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~davem2/overclock/a520.html
Completely disassembled with 99% of components removed (I missed 2 resistors @ R15/16 that I later removed):
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Flicker%20Fixer/2013-03-30%2019.27.51.jpg)
I found one major diff on mine and that was mine was missing thru holes for R18 so I just soldered the resistor onto pads that matched up with the right tracks R18 would have used - I did make a mistake in this pic, one of the wires is soldered to the wrong point and as a result I only got Luminance & no Chrominance until I found and fixed it.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Flicker%20Fixer/2013-03-30%2021.38.49.jpg)
Mostly finished (havent mounted the S-Video connector in the case yet):
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Flicker%20Fixer/2013-03-30%2021.38.39.jpg)
Hmmm, no Red's! - I suspect it's corrosion in the DB23 causing the issue as the rca jacks are badly corroded and before the mod the colours from the composite connector were pretty crap too:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Flicker%20Fixer/2013-03-31%2009.52.25.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Flicker%20Fixer/2013-03-31%2009.54.58.jpg)
btw, Considering I no longer have a 500+, I really should get this thread renamed "My Amiga Adventures"! :D
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Finished it off this morning:
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Flicker%20Fixer/2013-03-31%2012.21.19.jpg)
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Flicker%20Fixer/2013-03-31%2012.30.07.jpg)
Just need to fix that missing red issue now.
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did you test the composite out before you modified it?
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yes, as I mentioned above it worked but the colours were screwy too (missing red).
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So it really didn't work :p chip could be bad?
try replacing the three electrolytic caps in a row, should be one for R,G and B ;)
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Cheers mate, I'll try that :)
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if that doesn't work, measure the six resistors between those capacitors and the DB23 connector, once again, 2 resistors on each of the video lines ;)
edit: R1, R2, R3 and R9, R10, R12 I do believe.
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So it really didn't work :p chip could be bad?
try replacing the three electrolytic caps in a row, should be one for R,G and B ;)
The closest resistor size I have to the original 22uF 16v units is a 47uF 16v - I dont know enuf about caps, can I substitute these?
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47uF should be ok, or else you can swap em around and see if a different colour goes bad? ;)
edit: data sheet has 15uF on it ;)
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Cheers, replacing them now. :D
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47uF should be ok, or else you can swap em around and see if a different colour goes bad? ;)
edit: data sheet has 15uF on it ;)
mine seems to be a different rev to some as R18 is missing inc thru holes - the rest looks the same tho.
anyway that made no difference. (I have somes 10uF caps but hardly seems to be worth it)
if that doesn't work, measure the six resistors between those capacitors and the DB23 connector, once again, 2 resistors on each of the video lines ;)
edit: R1, R2, R3 and R9, R10, R12 I do believe.
I checked all of them out and the all match advertised spec very closely.
:crazy:
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Fixed it, looks like a dodgy solder joint was to blame, im not sure where exactly because I refreshed all the joints on the 2 chips, the 2 banks of resistors and the DB23 connector for good measure! :D
The colours arent as strong as from RGB thru my GBS-8220 but then the guide mentions the colour saturation is an issue with the chip C= used due to differing voltages.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Flicker%20Fixer/2013-03-31%2021.47.25.jpg)
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Glad you got it working ;)
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Glad you got it working ;)
Me too, thanks for the advice. :)
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Well done! Another piece of vintage hardware lives on. How well secured is that S-Video socket?
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Well done! Another piece of vintage hardware lives on. How well secured is that S-Video socket?
Cheers. :)
it's in a solid block of hot glue so it's not going anywhere! :D
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I finally got around to installing ClassicWB FULL onto my a1200 tonight and I must say I am impressed, it's brilliant! :D
(http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-04-05%2021.46.35.jpg)
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Hmm, looks like I'll have to implement the timing fixes to my 1D4 a1200 mobo - luckily they only involve removing two SMD resistors. :)
The Issue Im having is when I enable MapRom with acaTune I get some really weird crashes and most demo's running under WHDLoad freeze within a few seconds of starting. With mapRom off everything is perfect.
Im going to replace the electrolytic caps at the same time as the timing fixes - hopefully my replacement caps wont take long to come from France. :)
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Hmmm, I wonder if anyone can help, trying to get my a1200 online using my NetGear MA401 WiFi card and just not having any luck. Im using this guide:
http://wiki.classicamiga.com/Setting_up_Wireless_Internet_Access_on_A1200
and I've tried both the Prism2 v1.7 and newer Prism2 v2.0 drivers (configuring either is quite simple) but when I run Miami Init and give it the prism2.device, my Link light starts flashing and my a1200 freezes solid, no guru etc, just frozen mouse and flashing Link light for ever and a day. :(
PS, I do have CardPatch & CardReset installed - before I had those installed my WiFi card wasnt recognisable at all.
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Check the pcmcia card on an old PC laptop... check if its ok hardware wise before trying to solve it as an Amiga problem.
If its okay... um, no idea... bugger :)
Az
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I'm wondering if the timing fixes will help, my caps got shipped today so ill test some more then :)
Ps, I don't have an old laptop to test on unfortunately :(
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Today I found two more a1200 mods which I plan to implement once my Cap Kit arrives (plus Timing fix for 1d4 mobo's):
make the FDD a proper Amiga FDD:
http://www.softpres.org/article:hard:modifying_the_pansonic_ju-257a605p_fdd
fix the motherboard so it works with proper Amiga FDD's:
http://www.softpres.org/article:hard:fixing_the_amiga_technologies_a1200_fdd_connector
:)
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All that desoldering and resoldering.... Ooooops, need a new A1200 mobo :)
Az
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Lol, nah my soldering skills are back to decent with all the amiga modding and little projects I've been working on lately. :)
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Hi All, Im selling my a500 8mb fast ram board - topic here:
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?p=738455#post738455
I've decided to continue souping up my a500, but because im not running whdload, im going to put a 4mb auto-config ram board in instead.
Im also putting in a custom KS1.3 rom (ide support patched in) and a cf-ide adapter so I can install Sierra and Lucas Arts game to HDD and have a nice WB1.3 machine to compliment my WB3.1 equipped a1200.
:)
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I bought myself a nice new LG 24" IPS LCD screen for my Mac Mini and moved my Samsung 22" AV LCD over to my a1200 - combined with the SCART-HDMI Converter it produces a really nice 720p@50hz Picture. :)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71121999/Amiga/Amiga%20SCART-HDMI%20Converter/2013-07-15%2014.56.22.jpg)
I also got a SCART-YUV converter which works really well with my Sony LCD TV - I do need another Amiga-SCART cable which is on it's way from AmigaKit - when I get it I'll post some pics of my a500 hooked up. :)
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Cool... nothing better than Amiga on LCD screens, so much area to look at and play within!
My old 1960 is in storage atm, was starting to buzz and squeel before I moved house. I guess when I plug it in ... release the magic black smoke!
Its nice to know a product is currently available to give me a nice screen if the above happens :)
Az
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TBH i'd luv a nice mint 1084s-D2 (or P) but they go for silly money these days! :(
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Commodore monitors.... at last count I had 17 of them :)
1701, 1702, 1802, 1902, 1081, 1084, 1084(s) and my 1960
I think I have 8 or more 1084's in storage now
Most work, well they worked before moving cities and placing in storage!
Az
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Commodore monitors.... at last count I had 17 of them :)
1701, 1702, 1802, 1902, 1081, 1084, 1084(s) and my 1960
I think I have 8 or more 1084's in storage now
Most work, well they worked before moving cities and placing in storage!
Az
You're in Country NSW iirc?
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make the FDD a proper Amiga FDD:
http://www.softpres.org/article:hard:modifying_the_pansonic_ju-257a605p_fdd
IIRC My A1200 turned out to have a different drive than most others, so the hack is different. It was easy to figure out the changes required, but it required disassembling the drive to get a soldering iron in the right place, which was a major PITA.
I think I started out using the drive from my a500 until I got round to doing it.
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Good Luck! I just recently (two months ago) restored a 500+ motherboard that I recovered from storage in a barn. It was a complete mess, but it is now up and running happily housed in a reg A500 case. Now to finish restoring a few other things I got such as the Midget Racer accelorator and I'll be a happy camper!
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IIRC My A1200 turned out to have a different drive than most others, so the hack is different. It was easy to figure out the changes required, but it required disassembling the drive to get a soldering iron in the right place, which was a major PITA.
I think I started out using the drive from my a500 until I got round to doing it.
I just haven't had time to even look at it since our 2nd child was born 8 weeks ago :(
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Congratulations !
And priorities "Harry Chapin"! Amiga will still be there when the kids are in bed and sleeping for 12 hours.
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Gratz on the new baby! Well done to everyone involved :)
Az
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Cheers all, I'm still impressed my wife managed to push him out as he was 9 pounds 3 (4.24kg's) and in 8 weeks has already past 7kg's and more than 60cm's tall!
Btw we called him Hugo William.
:)
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Btw we card him Hugo William.
:)
Only in Australia (and maybe New Zealand).
Hey, why not?
Hugo Weaving has to be one of my favorite actors.
(http://img3.bdbphotos.com/images/130x130/c/2/c267gbeeu8stgse.jpg)
"Mr. Anderson?"
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Lol
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Lol
You have to admit, the guy is brilliant.
Who else could have pulled off V in V for Vendetta (without any facial expressions)?
I could think of worse names.
BTW - Congratulations.
And, DAMN, that's a big baby.
No doctor in the US would have allowed that without a c-section.
You Aussies come from some tough stock.
Makes us in the US look like wimps.
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And, DAMN, that's a big baby.
No doctor in the US would have allowed that without a c-section.
You Aussies come from some tough stock.
Makes us in the US look like wimps.
Yeah that! And we play our football WITHOUT kilos of padding to protect our precious bodies ;)
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We didn't even think of Hugo Weaving when we named him, but yes he is awesome! :D
We also didn't know he was going to be so big, he was pretty borderline tho and came close to being removed by c section.
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Me? located in Ned Kelly country... North East Victoria
Small country town, with lots of my retro computer stuff in storage
Currently I do not even have an Amiga or C64 system setup in the house
I need to rectify this situation :)
Az
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Currently I do not even have an Amiga or C64 system setup in the house
I need to rectify this situation :)
Az
Tsk Tsk!
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>hangs head with shame<
I know... I know... will try to setup a C64 system soon
6 working units and a few to rebuild/fix so its not like I do not have choice
just limited space!
Az
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Lol.
Well I got my a504 4MB fast ram board and Amiga to S-Video/Composite adapter today from Kipper2k and I must say the they are great. The S-Video board has awesome PQ and will be very useful for taking my a500/a1200 out and about if I ever get a chance to organise a proper meeting room for the next Adelaide user group. :-p
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Omg omg omg, I have the most awesome wife ever!
She just bagged me 2x good condition a500's, a heap of software, 2x external fdd's, several joysticks and something I've been after for ages..... A 1084s-p for $120 from gumtree (in aus that's what we normally pay for just the 1084s)! :)
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Congrats man :)
Share some pics of the fun bunch :)
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Congrats man :)
Share some pics of the fun bunch :)
I'm picking them up tomorrow arvo so ill post pics of my haul tomorrow :D
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I'm picking them up tomorrow arvo so ill post pics of my haul tomorrow :D
Congrats. Good gets.
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Here's my haul from today: :)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-09-09%2019.41.59.png)
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Here's my haul from today: :)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1t9ra04fsodrspj/2013-09-09%2019.41.59.jpg
Cool. Don't think the MCSE manuals will help with working on an A500....
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Does the wife have a younger sister? :)
lucky you.... for both the amazing wife and many more Amigas!
Az
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Isn't love grand?
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Whoa, a heap of Amiga goodies :)
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Does the wife have a younger sister? :)
lucky you.... for both the amazing wife and many more Amigas!
Az
She has an older sister who's in the uk, nice very smart girl and about 33, coming back to oz next year tho. :D
Cheers everyone for the kind words.
Ps I'd forgotten how bad the flicker was on amiga monitors!! I'm thinking I might go back to my LCD using kippers s-video adaptor! :p
I might see what my c64 looks like on it and if I still can't stand the flicker ill sell my 1081.
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Cool. Don't think the MCSE manuals will help with working on an A500....
Lol, yeah it's more job related reference material :D
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I now have my a1200 up and running with the 1081s and one of my two 4.3amp heavy duty PSU's - interestingly it seems much more stable now so i will have to play with turning maprom on again. :)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2013-09-10%2012.41.25.png)
btw, I think i've gotten used to a fishbowl crt again and games and demos look really good, WB is still flickery and High-res laced is just a disaster but for my main uses im a happy chappy. :)
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Geez, been a long time between updates! I had a run of sh!tty luck, got retrenched from HP in July last year and found that the Adelaide Job market had tanked, largely IMO due to a certain very dishonest Polly running around crying debt and deficit and budget emergency for 3 years.
Anyway after being out of work for 7 months and getting only 2 interviews I gave up on Adelaide and moved my little family to Melbourne where I found a job in 5 weeks - just in time too as we'd pretty much run out of money and credit! :o
Anyway we are all settled now and finding our feet! I even have a dedicated desk for my Commodore gear now! :D
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2014-04-27%2014.41.25.jpg)
My little girl loves DP IV AGA on my a1200:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2014-04-19%2010.28.42.jpg)
My latest project involves 10x 512kb EEPROM's that managed to get hold of ... Stay tuned! :)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2014-05-23%2020.40.25.jpg)
PS, Im also planning on making a chip-ram config switch for my HxC equipped a500 so I can switch from stock 512kb slow/512kb chip + 4mb fast to 1mb Chip + 4mb Fast ... just for fun. :-)
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Hi djos,
I understand the IT situation well in Adelaide - it is really terrible. I was unemployed in 2012 for 8 months and found the same thing you did - I am sure it hasn't got any better since I was lucky enough through contacts to find another senior IT role job here.
I completely understand why you moved to Melbourne - if I lose my job here I may have to consider the same thing. I was in Melbourne with my wife over Easter and it just feels so much better there than last time I was there 10 years ago - vibrant and a city going places, without all the negativity everyone here (especially pollys and media) in Adelaide seems intent on pushing out to everyone everyday...quite gloomy.
I have lived here 20 years and never seen the job market for IT workers in Adelaide as bad as it is right now.
Best of luck in Melbourne, and glad your Amigas are back up and running again. I am toying with the idea of installing my hxc in the Amiga 600 but have no idea where and how to dremel cleanly, and having one case means one shot. You can follow my Amiga 600 project on http://classicamiga.blogspot.com.au if you are interested!
I finally picked up a CDTV to play with too! I found a CDTV scsi card for it, and thinking about putting in a hard disk to it to run my original A2000 hard disk wb1.3 :-)
I was going to ask you to help me with the hxc install actually since I knew you were in Adelaide, but I guess that is no longer an option!
Catcha,
Epsilon
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Hi Epsilon, it's pretty dire and really doesnt help when HP fire close to 200 staff!!!
I just couldnt fathom how someone with my experience couldnt find a job even doing sh!tty desktop support for half my normal wage! And yet in Melbourne I got a contract for $600 a day doing simple Incident Management!
I actually really enjoy living here in Melbourne too, so much on and so many more opportunities, Adelaide is pretty dead by comparison. The worst part for us is having to sell our brilliant Adelaide home knowing full well that we wont be able to afford anything like it anytime soon here.
Re your a600, you should be able to install the LCD in line with the cooling slots prolly to the left of the FDD. :) I promised I'd build a set of HxC extension cables for another Adelaide Amigan but im really not sure how i'll find the time atm, having a 3 year old and 1 year old doesnt leave us with much time to ourselves. :(
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Nice projects! We are surely due an update?! What were you up to with the EPROMs?
Regarding the case-mounted HxC, I think I would have considered mounting the LCD and buttons in their own case, which could be kept on top of the A500, and then running the loom inside the case either through the redundant floppy port or perhaps through the case vents if I could find a thin enough flat cable. One of those plastic style flat cables which plug into SMT mounted connectors would definitely fit through there, but there would be a small complication with interfacing to it. You can get adapter boards which break them out...
I suppose it depends if you give two hoots about drilling and cutting your case or not. I tend to lean towards preferring not to.
Cheers!
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Howdy, yeah it has been a while been updates, on the eprom front I've been able to make pretty much any eprom I want including a1200 and a500 Rom's. I've also made dual a500 Rom's with 27c800 eprom's.
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Wow, Never consciously noticed you moved djos. Welcome to Melbourne!
You forgot to mention you can get a good coffee here too. Though SA has much, much better wine. IMO. But you can buy that in plenty here.
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Wow, Never consciously noticed you moved djos. Welcome to Melbourne!
You forgot to mention you can get a good coffee here too. Though SA has much, much better wine. IMO. But you can buy that in plenty here.
Adelaide coffee is decent too but cheers for the welcome. :)
Do you attend the Commodore and Amiga group here in the eastern suburbs? (It's pretty good)
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Adelaide coffee is decent too but cheers for the welcome. :)
Do you attend the Commodore and Amiga group here in the eastern suburbs? (It's pretty good)
Yeah that's what I mean't "too" as in "as well". But wine is a different thing.
Re the A500+; You sometimes have to stop and think; This is a 24 year old computer. Decked out with lots'o new stuff but essentially that. Can you imagine a device of today being used in 25 years? The double sided tape would all dry out and they'd just fall apart. Not to mention the batteries.
My A2000 is in storage now but my A4000, A1200 and A500 just continue to fire up and work. Amazing.