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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: GrizzlyAdams on August 16, 2012, 04:56:20 AM
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Started out with an A1200 I found on ebay for $50, the IDE header had numerous broken pins, so first order of business was replacing the header.
Somehow I managed to NOT burn the board in the process :D
Now I've got it stuffed into an old VAXStation 3100 desktop case:
(http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Is3dLTjz13M/TP_toYkClaI/AAAAAAAAAfY/wcjLr4gVXBU/s400/IMG_20101208_153726.jpg)
So then I got an ACA1230 28MHz accelerator, IDEfix, and 3Com ethernet.
But wouldn't you know the case won't fit the pcmcia card! Only thing to do was get a right-angle pcmcia riser, and hack it.
(http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-B-_twNY_4Qs/TV9TMejdfII/AAAAAAAAAl4/THH9biX548g/s400/IMG_20110219_001918.jpg)
So next we need good video out for my 23" LCDs and 42" plasma. In comes the IndivisionAGA MK2, which does an awesome job. But what about a power supply? Well I managed to find a 90W 1U powersupply from work one day, and I built a mmkeyboard interface (which I still can't get to switch the PSU on/off)
Now just having gotten some birthday spending money, I bought a mediator busboard, Radeon 9200 video card, AHA2940W scsi card, and I already have a SB128 & suitable USB2 card. Because of the case I'm using I've gotta use a pci riser to fit everybody. I also have to make a custom mounting bracket for my 3.5" bay since the old tray would block the mediator.
Updates coming as more parts arrive!
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Hiya,
Interesting project, thanks for sharing.
Not sure why you are going to the trouble of adding a Mediator, I think it will be pretty pointless to use RTG and other PC cards with an ACA1230 28MHz.
I think Mediators are pretty pointless period but that's another story ;)
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Good work! Thanks for sharing
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I just wish that there had been an "A1200 in a desktop case" offering from C= originally, as a step up from the A1200, but still a lot cheaper than the A4000. A couple of SIMM slots would have been nice on this product. The "trapdoor" expansion slot could still have been present (and compatible), and there would have been a lot more space vertically in the case for the '040 heat sink and fans! Of course the case would have had room for two internal floppies and an internal hard drive.
But there wasn't, so it's no use dreaming about it and all the other options that were never. :-(
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Somebody did rehouse an A1200 in a slimline desktop case. I can't remember where I saw it, though. Probably here someplace :)
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Getting a decent SCSI and Ethernet setup are my main reasons for the mediator. The Radeon is just a bonus to speed up RTG compatible stuff that doesn't run well at 1280x720 on AGA.
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Mediator is in now, but any attempt to access it (even with no cards) locks the amiga solid, requiring a powercycle to reset.
(http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-jg-GH4o-Cg4/UDLxAMc9GlI/AAAAAAAAA3Y/ZKjtyaxtCno/s400/IMG_20120820_222130.jpg)
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Getting a decent SCSI and Ethernet setup are my main reasons for the mediator. The Radeon is just a bonus to speed up RTG compatible stuff that doesn't run well at 1280x720 on AGA.
The best SCSI performance is one that is attached directly to your CPU card, I would assume that anything going through the Mediator is going to be slow because of the bus it uses to connect to your 1200 motherboard.
The Mrk2 will eventually be able to support a workable 1280x720 desktop.
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You gotta have a graphics card installed in the Mediator I think, otherwise the miggy won't start. Oh, and try these settings on Mediator with an ACA card
"Jumper Wait open
Jumper Config open
Memory window 8MB"
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AGA is faster than Mediator, try running Hippoplayer with a scope in AGA VS Mediator!
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What interesting advice y'all give; such imaginations!
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Now that you have the Mediator, do you then really need the PCMCIA NIC?
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@yissing:
Nope, infact I removed the PCMCIA nic.
@Bamiga2002:
the mediator by itself is supposed to work even with no cards present, and some cards (10mbit 8029 ethernet) are polled I/O so don't need memory.
the install disc has a option during setup for no videocard.
also I've tried all possible combinations of jumper settings. (yes all 12 possible)
I have a 2MB S3 Virge, which provides 1MB framebuffer and 1MB shared use. Any programs that touch pci.library instantly lock the machine.
I think it comes down to a timing issue with the rev 2B board I have. Guess I need to get ahold of the inductors and capacitors that jens recommends.
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Mediator is in now, but any attempt to access it (even with no cards) locks the amiga solid, requiring a powercycle to reset.
At the risk of asking a stupid question. Have you actually supplied power to the Mediator's P8 & P9 connectors or was it just not connected up when you to the photo?
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Grizzly, where are you located. I may have a spare Voodoo3 Card that you can use on the Mediator. It's far better than using a S3 Virge.
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@Rob:
Nope, I don't have such plugs available (well I do, but I have to splice them in) I do have the floppy cable and square din plugged in. You think its a power issue?
@shaf:
I have a radeon 9200 128MB on order, its on a slow boat from china though.
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@Rob:
Nope, I don't have such plugs available (well I do, but I have to splice them in) I do have the floppy cable and square din plugged in. You think its a power issue?
@shaf:
I have a radeon 9200 128MB on order, its on a slow boat from china though.
http://www.atxpowersupplies.com/ATX-to-AT-Converter.php
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Might be "Codeine and Motivated"
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OK, spliced in the connectors to my powersupply, also added a toggle switch for power on/off since the mmkeyboard soft-on feature never worked for me.
Is it OK to have both the square din and the p8/p9 plugged in? It shouldn't hurt anything, right?
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No change, pciinfo still causes it to lock solid.
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Radeon arrived today, still no change.
Installed ACATune 1.02B (recommended for ACA1230/28MHz)
C:ACATune -maprom * p >NIL:
C:CPU instcache instburst fastrom nodatacache >NIL:
Installed Installer43.3,
Reinstalled MM_CD_UP2.1,
Reconfigured with MedConfig,
no change.
Any time I run pciinfo or another program that uses pci.library, instant freeze.
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I feel I should mention this is under ClassicWB 3.9 R27 and BetterWB 3.1 R2.4
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Applied the timing fixes to my 2B board, still locks up soon as I run pciinfo.
I've uploaded a video of it crashing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRHvLSK1lUk
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Applied the timing fixes to my 2B board, still locks up soon as I run pciinfo.
I've uploaded a video of it crashing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRHvLSK1lUk
Try the bare mediator without the accelerator. Might also try a os3.1 bare bones install enough to see if the mediator is working then. This of course assumes you can do it in the 2M chip ram on a stock machine.It should at least prove the mediator is ok and then you can add stuff back in from there.
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Tried and failed there too, IIRC the mediator software requires a 4MB expansion as a minimum. Even with my smallest WB3.1 install I have less than 300KB available without the Indivision. I'm tempted to see if netbsd or linux can boot with only 2MB, and supports the A1200 pci busboards.
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I'm tempted to see if netbsd or linux can boot with only 2MB
No.
and supports the A1200 pci busboards.
NetBSD does (http://www.netbsd.org/ports/amiga/).
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Unfortunately my ACA1230/28 has an 68EC030, so no MMU = no unix.
Sadface more. Only timing fix not applied to my board is replacement of E121R and E122R with 60ohm coils. My 2B board never had E125C / E123C since before I purchased it. Doesn't look like it was reworked either.
At some point I might look at getting another A1200 board.
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This is the rabbit hole of trying to build a very expanded amiga. I tried this, and after dumping tons of money in, I gave up. There is something to be said for dumping winuae on a 3ghz pentium with 4 gigs of ram. Remove windows as shell,
get it to boot straight to os3.x and your done. No more hardware problems.
I'd still like to build a real 1200 with mediator, accelerator, indievision, rtg, usb and more but I'm hesitant to do so because of past experiences. Its so expensive and there is always problems getting everything working.
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Yes expanding old Amiga hardware can be a very frustrating.
I never try anything too radical with my own 1200 for that very reason.
And I've pulled the plug on a couple of updates which became way too painful (the Delfina Flipper and FastATA come to mind).
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Personaly i think it could be a aca problem,since i am trying a mediator bought from amibay ,and the seller bought some crazy update chips ,actually 3 of them ,tah elbox don´t even heard of,they say upgrade is made only by 2 chips,so i replace the original ones,and had some problems.
First my mediator system don´t boot with aca stays black from the beginig.
2 won´t boot because of a burned or bad S3 pci uv64
Then i removed the aca,and inserted a blizzard 1230 changing the jumper on the board and booted fine.
Now i am going to install the mm cd becaus i don´t get native pc resolutions on the resolution manager under the os 3.9.
So it could be an aca but or config jumper,since my board has a jumper but i didn´t change that one.
Thanks in advance