Building an Amiga 1200 Tower, just a few questions...

[kvasir]

Decided to do it! I have ordered an Amiga 1200 mobo from vesalia.de, a PC-KEY adapter from amigakit.com, a CF to IDE adapter and A4000 keyboard from ePay, and will soon be ordering the EZ-Z4 case from amigakit. I did however have a few questions...

1. As I am building this tower from scratch, can I use any ibm style floppy drive cable, or will I have to get this from an amiga dealer?

2. Can I use floppies from an A2000, or better yet Amiga HD floppies on my A1200T? Do these floppies have jumpers for df0:, df1: ?

3. Does the ATX to A1200 adapter stick outside the back of the case and then plug into the A1200's power port?

Your help is greatly appreciated,
AmigaNow

Not sure about the floppy question, when I towered my 1200 I also purchased a HD floppy drive. (came with its own cable) I went with a Mediator upgrade, though. In this case, the power from the PSU plugged into the Mediator card, and powered the Mobo from there. (Kinda wierd, but it works pretty well) Unfortunately, I seem to have a bad floppy controller or CIA chip somewhere, because the internal (DF0: ) drive isn't working, but I imagine you should be able to read/write Amiga and PC (w/ crossdos) formatted HD floppies with no problems if you upgrade. The only thing to watch out for are HD floppies formatted to 880K, which you won't be able to read without covering the second hole on the disk. (scotch tape works well for this) Though I thought the pc-key was for PS/2 or AT keyboards only? I could be wrong, though. (I use a pc-key 1200 with a ps/2 keyboard, works fine if not a bit "bouncy" once in awhile) Also, if you add USB, the poseidan drivers will mount a USB floppy drive, another way to access HD formatted PC disks (if this is a concern, I discovered this after trying to USB drive from my laptop on my Amiga when my internal blew)

edit: forgot to kill smilies, a.org thought (df0: ) was df0:)

[kvasir]

1. Do I remove my A1200 from its shielding and bolt it directly to the EZ-Z4 backplane with 2 screws and the port nuts on the back? Do I need an insulation layer, etc...?

   Yes, you have to remove the shielding, there should be some "riser" screws that come with it to hold the MOBO away from the case, then you screw the mobo to those. (Same principle as mounting an X86 mobo) I'm not sure how to remove the shielding without damaging it, I unfortunately destroyed mine in the process. (The shielding, not the mobo) Perhaps one of those keyrah thingies would work, if you want to use the 1200's empty "shell" + keyboard as a ps/2 keyboard? (something I've been toying with myself, but not looked into a whole lot)

2. My PC-Key has a chip on one side. Do I install this into the A1200 keyboard socket, sans clip, with the chip side facing me as I look at the A1200 from the back? (Port side). Does the socket side of the PC-Key bolt on the back of the EZ-Z4 at the bottom hole to the right of the power supply?

   I believe the chip goes towards the back. Been awhile since I've done this, though. Google Images did reveal this image, though. http://eab.abime.net/picture.php?albumid=95&pictureid=518 . (its kinda fuzzy)

3. There are 3 connectors, a 22pin connector near the ROMs (clockports?), 34 pin connector CN11 (Floppy?), and 44 pin connector CN16 (IDE?)

  The 44 pin (should be about 3" from the PCMCIA port, on the left) is IDE. The floppy port I believe is near the 4-pin HD/FD/Power LED header. The clockport I believe is down and to the left of the floppy port. (wishing I was posting this 4 months ago, when I did essentially the same thing)

4. The EZ-Z4 Tower has a floppy facia. Is this for an Amiga1200 internal floppy? Is this the same that is currently available from amigakit?

   The "fake" button on the A1200's will get in the way, I think removing it should work, and the blue button should reach the "real" eject button. Not sure, as I put a HD floppy in mine. Otherwise the floppy port below it should work. (Works with an IDE zip drive too, if you have one)

5. At a later time if I decide to get the 6 port expansion board and an accelerator, will it be easy to install or will I need to remove the mobo and re-install?

  The PSU might get in the way, if you use a PC one. That's held in by 4 screws, and probably the easieast thing to remove, assuming the cables are long enough to lay it somewhere convenient without having to disconnect them.

I have some pictures of my setup on webshots, I snapped a few while towering my system. They might be useful.
http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/570455108dloPxV
(Ignore the use of zip-ties as a HDD mounting bracket...) :-D

[kvasir]

Sorry 'bout the late delay. (Daughter wanted me to read to her ) Yes, you have to remove the clip/sleeve to fit the pc-key. I used a pair of pliers and a screwdriver for this, though there might be another method. It just clips in, and uses tension to hold the green ribbon cable from the original 1200 keyboard in (not sure if one was included w/ your mobo). Works so well, I didn't have an escape key since the first time I removed/replaced it. Ugh.. The pc-key works much better, and doesn't need the clip.

You have been very informative. I started with a new mobo from vesalia.de, so I do not have the original case. It did come with the full upper and lower shielding however. As for the keyboard connector on the A1200, do I just plug in the PC-KEy 1200, or do I remove the clip that is on the socket first? The reason I ask is the clip has a small hole and the pcb seems thicker than that...

Thanks for your help.

AmigaNow

[kvasir]

I believe the back is held in with the port nuts, though half of the ports are going to stick out of the wide slot in back, unless they changed the backplate design since I got my tower. Looking at my old pictures, its kinda hard to tell. (Plus, that part of the Amiga is against the back of the desk, and hard to get to. I'll have to look when I power down next, kinda rare with how fun these computers are :-D ) Hopefully your mobo came with these nuts, but of not they're usually a dime a dozen (almost literally) at a hardware store. (ACE hardware or Farm&Fleet work well, if you're stateside. Radio Shack seems to be useless unless you want to buy an Ipod or Cell-phone these days...)

I see on the case where I can put 2 standoffs, but dont see any for the back (port side). Does it just connect on the back of the case with the port nuts, and the mobo just floats in the back?

Thanks,
AmigaNow

[kvasir]

Just notice your signature. :-D If you have a mediator, you can gut the x86 boxes for parts, then chunk 'em! Though its much more therapeutic to dispose of x86 computers with an empty beer can, some gunpowder, a lawnmower spark plug, and a REALLY long extension cord.

[kvasir]

Haven't heard from you in awhile, everything going OK with the upgrade?

[kvasir]

Yeah, Amiga stuff does that to you. (A complete trasition to Windows requires a 12-step program ) Anyway, the right-angle adapter works well, if going wifi in a case, though, you'll probably want to solder an external antenna to it (I have a book that details how to do this), otherwise there are plenty of holes in the back to snake an ethernet cable through. Until I found a mediator compatible 100mbps card (Digging through a ton of gutted x86 parts), I used a 3com etherlink card. Only prob was between the right-angle adapter and the lengthy plug, the wire pressed up against the case wall. had enough room, but bareley. Amigakit's should fit better, I would think.

I'd recommend at least a 030 w/ 16mb fast, but use a 060 myself. If you can get ahold of PPC, grab it!
Can't remember how the mobo fits physically, haven't removed the side-panel in months, but I don't recall any wierd sideways fitting. I'll have to check this weekend. (My brother hasn't seen my Tower yet, going to take it to his place, might as well snap some photos while I'm at it). The Mediator will probably get the best increase in performance other than the accelerator, depending on what you put in there. I only have a 4 port, in part because it was cheaper, and I have USB support via Subway, which would "free up" one of the extra PCI ports anyway. An SVGA card, 100mbps ethernet, and sound card are all I have in there for now, not quite sure what to stick in the remaining slot, but now my Amiga out-perfroms the AMD Athlon/ Pentium IV WinXP systems when it comes to Ibrowse vs Firefox. (Not when it comes to CSS or Javascript, though. Javascript is still kinda slow, but faster than AGA, and CSS is still only supported via netsurf, which has no Javascript yet)

Aboout a scaler/scandoubler, its most likely going to be external (like mine), not a problem if the cosmetics don't bother you, and also much easier to install. The Amiga 1200 has 24-bit analog output, some of the ones out there (like mine) are 16-bit, which tends to turn the screen green. (You can adjust for this a bit with a monitor that has RGB controls) If you install a video card, you'll probably want to get a 2-port VGA switchbox, to switch from VGA/RTG and AGA. Or just slap a TV into the composite output. (I did both, so I can tape video game sessions and such) Alot of older games (most of 'em) won't recognize the enhanced GFX, and default to NTSC or PAL. (settings depending, I'd really only recommend the TV if you like in a PAL country, or have a PAL capable TV, as most of the games are out of Europe and default to that.)

Yes, Amigakit is arguably the best Amiga dealer I've had dealings with. (I haven't too much a basis for comparison, though) Only prob is they're located in UK, I'm in the US, and I don't think they warehouse stuff over here. (Not Amigakits fault, US red-tape and politics fault - Customs decided to sit on my computer stuff I ordered for a couple of weeks a few years ago, but they've gotten better since. (Not sure if you have to worry about that or not)

Also, make sure you have ALOT of freetime... Putting a 1200 into a tower is like a new girlfriend. You'll spend all night and day with her. (Just ask my wife...)