eckie, eckie patang NEEP!

[Ozimandius]

Hello All!

Just got round to retrieving my old A500 + from my parents loft and recently bought an A500 with memory upgrade (for a whole £5!).

I used to love the old system - unfortunatley, the floppy drive on the 500+ broke many years back and was replaced with an old PC one (it never worked properly after - I wonder why  :lol: )

I'm hoping to re-hash the A500+ into a new slim case with an external keyboard and HDD, purely so I can sit it with my AV setup and play from the sofa (the HDD will be simply to save changing disks - unless I put an external floppy on a looooooong cable  :-D ) - so any advice on doing this would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Oz

(Excuse the subject line - had to put something other than 'hello' and I'm a Python fan)

[Ozimandius]

I'm actually bidding on a A600 HD at the moment - I've got an obsession starting here!

I expect thet the 'final product' will be a b*s*ardised (damn, the swear filter's turned a bit high isn't it?) A500/+/600 HD - probably taking the bulk from the A500+ or A600 (such as mobo and IDE controller) and harvesting the others for components. If I don't get the HDD working, it's not the end of the world - I'll either have to get up once in a while  :-o , or bodge a long floppy cable together.

As for the case size - it's not really an issue as I'm probably going to install it to the underside of my TV unit (there isn't space for any more AV boxes!) and place a cover board over it for protection.

I've looked at some articles about detaching the 500/+ keyboard and it looks quite simple - so I'll probably be doing that and re-mounting it into a nice hardwood case for on-sofa use.

Now all I've got to do is remember how to use a soldering iron! (I'm not that well versed on electronics - but I am an excellent bodger (no badger here!))

Thanks for the suggestions on which system to use.

Oz

[Ozimandius]

Nuts!!

That's the side I don't know about - the fiddly stuff inside (I work on a 'this part works and this part works - let's repackage it for my purposes' basis, without actually knowing what exactly an IDE controller etc. is (I know what the IDE controller does (as far as allowing a HDD to be installed and read by the machine), but I couldn't recognise one or make/fix one))

I'll have to see what systems I end up with before I know exactly how it's going to work - from what you said (Bloodline), it may end up based on the A600.

As for 'it can't be taken apart' - wanna bet? :-D (if it was put together in pieces, it'll come apart in pieces - unless there's something you know that I don't or you meant the mobo itself)

Oz