ACA500 prototype

[Ral-Clan]

Maybe come back when you have an A500 & have tried cramming in multiple upgrades inside the case. A megachip and 1.8mb trapdoor expansion with a gary tower of death takes up a lot of the room.

I agree with this statement.  Once you have a kickstart switcher, indvision and MegaChip installed in your A500, you will start getting a little sick of internal mods to the A500 (no room).

I don't mind internal mods, but the side expansion port on the A500 was a great design feature and should be used.  It makes installation/removal of components easy, safe and plug-n-play.

Besides - A500's with sidecars are COOL!

As for this not working in an A2000, well, since the side expansion port of an A500 is almost a Zorro slot, I'm sure with a simple adapter it could be made to work on an A2000, or the design could be used to make an A2000 version (perhaps with some lines leading to the A2000's CPU slot).

[Ral-Clan]

I don't know why you guys assume Jens isn't going to encase this.

I don't know why you are assuming that I thought he was going to encase this.  If I were to buy this device, I would be looking forward to making my own sidecar case for it.

[Ral-Clan]

what??
hardly. an entry level user with no experience would be much better served with a clean a1200. it would be cheaper, simpler, easier to get and would not fall apart when moving it around the table.

A1200s are over $100 US used.  A500s?  Well, they're usually under $50, sometimes much less. If you're in the right place at the right time, they're even free by the carload.  I don't know why they are so maligned.  They are essentially an A2000 without the Zorro slots (and this can be remedied).

[Ral-Clan]

So now I hear it's going to be a bare expansion board without a case sticking out the side of the A500, so how how exactly is this a user friendly to anyone?

I hope so, and if Amigakit have any sense they will purchase some and make it an extra at time of purchase, otherwise I don't see this expansion appealing especially to ex amigans, a big shame as it looks like a great product technically.

I wouldn't be suprised if Jens has already designed this board to fit into a standard, widely available electronics project kit plastic case.  There are a ton of designs.  Jens isn't stupid, so I'm sure he's thought of that.