towerizing A1200

[orange]

What is the best way to put A1200 motherboard into tower case? Is AT or ATX better?
I don't wanna order any special towers, just use the ones that be easily found.

[pjhutch]

ATX is more easily found. Eyetech towers are quite popular and should fit Zorro/PCI Expansion boards with room for CD/DVD, Hard disks and so on.

http://www.eyetech.co.uk/
http://www.swaug.org.uk/mirage.html
http://www.randomize.com/amigaproducts/a1200towerparts.html
http://www.elbox.com/products.html

[blobrana]

Hum,
i just used a full pc tower and took a hack-saw to the back - an hours work...
LOOK!

Only thing i had to do was to rotate the power supply 90 degrees to make room..

And fit the custom keyboard connectors - see!

[PMC]

Crikey Blob!

That's some collection of hardware you have.  

Got any pics of the backplane of the Amiga's tower case?

[blobrana]

Hum,
no...

But i`ve just remembered that i reversed the PCI back-plate to
provide a `channel` to saw along... and the back of the amiga (still attached to the case ) is flush with the back of the PC case; so there`s no need for any extension cables...

[PMC]

@Blob,

Ingenious...  I like the way you've spun the PSU around to give extra room for the A1200.  I noted the A1200 is placed on the left side of the tower (viewed from front) in a smiliar fashion to one of the Eyetech towers.

Have you ever thought about fitting a PCI bridge, or do you have another big box / UAE system to take care of expansion for you?

[orange]

But I have only a1200 motherboard, without original plastic case (like the one you have) and without even metal shielding. Is there any solution for me?
Something has to isolate back of my A1200 motherboard   :-?

[Brian]

I sugest you get hold of a few spacers and create holes in the plate that holds the PC motherboard to mach up with the existing holes in the A1200 motherboard.

You could also either just use extension cables to the Amiga ports though this is much work or you could cut out at the back of the tower and let the ports stick out.. also a bit of work though in return you could use the ends of the cutout to make holes and use the screws for the port to fixate the card to the back for better fixation of the motherboard.

[x56h34]

@Brian:

Where can I find extension cables which are ribbon, and not too long? All I see around are regular round straight-through cables which are usually very long for something like this.

I am doing something similar at this poing with my A4000T motherboard in a PC AT tower case and need to use cable extensions for the I/O ports which unfortunately do not align properly as they do with the original Escom A4000T case. So far, I'm using Sega Genesis joypad extension cables to do the trick, but they are too long and I overall do not like this solution.

[CU_AMiGA]

lol Blob, you forgot to disconnect the desktop casing! :-)

[blobrana]

Doh!

Now you tell me...


But , thinking about it, it did come in handy in securing the mobo to the side of the pc case (fastened with ribbons and screws, onto the original pc mobo attachment panel - er except moved to the `otherside`)

And the back of the case looks tidy(ish)...

[I`ll upload a picture eventually...]

[Merc]

orange wrote:
But I have only a1200 motherboard, without original plastic case (like the one you have) and without even metal shielding. Is there any solution for me?
Something has to isolate back of my A1200 motherboard   :-?

All you need are some of those hex standoffs mounted on the motherboard panel, or something like that.  
When I did my tower, (http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/pmason/merc/amiga/towerhack/)
I only found one or two places on the motherboard where I could put a screw through, so I made up a couple of brackets that grasped the 1200 mobo and bolted onto the motherboard panel.

I also used some plastic pieces from those drywall anchors that expand when you screw into them;  cut to the right length and glued onto the panel, they work well to hold the board away from the metal panel.

Hope that helps

[SWAUG]

Have a look at our recent ATX towering modification for the A1200.

The A1200 has USB, 256Mb, Window case with lights, removable HD, front USB ports etc

http://www.swaug.org.uk/a1200-tower.php