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)

[alx]

O knights of....

...Knights Who 'Til Recently Said Ni... :python:

Welcome to A.org :-D

Not that I've got any experience in modding Amigas like that, though I'd have thought that getting a cheap A600 from EBay might perhaps be a better choice of machine - the A600 has a smaller mobo, and an integrated hard drive controller (which AFAIK the A500+ lacks).

[Noster]

Hi,

it would be much cheaper to use an A2000 for this purpose.
I also use an old A2000 as game-console. I've bought simple extension cables for the keyboard and the joysticks and a trackball to replace the mouse. The HDD is a VERY old 20 MB (!) MFM-Disk at an OMTI-controller and the A.L.F. hardware-adapter using the A.L.F. software.
It works really great and was very cheap (less than 50,- EUR for all).

The HDD-solutions for the A500 are quite expensive (compared to a cheap A2000-controller) and placing an A500 into a new case and using an external keyboard would require a lot of work or very much money.

Noster

[Darklight]

Yeah, the A200 would be alright, but the motherboard is like an aircraft carrier, you'd never fit that thing into a decent looking AV case.  If you're modding it into a set-top box sort of thing, well then I would also suggest getting an A600.  It's got the IDE controller already built in, plus the smaller motherboard.  You could also do it with an A1200, but it's slightly bigger.  The A500 would be good, but it ends up being too big.  Go with the 600/1200 or make us all look stupid and make the best 500 set-top box there is  :-P

[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

[bloodline]

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

Yup...

I expect thet the 'final product' will be a {bleep}ised 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.

The A500 and A600 are not really component compatible. THe A500 does have socketed chips, but the A600 is a single unit. You can't take it apart in any way.

[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

[alx]

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)

I guess he meant the mobo itself - the A600 (and the A1200) use SMD devices which are a real pain to get off unless you've got tons of experience, the right equipment, and a very steady hand.  BTW you certainly won't be able to transfer the internal IDE from an A600 to an A500.  The A600 itself is a right bugger to expand much (even the CPU is surface-mounted - you upgrage by placing a socket upside-down over it :-D ) but it certainly is possible.