I NEED an Amiga classic laptop!

[kvasir]

Hello all. I have been dwelling on the possiblilty of an Amiga laptop at my rather boring 10-hour shift job, and was wondering what all would be needed. I have an Amiga 600 which has been banged  up pretty badly, though the mobo works fine. I recall there was a website somebody wrote on how to do this, but I rarely have time to google it. (And I think I have enough time for this project), anyway, I have a few 's about what I would need. I know I'll need a ntsc/pal scandoubler, a mouse adapter, and a keyboard adapeter, as well as an old laptop with the pcmcia slot in the right location. (I know a vintage computer shop in Madison that can provide a junk laptop, I'll just have to give them a call when I know what I need) I believe I'll need laptop specific pinouts for the lcd display inputs, ps/2 or serial mouse (Touchpad/ joustick thingy stuck in the middle of "ghyb" keys, trackball, etc...) and the power supply specs of the laptop. Also, I'll probably want an external floppy drive for the Ami, I think Amigakit still sells those, even in HD. Plus alot of solder and profanity-proof company when I'm putting this thing together. :-D Unfortunatly, I think I'll need 3.1 roms and an apollo 030 to make the system usable beyond  its stock os 2.1 1mb chipram config. I think Amigakit also sells 3.1 roms and the 3.9 cd, though I'm guessing I'll also need an adapter for the ide cd-rom. A wireless pcmcia card would be nice, too. Anyway, I guess what I'm asking is perhaps a list of feasable laptop models that would work for this, and any other hints/ advise on such a project? (not a coincidence I'm planning this around tax return time. :-D) I've been using UAE + winXP for my portable Amiga needs, but it somehow lacks the same charm as original Amiga hardware. (OK, I  have issues) Plus I like to be a bit quirky. (I've run UAE on my laptop while running pc-task win95 on my 1200 when I've had LOTS of free time...) Any advise would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

[cv643d]

It can be done. Check out Ben Hecks homemade Atari portables.

My suggestions:

-Stick with 68000 and use optimised software
-Get 1 MB extra ram
-Use a Compact flash harddrive
-Use a small TV/monitor then you do not need scandoubler
-KB and mouse converters are available

Problem areas:
-The case, if you want a thin case, get ready for lots of problems fitting this in an old laptop case
-If you decide to make a laptop case yourself get ready for lots of work
-Find out what kind of batteries a stock A600 can run on for at least 3 hours and see how many cells you need. Battery technology have come a long way since 1991. Also you can use a mini-ITX atx pico PSU, you feed the PSU with 12 v and it takes care of splitting 12 to 5v, gnd, 12v and so on.

Lots of work and probably even more work if you want to end up with a good looking solution. But it is definitely doable!

[KThunder]

ben heckendorn is the coolest guy in the whole freakin planet.

i would say definitely do it. ben used a lcd tv for his atari 8bit portable. he used sony psone screens for most of his portables but thats probably too small for what you want too.

[skurk]

Sounds like an awesome project!  Go for it!

And how about starting a thread with a worklog?  (If that's permitted here)  Would be awesome to witness the process

I wouldn't mind posting a worklog with my A1200 PPC+PCI tower project, either.  Whenever I get started, that is...  :-)

[nasty]

Remember Suzanne

Suzanne

[c64_d0c]

there is many diffrent sizes for older laptops, i hope you find one you could just reuse. these suitcase boxes are ugly..
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STRAIN INDEX

[koaftder]

Make your own case dude. Probably get a better fit that way. Have you seen the work that guy does making atari laptops, he even did an xbox 360 case, all his stuff was custom and pretty slick.

http://www.benheck.com/

[mpiva]

If you're thinking of using an A600, then  you obviously don't care about AGA.  If that's the case, why don't you try to get in touch with Dennis and make your own laptop MiniMig?  It would probably be less work than using an A600 (smaller motherboard, more compatible with modern hardware, etc).

[koaftder]

mpiva wrote:
If you're thinking of using an A600, then  you obviously don't care about AGA.  If that's the case, why don't you try to get in touch with Dennis and make your own laptop MiniMig?  It would probably be less work than using an A600 (smaller motherboard, more compatible with modern hardware, etc).

Thats an awsome idea. A portable minimig, thats one of the best ideas ive heard in a long time. You have stumbled on a good idea there mpiva.

[kvasir]

wow. didn't think I'd get this kind of response, thanks for the advise, all! :-) Anyway, it was suzzane that I first heard of, and thats one link of the links I was looking for. :-D Lots to consider... I'll probably charge up the 'ol digital camera, and upload pics to my site, link 'em here as I go on this little project. Thinking I'm going to stick to an older laptop case, seems a bit easier to deal with. Also, I remember something on either Amigakit or Software hut that converts the a600 clockport into an A1200 compatible  one. I was wondering if this would would work with the old M-tek 68030 accelerator I have lying around from before my 1260 upgrade? That might work better than an apollo accelerator. Also thinking of slapping a Graffiti card in there for playing Doom, Gloom, etc.... Anyway, this is all on  hold until I get my tax refund. (Lots of money back... newborn baby this year!) Anyway, g2g to work now... Need to pay for all my  Amiga stuff somehow...

[InTheSand]

koaftder wrote:
Have you seen the work that guy does making atari laptops, he even did an xbox 360 case, all his stuff was custom and pretty slick.

Heh! The XBox 360 laptop looks like it was a project and a half! Fantastic-looking end result though!

 - Ali

[Dr_Righteous]

An A600 laptop looks relatively simple, if the right parts are obtained. Definately want to try and use the same screen method  Ben Heckendorn uses for his Atari laptops.

You could remove the 23 pin connector entirely, and wire directly to the holes. Ditch the RF adapter, and replace it with an S-Video connector with a Neobitz (mine just shipped today... I'll assemble and test it, and post my results soon) if I find it works. Thus display AND video output would be awesome.

Definately yank the RCA connectors for the sound, and replace with a stereo mini jack.

Yank the power plug, and replace it with an internal 12V input power supply... Thus utilizing 12V battery power as well as a 12V external power supply, instead of that bulky Commodore one.

The mouse would take a little doing, but I'm sure something could be hacked. A PS/2 trackpad uncased adapted via a Cocolino adapter hard wired.

The rest of the board is already layed out in excellent design for a custom case. Original keyboard would work well. Even takes 2.5" hard drives. Plenty of slimline CDROM drives out now, Mini-ITX spec et, al.

My only question is, can an A600 boot from the external floppy drive? If so, you could leave the internal one out of the design, and get one made for a CD32 or something.

Honestly, the hardest part of any of this is the casework.

[Dr_Righteous]

You know, a thought just occured to me... This would all probably be ALOT simpler using a CD32 motherboard, along with a SX-32 expansion.

[orange]

yes, A600 and any amiga with KS2+ can boot from external floppy

[alexh]

There are many problems you must overcome:

1) Inherent size problems even using the A600 motherboard
2) Lots of electronics you will need to make to interface to the LCD panel and the battery power supply
3) How slow a 68000 Amiga is (man it is!!)
4) How expensive and hot 68020/030 accelerators are for the A600
5) How crap ECS workbench looks

A more practical solution would be a software one. See if an x86 laptop that boots directly into E-UAE will meet your needs?

If you go for the REAL Amiga solution, I implore you to consider using a CD32 as the base motherboard to solve 3 out of 5 of the above problems.