Project 1:
I got a vanilla A4000D-CR for £150 last year and I've been slowly collecting parts to put in it. All I need now is the time to fit them: I got a
Picasso IV card I managed to pick up for £150 and a 40MHz
Apollo A4040 I got for £60. I did have a Cyberstorm MKIII lined up but I think it needs a new 060 socket
I want to replace the old 40Meg hard drive with an CF card using a
CF-IDE adapter the kind that wires to the back panel for easy access allowing quick transfer of files from the PC. To finish it off I'd like to make a set of KS3.9 EPROMs for fast reboots. I've got the 2*27C400 EPROM's and the programmer, I just need to know how to use ROMSplit and Remus tools and what files to update.
Project 2 :
I want to fit the
NedoPC A600 Fast-RAM upgrade I bought for my A600 earlier this year for $40. I also want to ditch my heavy/noisy 2.5" IDE drive by cutting a CF sized slot above the PCMCIA slot hot glue down a 44-pin A600 compatible
IDE->CF adapter on top connected to internal IDE for booting and giving easy access to the card to transfer files from the PC. You can use CF cards via PCMCIA adapters without drilling the case but you cannot boot from them and I might want to use a wireless PCMCIA ethernet at the same time.
Project 3:
I want to fit a
Right angle 44-pin IDE->CF card adapter to the
SX 32 MK1 I got this year for £55. This type of CF->IDE adapter means you don't need an IDE cable, perfect for SX 32. Get WHDload installed and lots of games plus a great CD32 menu for selecting them.
Project 4:
Diagnose the fault with my Cyberstorm MKIII. I bought it non functional for £80 with Rev6 capable 060 CPU in 2002 with the intention of repairing it. I've never actually tried it so I'm not sure what is wrong (if anything) but I figure it needs a new surface mount 060 CPU socket (as this is the thing that goes wrong most commonly). JJB of Amiga Center France wanted to change way too much for the repair (€150) but someone recently mentioned another repair shop which can do these replacements cheaper... gotta remember where I read about them...
Project 5:
Convert the Apollo 4040 into an Apollo 4060. From what I've read I need to get a voltage regulator module from PG or someone, possibly replace the CPU socket (easy as it's through hole) and upgrade the ROMS. Now where am I going to get the 4060 ROM from? There was also some talk that the 4060 needed replacement CPLD chips but I'd like to try it first. The upgrade is available from Jens Schoenfeld but it's not economically viable.
