Convert Amiga 500 to a 1Ghz PC!

[amigean]

Hello everyone,

I was recently given a broken Amiga 500 which I have used for parts.

All that is left from it is its (aesthetically pleasing) case and keyboard. I saw this page where someone converted a C64 case for mini-itx and I was quite impressed (http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/c64/). I always loved the way to Amiga 500 looked, so it struck me;

it's case would make a really comfy home for a mini-itx (www.mini-itx.com) motherboard - running WinXP and WinUAE...

After a few basic measurements I realised there is ample space inside the A500 case to accomodate a (17cmx17cm)   :-o  Via Epia M1000 m/b @1Ghz w/TVout, AC97, Lan, USB2.0  - and a full blown 3.5inch harddrive, slim-line cdrom and (possibly) even a slimline power supply (maplin.co.uk sell them for around 35 pounds) :-)

The more I think about the whole idea the more appealing it gets- I could perhaps attach a 5inch tft and make it semi-portable/ hack memory card readers and WLAN modules ....etc. I will probably start with it as soon as possible - there is only one downside:

I want to be able to use the Amiga 500's existing keyboard - is there any way I could do this?

Does anyone know of an easy way to interface an A500 (internal) keyboard with a pc motherboard - either ps2 or usb?

I know the opposite is possible (to get a PC keyboard plugged in the amiga) but I'm not very good at electronics and was wondering whether anyone has tried it . :-?

If this is not possible - then I might have to physically cut and snap the case to force a suitable pc keyboard to fit, which does not sound nice -as it will prob look ugly  :-(   - keeping as much of the original A500 looks is my aim...

thanks in advance for any help and if you're interested I'll keep you posted on the project's progress.

[asian1]

Hello
I read from Internet that A1200 and A500 use
the same 31 pins/31 connections membrane keyboard.
Perhaps you can search for reference on the net.
Based on this information, perhaps it is possible
to create interface into a PC Keyboard IC.
From this IC it goes to PS/2 connector or
5 Pin DIN keyboard connector.
I do not know how to do this, or whether this
is possible.
Search google with:
+keyboard +membrane +amiga +"31 pins"

[Piru]

Does anyone know of an easy way to interface an A500 (internal) keyboard with a pc motherboard - either ps2 or usb?

The easiest way I can think of is a single-slot PCI riser card for the Via Epia (to get PCI slot vertical) and then Catweasel MK3 PCI card. Catweasel MK3 has Amiga keyboard connector and windows drivers for keyboard.

You can hack the standard keyboard connector to A500 keyboard, you just need to wire correct signals from the A500 keyboard circuit board to the connector (aminet tower conversion hacks in hard/hack have detailed info about this).

So, granted the mobo + riser + catweasel fit height-wise, you should be able to use original A500 keyboard.

Hairy, and certainly needs some planning, but should work.

Also, as a bonus, you could use the original A500 floppy drive and read/write amiga disks. :-)

[Spyros]

I would never turn an A500 into a PC.
Imagine having this goodlooking computer on your desk, turning it on and looking at the screen. That's where the worst part comes in. Windows (or whatever).

I like seeing WB1.3 when switching on my A500.

Anyway I can't understand why people put stupid wintel stuff in good old computer cases. I would never do it.

I' ve seen some weird towers that PC users put their PCs in. Like cases with neon lights or artificial goldfishes swimming in there etc. It's all kitch (did I spell that correctly?). Whatever you do a PC will never have what home computers had. (Magic ;-) )

P.S. I hope I didn't sound offending. I mean if you want to put your PC in an A500 case, it's your right to do so and none of my business. I just said my oppinion on this.

[amigean]

Thanks a lot Piru!!! It sounds great - as long as it is as small as I hope it is!
 :-D

[JimS]

I've been thinking about doing this to an old A1000 I got as a freebie.  But I think I'm going to wait till the A1-lite shows up. .. keep it in the family, eh? :-)  
The catweasel sounds like the best approach.  I would probably go with the dremel & bondo approach to fit the guts from a pc keyboard into the 500's case.  On Aminet there's a project to build a pic-based translator to connect a pc keyboard to the amiga...