Building an Amiga 1200 Tower, just a few questions...

[AmigaNow]

Decided to do it! I have ordered an Amiga 1200 mobo from vesalia.de, a PC-KEY adapter from amigakit.com, a CF to IDE adapter and A4000 keyboard from ePay, and the EZ-Z4 case from amigakit. I did however have a few questions...

I now have all my parts, but nothing came with documentation. I think I have some of it figured out, but need some direction before I accidentally kill my Mig.

My latest questions:

1. Do I remove my A1200 from its shielding and bolt it directly to the EZ-Z4 backplane with 2 screws and the port nuts on the back? Do I need an insulation layer, etc...?

2. My PC-Key has a chip on one side. Do I install this into the A1200 keyboard socket, sans clip, with the chip side facing me as I look at the A1200 from the back? (Port side). Does the socket side of the PC-Key bolt on the back of the EZ-Z4 at the bottom hole to the right of the power supply?

3. There are 3 connectors, a 22pin connector near the ROMs (clockports?), 34 pin connector CN11 (Floppy?), and 44 pin connector CN16 (IDE?)

4. The EZ-Z4 Tower has a floppy facia. Is this for an Amiga1200 internal floppy? Is this the same that is currently available from amigakit?

5. At a later time if I decide to get the 6 port expansion board and an accelerator, will it be easy to install or will I need to remove the mobo and re-install?


Your help is greatly appreciated,
AmigaNow

[amiga1084]

Hello All,

I am after BSC MultiFace 3 Driver Disk? Can anyone upload me the disk or tell me where I can upload it from.

Thanks in advance,
Merv Stent

mervstent@yahoo.com.au

[kvasir]

Decided to do it! I have ordered an Amiga 1200 mobo from vesalia.de, a PC-KEY adapter from amigakit.com, a CF to IDE adapter and A4000 keyboard from ePay, and will soon be ordering the EZ-Z4 case from amigakit. I did however have a few questions...

1. As I am building this tower from scratch, can I use any ibm style floppy drive cable, or will I have to get this from an amiga dealer?

2. Can I use floppies from an A2000, or better yet Amiga HD floppies on my A1200T? Do these floppies have jumpers for df0:, df1: ?

3. Does the ATX to A1200 adapter stick outside the back of the case and then plug into the A1200's power port?

Your help is greatly appreciated,
AmigaNow

Not sure about the floppy question, when I towered my 1200 I also purchased a HD floppy drive. (came with its own cable) I went with a Mediator upgrade, though. In this case, the power from the PSU plugged into the Mediator card, and powered the Mobo from there. (Kinda wierd, but it works pretty well) Unfortunately, I seem to have a bad floppy controller or CIA chip somewhere, because the internal (DF0: ) drive isn't working, but I imagine you should be able to read/write Amiga and PC (w/ crossdos) formatted HD floppies with no problems if you upgrade. The only thing to watch out for are HD floppies formatted to 880K, which you won't be able to read without covering the second hole on the disk. (scotch tape works well for this) Though I thought the pc-key was for PS/2 or AT keyboards only? I could be wrong, though. (I use a pc-key 1200 with a ps/2 keyboard, works fine if not a bit "bouncy" once in awhile) Also, if you add USB, the poseidan drivers will mount a USB floppy drive, another way to access HD formatted PC disks (if this is a concern, I discovered this after trying to USB drive from my laptop on my Amiga when my internal blew)

edit: forgot to kill smilies, a.org thought (df0: ) was df0:)

[Bamiga2002]

Nice! The EZ-Z4 tower looks good. I considered it also because it's hard to do it yourself. But i decided to go for a self-modified custom tower still .

1. As I am building this tower from scratch, can I use any ibm style floppy drive cable, or will I have to get this from an amiga dealer?

I think it's okay to use any cable that fits the floppy drive and mobo.

2. Can I use floppies from an A2000, or better yet Amiga HD floppies on my A1200T? Do these floppies have jumpers for df0:, df1: ?

Floppy drives from A2000 should work just ok, just remember to set the one you use as DF0 (with jumpers). Dunno about the HD ones.

Good luck with your towering!

[ZeBeeDee]

Hello All,

I am after BSC MultiFace 3 Driver Disk? Can anyone upload me the disk or tell me where I can upload it from.

Thanks in advance,
Merv Stent

mervstent@yahoo.com.au

http://hardware.amiga.hu/exp/multiface3

[AmigaNow]

Thanks for all the great information. I found a floppy at amigakit that I have my eyes on. Can't wait till all my parts get here.  Soon I'll have all the Amiga's I used to own, especially the A1200 that was stolen from me.  

[Bamiga2002]

That's a REAL crime to steal someone's Miggy! :uzi:

[Daedalus]

1. As I am building this tower from scratch, can I use any ibm style floppy drive cable, or will I have to get this from an amiga dealer?

Any straight floppy cable will do, just be careful of PC floppy cablse with a twisted section in them. It's usually very obvious to see the twist... these cables can only be used before the twist, so:

[]======[]=x=[]

where "x" is a twist in a part of the cable, only the two connectors to the left can be used on the Amiga.

2. Can I use floppies from an A2000, or better yet Amiga HD floppies on my A1200T? Do these floppies have jumpers for df0:, df1: ?

Nope, the Amide decides on drive assignments based on the cabling, no jumpers are normally used. AFAIR the A1200's internal floppy port doesn't support DF1: connecction, so you may have to make or buy a cable which plugs into the external port and comes back into the tower. An Amiga HD floppy will work just fine as it is in your tower - just swap it for the A1200's internal drive and away you go!

3. Does the ATX to A1200 adapter stick outside the back of the case and then plug into the A1200's power port?

From memory, the power is supplied to the A1200 through its floppy power connector, apart from the -12V which is a small pin on a thin wire that does come outside the case and plugs into the centre of the power connector. So not a full, big plug, but a small wire. I don't know if that's still how it's done though...

[Karlos]

3. Does the ATX to A1200 adapter stick outside the back of the case and then plug into the A1200's power port?

You can certainly connect the A1200 power cable to the ATX main cable to deliver 0/5/12/-12VDC, there's plenty of information on how to do this online. You'll at least want to do it for the -12VDC line.

My tower does this and uses the floppy power port on the motherboard to boost the 0/5/12VDC lines too.

[AmigaNow]

I now have enough parts, but nothing came with documentation. I think I have some of it figured out, but need some direction before I accidentally kill my Mig.

My latest questions:

1. Do I remove my A1200 from its shielding and bolt it directly to the EZ-Z4 backplane with 2 screws and the port nuts on the back? Do I need an insulation layer, etc...?

2. My PC-Key has a chip on one side. Do I install this into the A1200 keyboard socket, sans clip, with the chip side facing me as I look at the A1200 from the back? (Port side). Does the socket side of the PC-Key bolt on the back of the EZ-Z4 at the bottom hole to the right of the power supply?

3. There are 3 connectors, a 22pin connector near the ROMs (clockports?), 34 pin connector CN11 (Floppy?), and 44 pin connector CN16 (IDE?)

4. The EZ-Z4 Tower has a floppy facia. Is this for an Amiga1200 internal floppy? Is this the same that is currently available from amigakit?

5. At a later time if I decide to get the 6 port expansion board and an accelerator, will it be easy to install or will I need to remove the mobo and re-install?

Your help is appreciated,
AmigaNow

[kvasir]

1. Do I remove my A1200 from its shielding and bolt it directly to the EZ-Z4 backplane with 2 screws and the port nuts on the back? Do I need an insulation layer, etc...?

   Yes, you have to remove the shielding, there should be some "riser" screws that come with it to hold the MOBO away from the case, then you screw the mobo to those. (Same principle as mounting an X86 mobo) I'm not sure how to remove the shielding without damaging it, I unfortunately destroyed mine in the process. (The shielding, not the mobo) Perhaps one of those keyrah thingies would work, if you want to use the 1200's empty "shell" + keyboard as a ps/2 keyboard? (something I've been toying with myself, but not looked into a whole lot)

2. My PC-Key has a chip on one side. Do I install this into the A1200 keyboard socket, sans clip, with the chip side facing me as I look at the A1200 from the back? (Port side). Does the socket side of the PC-Key bolt on the back of the EZ-Z4 at the bottom hole to the right of the power supply?

   I believe the chip goes towards the back. Been awhile since I've done this, though. Google Images did reveal this image, though. http://eab.abime.net/picture.php?albumid=95&pictureid=518 . (its kinda fuzzy)

3. There are 3 connectors, a 22pin connector near the ROMs (clockports?), 34 pin connector CN11 (Floppy?), and 44 pin connector CN16 (IDE?)

  The 44 pin (should be about 3" from the PCMCIA port, on the left) is IDE. The floppy port I believe is near the 4-pin HD/FD/Power LED header. The clockport I believe is down and to the left of the floppy port. (wishing I was posting this 4 months ago, when I did essentially the same thing)

4. The EZ-Z4 Tower has a floppy facia. Is this for an Amiga1200 internal floppy? Is this the same that is currently available from amigakit?

   The "fake" button on the A1200's will get in the way, I think removing it should work, and the blue button should reach the "real" eject button. Not sure, as I put a HD floppy in mine. Otherwise the floppy port below it should work. (Works with an IDE zip drive too, if you have one)

5. At a later time if I decide to get the 6 port expansion board and an accelerator, will it be easy to install or will I need to remove the mobo and re-install?

  The PSU might get in the way, if you use a PC one. That's held in by 4 screws, and probably the easieast thing to remove, assuming the cables are long enough to lay it somewhere convenient without having to disconnect them.

I have some pictures of my setup on webshots, I snapped a few while towering my system. They might be useful.
http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/570455108dloPxV
(Ignore the use of zip-ties as a HDD mounting bracket...) :-D

[AmigaNow]

2. My PC-Key has a chip on one side. Do I install this into the A1200 keyboard socket, sans clip,

You have been very informative. I started with a new mobo from vesalia.de, so I do not have the original case. It did come with the full upper and lower shielding however. As for the keyboard connector on the A1200, do I just plug in the PC-KEy 1200, or do I remove the clip that is on the socket first? The reason I ask is the clip has a small hole and the pcb seems thicker than that...

Thanks for your help.

AmigaNow

[kvasir]

Sorry 'bout the late delay. (Daughter wanted me to read to her ) Yes, you have to remove the clip/sleeve to fit the pc-key. I used a pair of pliers and a screwdriver for this, though there might be another method. It just clips in, and uses tension to hold the green ribbon cable from the original 1200 keyboard in (not sure if one was included w/ your mobo). Works so well, I didn't have an escape key since the first time I removed/replaced it. Ugh.. The pc-key works much better, and doesn't need the clip.

You have been very informative. I started with a new mobo from vesalia.de, so I do not have the original case. It did come with the full upper and lower shielding however. As for the keyboard connector on the A1200, do I just plug in the PC-KEy 1200, or do I remove the clip that is on the socket first? The reason I ask is the clip has a small hole and the pcb seems thicker than that...

Thanks for your help.

AmigaNow

[AmigaNow]

I see on the case where I can put 2 standoffs, but dont see any for the back (port side). Does it just connect on the back of the case with the port nuts, and the mobo just floats in the back?

Thanks,
AmigaNow

[kvasir]

I believe the back is held in with the port nuts, though half of the ports are going to stick out of the wide slot in back, unless they changed the backplate design since I got my tower. Looking at my old pictures, its kinda hard to tell. (Plus, that part of the Amiga is against the back of the desk, and hard to get to. I'll have to look when I power down next, kinda rare with how fun these computers are :-D ) Hopefully your mobo came with these nuts, but of not they're usually a dime a dozen (almost literally) at a hardware store. (ACE hardware or Farm&Fleet work well, if you're stateside. Radio Shack seems to be useless unless you want to buy an Ipod or Cell-phone these days...)

I see on the case where I can put 2 standoffs, but dont see any for the back (port side). Does it just connect on the back of the case with the port nuts, and the mobo just floats in the back?

Thanks,
AmigaNow