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

[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

[kvasir]

Just notice your signature. :-D If you have a mediator, you can gut the x86 boxes for parts, then chunk 'em! Though its much more therapeutic to dispose of x86 computers with an empty beer can, some gunpowder, a lawnmower spark plug, and a REALLY long extension cord.

[kvasir]

Haven't heard from you in awhile, everything going OK with the upgrade?

[AmigaNow]

As is always the case, I found more Amiga stuff...  a PCMCIA Internet kit on amibay, and then  I realized I was needing a right angle kit from amigakit... Last update I got was amigakit just shipped and should be here soon. Amigakit is great, very communicative and helpfull! :bow

Last night I removed my Ami from the shielding, and yes I have all the nuts and the insulation layer. I looked to see how it would fit. I'm thinking that it fits close to the backplane, because if I were to install standoffs on the backplane it seems the mobo would be tilted?

As a side note, my future upgrades will be an accelerator, Mediator 6 port and one of these from ePay "15Khz RGB CGA Component Video to VGA Converter Scaler". They look real cool.

Until my PCMCIA kit gets here I have to be patient.

[kvasir]

Yeah, Amiga stuff does that to you. (A complete trasition to Windows requires a 12-step program ) Anyway, the right-angle adapter works well, if going wifi in a case, though, you'll probably want to solder an external antenna to it (I have a book that details how to do this), otherwise there are plenty of holes in the back to snake an ethernet cable through. Until I found a mediator compatible 100mbps card (Digging through a ton of gutted x86 parts), I used a 3com etherlink card. Only prob was between the right-angle adapter and the lengthy plug, the wire pressed up against the case wall. had enough room, but bareley. Amigakit's should fit better, I would think.

I'd recommend at least a 030 w/ 16mb fast, but use a 060 myself. If you can get ahold of PPC, grab it!
Can't remember how the mobo fits physically, haven't removed the side-panel in months, but I don't recall any wierd sideways fitting. I'll have to check this weekend. (My brother hasn't seen my Tower yet, going to take it to his place, might as well snap some photos while I'm at it). The Mediator will probably get the best increase in performance other than the accelerator, depending on what you put in there. I only have a 4 port, in part because it was cheaper, and I have USB support via Subway, which would "free up" one of the extra PCI ports anyway. An SVGA card, 100mbps ethernet, and sound card are all I have in there for now, not quite sure what to stick in the remaining slot, but now my Amiga out-perfroms the AMD Athlon/ Pentium IV WinXP systems when it comes to Ibrowse vs Firefox. (Not when it comes to CSS or Javascript, though. Javascript is still kinda slow, but faster than AGA, and CSS is still only supported via netsurf, which has no Javascript yet)

Aboout a scaler/scandoubler, its most likely going to be external (like mine), not a problem if the cosmetics don't bother you, and also much easier to install. The Amiga 1200 has 24-bit analog output, some of the ones out there (like mine) are 16-bit, which tends to turn the screen green. (You can adjust for this a bit with a monitor that has RGB controls) If you install a video card, you'll probably want to get a 2-port VGA switchbox, to switch from VGA/RTG and AGA. Or just slap a TV into the composite output. (I did both, so I can tape video game sessions and such) Alot of older games (most of 'em) won't recognize the enhanced GFX, and default to NTSC or PAL. (settings depending, I'd really only recommend the TV if you like in a PAL country, or have a PAL capable TV, as most of the games are out of Europe and default to that.)

Yes, Amigakit is arguably the best Amiga dealer I've had dealings with. (I haven't too much a basis for comparison, though) Only prob is they're located in UK, I'm in the US, and I don't think they warehouse stuff over here. (Not Amigakits fault, US red-tape and politics fault - Customs decided to sit on my computer stuff I ordered for a couple of weeks a few years ago, but they've gotten better since. (Not sure if you have to worry about that or not)

Also, make sure you have ALOT of freetime... Putting a 1200 into a tower is like a new girlfriend. You'll spend all night and day with her. (Just ask my wife...)