Amiga Case Designer Faces Intimidation

[Darrin]

Is there even a picture of the case anywhere in this link?  I can't find one..  (I even went to the other forum and can't find it there either..)

Here's some pics I managed to snag.  None of them say "Amiga" (There is AmigaOS which is Hyperion's and "Amica"):

[giZmo350]

direct link to image http://www.loriano.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/1.htm
 
website http://www.loriano.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

[Darrin]

I'm thinking it would be nice for my FPGA arcade.

I've had The Daddy test the keyboard using a USB-PS/2 adapter and it works, so I should be able to route the cable out of the back of the PC case and plug it into the PS/2 socket.

Plenty of space for the Daughter Board too.

[Crom00]

So cool man, a nice simple sheet metal design. Sheet metal means no tooling costs. I wonder how much it would cost to make a few hundred..

[Darrin]

I'm assuming that this:
http://img.alibaba.com/img/pb/478/179/381/381179478_436.JPG
will be perfect for extending the SD card access to another point on the case?  Should work for the Minimig too.

[Duce]

I'm not big on all in one cases, never have been, so I'm likely not a part of this market, but need to say one thing.

If there's ever been a reason for Kickstarter to exist, it's for projects like this.

http://www.kickstarter.com/

Get 'er done.

[koaftder]

That case is ugly as hell but I can appreciate the craftsmanship that went into it. At least it's in the spirit of what Commodore produced. You have to admit, with the exception of a few products, most of what Commodore made was not pleasing to the eye.

[desiv]

You have to admit, with the exception of a few products, most of what Commodore made was not pleasing to the eye.

No I don't...  
With the exception of the 2000 (which was functional), C16, and the Plus 4, I think I liked most Commodore cases.
To each his own..

;-)

Daddy's new case is great..
The keyboard is a bit "Mac" for me tho...  Not my favorite...

desiv

[Duce]

Like I always said about Amiga fans - there was very few who had any "middle ground" when it came to the legacy Amiga systems regarding footprint of the various systems.

I was a rabid fan of the big box systems, I hated the wedge cases.  Some guys were completely opposite.  I found the 3000 T and 4000 T to be drop dead gorgeous back then, but in these modern times no one in their right mind would want a PC case that big.

Just another reason to consider a big box replica "in homage" case in the future, I guess.

[Darrin]

The keyboard is a bit "Mac" for me tho...  Not my favorite...

desiv

They keyboard is like the one I have on my new HP Pavilion dv7.  It took me a few weeks to get used to it.  

[lsmart]

That case is ugly as hell but I can appreciate the craftsmanship that went into it. At least it's in the spirit of what Commodore produced. You have to admit, with the exception of a few products, most of what Commodore made was not pleasing to the eye.

They say: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" :laughing:

Ugly commodore cases existed (PC 10, CD32, A600 IMO). I loved the design of the A1000 and C116 when they were new. The X500 case looks a bit like it is coming from a Sci-Fi movie like Buck Rodgers. It has a modern keyboard and will attract looks. Unfortunately the current desigs of monitors have a tendency to be black or silver, which - despite of Apples consistency to combine with white - simply isn`t pleasing my eye. But then again - see the Link above.

I`d propose sombebody design a cool monitor decoration system for those of us, who need it. We can`t all be black, can we?

[TheDaddy]

And I can assure you that the Aros community feels honoured too and appreciates your efforts...

Thanks.

[TheDaddy]

@TheDaddy

I notice Hyperion have recently had some officially licensed Boing Ball stickers made to help promote OS4, maybe they can be persuaded to make some more variations , e.g: "Powered by AmigaOS" which could be sold separately and used legally alongside your own X500 branding.

In my opinion the AmigaOS trademarks with Boing ball are as recognizable and even more relevant to the Next-gen "Amiga" scene in 2012 than Amiga branding alone.

Thanks for the heads up. I just want to underline the fact that there are a few other photos of the X500 PLUS WITHOUT anything on, you can see them in the video, well you could until a few hours ago, that is how the case will come, without any branding, but I think the majority are clever enough to assume that.

Those are just bits of paper I printed out to give ideas on how to customise it. If you look carefully they are not stuck on.

Shame really as my website has now been watched, since the photos went up, a few thousands times, that is great marketing potential, many of these hits are surely not just from us on amiga.org and AW.net but retro passionate people, missed opportunity I'd say but at least exposure for AROS, OS4, ACube etc...

I will leave it to the user to sort out the branding, I just create these cases on a shoestring budget.

Got to edit the video now...what a bore...I'll post the new link when done. Cheers.

[commodorejohn]

I found the 3000 T and 4000 T to be drop dead gorgeous back then, but in these modern times no one in their right mind would want a PC case that big.

Actually, I much prefer reasonably-sized cases to trendy new micro-PCs; they're a lot less of a pain in the ass to work in, and there's enough room to set a CRT monitor and a pair of speakers on top if it's a desktop. The 3000 was a little cramped, but the 4000 looks like a beauty.

[TheDaddy]

I must thank CUSA for bringing this fantastic case to my attention.  I wasn't actually aware of it's existence until I saw this thread.  I'll have to get one when the Natami is released (hopefully they're still available by then.)

Cool, nice to see you're interested.

I want to underline this; the X500 PLUS is NOT an Amiga replica case, I must stress this. The C64x isn't either. A replica is a perfect reproduction without nothing added to it, with absolute no changes.

I like to see the X500 PLUS as the ultimate retro case based on the fact that you can put almost ANY mini-itx board and almost ANY flex-atx (see SAM flex or SAM460, that is their factor).

What does this mean? If you are a retro fan, you can build your own modern equivalent. Want a powerful Windows/Linux based machine but at the same time run a few emulators on a custom retro case, the X500 PLUS is that case.

The prototype runs happily a Gigabyte board with 2.5GHz i3 cpu, 8GB DDR3 RAM and more importantly you can expand the graphics card (running an ATI Radeon HD 6570 2GB inside).

I was playing MAss Effect 3 on it and it felt good, you are not stuck with ****ty onboard graphics and puny little Atom processors.

And then there is the Amiga side...x86 mini-itx board with AROS installed...awesome!

Or a SAM with OS4, FPGAArcade, Natami, there are so many possibilities.

Anyway I need to find the time to edit the video now...

[TheDaddy]

Slightly off topic. I think it is a mistake to only promote this case for the Amiga community. I think there are many more potential customers in other retro markets such as Atari and others. You could easily double sales by targeting the retro computing industry in general instead of just this one. Also no dickheads to worry about. You said you needed a minimum of 50 orders to go ahead? Have you tried the other hobby platforms? Just my 2 cents...

You are right...if someone wants to lend a hand posting it somewhere else I'd be grateful, target 50 cases, all I want is recoup some of the money spent, as I know perfectly well that I wont' get back the seven years spent on it let alone making a profit, I want people to have one and enjoy it. It's handmade and I'll be assembling them one by one...feck!