My 500+ Project

[djos]

Well folks I've had a bloody good day working on my Miggy Today, got most things working and learned a few things along the way.

First up I soldered on some wiring for the IDE68k v402 (salvaged from an old PC):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-21%2018.12.10.jpg

Then I took my floppy drive apart and gave it a clean and lube and it's working perfectly now and no longer sounds like a tractor. I also did the chip-ram mod to make the trapdoor ram useful (see the extra graphics ram in WB):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-21%2018.13.34.jpg

Then I fired up Tomthul's boot disk to see if my 8MB Fast Ram was there (happy days, it works):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-21%2018.19.26.jpg

and then for today's biggest surprise, for the sheer hell of it I dropped my KS3.1 ROM back in the damn thing worked! :eek: Im blaming a static build-up, due to poor packaging from the seller, dissipating for its miraculous revival and Im not telling him to keep the replacement (serve him right for not packing it right + I had to pay $5 shipping):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-21%2018.24.37.jpg

I also managed to get WB 3.1 to recognise my 4GB CF card however it didnt play entirely nicely in HD Toolbox so im re-formatting it in UAE to see if that works better and then I'll do the HD Install on my 500+. I had attempted to boot off it (worked in UAE) earlier but it didnt work for whatever reason.

As for a couple of the lessons I learned Today:

1/ My Agnus 8372AB Chip doesnt like my 512k Trapdoor board and gives me alternating Yellow / Green screens (works fine with it removed) and the chip-ram mod didnt make any difference. 512k Trapdoor board works fine with my 8372A - I wonder if the 8372AB doesnt like the 80ns (slower than onboard 70ns ram) ram and wants uniform speeds. either that or it will only work with a 1mb (or 2mb?) trapdoor ram board.

2/ 24 year old Floppy Disk drives and their media are a little finicky - im just glad I backed up my workbench and fast-ram disks onto other floppies cause I've managed to invoke read errors already on one disk (re-copied it and it now works again).

3/ not having 2 floppy drives sucks balls for copying!!!


Project Stage 2 (after I get the software side of my 500+ up and running):

I dug up and old LG CD-Burner Today from the Shed and im hunting for an old really cheap largish External 5.25" scsi CD-ROM style enclosure with PSU (no drive) - PSU & electronics can be faulty or missing (cause they're coming out any way) so I can build in an ATX PSU and install my CF-IDE and CD-ROM into (PM me if you have something you want to sell).

[djos]

One thing I forgot to mention, my tank mouse's right button wasnt working all that well so I took it apart and gave both micro switches a good spray of isopropyl - a couple of clicks later both buttons both work like new.

[djos]

Looks like that 3.1 rom is stuffed after all, today my miggy just started being really flaky and then wouldn't boot or do anything even as simple as display the insert workbench disk screen!

At first I thought it was my add on bits and went back to bare miggy with an original 68000 chip and still nothing. Starting to get desperate I swapped the the rom back to 2.04 and much to my relief it came back to life straight away! I put all my extras back in and they work too (ide68k excepted as it needs ks3.1). :p

[gertsy]

Sounds like things are going well'ish.  Working with old Amiga kit can be a challenge. My A1200 stopped working a couple of weeks ago, had to take everything out of it clean it all and put it back together.  Hopefully your new 3.1 rom will complete it.
How's the video quality of the VGA adaptor?

[djos]

Yeah, im having fun - it's almost more about the journey than the result for me.

the GBS-8220 is pretty good for $35 but not perfect, you do get a bit of artifacting while mousing in workbench etc.

[djos]

Was off crook today (blasted head colds!) and to amuse myself I grabbed an old 250watt ATX PSU and did some research and testing in preparation for converting it to a Miggy PSU and to drive my powered CF-IDE card and CD-ROM Drive.

Found the ATX Pin-out info HERE and the Miggy Pinouts HERE so it looks like making a Miggy PSU is a piece of cake!

The only thing on my PSU that I found was different to the spec's I found, was that on mine you need to keep the Green & Ground connected to turn on the PSU (it's an older 20pin ATX PSU without the extra 4-pin CPU power connector).

I also did some research on using an IDE CD-ROM and discovered IDEfix97 so now all I need is a nice old SCSI CD-ROM case* to mod and a Miggy Power cable (found one on FleaBay for $14 shipped).

*Something like this would be awesome:

[freqmax]

What type of plastic is used in that CDROM reader? PP?

(seems like a nice case)

[djos]

No idea, unfortunately those sun cd cases seem to be quite expensive on evil bay:-(

[utri007]

http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/amiga_hacks/Amiga_Power_supplies/wired-atx-psu.JPG

Only link you need is link you already found, Ian Stedman home page

[djos]

yeah Im not going to keep the ATX connector, it's going completely as will everything else I dont need - I will keep the disk drive power loom tho.

[djos]

Spent most of this evening planning my external CD-ROM + CF-IDE Combo Project and have mostly finished my plans plus found & bought most the parts I need to build it.

I eventually gave up on the idea of integrating the ATX PSU into the CD-ROM case as I'd need to find an external LTO or DLT Drive and they are frickin expensive!

The drive I decided to mod is a Yamaha external SCSI CD-Rom ($22 delivered from fleabay):


and I found some great little 2" long Female to Male IDE cables:


which I plan to install into the removable sidecar slot door (the length and location is so perfect to connect to the IDE68k it's not funny!) and the second will go into the left hand side of the CD-Case (external Ribbon cable will have to run under the CD-rom to the side of my 500+ but im ok with that). Inside the CD-ROM chassis I'll use a stock dual connector IDE cable and a male-male joiner to connect up with the short IDE cable.

I intend to mount the CF-IDE pointing out the back of the case (so I can remove the CF card if I want to) and hopefully the CF slot will line up with one of the soon to be empty SCSI connector holes without much dremel'ing.

I'll definitely remove the PSU and electronics from the CD-ROM to make room for the CF-IDE card and cabling. Im still thinking  about what sort of connectors I'll use from the PSU to the back of the CD-ROM to provide power to the chassis (prolly just use a molex connector).

[Lurch]

Pico psu.... :-)

[djos]

pico psu.... :-)

$$$$

:d

[Lurch]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PICO-PSU-120SV-Mini-DC-DC-ATX-Power-Supplier-12V-Input-120W-/320942384445?pt=PCA_UPS&hash=item4ab9a8253d

$26 USD with free shipping, then just need to find an old laptop power adapter to match. :-)

[djos]

I have my reservations about that kind of solution to be honest.

EDIT: It would be a minor pain to get the -12v needed from the Mobo connector but I must admit i'm going to have a think about it.

[AmmoJammo]

I have a spare scsi case, not sure if its big enough though.