Amiga Stash Wes

[danbeaver]

Some experts don´t suggest the vinegar...

Well, I don't suggest either apple vinegar or lemon juice due to the contaminates, and in the lab I would probably rinse with 0.01 molar HCL using litmus paper to test the effluent for a pH of 7 as a pH meter would require an expensive micro probe -- I mean we're talking $4,000 for the probe.  However using plain deionized water to wash away the precipitation leaves the alkali salt still attached to the copper metal; while one might be able to use a reducing compound or abrasive to clean the metal, I have absolutely no idea why one would go to such trouble when a simple acid wash followed by a clean rinse is so much easier. I suppose to each his own...

[DiskChris]

I agree with a lot of people here that emulation...just doesnt' feel the same. I've got my mac mini and lcd monitor sitting on top of my A2000 hooked up with a kvm and let me tell you, nothing quite like firing up my A2000, hearing the floppy drive and knowing you've got the real deal right in front of you...Plus, even if I don't end up turning on the amiga, it's cool just seeing it there everyday. Now if I could only use my amiga keyboard and mouse with my mac...:roflmao:

[quarkx]

RealHomer,
I, personally use lemon juice then followed by IP and a distilled water rinse. I have done alot of A2000s this way. The biggest problem is it can go under the sockets of the CPU, ROM, and such, and can be hidden that way. If this is the case, you will have to unsolder the sockets and put new sockets in. If you can solder, this is easy, but if you can't, this can really hinder the progress.
If you can solder, I would also suggest replacing the caps at this time also, as you already have the motherboard stipped out anyways.
If you can't solder, then finding another A2000 (if you are in North America) may be an easy and cheaper alternative, and transfer everything over to the new machine. Nice thing is you don't have to re-install from scratch, just plug and play as you old hard drive is already set up.

[gertsy]

What REV is the 2000 mother board BTW?  If it's 5 or below it's probably better sourcing a REV 6.3 or 6.5.

[RealHomer]

Right, it is an older revision 4.2 that has been heavily modified over the years.  I don't even know what half of the mods are for. I have already considered about finding a replacement board or complete replacement 2000 or 3000 and salvage the Picasso, 040, 2mb Agnus, and the Opal board.

[RealHomer]

I unpacked all the Amiga computers now and started testing them one by one.

CD32 with SX1 runs but can't get the memory in the SX1 to autoconfig but it does show up under Showconfig.  I tried swapping out some simms to see if the one I had was defective but same issue, system locks if I set the jumper to autoconfig.  I searched Aminet and found Addmem program to add non-configured memory and as soon as I can connect my A1200 my broadband I will download and try it out.

A1200, I had this installed in a tower case that I sold when I picked up the A2000 way back in 1999.  I had all the parts packed away but I assembled everything together in the desktop case and booted it up.  The hard drive is dead but that wasn't unexpected because I had bought a new one before I tore it down from the tower because it was already going bad.  The new hard drive is formatted but I ordered a 4gb CF drive instead that I will install OS 3.5.  The 1230 XA 030 mhz with 128 mb of memory works like a champ.  The floppy is one of the rare Amiga HD drives.  I am considering changing it with an ADF floppy replacement drive.  Other upgrades I will add will be the Indivision AGA and a Wifi card for the PCMCIA slot.  I am going to keep the A1200 in the desktop, never was happy with the quality of the A1200 tower kits.  

A2000, removed the battery, too busy to tear it down and give it the lemon juice and ISP treatment right now.

A3000, this was dead when it went into storage.  Someone gave it to me with a A3640 and AMax II+ card.  It had battery acid damage that had been repaired and new battery installed. Lot of the traces had to be jumped and it was always quirky and finally died many years ago.  I kept it for a person in my old user group that managed to pick up a couple of A3000+ prototype boards.  He was going to install them and see if they would boot.  I don't know what happened to him or the boards as I lost contact with him.  I plugged the A3000 in and the power supply fan comes on but nothing else, as expected.

A1000.  I have 2, one of the with a broken case that is heavily yellow.  Plugged them in and both work but the one with a good case has a dead floppy drive.  I tried to use the old DD drive from the A1200, it works but doesn't align with the slot and I would have to keep the face plate off.  I swapped drives from the other A1000 but it is missing the button and the button from the dead drive is not compatible.  So for now I have to use a slot screw driver to eject the disk.  The good news is that the A1000 booted right up and I ran some old tunes and anims on it.  It is stock without any upgrades and not good for much more than decoration and playing tunes.  If the ACA 1000 ever comes out?

A500, darn I remembered after I unpacked it that I had given the AdSpeed and AdIde to my brother in law for his A2000.  I have the 4mb ram card and the daughter board that allows you to use an external floppy drive as df0: (its missing the floppy drives as I gave those to my brother in law too)  I can install the old dd floppy from the A1200 but same issue as the A1000, no eject button.  I may use parts from the A500 to try and trouble shoot the A2000 though.  I will still want to get the A500 up and running so I know the parts are good.

As much as I liked the A1200 and AGA I still preferred the big box A2000 with the Picasso, Opalvision, and 040.  I have a Supergen genlock and loads of video and graphics software and other goodies that I used to produce videos back in my Amiga days and would be nice to boot all that stuff up again.

[danbeaver]

The lemon juice contains Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and contaminants that are not terribly soluble; if you just want to neutralize a base and do nothing else, use a pure acid, however if you wish to something else, then go for it.