A1200: Checking out my former lady :)

Hi peepz and I wish a good year to everyone :)

Last week was kinda painful cause I didn't have my A4000 to tinker, since I sent it's motherboard to Cosmos for general repairs (that will be covered in another thread though).
That's why I had time to check out the former lady that was sitting patiently in my office after I sold it's powerful heart (BPPC+BVision).

I thought about removing all components to clean them up and take some photos in case I decide to split and sell every part individually.

Those components are...

My modded Idefix Express

My loved Slim IDE DVD-RW with 44pin JAE to IDE adapter and 3way 44pin ribbon cable

My old and trusty Subway USB (Serial No. 13!)

...and one of the Clockport Expanders by DJBase and an EZkey PS/2 adapter

I was very sad to see these go so I decided for now to keep and re-install to my A1200.
The problem existed with Ian's ATX adapter and PicoPSU that for some reason, didn't work as intended. It worked but power button needed pushing A LOT of times which made me rethink about the whole idea of Push-On switch.

After fiddling around Ian's website and some schematics about ATX to Amiga Pinout... I removed Ian's ATX adapter (that took some time as I soldered PicoPSU directly to the adapter - you need to check some older posts to see it) and soldered the appropriate cables into it directly :)
After that, I only needed to wire Pin 13 and Pin 14 of PicoPSU into a simple On/Off switch and that was it.

That's one white nice switch I had on my stash for quite some time (which replaced my old switch that was mounted on Ratte's Auto AGA/RTG switch).

...and here is how I mounted PicoPSU now (without it's connector) into a plastic custom stand

Working really well I might add :)
Check the following 2 photos to get a better general look.

You can also check a quick video I grabbed showing how fast it boots ClassicWB 68k.

Not feeling bad about keeping the lot in the end (at least for now).
Only thing missing right now is an 030 I think... Oh well, ACA1231 is close :)

Stay tuned \o/

A4000: Custom 5.25 bracket

From my previous A4000, I realized that good airflow and heat dissipation is rather difficult due to the not so spacy case and devices.
First of all CD/DVD-ROM units are rather big and along with the cabling makes it kinda messy.
I made a quick comparison back between the length of a normal DVD-RW and a slim DVD-RW.
Result was indeed amazing!




Ok I had to put it! Finding a 5.25 bracket back then wasn't easy and after a lot of searching around I found a really neat unit that has a spot for a slim CD/DVD unit, a spot for an 3.5 unit (floppy/multicard reader etc) and 2xUSB headers!
I quickly put a slim slot-in DVD-RW that I had along with a stock A4000 floppy to check it out! Not bad I'd say...




Well. After selling my A4000 and getting a new one... I came across the same issue as before but now I had the solution in my hands! In the following pictures you can see a test paint I used (which kinda suxed) along with a tray slim DVD-RW nice and neat Temperature/Fan control bracket that I bought.




I really liked the combo cause it's really good to know the temperature and fan speeds of my 060/PPC CPUs and VGA without being too kitsch.
It definitelly needed a good paint though cause that thing had so many colors... Ewww! Result was pretty perfect





I really like it and it works just fine! I found out that the Temp/Fan control bracket had also an Alarm per Temperature that you can set at will and also at a fan error (I tested it by pressing one working with a finger) you also get an alarm sound except the 0rpm message. NEAT!

The most awesome part though was that the bracket it's so thin that the 3.5" slot is almost empty!!! Time to take advantage of this extra space (as always lol).



This is the bracket of the default 2.5" HD for A600/A1200. Since I had 2 spare of these (nice to use CFs in my Amigas lol) I thought about modding it a bit for my needs.




...and now, you can place it inside the Temp/Fan bracket...





It fits like a glove! Also the cables for the Fan/Temp connectors/sensors were glued to the sides of the internal bracket.



Yep... the 2.5" Hard Drive is very well putted in it's bracket and it's ready for receiving it's own care... meaning an ACard!

More soon to come :)

A1200: Subway USB mounting

One more nightly upgrade

I thought of mounting at last my Subway to it's permanent location. After fiddling around for some time, testing it where I liked it better... I decided that the only place that suited my needs best was under the DVD-RW!






The space available is indeed minimal but I don't need much After all, under the DVD-RW the only thing that exists is the awesome Auto AGA/RTG Switch by Ratte.
Well you can take a look at it:



Ok the only thing left now was the extension cable that needed to be routed and joined with the original header that I put some time ago (on the lower part of the case).
So... I routed the cable under BVision and hotglued left from BPPC. Then I joined all 8 pins with the old cable and voila... It's mounted now on DJBase's Clockport expander and rock stable


I hope you like it

A1200: DVD-RW mod

One more nightly build... ehm, I mean update

It was time for the internal DVD-RW to take it's proper position and case to be dremeled...

Before I start, I thought of putting an extension to the Eject button (that tiny soldering was hard for meh skillz)




After putting the correct spacers... the result was really cool (yep the measuring, filling etc, took a lot of time). Also a tiny 25mm fan was put under the side of the DVD-RW just to give a little bit of cooling to Indy etc.






The backside of the DVD-RW was put with a little drip of hotglue to Idefix Express Gayle adapter and CF adapter.



The most irritating and most difficult part was measuring, cutting and filling A1200's case for the slot-in's hole
Talking about a loooooooooong time and patience. I wouldn't do that again for the world! Also a tiny button was put into place (next to the hole) as an Eject button along with a header.








Everything was mounted and AT LAST... I saw my miggy closed after 1.5 year!
Haven't took a photo yet but will do in the next update that is gonna be soon. I just feel good for finally coming close to completion (or at least I think I do).

A1200: CF + PicoPSU mod

One more morning update coming ahead since I was in a hack mood when I woke up this morning

First of all I spend a long time to measure, dremel and sand the area above the PCMCIA where the CF adapter would go... Result was perfect!








Time for putting the custom 44pin cable (stripped carefully) into position
Aye, DVD-RW fits so much better now!






Some more informative pics about the way I got the power cables with hot tube to ease a bit the mess, along with the PicoPSU+Ian's Adapter positioning (along with the space for the extra Fan that will blow the mini heatsinks).








An voila... Everything works like a charm!