Amiga 600p - over 18 months in the making!

[cbm600p-richard]

hi all

before i start i understand with the pics and the video, this does not look like a finished product, however i will release more pics and better quality video in the coming month
to show the finished version.

history
--------
before starting this project back in late 2015, i had
looked at all the weird and wonderful creations over the years. one stuck out for me though that was
a monochrome laptop, that used the actual pc laptop screen it was housed with. i wasnt interested
in the slightest in the amiga emulated machines as they have been done before and for me i use winuae
just for file transfers.

I wanted to use an actual pc laptop that used its own colour laptop screen. although this project was essentially
finished about 6 months back. there were some things i wasn't happy with at all but am now so i'm essentially
just messing with little things.

I've been through a couple of prototypes and i'm pretty happy where things are now, and i will put the finishing touches in
the next month or so.

i havent enclosed too many pics at the moment or videos and i will do so at some point
the video shows the button controls utilized on the laptop palmrest as well as the new touchpad see also pics

although i will get more into the hardware later. i did start by trying to find a laptop that could house an a600
with a little room above for airflow and a PCMCIA port to the left. there were several to choose from and the one i did end up using
had buttons for controlling volume and a few other controls on the laptop, this turned out to be pretty cool
as the laptop screen converter has its own controls which I acutally ended up hooking up to the laptop.


the laptop features.
--------------------
Graphics : gonbes 8220 vga output with second vga out option (current prototype)
or indivision showing on laptop screen with option for 2nd indivision for vga out
Full brightness / contrast controls shown on monitor

Additional controls for gonbes are on pc laptop buttons (inc output resolution and switch output to 2nd vga)
for indivision vga out and vga to screen are permanently available simultaneously

Sound : Amplified sound to original pc laptop speakers for amiga through laptop controller with volume controls
for the Amiga shown on monitor, a headphone socket was also added

Ports

right side: 2 joystick ports

left side pcmcia only

rear of machine :
An external compact flash drive (mounted)
an external DF0: connector (bolted in)
an external connector for power to FDC (using a s-vhs connector)
parallel port
serial port
headphone socket

Controls

Keyboard (full working converted pc USB keyboard)

Mouse (available with touchpad simultaneously)

Touchpad pc converted USB fully working actually working with original pc laptop buttons

design.
--------

design, everything had to fit. this was very tricky. the laptop was wide enough but fitting a unit as large as the gonbes
and there was also the lcd converter and the inverter that came along with it. the inverter was too wide to fit in the monitor
where the one driving it from the pc was situated. so that also had to be housed in the laptop case, in fact
the whole laptop has only one layout that works in the case. due to this
its only possible to expand the a600 to 2mb by using an indivision with an a604n. another indivision can be mounted too
for an external monitor. supply for 2nd vga isnt a problem with the gonbes (8220) as it has 2 vga outs.

so to continue on the machine itself. on finally selecting the laptop i would use, the unit needed a load of work
including stripping the bottom and top of the case (whilst keeping as many of the original screw holes as possible)to make it flat, lots of work with a dremel
to make the ports. also had to think of a way to keep the machine cool. because the keyboard would be sitting on top of the amiga
board there would be like 1/4" of space between both. so i mounted 2 fans one below and one on the back to pull air through.

the keyboard and the touchpad.
------------------------------
ok so they keyboard conversion was a very big issue for a number of months, back when this machie was devised. there were two
solutions around, a PCkey 600 and an ezkey. i had of course the one where i wouldnt be able to close the case of course
so when i was about to give up due to this issue and the lack of ezkey's around. i decided i would look for a cable
that would fit in the keyboard slot. i found one, it was like a miracle of god. i soldered the cable itself to the pckey
and plugged the other end in the amiga keyboard socket
and it worked. it was a difficult job as i could only spend a little second heating the solder up before it would melt
through the cable. and i had a lot of connections to solder.

(this isnt a problem since 2017, as there was a few ones made just sit straight on u7 chip, and that is english
for nice and HORIZONTAL!)

the keyboard itself was also a problem, as you may or may not know laptop keyboards have their controllers built on to a laptop
motherboard itself, so an external keyboard was the only solution, i did manage to source one after about 3 or 4 attempts
and fit in wheere the pc one once sat. it fits pretty well apart from the edges which have to filled and sanded out and
spray painted.

touchpad
--------

this wasnt bad apart from the outlay on a few touchpads, i couldnt get working. finally got a combo working though,
the original touchpad is descrewed and although a little smaller bonds in quite nicely. the buttons on laptop are kept i managed to solder
to the original pc button position so has a natural feel on the laptop

general/other work
------------------
the amiga itself takes a bit of battering fair bit of desoldering going on, video port, audio, some capacitors were too high
etc. and joystick /mouse port moved too

then there is soldering ports. screwing and bolting in components and ports. just loads and loads of work
i did make sure that everything is bolted and screwed in, the only things arent are heavily bonded like the rear external fan
and the touchpad.

tested Expandibility

ACA620 processor or vampire 2 tested.
1mb chip ram expansion, must be a604n only with indivision only

a further 1mb chip expansion is NOT available if using gonbes due to space restraints.

battery ?

the simple answer is no. to keep this from using a 19" screen, i did not use a battery, not to say not researched.
actually fully. i have a battery solution inc voltage converted -12v line, but due to size constraints, and only due to size constraints the
battery would only run for 20 minutes. and ideally needs 20000mah+ not the space i had which is around 4000mah.
considering running 12v line which is not only an amiga+floppy anymore and 5v which is not only an amiga+floppy anymore, it needs
a fair size battery.


thats pretty much anyway i hope you enjoyed reading and you may be pleased to know that i plan to make at least 4 for sale.
only the rich need apply. i plan to only ever make 4.

as a tribute to b52's song 'june bug' designation on the a600, each a600p will be labelled from lyrics from the song as below.

they will be silver labelled individually as

amiga 600p - 001 - 'mouth of the river'
amiga 600p - 002 - 'on cypress knees'
amiga 600p - 003 - 'behind a wall'
amiga 600p - 004 - 'the wildest thang'

i saved 000 for my original amiga600p it is labelled appropriately already as :

amiga 600p - 000 no prying eyes - its for sale for $100,000 ie its not for sale!

the machines will be optionable with the gonbes or the indivision (and you can send an indivision should you have one already)
and price will probably start at £779, £889 with aca620 and 1mb chip with gonbes to £1099 with aca620,a604n and dual indivision version if i need to supply the units)

delivery will be upto 6 months, first machine delivered after 60-70 days, 4th after around 5-6 months depending
on who is first to order and pay. you may think its long winded, but its my evenings.anyway this is my thought please pm me only. please only ask questions about working of machine in thread not to purchase

i will probably release the pdf plans to this machine with a hardware kit late next year this will include
other items not sold with the kit that can be bought and from where, even the screws and bolts!.


future plans
------------

i do have the plan to make an a1200 version and i know it will work already, but im only building one.

comments?. more pictures in the coming weeks and oh and more videos of finished machine!

[ Show youtube player ]














regards
richard

[Amiga1992]

"This video is unavailable"

[cbm600p-richard]

hopefully fixed now

[emufan]

yes, does work now, nice project

[cbm600p-richard]

many thanks. i apologise for the dodgy pictures and video so far. i will host a website at some point and run through a lot of the project and provide proper video and properly formatted pictures . hopefully it will be of some use to those interested in the machine or to help those who want to pursue a similar project. any pm's are welcome too.