A4000 2-video-slot daughterboard

[Matt_H]

I saved these pictures from an eBay auction in 2016. Anyone else seen one of these before?

[mech]

Very cool Matt, i must admit i have never seen one of these. Might be a good project for a new pcb remake of it.

[grelbfarlk]

+Very cool. I always wanted a second video slot for a Toaster and Flicker Fixer back in the day, it was one of the things I wanted an A4000T for.
Nowadays that's probably not as useful, since that'd be giving up at least two PCI slots.

[Matt_H]

I think the Video Toaster was very likely the rationale for designing this, but I wonder if the 4000 was just too small to make it practical, hence why it never went into production. The Toaster takes up the space of two cards, then if you add a TBC there's only one slot left and even Toaster users probably needed it for Zorro rather than video. The 4000T is clearly a better implementation of this idea, and I suspect Commodore thought the 4000T would be shipping far earlier than it did.

[Magic]

I am the one that bought that board way back then. It is a new and very old - bare PCB and is still sitting on by bench wrapped up in some pretty sore feelings. I never populated it, although I did consider it after being insulted by several members of the community for offering to lend out to be duplicated. I was told it was worthless junk as other members at that time already had way better projects in development.

I just finished writing a nice long post about it and wiped it out with a wrong click of the mouse I am a little shaky these days at times. I'll try and type this all out again if I can - I tried to lend it out to a trusted member of the community to be duplicated, asking only to be able to buy a few copies at cost and perhaps a mention somewhere in the silk screen for rescuing it. I still have LOTS of classic Amiga and Toaster equipment - including the last - latest Windows PCI versions. I would have to go and check, but I am pretty sure it says "Commodore" on the top and I have not seen another one anywhere, not even pictures. Perhaps it is the only one?

I have a nice collection of classic machines that includes some pretty rare items. After many years and being outbid a lot of times, I was really excited recently when I finally won an Amiga 3000UX after wanting one for almost 20 years! I already had almost everything else including the C= external tape drive A3070? , NOS Lowell board (and another functioning Lowell prototype board FULL of patch work LOL), Picasso II+, several A2065's, an A2232, Phase 5 4030 (68030 - 030 / 50). I am still missing the original tapes and manuals, and the 3 button mouse, I think that is all? I'll likely never own those last few pieces as the price of rare classic Amiga stuff these days seems to start at $1000.00 and go up from there no matter what it is.

Working closely with the person that hosted the Amiga Unix website, I wrote the tutorial on how to install the drivers and configure everything to make the Picasso II+ work with Amiga Unix and X windows! I wrote copies of the A-UX tapes on brand new media after lots of fooling around to make that work since I wasn't able to get the original tapes. I actually got it to install and run from those tapes!

Now days I keep mostly to myself. I used to be very active in the Amiga community and forums, often offering to lend parts or to help people out repairing their Amiga's, often times for free. I always felt like I should try and help other users out any way that I could to help keep them in the community. I have been ripped off, cheated, and insulted, all by our hostile fellow users.

I think the last straw for me was being denied access to the private technical section of a popular Amiga forum. I really wanted to try contribute and perhaps learn some new things as well. Even though I have had Amiga hardware and software since the late '80s and offered to keep the secrets, I was deemed untrustworthy.

Sorry for the long winded post. I'll not mention any names or places as there isn't any use in spreading any more negative energy. I am trying hard to focus on positive things, especially these days. - Now that I FINALLY got this story off my chest, I am off to don my fire proof suit and retreat to my Amiga filled foxhole

[trixster]

Thanks for your post, Magic, I’d like to read more about your collection!

Maybe the Amiga scene has changed for the better since you had your bad experiences in the past? I think looking for positivity is the right approach

[Matt_H]

Holy cow, Magic, I’m so sorry to hear about your negative experience, but glad the board went to a good home. Thanks for sharing your story. Amiga is a strange hobby in just how passionate people can get, positively and negatively. My own activity ebbs and flows within the community, too. I do need a break sometimes, but it’s been such an important part of my life and will always be a part of me so I don’t stay away for long.

(I also have a 3000UX system - actually, just a regular 3000 that I’ve put AMIX on - and I think I must have made use of your work to get it running, so thank you for that.)

I hope you’ll reconsider scanning the board so that someone can duplicate it (hopefully it’s just a 2-layer arrangement). The technology to do so really seems to have taken off in the past 4-5 years. Even though its applications these days are fewer, because so few modern expansions make use of the video slot, I’m sure there are some users out there who would have a use for it. Plus there’s the historic preservation angle. When you bought the board, was the seller someone from Commodore or anyone who knew more about the board’s history?

[Magic]

I would still like to have it duplicated. I don't have the time or ability to do so these days. It would have to go to a respected member of the community so that I could get it back when they were done.

Once again, any takers?

[dalek]

I'd be interested in having a go but I wouldn't want them shipped as I'm in Australia. I think it's just a two layer board so some high resolution photos should do the trick.

Free time is another issue so not sure when I'd get to it, but I want one for my A4000D so that I can install a Toaster 4000 and PicassoIV together at the same time (for bragging rights only )

A nice update would be to change the passive termination to the active termination that Matze created over at a1k.

[Magic]

I can take some pictures of it and upload them somewhere. I am also happy to loan it to someone but there would be shipping both ways.

[Reynolds]

@Magic
Thank you for your story, it was kinda bitter-sweet. Sadly it is so typical that things like what you've experienced happens in the Amiga realm. I had also some bad things, so now it is easier to treat everything with caution. Anyway, hope we will see other stuff, read other (more positive) stories again.
I was always curious about hardwares we could have had for our Amigas.
BTW there are certain daughterboards which contains 2x video slots, but those were made for tower cases instead of original desktops, obviously the lack of space, connectors and too much heat just showstoppers for those configs, I believe.