Suzanne

staticgerbil · 20 November 2003, 08:01

Has anybody seen, built, have any info on an amiga laptop i think they called suzanne?

I had an article in a mag once that showed the steps to taking an a600 and fitting it into a pc laptop case (maybe they built a custom case

)and hooking up the lcd screen to it?

Have always wanted to have a crack at this but never had a spare notebook to rip apart. Now i have and can't find the mag or the website for the life of me!

Amiga1992 · 20 November 2003, 09:08

The guy who built Suzanne is a member of the EAB. I honestly forgot its username here, but he will surely post! I think he's working on a new portable Amiga project, and has been thinking of putting together all the details on how to build your Suzanne, but I could be wrong.

cv643d · 20 November 2003, 14:54

It used a custom case, I remember coz I read that article many times

staticgerbil · 20 November 2003, 23:48

Sorry folks. Sent this reply without reading the other thread that woodshed started... Ooops

22 November 2003, 11:36

If I might poke my nose in for a mo...

I worked (if you can call it that) for a company called Applied Systems Group, at the Elsham Wold Industrial Estate, near Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire, UK.

This company specialised in all things Amiga, and produced a few bits of their own hardware too. The one I was most involved in was a thing called the minigen - a silver plasticy Genlock device. But anyway, the reason for this post...

We were asked to develop a laptop Amiga. And we did. The specs were quite impressive - Stock A1200, HDD, Floppy, Trackball, 640x512 LCD display, Fullsize keyboard and (I think) a RAM/Accelerator expansion too.

It was huge, and it was heavy (as you can expect). The case was made of wood - the one I played with had a Black-Ash finish (our slogan for it at the time was "I can't believe it's not an MFI cabinet").

ISTR that at least one of the three made had a rosewood case too.

The one that I ws involved in (I wrote Demo software that publicised its' existence) ended up in Yorkshire with a guy who sold carpets, and should still be around today. We sold them for £3,500 a shot, as they were custom made.

The only thing it could not do was most games - the display refused to run 320x256 screens properly. For WB/CLI work, it was fantastic, and there was *no* Amiga like it at the time, to the best of our knowledge.

That's all I can say about that project - I've looked and can find no reference to the machine online :-( I'd especially love to see the software I wrote, if anyone has a copy of the disk we sent out...

Sorry for the rambling :-)

D.

cv643d · 22 November 2003, 16:43

I would like to know how you could sell it for 3500, was he an Amiga maniac?

22 November 2003, 19:49

It cost that much due to the screen, IIRC. Laptops in general were prohibitively expensive (I have a 486 lappy from the same era that went for nearly 3 grand new - cost me 120 quid a year ago).

Buying the screen singly was a lot more than it would have cost to buy a couple of hundred, as laptop manufacturers are wont to do. It was also quite big - if you think of the size of an A1200, the screen filled the lid of the laptop vertically, and as I recall it did the full 640x512, not the more common 640x480.

Anyhow, this screen had to have a special interface built in-house, and I believe that a certain portion of the cost was labour and headscratching compensation.

I'd love to come across one again, just to see if it ws as cool as I remember...

D.

cv643d · 22 November 2003, 22:07

Lol sems im in the wrong business, the carpetbusiness is where the big bucks is.

staticgerbil · 26 November 2003, 02:41

This obviously isn't from your company but did the 1200 laptop look kinda like this....

http://atzesgym.servebeer.com/~amiga..._e/lt_paws.php

evilrich · 27 November 2003, 06:29

Quote:

Has anybody seen, built, have any info on an amiga laptop i think they called suzanne?

I've seen the beast in the flesh, as it were. It was built by a fellow called Simon Archer. If you want to get in touch with him, try posting to the AmigActive list on Yahoo Groups. I think he still reads that.

Cheers,
Rich

20 November 2003, 08:01	#1
staticgerbil Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: a / b Age: 41 Posts: 87	Suzanne Has anybody seen, built, have any info on an amiga laptop i think they called suzanne? I had an article in a mag once that showed the steps to taking an a600 and fitting it into a pc laptop case (maybe they built a custom case )and hooking up the lcd screen to it? Have always wanted to have a crack at this but never had a spare notebook to rip apart. Now i have and can't find the mag or the website for the life of me!

20 November 2003, 23:48	#4
staticgerbil Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: a / b Age: 41 Posts: 87	Sorry folks. Sent this reply without reading the other thread that woodshed started... Ooops Last edited by staticgerbil; 20 November 2003 at 23:54.

22 November 2003, 11:36	#5
Dunny Posts: n/a	Betcha can't find this one :) If I might poke my nose in for a mo... I worked (if you can call it that) for a company called Applied Systems Group, at the Elsham Wold Industrial Estate, near Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire, UK. This company specialised in all things Amiga, and produced a few bits of their own hardware too. The one I was most involved in was a thing called the minigen - a silver plasticy Genlock device. But anyway, the reason for this post... We were asked to develop a laptop Amiga. And we did. The specs were quite impressive - Stock A1200, HDD, Floppy, Trackball, 640x512 LCD display, Fullsize keyboard and (I think) a RAM/Accelerator expansion too. It was huge, and it was heavy (as you can expect). The case was made of wood - the one I played with had a Black-Ash finish (our slogan for it at the time was "I can't believe it's not an MFI cabinet"). ISTR that at least one of the three made had a rosewood case too. The one that I ws involved in (I wrote Demo software that publicised its' existence) ended up in Yorkshire with a guy who sold carpets, and should still be around today. We sold them for £3,500 a shot, as they were custom made. The only thing it could not do was most games - the display refused to run 320x256 screens properly. For WB/CLI work, it was fantastic, and there was no Amiga like it at the time, to the best of our knowledge. That's all I can say about that project - I've looked and can find no reference to the machine online :-( I'd especially love to see the software I wrote, if anyone has a copy of the disk we sent out... Sorry for the rambling :-) D.

20 November 2003, 09:08	#2
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	The guy who built Suzanne is a member of the EAB. I honestly forgot its username here, but he will surely post! I think he's working on a new portable Amiga project, and has been thinking of putting together all the details on how to build your Suzanne, but I could be wrong.

20 November 2003, 14:54	#3
cv643d Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 762	It used a custom case, I remember coz I read that article many times

22 November 2003, 16:43	#6
cv643d Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 762	I would like to know how you could sell it for 3500, was he an Amiga maniac?

22 November 2003, 19:49	#7
Dunny Posts: n/a	It cost that much due to the screen, IIRC. Laptops in general were prohibitively expensive (I have a 486 lappy from the same era that went for nearly 3 grand new - cost me 120 quid a year ago). Buying the screen singly was a lot more than it would have cost to buy a couple of hundred, as laptop manufacturers are wont to do. It was also quite big - if you think of the size of an A1200, the screen filled the lid of the laptop vertically, and as I recall it did the full 640x512, not the more common 640x480. Anyhow, this screen had to have a special interface built in-house, and I believe that a certain portion of the cost was labour and headscratching compensation. I'd love to come across one again, just to see if it ws as cool as I remember... D.

22 November 2003, 22:07	#8
cv643d Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 762	Lol sems im in the wrong business, the carpetbusiness is where the big bucks is.

26 November 2003, 02:41	#9
staticgerbil Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: a / b Age: 41 Posts: 87	This obviously isn't from your company but did the 1200 laptop look kinda like this.... http://atzesgym.servebeer.com/~amiga..._e/lt_paws.php

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