New Amiga motherboards from Jens

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by Jope

Cherry MX is overrated. Tactile Mitsumi Hybrid switches are where it's at!

Some A500s even had Cherry keyboards (unfortunately linear springs as well), but later on, Commodore switched to Mitsumi in order to save some money. A1200 keyboards are linear-spring only, no tactile feel, so there's lots of room for improvement.

I just got two bags of Gateron switches this week - these are awesome, and a lot cheaper than Cherry MX. Key caps is the big deal: These are hard to come by in the required sizes for the Amiga, but I'm on it.

Will follow up on Amiga Reloaded questions next week.

Jens

[Predseda]

I think you could contact guys behind the new Amiga 1200 cases campaign and work out come collaboration, at least in marketing level. Your mobo should fit into their case and vice versa, this could be mentioned on both sides and you both would be profiting from this fact. New motherboard in a new case, together with possible future new keyboard is very promising in my point of view, Jens.

[kipper2k]

my personal thoughts are that a new A1200 motherboard should dump as much old technology and replace it with CPLD/FPGAs as much as possible. The original chips whether used or not do have a shelf life and 25+ years is a long time. A lot of the chips have been decoded so why use the old stuff unless there are mountains of them sitting around somewhere that need to be got rid of.

Newer technologies can also save a lot of power consumption too, and board space. that could allow newer things like HDMI, USB, new IDE etc.

This is a chance to improve, not just remake

[brett71]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

my personal thoughts are that a new A1200 motherboard should dump as much old technology and replace it with CPLD/FPGAs as much as possible. The original chips whether used or not do have a shelf life and 25+ years is a long time. A lot of the chips have been decoded so why use the old stuff unless there are mountains of them sitting around somewhere that need to be got rid of.

Newer technologies can also save a lot of power consumption too, and board space. that could allow newer things like HDMI, USB, new IDE etc.

This is a chance to improve, not just remake

Perhaps this board is a sort of stepping-stone to exactly that?

[Jope]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Some A500s even had Cherry keyboards (unfortunately linear springs as well), but later on, Commodore switched to Mitsumi in order to save some money.

Really? I've only seen A2000 keyboards with Cherry switches. The ones with the gaps around the space bar. I'd love to see pics of the A500 version.

The A500s that have come across my table have been NMB Hi-Tek "space invaders" (my favourite), Samsung (mushy and cheap) and Mitsumi (the vast majority)

A1200 keyboards are linear-spring only, no tactile feel, so there's lots of room for improvement.

I've been gutting Mitsumi PC keyboards for the rubber springs to get that big box feeling to my A1200 and A600. :-) The A500s in use have NMB keyboards, but unfortunately those don't fit in an A1200 case without cutting plastic.

[Amiga1992]

Man I actually love the soft mushy feel of A1200, A600, C128 and C64C keyboards C64C is actually a bit hard for my taste and all! I like the loose feel of the others.

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by Akira

Man I actually love the soft mushy feel of A1200, A600, C128 and C64C keyboards C64C is actually a bit hard for my taste and all! I like the loose feel of the others.

Everybody is different: Fast typers prefer a tactile feel, because you can lift your finger from the key sooner than if you need to push it all the way down. If you need to make sure that each keystroke is "all the way down", it's not as effective as with tactile switches.

I'm using an old KeyTronic keyboard (predecessor of "DasKeyboard") as my main keyboard. Really helps the "muscle memory" - I can focus on thinking of what I want to write instead of the typing process. I don't have that on an Amiga keyboard, and certainly not on a C64 with that looooong way from push-start to the computer recognizing that the key is pressed.

Jens

[Amiga1992]

I precisely love that I barely have to press the key on an A600 or the like. My hands "slide" across the keyboard. It's super effective for me.

[alenppc]

Originally Posted by Akira

I precisely love that I barely have to press the key on an A600 or the like. My hands "slide" across the keyboard. It's super effective for me.

A600 came with two keyboard models, the green membrane one which is identical to the A1200 and the blue membrane model with more "bouncy" feel due to rubber membranes instead of springs.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by alenppc

A600 came with two keyboard models, the green membrane one which is identical to the A1200 and the blue membrane model with more "bouncy" feel due to rubber membranes instead of springs.

TRUE I always forget about the blue membrane keyboard which is bouncy and I don't like. I have one A600 with it and I hate it.

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by Predseda

I think you could contact guys behind the new Amiga 1200 cases campaign and work out come collaboration, at least in marketing level. Your mobo should fit into their case and vice versa, this could be mentioned on both sides and you both would be profiting from this fact. New motherboard in a new case, together with possible future new keyboard is very promising in my point of view, Jens.

I pledged for a case yesterday (being Amigas 30th birhtday and all, but I think he rushed it a bit with only 30 days long campaign. IMO he should have given it 3 months..I mean, we've "waited" for 22 years, what's 2 more months... ;-) ). Anyhoo, seems he'll just try again with a long one if this one fails.
With a longer campaing, I agree, it would be nice to have some official support from IdividualComp and some other "players" out there.

[delshay]

To keep cost down, perhaps the motherboard can have all the necessary tracks, surface mounting for components so it can be added later by the End User or as a upgrade.

It will not feel right where you used to plug-in external device and nothing is there at the back of a A1200 (if that is the choice).

[kipper2k]

I am assuming the reason for the lack of an external floppy port is due to lack of right angled 23 pin connectors, so the solution would be to use 25 pin connectors and use a plastic insert on pins 13 and 25 to make the connector compatible with the old 23 pin external floppy drives.

Cheap, simple and probably make a lot of people happy

I am also assuming this would be the issue with the 23 pin video connectors ?

[Mrs Beanbag]

hmm, but it accepts PC drives and a PC can have two floppy drives on the same cable, so does that also apply here?

Shugart interface allows four drives on the same cable by a similar system, which is how daisy chaining works, so could the motherboard also support four Shugart drives on the one internal header?

[delshay]

all parts can be bought new if you look in the right place.

I can desolder/resolder anything on a PCB with absolute precision including BGA. Just get the parts from non working motherboard(s). I am sure there are a few user(s) that have non working motherboard(s)

I am not just talking about the external floppy, it's everything including new features. If it cost to much for components, put as many features in as possible, but just sell the basic working motherboard. End user can add the missing components later or it will create jobs for AMIGAKIT upgraded motherboard.

[robinsonb5]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

the solution would be to use 25 pin connectors and use a plastic insert on pins 13 and 25 to make the connector compatible with the old 23 pin external floppy drives.

That would work for male connectors (so a nice easy solution for the video port), but isn't the external floppy port female?

[delshay]

all parts can be bought new if you look in the right place.

I can desolder/resolder anything on a PCB with absolute precision including BGA. Just get the parts from non working motherboard(s). I am sure there are a few user(s) that have non working motherboard(s)

I am not just talking about the external floppy, it's everything including new features. If it cost to much for components, put as many features in as possible, but just sell the basic working motherboard. End user can add the missing components later or it will create jobs for AMIGAKIT upgraded motherboard.

Another useful feature is the video output. This second connector will be for video input. This will allow AGA/GFX or any second video card to output from one single video output connector.

There's also S/PDIF audio which will be useful, if this could be added. I think it's there on the prelude sound card, but it's not connected, will have to check again as I could be wrong.

S/PDIF will also be useful. My 2.1 PC speakers has this not to common input.

150 pin trapdoor connector, this would also be useful.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by robinsonb5

That would work for male connectors (so a nice easy solution for the video port), but isn't the external floppy port female?

true, but its not hard to chop off the last 2 female sockets in a 25 pin connector, give me $1 for doing each connector and i can do it while i am watching TV

[kolla]

I found these people, who claim to produce custom connectors - a highlight is to see they actually also know about Amiga, maybe they have been asked before

http://www.connectpositronic.com/d-sub/

My thoughts:
If it fits an A600 case the board will serve as an attractive upgrade for A600 & A500 owners & its great that Jens is producing it. As an A1200 board replacement it’s a frustrating mixture of downgrade & upgrade, only worth getting if the original is dead!

Disappointing as an improved A1200 board but that’s not the idea. Hopefully a nice new ATX board with USB, PCI, HDMI, AGA/RTG & 060+ performance will appear one day at a reasonable price… its nice to dream