Transforming old PC hardware into powerful classic Amigas

[SailorSat]

What we have...

--Hardware--
Notebook Mainboard with a Core Duo CPU @ 2GHz, 2GB Ram, 120 GB HDD, 54MBit WLAN, 128MB Radeon Xpress1200 GPU...

Then we have an internal 4 Port USB Hub, trimmed a little. Power comes from the notebook mainboard.
Keyboard is interfaced with a trimmed Keyrah (unsoldered several connectors to get some space) via USB.
The internal Gameports are interfaced with a A-PAC via USB (more on that later).
The hubs last two ports are wired to USB connectors inside a 23 pin port (was DISK DRIVE on A600).

The notebooks VGA out it wired to the Amiga RGB Out including the +5v line.
Sound is wired from the 3,5mm connector to two cinch connectors.

The notebook get Power via a real Amiga power connector. The amiga power brick was replaced by the notebook power supply.

The "power button" goes into the composite out hole on the A600 case.

Ah and there is a RJ45 network in the "RF Out" hole. (though the notebook has wlan AND bluetooth)


--Geek facts--
Now for the geek facts...

Theres a connector for a real amiga mouse routet through the parallel port (same pinout as 4-player adapters).

It is connected to a cheap PC USB mouse with the ball removed and the pins wired to the optos. Works like a charm right out of the box!


--External Stuff--
well... as the project grew, the ideas came...

Nintendo FourScore (NES Multitap) + 2 SNES extension cables cut off both wired internaly to an usb adapter (4nes4snes). Depending on the swith you get 2x NES + 2x SNES or 4x NES pad.

Sega Multitap - sadly the multitap doesn't support MasterSystem/Amiga/Atari Style Joysticks. The multitap is wired to another usb adapter (atari_usb) which supports the multitap for 4x Genesis pad.

PC-Engine Multitap - well... this was a hard one.
I couldn't find any usb adapter for the pc-engine/turbografx that works with multitaps...
So I had to fit a 7 port usb hub + 5 pce-to-usb adapter into the Multitaps case... Never again!

**TODO** A1010-DVD
Modify a A1010 case (the drive is dead anyway) so that a standard 5,25 slimline slot-in DVD-ROM fits inside... I could have used a 1541-II but... Well thats not Amiga Style


--Software--
Actually the system is running Windows XP with modified Theme (guess I'll upload it somewhere) so it looks like an Amiga.

I use Soft-15kHz to support various "oldskool" resolutions and frequencies.
It can ran pretty much every emulator on that machine.

I also use two homemade "tools" to help mimic the original feeling.

1. "AmiBar" restricts the desktop (running in 720x576) to 640x480 "in the center" so I get some colored overscan area like on the real miggy. It also checks "DEVICE_CHANGED" messages and creates/deletes drive links on the desktop.
Plug some USB stick in... voila new icon on the desktop... remove the stick, icon gone.

2. "AmiUSB" actually it checks which usb devices are plugged in so I can disable every "unused" adapter. Also, if the required adapter is missing, it displays a Kick 1.x request to connect the device.


--Comments--
Toni was kind enough to implement multi-resolution support into WinUAE so the notebook "behaves" like a real Amiga... Blinkin Floppy LED, switching resolutions (Dynablaster) etc.

Sadly, WinUAE as of now, doesn't support multiple soundcards OR mapping the floppy sound to a specific channel. Say I set the audio chip to 5.1 - wire frontleft & surroundleft to my left connector (and the same for the right one too) and put a small speaker in the place the floppy was, which is wired to the center speaker. I'd set WinUAE to 5.1 and route the floppy sound to the center speaker...
That would be pretty cool I think

Words of Wisdom... Damn... the A600 case is really really small...
Next one will be an A500 or a AtariST

[salax54]

@SailorSat: Awesome, great job mate!

[athiga]

that what im talkin about cool job on the lappy board an i like the sound of the wb style windows xp theme will go that way too whith my
gutted a2000 pc

er off topic that blue bird bitter just slid inside me so smoothly and gentley
wow nice bitter

[athiga]

Originally Posted by Bloodwych

Well, I've managed to find some perfect hardware for my dedicated Amiga x86:

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/8076/c5910.jpg Outside shot

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/8076/c5910.jpg The guts are exposed

It's a Fujitsu Siemans C5910 custom SFF, and it's whisper quiet and cool running. Got a core2 duo 6320 and 2GB dual channel RAM (upgradeable to 8GB), laptop DVD drive and SATA 3.5" drive, plus integrated graphics and PSU. It's very well made and has a fully screwless design.

This thing is small and power efficient. I'm going to use it for various tasks (like utorrent, server and general websurfing tasks to save electricity, plus emulation and 2D games), but it will also be my Amiga x86 too via a boot menu. I think it's perfect for the job. Goodness knows how fast a 68020 this thing will have in WinUAE.

I know, I know, you can't beat the real thing. But I think this has some old school charm about it. Plus it's ITX size and easy to move around!

Got it off the bay for £90. Only a few years old too.

Photon - any updates on your laptop project?

nice and compact and looks well made shouldnt be any problem to
site !

ive got an old sun spark box that has a compact charm but dont think
its an easy one to convert to pc

ive used your wb pack and like its old school aproach i was a amisys
fan but u go off os 3.9 and return to 3.1 yes i use the p96
pack

whay dont know what u usin now anything of interest?

[onkelarie]

It all sounds very interesting. I'll see if I can get hold on an old PC at work to use for such a project....

[athiga]

havin an pld pc is ok as long as you got some were to put it thats
not in the way and has acess to sockets and a network cabling
u can even go wireless and remote desktop

i use remote desktop and i can also use my usb hub swithch as my main
keyboard an mouse is usb also handy for usb external drive an ive just
orderd a usb c64/amiga style kemston joystick copy for winuae

as pionted out by others the old pc can be left on 24/7 so pasive
cooling is best and you have a useful bitorrent box to boot

and if u can find somthin thats slightly arkane and antwacky!
that adds to the fun lol

i wish i hadnt skipt them old ibm xt's a few years back
or that old amstrad 1512


ok u get the idea

[onkelarie]

This may be a bit too far stretched for Toni, but what would be awesome in this respect is a separate ADF selection screen which is skinnable (apart from the configpanel accessed with F12). That way, you'd be able to select the ADF's from disk without looking at a winXP/Vista/7 selectionbox, but at, for instance, a 2.04 or 3.1 WB skin.

EDIT:
or even better, the whole configpanel skinnable

[athiga]

Originally Posted by onkelarie

This may be a bit too far stretched for Toni, but what would be awesome in this respect is a separate ADF selection screen which is skinnable (apart from the configpanel accessed with F12). That way, you'd be able to select the ADF's from disk without looking at a winXP/Vista/7 selectionbox, but at, for instance, a 2.04 or 3.1 WB skin.

EDIT:
or even better, the whole configpanel skinnable

eh why not jus do a windows amiga skin cmplete cover up the lot
using windows blinds or what ever

[onkelarie]

Originally Posted by athiga

eh why not jus do a windows amiga skin cmplete cover up the lot
using windows blinds or what ever

I'm aware of the that application, but it'd be awesome to have dedicated skins for use with winUAE only (just like Maximus arcade, Winamp, etc), leaving winUAE's look and feel independent from its OS' skin.

I already heard from Toni that it's out of the question btw so there's at the moment no other option than, yes... Windowblinds

[SailorSat]

Never got those scroll bars to match up though

[onkelarie]

Nevertheless impressive all the same!

[athiga]

very nice that free memory amount is fictisious of course

[slk486]

Tried the Amiga on x86 hardware a few times (just XP lite installations with WinUAE), but the showstopper for me was always the lagging mouse. It just never really felt quite right - or is that just me?

[SailorSat]

Sorry diggin up that thread again but I...
Well "Oops I did it again"

--

Project "Rock Lobster"

Well... As for the PC

Acer Aspire 5738ZG notebook
- Intel Core2 Duo 2,1Ghz CPU
- 2GB RAM
- Radeon HD4570 with REAL memory
- 5.1 capable HD Audio with built-in mic (yeah!)
- 250gb HDD
- 4 USB Ports


Done so far...
Monochrome Port -> Pushbutton as Power-Switch
RGB Port -> notebook-VGA to RGB23
Power Port -> RJ45 Connector and a short wire to the notebooks LAN-Port
Disk Port -> 2x USB to the notebook 1st and 2nd port
Audio Ports -> 4-Wire Cable, not yet connected to the notebook
Two Joystick Ports -> U-HID Encoders, both currently running as "Mouse"

4-port usb hub connected to the notebooks 3rd port
both U-HIDs connected to the hub

1 A500 Keyboard modified to work with a A1200 keyrah
connected to the notebooks 4th port


"Damages" to the Amiga 500 case...
Had to drill a small hole in the back for the notebooks power supply


ToDo
- shorten usb wires to the U-HIDs (currently 75cm)
- connect the serial and parallel port to their respective usb converts (and those to the hubs with trimmed cables)

FIX that damn DVD-ROM somewhere in place... ^^

connect the front AND surround line-outs to the RCA jacks in the back, need some resistors first.

connect a small Speaker to the center line-out, build a small audio amp around a tda 7052 ic and finally fix the speaker in the floppy area.

Front L & Surround L to L Audio
Front R & Surround R to R Audio
Center to Floppy-Speaker
Subwoofer... ignore



--
http://images.arianchen.de/?x=a500pc

[spud]

That is a pretty excellent work in progress. I notice you've got an a500 keyboard with a ribbon cable on it attached to the keyrah? My A500 I am butchering for my own A500 pc project doesn't have a ribbon cable on, nor does the KEyrah supposedly support connection to an A500 keyboard, so what gives? I'm using an A1200 keyboard instead and I don't like it because it is far too clean compared to my dirty brown A500 one.

Edit: the thought just crossed my mind you might have an A1200 keyboard with the A500 keyboard controller circuitry bolted on for the convenience of the LED positioning?

[SailorSat]

Actually I got a spare A1200 keyboard and just swaped the ribbon part.
The A500 ribbon would basically work too, but the keyrah won't fit in place as the ribbon is VERY short.

[Zetr0]

@sailorsat

I have to admit, I like what I am seeing...

Have you thought of a multi-partition with somthing like ICAROS, XAmiga or Amithalon?

[SailorSat]

I don't think Amithlon will work, as the hardware is pretty recent.
As for alternate OS itself, well yes, I have a spare HDD for that, though I haven't done anything with it yet

[Hercules]

My home built arcade machine running Gamebase Amiga (narration is in English)...

http://www.youtube.com/amigajunkie#p/a/u/0/UeCeBGwJ8ak

Inside my cabinet is an old Athlon 64 3800 Venice core (2.4Ghz), Radeon X800XL graphics card and 500GB hard disk with loads of emulators. Check my other video's to see what other emulators I have running :-)

[clueless]

I would love something like that. one day..........