ACA500 plus?

[Martijn]

Hmm, weird, I was able to order one a few hours ago, now it’s showing out of stock again.

[Martijn]

Showing in stock again. I received mine yesterday, working like a charm so far!

[multivac]

Originally Posted by Rockwater

I'm still chipping away at this, although I'm currently on hold for a couple weeks until my contract renews, then I'll spend the money to get a Form Lab 2 and do a good master print.



I'm happy that the CF slots are just about impossible to screw up with careless insertion. But I've got a ton of work to do to make the LEDs visible, add optional ports, test with additional products, and what-not. So don't expect me to throw out this for purchase any time soon. I want to get it right.



I'll probably change up the styling a bit once I've gotten the internals and technical pieces ironed out. Especially since an SLA printer can do things that an FFF print in PETG simply cannot.

I like the idea of a proper case. Could you mirror the A500 case a little and make your case similar to an A590 or GVP Hard drive case?

[softiron]

just wanted to ask,
will there be restock again?

[demolition]

Originally Posted by softiron

just wanted to ask,
will there be restock again?

Ask Icomp if you want to make sure (this is not their support forum), but I would think it is likely since it is a quite popular product. That is probably also why it gets sold out so quickly when there's a new batch.

Will the Aca 500+ work with Amiga 500+ boards that have 2mb chip ram on the motherboard itself.

[Daedalus]

They should do, yeah. The ACA doesn't deal directly with chip RAM, so that area is left alone for use by trapdoor expansions (which are essentially the same as a motherboard mod for 2MB chip).

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Poorcomputerman

Will the Aca 500+ work with Amiga 500+ boards that have 2mb chip ram on the motherboard itself.

From https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en/shop/product/ACA500plus.html:

ACA500plus is an external expansion which is plugged to the left expansion port of your A500 or A500+.

I read the page many times when, I purchased the AcaA500 plus, but nowhere on the page did it say anything about 2mb chipram modded 500+ machines. That is why I asked as I am considering getting one.

Originally Posted by demolition

From https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en/shop/product/ACA500plus.html:

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Poorcomputerman

I read the page many times when, I purchased the AcaA500 plus, but nowhere on the page did it say anything about 2mb chipram modded 500+ machines. That is why I asked as I am considering getting one.

Yeah sorry, I thought you were just asking about A500+ compatibility. I don't think the ACA can tell the difference between having 1MB chip in the trapdoor or hacking 1MB extra chip onto the motherboard as it is basically the same as seen from the CPU side.

[E-Penguin]

It works fine with my 2mb modded A500, which is practically identical to an A500+.

[softiron]

Same here. Budget A500+ with soldered missing 512k and A501, A512 in trapdoor. ACA works fine.

[Rockwater]

Originally Posted by multivac

I like the idea of a proper case. Could you mirror the A500 case a little and make your case similar to an A590 or GVP Hard drive case?

I'll be returning to this in a couple weeks, and the answer is yes. The most important bit is that I've got the internal geometry and mating geometry figured out, so I'll be reworking the external bits based upon what I've learned in modeling and testing this version.

This includes re-working the design to take advantage of SLA printing constraints rather than the FFF PETG constraints, and giving it stylistic touches that harken back to the A500 makes perfect sense here. The FFF printer's lack of being able to print fine details and unsupported angles very will was part of the problem. That's not to say an SLA printer doesn't have similar issues, but they are different and allow for curved edges and corners without the hideous banding of FFF printing.

I've also gotten a second ACA500+ ordered with one of the ACA1221EC add-on accelerators, so I can verify that the case works with that as well as the ACA1233n-40 that I already have. I don't have the RapidRoad USB sub-board, so I won't be modeling to support it, which might be an issue for some people. Especially if I add in cooling support for the 55Mhz 1233, which might impinge upon the physical space that the RapidRoad would normally occupy.

If only I could get my hands on a couple Indivision ECS units I could look at supporting running the VGA cable out to a cutout on the case... but those things have been out of stock for months.

[Tyball]

Originally Posted by Rockwater

If only I could get my hands on a couple Indivision ECS units I could look at supporting running the VGA cable out to a cutout on the case... but those things have been out of stock for months.

I've been hoping for a new batch of these for months now.

[Rockwater]

Got my second ACA500+ and ACA1221EC, so I've done a bit of a redesign to deal with a couple issues, including changing the external style to not be so artsy-angular. I can't really make the back-end look like the fluted grillwork of the A500 without an SLA printer, so that's not here yet. The light piping for the LEDs, DISMO, and the plunger for the switch isn't here, either. But it's an improvement and fits the expanders nicely.

The render:



With the ACA1221EC:



With the ACA1233N:



Also will need to figure out cooling for the 50MHz version at some point.

[jurassicman]

@rockwater

Nice design!
It would be cool a small "door" in the back to fit the RGB output of an Indivision ECS... do you think that it would be possible?

[Rockwater]

Originally Posted by jurassicman

@rockwater

Nice design!
It would be cool a small "door" in the back to fit the RGB output of an Indivision ECS... do you think that it would be possible?

If they'd do another manufacturing run so I can buy a couple of them! But, yes, this is planned, but is dependent upon my being able to get my hands on the damn things so I can make sure I have proper routing for the ribbon cable at the case where it interfaces the trap door, as well as properly fit in the removable panel in the back of the case for the VGA connector.

[jurassicman]

I see... we are all waiting for the new Indivision ECS... I heard that they will sell soon a new version but there isn't a firm date yet, as far as I know...

[Rockwater]

A little more redesign. I'm kind of prepping the model to be something that is easier to make a mold of and then cast. And I'm awaiting the acrylic rod I ordered in order to start playing with light pipes for the LEDs.







Proper bushings for the bolts that hold the case together and the ACA boards in place:


Prints from a couple days ago, so not the latest model above, but still fitting the cards perfectly, the interface with the trap door is about as good as it can be, and the CF card slots are pretty hard to mis-use with the case to guide insertion.



A piece of advice for anyone who gets a new board: they still come with v0.99 firmware. Make sure to update to v0.110, especially if you're adding on an ACA1233N or an ACA1221EC. It is *much* more stable after the firmware upgrades.

[Rockwater]

Status: I have a Phrozen Make XL (DLP resin printer) on order, so in a week or three I should be able to start work on a version of the case that has a 70µm resolution instead of a 0.2mm resolution. I'm going to set aside my work on using acrylic rod for light piping with the current version and look at custom made inserts that I can cast out of clear resin, instead.