CD32 to CDTV motherboard swap???

[AmigaDave]

I have a spare broken CDTV. I bought a NOS CDTV at the 2010 AmiWest Show from Carl Sassenrath. I just thought up an idea on how to make the spare broken CDTV work again, but in a completely different way.

I also have a CD32 that I can't find the PSU for it, so it hasn't been used in over a year (maybe I lent my CD32 PSU to a friend and forgot about it). I like the looks of the CDTV a lot, so my idea is to see if I can gut the CDTV and try to use it as a case for my CD32, to create something that would look and act like an AGA CDTV.

Seeing the recent thread and video about the CDTV-CR at AW.net is what sparked me to thinking about my broken CDTV and what I could do with it.

I have two questions about this idea that might kill the idea and stop the project from going forward.

1. Does anyone here know if the CDROM drive controller on the CD32 is the same as the one on the CDTV. I know that the CDTV controller is proprietary, which prevents replacement of the CDROM drive with any standard IDE, or SCSI, or SATA CDROM drive. I think the CD32 is the same way, but I don't know if Commodore used the same proprietary CDROM drive controller, from the CDTV, on the CD32? It would seem strange to me to create two different proprietary CDROM drive controllers for these two Amiga models, but there might be changes that were made, or improvements to the controller for the CD32, which might make it incompatible with the CDTV CDROM drive. This would make it very difficult to complete this project, due the the type of CDROM drive that the CD32 uses and the difficulty, or impossibility of converting it to be used in a CDTV case without ruining the CDTV case. It might be difficult enough to figure out the wiring and get the CD32 CDROM controller connected to the CDTV's CDROM drive, if the wiring connectors are different and the coloring and/or number of wires is different.

2. Since the CDTV case is much larger than a CD32 case, it will have lots of extra space for the smaller CD32 motherboard and adding expansion boards to the CD32's expansion card edge. I think I read somewhere that this expansion card edge on the CD32 is the same as the trap door expansion card edge on the A1200 Amiga computers. I hope this is true, because then I could use any A1200 accelerator on my CD32 motherboard, while it is in my CDTV case and turn it into an Amiga that might have all the functionality of an A1200 that has been moved into a tower case with a CDROM drive.

I think this would be a very cool project to work on and complete. It wouldn't have any way of controlling the CDTV's front panel LED lights that display time and information about what the CDTV is doing, but maybe I can find a way to control these LED's with the CD32 computer, and do some neat tricks by making the LED lights do things that will surprise and entertain people who see this AGA CDTV project.

Another draw back of the swap is that I couldn't use the wireless CDTV controllers any more, but could use my Amiga wireless mouse, which might work the same as the CDTV wireless controller in some ways, and for some CDTV games.

What do you fellow Amiga users think about the feasibility of turning this idea into a real project? Also, if any of you know the answers to the two questions above, please post the answers, as I really can't proceed until I know the answers.

[Toni Wilen]

CD32 and CDTV CD controllers are totally different and have totally different protocol, even physical connection is different (serial vs parallel).

Quick answer: they have nothing in common

[Reynolds]

AmigaDave: as an alternative solution gimme your CD32 - I`ll give a CDTV mobo

[AmigaDave]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

CD32 and CDTV CD controllers are totally different and have totally different protocol, even physical connection is different (serial vs parallel).

Quick answer: they have nothing in common

That will probably kill this idea then.

Originally Posted by Reynolds

AmigaDave: as an alternative solution gimme your CD32 - I`ll give a CDTV mobo

I already own a mint condition CDTV, why would I want to trade my working CD32 to you for a motherboard to get my spare CDTV working again, when it might be the CDROM drive that is faulty? How is that going to help me accomplish the goal of making an AGA CDTV?

[Arnie]

Would an A1200 board fit into a CDTV case?