A500 VS IBM PS/1 - My project (Work in progress)

aquanaut · 03 March 2008, 00:45

Hello,

After almost giving up on this due to an issue that wouldn't allow me to fit a standard sized 3.5" modded pc drive to a new case, i can now show some pictures of my project.

The case donor is a IBM PS/1 that i was given similar to this:

It probably was used at a textile factory and then at a bus terminal. It had cotton balls impregnated with what looked like diesel bus smoke pipe dust in halfway to petrification! Lots of vacuuming and washing was needed.

This is the interior of the ibm case with the motherboard temporarily fitted.
This was a tight fit. I had to bend the back part a bit to get the motherboard inside the frame. Some drilling and machining was needed to create the A500's mounting holes at the bottom of the case. I need also to glue some bits of rubber under the motherboard so it doesn't bend in the middle. The a501 expansion needs to be raised and fixed to the frame.

The case interior in another angle. The disk drive fascias was spray-painted black. This shows why i was about to give up on this if i had to use the original tall chinon.

This is the front panel spray-painted with some 5 layers. This paint job was a bit tricky. I always paint at a distance of 40 cm to avoid excess paint dripping marks but there are a lot of edges that prevented the ink to flow to the tricky corners. So, this was phased over a couple of days, never loosing patience when filling the corners and edges. I like the squared look of the case but i am still getting used to that red button. The panel has a very sega megadriv'ish 2 style.

Finally, the panel with the top cover. I asked a friend to send the top cover among other stuff to paint electrostatically. Notice how my camera has value added features. It's flash picks up dust very nicely!

Well, this will need some more work done with routing ports, fitting the case's original pc psu (can i use it to power the amiga?) and finding where to connect the power led and the hdd activity led.

I'll keep this post updated when i get work done and if the wife doesn't throw me out before.

If anyone has comments / suggestions, please go ahead.

Hewitson · 13 March 2008, 06:17

What exactly is the point of this? You havent stated your reason(s) for doing it.

aquanaut · 15 March 2008, 10:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hewitson

What exactly is the point of this? You havent stated your reason(s) for doing it.

First off, this A500 has it's keyboard membrane completely wrecked. Then, i can spare some space on the bench by having the monitor over the case.

Mick_AKA · 17 March 2008, 12:44

I hope you rubbed and primed the case and front plastics, or you have some serious flaking to look forward to.

Fingerlickin_B · 17 March 2008, 13:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by aquanaut

First off, this A500 has it's keyboard membrane completely wrecked. Then, i can spare some space on the bench by having the monitor over the case.

You don't need to explain yourself Aquanaut..."Just for the sake of doing it" is reason enough...keep it up and enjoy what you are doing

PZ.

T_hairy_bootson · 17 March 2008, 13:36

black spray jobs are hard to photograph, I bet it looks better in real life.

Post some photos of the port holes you have cut along the side.

aquanaut · 26 April 2008, 03:37

Ok, some more work done.

I Finally routed the video port but had some problems.

I routed all the 23 pins to a back plane and the image at the 1084S was very weird. It had something like vertical scan lines. I made the extension with hd flat cable, so i made a second extension using shielded cable. Same problem.
I double checked all the connections to exclude a swapped pair of wires.

3d attemp: Routed only the signals necessary for the monitor (r,g,b, csync, gnd, and chassis gnd). Worked perfectly but i am not satisfied at all. I will not use anything besides the monitor at the video port but i'd like to have all the signals at the extension.

I Installed an AT psu, wiring it to the fdd power connector, and wired the -12 at the motherboard. Connected the original case leds, and that's all. I just need to find a place to put the kb converter and that's it.

A little question: Is there a way to add a reset button to the amiga? If so, where would it connect to?

Quote:

Originally Posted by T_hairy_bootson

black spray jobs are hard to photograph, I bet it looks better in real life.

Post some photos of the port holes you have cut along the side.

Yeah, it's a real pain to photograph the case. The flash is awful. It looks like it has a focus instead of spreading the light evenly.

I didn't cut port holes along the side. I used the original back planes instead .

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fingerlickin_B

You don't need to explain yourself Aquanaut..."Just for the sake of doing it" is reason enough...keep it up and enjoy what you are doing

PZ.

Probably the user didn't see the objective of dismantling an A500, but this one (as most of all i find) has a wrecked keyboard membrane. Cheers.

rkauer · 26 April 2008, 07:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by aquanaut

--snip--

A little question: Is there a way to add a reset button to the Amiga? If so, where would it connect to?

You could use the reset pin of the CPU for this. Just download a datasheet for a MC68000 and you are set.

For the keyboard adaptor: use a PIC16F84 available at aminet, routing the wires from the original motherboard's connector. Use the original PS1 keyboard connector for it.

Or better: buy/rent/steal/make an original Amiga A2000/3000 keyboard and simply use the wires to a DIN5 female connector.

dlfrsilver · 26 April 2008, 14:46

loool i should try, i own an old IBM PS/1 like this one

Zetr0 · 26 April 2008, 15:21

I do love this Hackery!

Pin 18 on the CPU is RST (reset)

hmmm keyboard.... now.... heres the thing, you have the orginal a500 keyboard and matrix and board, all you need is to convert that wire to say 6pin din or 9pin serial and then just run a cable to the back of the PS1. from there just convert it back to keyboard connector

easy peasy, you could even keep the LED's in the keyboard too or place them where ever on.in the PS1

i will grab linkie to some stuff that Fingerz and i were upto

Zetr0 · 26 April 2008, 15:36

okies, lets see if this can help you work out what ya gonna do with thy keyboard.

you can find these schematics etc in this thread

Here is the A500 keyboard header pinout

Here is the keyboard output

here was an idea on how to use this with an rs232 backplane

the original idea was to keep the A500 plastics and use this as housing for the keyboard, and from this you could use the LED's in the keyboard as such, but nothing stops you from re-houseing the keyobard into something else maybe even an A1200 plastics and having the LED's on the PS2

which ever you decide i shall watch like a hawk, although this modding is subtle its one of the best kind!

TheCorfiot · 26 April 2008, 15:44

Ah Zetro,

No-one does pron like you do.......

, even the drawings....

BTW very cool project, and now loaded better than the original Junk that was inside.

If you can pickup an A2000 Keyboard it will look cool, You can mount the LEDS on the chassis.

Nice one a real inspiration...

Now where's my old crappy 486......

I would love to see a GVP HD+8 hanging out the back>>

Zetr0 · 26 April 2008, 16:00

LOL

thanks my friend, you wouldn't believe but i was a normal person before signing up here...

.... er,.... no.... no i wasnt.... i dont know what i was thinking..... believing i could pull that one off LOL!!!

aquanaut · 06 May 2008, 06:19

Thanks for the info on the pinouts, they really helped.

Here's the adapter inside a case, routed to the backplane. I couldn't find the panel 6 pin mini din, so, a cable type one had to be used. I used this: http://aminet.net/package/docs/hard/Epic1_2 and it was pretty simple.

Works great but there's a delay of about 10 seconds when powering up the amiga if the adapter is connected. Is this normal?

These are the back planes showing the kb connector, audio, joystick ports and video:

And this is a badge i made for the case. Sorry, the camera is terrible :\

And this is were it was supposed to be. I use the 1084 S and a composite video switch to cycle between the vcr (acting just as a tv tuner), and a couple of consoles.

There's just a tiny issue: I have to reach the back of the monitor to switch between the rca inputs that go to the composite video switch and the rgb input that goes to the amiga. :S

Next: Build the mouse adapter, pic programmer and find a way to get colour composite out of the amiga.

About the reset button, i took a peek at the 68000 datasheet but, afaik, resetting it involves also having to mess with HALT. Also, at aminet there's a doc but it's in german. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks.

Bye for now.

Zetr0 · 06 May 2008, 09:27

@aquanaut

its really looking great

!!!!!!

(you do need to get a better camera

)

thanks for the hardware pron.

rkauer · 08 May 2008, 05:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by aquanaut

Thanks for the info on the pinouts, they really helped.

Here's the adapter inside a case, routed to the backplane. I couldn't find the panel 6 pin mini din, so, a cable type one had to be used. I used this: http://aminet.net/package/docs/hard/Epic1_2 and it was pretty simple.

Works great but there's a delay of about 10 seconds when powering up the amiga if the adapter is connected. Is this normal?

Totally normal, since the Amiga waits for the keyboard "OK" (the PIC don't provide it, unfortunately).

Quote:

There's just a tiny issue: I have to reach the back of the monitor to switch between the rca inputs that go to the composite video switch and the rgb input that goes to the amiga. :S

Open the monitor and route the switch to the front or lateral of the monitor!

Quote:

Next: Build the mouse adapter, pic programmer and find a way to get colour composite out of the amiga.

Use an A520!

Quote:

About the reset button, i took a peek at the 68000 datasheet but, afaik, resetting it involves also having to mess with HALT. Also, at aminet there's a doc but it's in german. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks.

Bye for now.

I've downloaded the archive and read it (albeit my german sucks, nowadays). You need only the switch and a diode between the wires (to keyboard reset line and to the reset-switch) and the reset pin on the motherboard, as showed the last .iff image.

aquanaut · 09 May 2008, 02:20

Hi,

@rkauer:

Extending the rgb/cvbs switch would solve the issue but i want to keep this tidy, without wires or switches hanging around.

The a520 would solve the composite video but, it is bulky, it would be hanging in the air on the back of the case, they are not easy to find, it would mean getting some more space between the wall and the case and i don't want to pay 50$ of p&p for a bargain of 10$ at shitbay and getting ripped off.

About the reset switch, can i just solder the diode to the switch and tie gnd at any gnd point and the other end to the reset pin at the keyboard header? Better to ask than to see magic smoke coming out from the board

I'm trying (lol) to design a pcb with express pcb using the schematic from narmi and zetr0 and eventually using the toner transfer method as i screwed a pic when messing with perforated board (bye bye mouse adapter). As soon as the tip of the soldering iron touches the pad it lifts :|

Now, i've got my velleman pic programmer (noob

) and hopefully, i'm getting the ad724jr from someone.

@Narmi and Zetr0: If i want just composite video from your schematic, can i just suppress the s-video signals? Or do i have to tie some pins, for example?

Cheers.

Zetr0 · 09 May 2008, 10:29

SVideo is way ... wayyyy.. WAYyyyy better than composite!!!

but if you must have composite then i suggest that following the schematic will provide a switchable composite (NTSC/PAL) output.

I am unsure of the video standard as to where you are.

you wont need to tie off the SVideo output at all...

aquanaut · 09 May 2008, 14:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zetr0

SVideo is way ... wayyyy.. WAYyyyy better than composite!!!

but if you must have composite then i suggest that following the schematic will provide a switchable composite (NTSC/PAL) output.

I am unsure of the video standard as to where you are.

you wont need to tie off the SVideo output at all...

Thanks for the help, Zetr0,

I've seen a couple of youtube videos, and definitely, s-video is much better but, composite will be the adequate solution, as i use the 1084S with a composite video selector for several sources. So, it's quite practical.

I sourced a 4.433619 xtal required for PAL - B, that is the video standard used in portugal, if i'm not mistaken. Is it ok to go with the 15pF capacitor near the crystal?

More pr0n in the way, as soon as i get my way with home etching.

Btw, express pcb is dead easy to use.

Zetr0 · 09 May 2008, 16:59

@aquanaut

ahh the classic 4.433 PAL Xtal

15pf sure sounds about right, but check the specifications of the crystal first

OooOO i just LOVE hardware pr0n

indeed, i found express PCB pretty nippy, BUT if i am not mistaken it has its own proprietary .pcb format thats not compatible with other editors...

03 March 2008, 00:45	#1
aquanaut Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: .-. Posts: 14	A500 VS IBM PS/1 - My project (Work in progress) Hello, After almost giving up on this due to an issue that wouldn't allow me to fit a standard sized 3.5" modded pc drive to a new case, i can now show some pictures of my project. The case donor is a IBM PS/1 that i was given similar to this: It probably was used at a textile factory and then at a bus terminal. It had cotton balls impregnated with what looked like diesel bus smoke pipe dust in halfway to petrification! Lots of vacuuming and washing was needed. This is the interior of the ibm case with the motherboard temporarily fitted. This was a tight fit. I had to bend the back part a bit to get the motherboard inside the frame. Some drilling and machining was needed to create the A500's mounting holes at the bottom of the case. I need also to glue some bits of rubber under the motherboard so it doesn't bend in the middle. The a501 expansion needs to be raised and fixed to the frame. The case interior in another angle. The disk drive fascias was spray-painted black. This shows why i was about to give up on this if i had to use the original tall chinon. This is the front panel spray-painted with some 5 layers. This paint job was a bit tricky. I always paint at a distance of 40 cm to avoid excess paint dripping marks but there are a lot of edges that prevented the ink to flow to the tricky corners. So, this was phased over a couple of days, never loosing patience when filling the corners and edges. I like the squared look of the case but i am still getting used to that red button. The panel has a very sega megadriv'ish 2 style. Finally, the panel with the top cover. I asked a friend to send the top cover among other stuff to paint electrostatically. Notice how my camera has value added features. It's flash picks up dust very nicely! Well, this will need some more work done with routing ports, fitting the case's original pc psu (can i use it to power the amiga?) and finding where to connect the power led and the hdd activity led. I'll keep this post updated when i get work done and if the wife doesn't throw me out before. If anyone has comments / suggestions, please go ahead.

26 April 2008, 15:44	#12
TheCorfiot Amibay Senior Staff Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Cardiff / Wales Posts: 1,302	Ah Zetro, No-one does pron like you do......., even the drawings.... BTW very cool project, and now loaded better than the original Junk that was inside. If you can pickup an A2000 Keyboard it will look cool, You can mount the LEDS on the chassis. Nice one a real inspiration... Now where's my old crappy 486...... I would love to see a GVP HD+8 hanging out the back>>

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13 March 2008, 06:17	#2
Hewitson Registered User Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 41 Posts: 3,773	What exactly is the point of this? You havent stated your reason(s) for doing it.

17 March 2008, 12:44	#4
Mick_AKA crusader of light Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Stone, Staffordshire. Posts: 1,151	I hope you rubbed and primed the case and front plastics, or you have some serious flaking to look forward to.

17 March 2008, 13:36	#6
T_hairy_bootson Workbitch 1.3 Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 47 Posts: 2,084	black spray jobs are hard to photograph, I bet it looks better in real life. Post some photos of the port holes you have cut along the side.

26 April 2008, 14:46	#9
dlfrsilver CaptainM68K-SPS France Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Melun nearby Paris/France Age: 46 Posts: 10,484	loool i should try, i own an old IBM PS/1 like this one

26 April 2008, 15:21	#10
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	I do love this Hackery! Pin 18 on the CPU is RST (reset) hmmm keyboard.... now.... heres the thing, you have the orginal a500 keyboard and matrix and board, all you need is to convert that wire to say 6pin din or 9pin serial and then just run a cable to the back of the PS1. from there just convert it back to keyboard connector easy peasy, you could even keep the LED's in the keyboard too or place them where ever on.in the PS1 i will grab linkie to some stuff that Fingerz and i were upto

26 April 2008, 15:36	#11
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	okies, lets see if this can help you work out what ya gonna do with thy keyboard. you can find these schematics etc in this thread Here is the A500 keyboard header pinout Here is the keyboard output here was an idea on how to use this with an rs232 backplane the original idea was to keep the A500 plastics and use this as housing for the keyboard, and from this you could use the LED's in the keyboard as such, but nothing stops you from re-houseing the keyobard into something else maybe even an A1200 plastics and having the LED's on the PS2 which ever you decide i shall watch like a hawk, although this modding is subtle its one of the best kind!

26 April 2008, 16:00	#13
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	LOL thanks my friend, you wouldn't believe but i was a normal person before signing up here... .... er,.... no.... no i wasnt.... i dont know what i was thinking..... believing i could pull that one off LOL!!!

06 May 2008, 06:19	#14
aquanaut Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: .-. Posts: 14	Thanks for the info on the pinouts, they really helped. Here's the adapter inside a case, routed to the backplane. I couldn't find the panel 6 pin mini din, so, a cable type one had to be used. I used this: http://aminet.net/package/docs/hard/Epic1_2 and it was pretty simple. Works great but there's a delay of about 10 seconds when powering up the amiga if the adapter is connected. Is this normal? These are the back planes showing the kb connector, audio, joystick ports and video: And this is a badge i made for the case. Sorry, the camera is terrible :\ And this is were it was supposed to be. I use the 1084 S and a composite video switch to cycle between the vcr (acting just as a tv tuner), and a couple of consoles. There's just a tiny issue: I have to reach the back of the monitor to switch between the rca inputs that go to the composite video switch and the rgb input that goes to the amiga. :S Next: Build the mouse adapter, pic programmer and find a way to get colour composite out of the amiga. About the reset button, i took a peek at the 68000 datasheet but, afaik, resetting it involves also having to mess with HALT. Also, at aminet there's a doc but it's in german. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks. Bye for now.

06 May 2008, 09:27	#15
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	@aquanaut its really looking great !!!!!! (you do need to get a better camera ) thanks for the hardware pron.

09 May 2008, 02:20	#17
aquanaut Registered User Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: .-. Posts: 14	Hi, @rkauer: Extending the rgb/cvbs switch would solve the issue but i want to keep this tidy, without wires or switches hanging around. The a520 would solve the composite video but, it is bulky, it would be hanging in the air on the back of the case, they are not easy to find, it would mean getting some more space between the wall and the case and i don't want to pay 50$ of p&p for a bargain of 10$ at shitbay and getting ripped off. About the reset switch, can i just solder the diode to the switch and tie gnd at any gnd point and the other end to the reset pin at the keyboard header? Better to ask than to see magic smoke coming out from the board I'm trying (lol) to design a pcb with express pcb using the schematic from narmi and zetr0 and eventually using the toner transfer method as i screwed a pic when messing with perforated board (bye bye mouse adapter). As soon as the tip of the soldering iron touches the pad it lifts :\| Now, i've got my velleman pic programmer (noob ) and hopefully, i'm getting the ad724jr from someone. @Narmi and Zetr0: If i want just composite video from your schematic, can i just suppress the s-video signals? Or do i have to tie some pins, for example? Cheers.

09 May 2008, 10:29	#18
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	SVideo is way ... wayyyy.. WAYyyyy better than composite!!! but if you must have composite then i suggest that following the schematic will provide a switchable composite (NTSC/PAL) output. I am unsure of the video standard as to where you are. you wont need to tie off the SVideo output at all...

09 May 2008, 16:59	#20
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	@aquanaut ahh the classic 4.433 PAL Xtal 15pf sure sounds about right, but check the specifications of the crystal first OooOO i just LOVE hardware pr0n indeed, i found express PCB pretty nippy, BUT if i am not mistaken it has its own proprietary .pcb format thats not compatible with other editors...

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