My first Amiga hardware mod

tone007 · 02 September 2008, 04:30

Hi,

Since I found some information here on the EAB forums that I needed to finish this project (direct wiring keyboard to the CIA,) I figured I'd post a couple of pics on what I've put together.

I had an A600 motherboard sitting in the closet doing nothing, so I went into the garage and found some extra junk to build a computer with.

The case used to be part of some old home theater equipment that died years ago. After a good couple hours with the Dremel, it had all the necessary holes required for the motherboard and floppy drive. I haven't gotten the front display or button to do anything, best I can come up with without too much trouble is a reset button and a glowing green light.

Now all I need is some cheap RAM. 1MB just isn't enough for such a serious looking machine.

AlfaRomeo · 02 September 2008, 04:48

Not bad tone007. You could try to put in the LCD the temprature of CPU or something like that with LCDdeamon from aminet

gklinger · 02 September 2008, 05:11

Welcome to the EAB, tone. Good to see you here.

T_hairy_bootson · 02 September 2008, 05:26

Nice one, odd that you decided to mount the floppy drive on the side of the unit though.

And of course welcome to the EAB.

alexh · 02 September 2008, 08:43

Odd that you chose to put the PCMCIA connector against one side of the box so that it sticks out so much. I guess doing so solved several design challenges (like guiding the card into the slot)

Still a good feat.

Zetr0 · 02 September 2008, 09:05

@tone007

!!!Awesome!!!

I love a bit of hackery, and this one is a damn fine example!

Its far from easy cutting metal! so my hat is off to you on that one :bowndown

More Pics please!!!... oh and some specs

cosmicfrog · 02 September 2008, 10:16

now thats a nice box
like the amiga logo on the front

tone007 · 02 September 2008, 14:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by gklinger

Welcome to the EAB, tone. Good to see you here.

Thanks, I probably wouldn't have had the idea to do something with this 600 board had I not been checking in to follow your CDTV KB -> A1200 progress.

Quote:

Originally Posted by T_hairy_bootson

Nice one, odd that you decided to mount the floppy drive on the side of the unit though.

That's just the way everything fit best, and I didn't really want to scratch up the shiny face of the box with my shaky-handed Dremel skills.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexh

Odd that you chose to put the PCMCIA connector against one side of the box so that it sticks out so much. I guess doing so solved several design challenges (like guiding the card into the slot)

I would've liked to allow the card in further as well, but yes, guiding it would have been an issue likely. I'd hate to manage to get the card in crooked or something and screw up some pins.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zetr0

More Pics please!!!... oh and some specs

Sure, I always prefer using daylight to flash anyway:

Ooo, shiny.

Hm, card slot could use a little more paint...

My favorite part of the project, mostly that it actually works.

Kind of made a mess on the back with the cutter, luckily it's the back.

Yeah, hard drive is the only part not installed properly, I'm not sure if I'd rather stick a CF card in or not yet.

Specs are probably obvious now, stock 68000, 1MB ram, KS 2.05. Hard drive is out of my 1200 from when I upgraded. I don't mind the slow CPU, but I definitely need some more RAM to be able to do anything with the machine.

Thanks for the input and welcomes, everyone.

tonyyeb · 02 September 2008, 20:55

Great hackery! You have inspired me to do something with my A600.... just not sure what. Dont want to do a PC case mod, rather want to make it smaller in some way, and make it black... but without using a CDTV keyboard...??? hmmm

tone007 · 02 September 2008, 21:29

Spraypaint/vinyl dye and then some new stickers for the characters is about the only other way, I think. Or, here's a hairbrained scheme:

Mask the important part of each and every key in some uniform manner (little paper sticky circles or squares or stars or something crazy,) then spray the whole thing and when its dried pull the masking off, and then lightly clearcoat the whole thing (if you used spraypaint.)

It'd be mostly black...

cosmicfrog · 02 September 2008, 22:03

ya tonyyeb how about mounting it in a dead dvd player and using the draw for cd just a thought, don`t have them to often

r6stu · 02 September 2008, 23:11

Where is the info on modding the CIA to fit a keyboard? Been searching but cant seem to find anything.

cosmicfrog · 02 September 2008, 23:33

had keyboard mod bookmarked as might need do it soon
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...0+500+keyboard

02 September 2008, 04:30	#1
tone007 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 29	My first Amiga hardware mod Hi, Since I found some information here on the EAB forums that I needed to finish this project (direct wiring keyboard to the CIA,) I figured I'd post a couple of pics on what I've put together. I had an A600 motherboard sitting in the closet doing nothing, so I went into the garage and found some extra junk to build a computer with. The case used to be part of some old home theater equipment that died years ago. After a good couple hours with the Dremel, it had all the necessary holes required for the motherboard and floppy drive. I haven't gotten the front display or button to do anything, best I can come up with without too much trouble is a reset button and a glowing green light. Now all I need is some cheap RAM. 1MB just isn't enough for such a serious looking machine. Last edited by tone007; 02 September 2008 at 04:36.

02 September 2008, 08:43	#5
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,475	Odd that you chose to put the PCMCIA connector against one side of the box so that it sticks out so much. I guess doing so solved several design challenges (like guiding the card into the slot) Still a good feat. Last edited by alexh; 02 September 2008 at 09:14.

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02 September 2008, 04:48	#2
AlfaRomeo A1200 040 SAM440EP 667 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Lisbon / Portugal Posts: 873	Not bad tone007. You could try to put in the LCD the temprature of CPU or something like that with LCDdeamon from aminet

02 September 2008, 05:11	#3
gklinger Vegetable Lasagna Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Toronto, CANADA Age: 54 Posts: 711	Welcome to the EAB, tone. Good to see you here.

02 September 2008, 05:26	#4
T_hairy_bootson Workbitch 1.3 Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Melbourne, Australia Age: 47 Posts: 2,084	Nice one, odd that you decided to mount the floppy drive on the side of the unit though. And of course welcome to the EAB.

02 September 2008, 09:05	#6
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	@tone007 !!!Awesome!!! I love a bit of hackery, and this one is a damn fine example! Its far from easy cutting metal! so my hat is off to you on that one :bowndown More Pics please!!!... oh and some specs

02 September 2008, 10:16	#7
cosmicfrog The 1 who ribbits Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: leek, Staffs, UK Age: 56 Posts: 3,557	now thats a nice box like the amiga logo on the front

02 September 2008, 20:55	#9
tonyyeb Has the Amiga bug again Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Hull, UK Age: 44 Posts: 791	Great hackery! You have inspired me to do something with my A600.... just not sure what. Dont want to do a PC case mod, rather want to make it smaller in some way, and make it black... but without using a CDTV keyboard...??? hmmm

02 September 2008, 21:29	#10
tone007 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Virginia, USA Posts: 29	Spraypaint/vinyl dye and then some new stickers for the characters is about the only other way, I think. Or, here's a hairbrained scheme: Mask the important part of each and every key in some uniform manner (little paper sticky circles or squares or stars or something crazy,) then spray the whole thing and when its dried pull the masking off, and then lightly clearcoat the whole thing (if you used spraypaint.) It'd be mostly black...

02 September 2008, 22:03	#11
cosmicfrog The 1 who ribbits Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: leek, Staffs, UK Age: 56 Posts: 3,557	ya tonyyeb how about mounting it in a dead dvd player and using the draw for cd just a thought, don`t have them to often

02 September 2008, 23:11	#12
r6stu Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Southampton Age: 44 Posts: 112	Where is the info on modding the CIA to fit a keyboard? Been searching but cant seem to find anything.

02 September 2008, 23:33	#13
cosmicfrog The 1 who ribbits Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: leek, Staffs, UK Age: 56 Posts: 3,557	had keyboard mod bookmarked as might need do it soon http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...0+500+keyboard

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