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#2021 |
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Join Date: May 2020
Location: Figueira da Foz
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#2022 |
Alien Bleed
Join Date: Aug 2022
Location: UK
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#2023 |
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Germany
Posts: 1,961
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A 3.5" harddisk would have required a slightly bigger housing and one of the older power supplies they used for the A500. Again they saved a dollar by providing an upgrade opportunity that cost the user twice as much as the cheaper alternative.
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#2024 |
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Join Date: May 2017
Location: Munich/Bavaria
Posts: 2,502
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Well - the discussion about cramping 3.5" devices, turbo cards and whatnot into a wedge computer is somewhat surreal - I guess most users would have preferred a slim desktop or a small tower at a affordable price ... and thanks to the PC these kind of cases where abundant and low cost - I really can not imagine the wedge with external power supply being that much cheaper for Commodore.
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#2025 | |
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Northampton/UK
Posts: 537
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Quote:
All you had to do was cut a bit of shielding and the 3.5" fitted straight in, the no fast RAM, no chipset upgrades, low power brick, was all down to saving money at an ailing company being fleeced by executives. |
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#2026 |
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Join Date: May 2017
Location: Munich/Bavaria
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Are they?
I really doubt that very much. Any numbers? Most of them were just bent metal - probably cheaper than a plastic case + extra shielding. Even the very low cost range of PCs in the early 90s came in a box-design - even the ones by Commodore themselves. They were also quite easy to order for people, that would build their own PC and usually one of the cheapest parts of such a machine. P.S.: The "low-cost" variant of the C128D came in a metal box instead of the plastic case of the first generation - this was a cost reduction measurement. P.P.S: Just take that very same case with a nicer front-panel: https://www.commodore-info.com/compu...x25/en/desktop just a A1200 like motherboard inside - a riser-card with Zorro slots would be optional. Last edited by Gorf; 22 February 2023 at 18:06. |
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#2027 |
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Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Finland
Posts: 168
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The AGA chipset (A1200/A4000) is still capable of producing good resolution screenmodes without RTG. For example 1280x1024, 1280x720, and 800 x 600 screenmodes in 256 colors, or HAM8 mode are possible (and many other), but most monitors cant display these without some flickerfixer device, like Indivision, but these are quite expensive. Of course these modes eat up a lot of chip ram and are slow, so its best to reduce colors to e.g. 16 in Workbench.
Commodore should have made early on some cheap flickerfixer, that could be used with the A1200/A4000. [ Show youtube player ] |
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#2028 |
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: England
Posts: 425
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If Commodore supplied the A1200 with 1MB Chip and 1MB Fast, then a further card in the trapdoor could have a configuration jumper to turn that 1MB motherboard Fast into Chip instead, or do it automatically of course via the card's firmware or whatever. You can have your cake and eat it!
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#2029 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Bicester
Posts: 2,084
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#2030 |
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Join Date: May 2017
Location: Munich/Bavaria
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#2031 |
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Join Date: Oct 2020
Location: Bicester
Posts: 2,084
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I didn't think so just curious. the hardware is the hardware after all.
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#2032 | |
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Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Hastings, New Zealand
Posts: 2,851
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Quote:
![]() The reason for using 2.5" drives in the A600 and A1200 wasn't just that a 3.5" drive wouldn't fit in the case (in an approved orientation). 2.5" drives also had lower power consumption (eg. 2.5 W max for a Conner CP-2044 42MB 2.5" vs 4.2 W for a CP3000 40MB 3.5"), and they were more shock-proof - important when the computer is in the 'keyboard', and so is likely to be bumped and moved around while in operation. To fit a 3.5" drive without making the 'keyboard' too big and heavy the machine would have to be a 2 piece design with separate keyboard. That would significantly raise the price, as well as being less convenient. Like most home computers the A1200 was designed to be semi-portable - small enough to put on the coffee table and easy to put away when not in use. A 'big box' computer really needed a dedicated computer desk. Once you factored in all the likely costs involved (including that desk) the 2.5" drive was actually cheaper. We should also consider that most Amiga users didn't need as much capacity as PC users did. The OS was mostly in ROM, saving hard drive space, and most games ran direct from floppy disk. Only programs that you used regularly needed to be installed on the hard drive. When WIndows 95 came out the gap got even larger. This was good for us because the appetite for larger capacities in the PC market drove down the price of smaller drives. This affected 2.5" drives too because they were used in laptops. For example In 1996 I got Quantum 256MB 2.5" drives for a mere NZ$52 (£26) each when the supplier was clearing out excess inventory. I for one am glad that Commodore put a 2.5" drive in the A1200. It kept the machine small and light, made it quieter and more reliable, and introduced me to the joys of these tiny drives. Later on it proved ideal for Compact Flash cards. The price didn't bother me. Only 2 years ealier I had paid NZ$999 for a 120MB SCSI hard drive to go in my A3000. BTW Commodore wasn't the only one to use 2.5" drives in home computers. I have an Acorn Archimedes A3000 with a Seagate 40MB internal 2.5" hard drive (same one that Commodore put in the A1200). Despite the larger case there is no room inside this machine for a 3.5" drive. Furthermore there is no on-board IDE port, only headers to take an interface board and just enough room to squeeze in a 2.5" drive. And people think Commodore was incompetent. All that computing power and only a single double density floppy drive for storage! |
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#2034 |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Athens , Greece
Posts: 1,863
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Well, I had my first A1200 bought with a 130MB Seagate 3.5 HD fitted and never had a problem (still works) and it was pretty fat. The shielding had to go, but other than that, no problems at all with the power or anything else.
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#2035 |
Alien Bleed
Join Date: Aug 2022
Location: UK
Posts: 4,865
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I had a slimline 3.5" hard disk that fir via a custom bracket. I still had to remove the shielding but it wouldn't have taken much to cut the shielding and refit it. I just didn't.
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#2036 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: England
Posts: 425
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#2037 | |
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Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: UK
Posts: 575
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Quote:
![]() Last edited by BigD; 23 February 2023 at 12:26. |
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#2038 |
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Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: UK
Posts: 575
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@khph_re
I guess I could remove the shielding entirely but I don't have the 2.5" caddy or a 3.5" equivalent and I am not wanting to rest the 3.5" drive directly on the mobo! It balances OK on the shielding but there should be a bit more room in the case! |
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#2039 |
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Join Date: Nov 2021
Location: Utrecht/Netherlands
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Commodore was going for the cheapest for themselves with using the cheapest 68020 version, cheapes power brick and no fast ram and expecting from us to buy more expensive harddrives.
There was another thing with A1200 IDE interface. Some harddrives were not compatible because they were stopping spinning when not used, this was kind of interface implementation bug as far as I remember. Last edited by oscar_ates; 24 February 2023 at 08:59. |
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#2040 |
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Germany
Posts: 1,961
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Wasn't that the reason why they bent away one pin of the connector? When I exchanged the harddisk in my A1200 for a CF card, I found that the people at the shop where I bought all my upgrades had done that and was a little shocked.
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