Amiga Tower

Djay · 20 March 2003, 22:53

I'm going to build an Amiga A1200 tower system... i'm not going to buy a ready made one, i wanna do this this all myself (it would probably work out cheaper.. hopefully)

i got a couple of questions...

i have a spare A1200 mainboard, is it okay to mount straight into an atx case (rather than sticking the back part of the case and mainboard inside a case)?

i'll think of running backing plate adaptors to the main board, so the actual mainboard will sit slighty back from the back on the case, is this an option...?

where can i buy the parts i need, like the adaptors,external keyboard, atx style power supply...?

once the main work has been done, i will start getting addon's like PPC etc... etc.... which extra bits should i look out for?

if you have any knowledge on this matter please post a reply!!

cheers

ElectroBlaster · 21 March 2003, 22:13

Hi m8!

I have built three self-made towers! what i did on all three was mount the board with the bottom rf sheild still on!
I cut away any metal that would block airflow to my blizzard 030, magnum 030 and apollo 030 in each case... then i made port extensions with those plugs that use ribbon cables! the only thing that needed a custom cable was the rgb video... everything is on back plates!

I bought angle adaptors for the pcmcia slots! the a1200's led board is perfect for case leds! what i did was remove the original leds and soldered on pin headers... so the case led leads could fit on and be removed easy! the power supplys i have are all AT and i opened them up and soldered an amiga power lead directly to the board (the safest option IMHO)

I bought Power computings keyboard interface which is great! i had to make a hole for the keyboard din plug!

getting parts is easy! go to any Radioparts store or radioshack! or online using Maplins!

Djay · 21 March 2003, 22:19

thx for the info...

i have heard that using high-end cards, make your Amiga crap for gaming... any info...?

ElectroBlaster · 21 March 2003, 22:24

I dont know about this one m8! my amiga's arent loaded up with pci boards and stuff

Backtoskooldaze (on these forums)has an uprated amiga with a voodoo card and other goddies! from what i know he loves it all as it works great!

Djay · 21 March 2003, 22:42

yeah i recently saw a PowerTower on ebay with a voodoo 3 stuck in it???

blackcornflake · 22 March 2003, 02:04

My A1200 has an overclocked 060, Mediator PCI busboard and Voodoo 3, with Picasso96 software.

The vast majority of games work without problems. WHDLoad installers are great for those that might require degrading/patching.

Be aware that 99% of games still use the custom chips to display and are not retargetable, and the Voodoo does not support passthrough, so necessitating a 2 x monitor/ monitor + TV/ input switcher arrangement, to switch from the P96 WB display to native Amiga display.

WB looks really nice though.

BippyM · 22 March 2003, 20:55

I too am gonna tower myself an a1200... I wasn't inspired by you though Djay.. I was inspired by This

visit my post on Emu-UK

For more info (Post here though if you don't wanna post over there!!)

Anyway Djay maybe we can help each other out along the way

I aim to have a clear plastic/glass case with lots of neon lights and cabling

cv643d · 23 March 2003, 10:49

I have built one A1200 tower one A4000 minitower and one A1200 desktop but in the end mounted the motherboards in the original case again because I rushed the jobs a bit. So im giving an advice here that do it slowly and pay attention to the details.

Djay · 23 March 2003, 22:21

Quote:

I too am gonna tower myself an a1200... I wasn't inspired by you though Djay.. I was inspired by This

LOL... me too!

Djay · 23 March 2003, 22:23

Quote:

aim to have a clear plastic/glass case with lots of neon lights and cabling

i'm getting a black tower, with a window in the side, a couple of colourful LED fans and a blue strip neon light.... stuck behind the guide bar!!!

man, its gonna look soooo prettie!!!

BippyM · 23 March 2003, 23:37

Okay my project has started..

I have posted my current work on Emu-Uk so post click

to please Akira look at posts below!!!

Any thoughts/advice and suggestions?

Djay · 24 March 2003, 00:05

i got a couple of questions....

can you get an internal floppy drive cable long enough to move the internal floppy drive to the front of an ATX case?

if i sit the mainboard slighty back from the back of the case i could get an autoswitching mouse/joystick adapter... yes?

i'm gonna get those bright blue leds for the power/floppy/hd lights

BippyM · 24 March 2003, 00:13

Well it is apparently possible to build your own mouse/joystick switcher, all you do is mount the ports onto some veroboard and connect the the mouse port, then attach a switch to the +5v on both ports, when it is switched one way the mouse works, when switched other the joystick works..

My electronical knowledge is not good enough to build an autoswitching device!

I will look for a long enuff cable, if not I'll make an extension cable myself.. cant be too difficult!

I will be creating cables for all the ports on the back anyway!

---

I too want bright blue LED's but only because they are not too common

Amiga1992 · 24 March 2003, 00:16

Quote:

Originally posted by bippym
I have posted my current work on Emu-Uk so post click HERE to see it

Why didn't you post it here? This is an Amiga board, and yours is an Amiga project, innit?

BippyM · 24 March 2003, 00:19

I am gonna post on both, my next update will be posted on here..

and does it really matter the APoV will be getting everything AND the photo's and a proper write-up..

----

I cant be arsed to type it on both tbh!!!

BippyM · 24 March 2003, 00:20

Okay I have started the ball rolling..

I have managed to put the 1200 mobo into the atx case, I dont have a digicam so I have had to draw my plans and scan em (I am taking photos though!!)

Attached is a drawing of how the 1200 mobo is currently sitting in the case, it is attached to the plate that a PC mobo is usually screwed to.

I lined the mobo up with the holes on the plate then marked and drilled another where the holes on the mobo are result = it wont go anywhere

I do have my reservations though..

If you look at the drawing the IDE i/face is on the opposite side of the case to the HD bays, meaning I would need really long cables

Also the diskdrive and joystick/mouse ports are awkward to get to due to the 5.25" drive bays..

BippyM · 24 March 2003, 00:20

So i had a think about it and have come up with the layout below...

I havent actually screwed the mobo in this way yet as it would still leave the IDE interface a bit too far away, the other option would be to go with the layout above, but rotate the mobo 180 degrees, so the ports point down into the case.

This wont be ideal though as the accelerator could easily work loose.

Time to put me thinking cap on

With the layout below the accel card would be pushing into its connectors, so wouldn't work loose

PCMCIA wont be accessible though

BippyM · 24 March 2003, 00:22

Okay last attachment for now

basically this pic shows my plans for the front and back of the machine and where I plan to put the ports etc..

After seeing Jon_The_Prongs tower on Ebay I decided to do this, now he has put all the ports in the PCI blanking plates.. I plan to put them where the ATX Mobo ports are..

I also plan on getting/making a roboshift mouse/joystick selector so I can connect 2 joystick and a mouse together, the roboshift changes to the correct device after pressing fire on the device

I have also decided to put the RF and Composite for completeness!

The diskdrive and power sockets are not needed, as they will only be internal

I plan to put the audio ports on the front with a headphone jack, I hope to be able to automatically cut sound to the external audio when headphones are plugged in, so a simple amplifier maybe.. any Ideas?

----

If you look at the front number 3 & 4 are switches (on/off & reset) now these switches are transparent, so I hope to make them light up when the power is on

The power l.e.d I am going to make into the floppy drive l.e.d
and the HD l.e.d will remain where it is, but it is behind a larger transparent cover, so I am going to try and make the whole thing light up

Finally I will remove the USB ports and put the phono&headphone sockets there..

-----

SO guys what are your thoughts so far, and any tips?

p.s to get an ATX PSU to power up, at plug that goes into the mobo there is a green wire (only the 1) now simply connect this wire to ground (any of the black wires) and voilla..

Now someone with some basic electronics know how will be able to connect it to the on/off switch and add an L.E.D (Dont forget the resistor tho!)

Look HERE for more info

Amiga1992 · 24 March 2003, 00:39

Quote:

Originally posted by bippym
I cant be arsed to type it on both tbh!!!

Hey, I wasn't asking you to

I was just curious, since this is a REAL AMIGA project, why did you post it in EmuUK instead of the English Amiga Board?

Just curiosity

BippyM · 24 March 2003, 00:40

Quote:

Originally posted by Djay
i got a couple of questions....

can you get an internal floppy drive cable long enough to move the internal floppy drive to the front of an ATX case?

lights

http://www.powerc.com/cgi-bin/psearc...id=4&act=gpage

20 March 2003, 22:53	#1
Djay 95th User Join Date: May 2001 Location: Brighton/UK Age: 48 Posts: 3,120	Amiga Tower I'm going to build an Amiga A1200 tower system... i'm not going to buy a ready made one, i wanna do this this all myself (it would probably work out cheaper.. hopefully) i got a couple of questions... i have a spare A1200 mainboard, is it okay to mount straight into an atx case (rather than sticking the back part of the case and mainboard inside a case)? i'll think of running backing plate adaptors to the main board, so the actual mainboard will sit slighty back from the back on the case, is this an option...? where can i buy the parts i need, like the adaptors,external keyboard, atx style power supply...? once the main work has been done, i will start getting addon's like PPC etc... etc.... which extra bits should i look out for? if you have any knowledge on this matter please post a reply!! cheers

23 March 2003, 10:49	#8
cv643d Registered User Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 762	I have built one A1200 tower one A4000 minitower and one A1200 desktop but in the end mounted the motherboards in the original case again because I rushed the jobs a bit. So im giving an advice here that do it slowly and pay attention to the details. Last edited by cv643d; 11 June 2008 at 10:16.

23 March 2003, 23:37	#11
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	Okay my project has started.. I have posted my current work on Emu-Uk so post click to please Akira look at posts below!!! Any thoughts/advice and suggestions? Last edited by BippyM; 24 March 2003 at 00:21.

24 March 2003, 00:20	#16
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	Just for Akira Okay I have started the ball rolling.. I have managed to put the 1200 mobo into the atx case, I dont have a digicam so I have had to draw my plans and scan em (I am taking photos though!!) Attached is a drawing of how the 1200 mobo is currently sitting in the case, it is attached to the plate that a PC mobo is usually screwed to. I lined the mobo up with the holes on the plate then marked and drilled another where the holes on the mobo are result = it wont go anywhere I do have my reservations though.. If you look at the drawing the IDE i/face is on the opposite side of the case to the HD bays, meaning I would need really long cables Also the diskdrive and joystick/mouse ports are awkward to get to due to the 5.25" drive bays.. Last edited by BippyM; 01 November 2008 at 17:08.

24 March 2003, 00:20	#17
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	So i had a think about it and have come up with the layout below... I havent actually screwed the mobo in this way yet as it would still leave the IDE interface a bit too far away, the other option would be to go with the layout above, but rotate the mobo 180 degrees, so the ports point down into the case. This wont be ideal though as the accelerator could easily work loose. Time to put me thinking cap on With the layout below the accel card would be pushing into its connectors, so wouldn't work loose PCMCIA wont be accessible though Last edited by BippyM; 01 November 2008 at 17:08.

21 March 2003, 22:13	#2
ElectroBlaster Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Exeter, Devon, UK Age: 49 Posts: 1,714	Hi m8! I have built three self-made towers! what i did on all three was mount the board with the bottom rf sheild still on! I cut away any metal that would block airflow to my blizzard 030, magnum 030 and apollo 030 in each case... then i made port extensions with those plugs that use ribbon cables! the only thing that needed a custom cable was the rgb video... everything is on back plates! I bought angle adaptors for the pcmcia slots! the a1200's led board is perfect for case leds! what i did was remove the original leds and soldered on pin headers... so the case led leads could fit on and be removed easy! the power supplys i have are all AT and i opened them up and soldered an amiga power lead directly to the board (the safest option IMHO) I bought Power computings keyboard interface which is great! i had to make a hole for the keyboard din plug! getting parts is easy! go to any Radioparts store or radioshack! or online using Maplins!

21 March 2003, 22:19	#3
Djay 95th User Join Date: May 2001 Location: Brighton/UK Age: 48 Posts: 3,120	thx for the info... i have heard that using high-end cards, make your Amiga crap for gaming... any info...?

21 March 2003, 22:24	#4
ElectroBlaster Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Exeter, Devon, UK Age: 49 Posts: 1,714	I dont know about this one m8! my amiga's arent loaded up with pci boards and stuff Backtoskooldaze (on these forums)has an uprated amiga with a voodoo card and other goddies! from what i know he loves it all as it works great!

21 March 2003, 22:42	#5
Djay 95th User Join Date: May 2001 Location: Brighton/UK Age: 48 Posts: 3,120	yeah i recently saw a PowerTower on ebay with a voodoo 3 stuck in it???

22 March 2003, 02:04	#6
blackcornflake Moderator Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Cereal box Posts: 804	My A1200 has an overclocked 060, Mediator PCI busboard and Voodoo 3, with Picasso96 software. The vast majority of games work without problems. WHDLoad installers are great for those that might require degrading/patching. Be aware that 99% of games still use the custom chips to display and are not retargetable, and the Voodoo does not support passthrough, so necessitating a 2 x monitor/ monitor + TV/ input switcher arrangement, to switch from the P96 WB display to native Amiga display. WB looks really nice though.

22 March 2003, 20:55	#7
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	I too am gonna tower myself an a1200... I wasn't inspired by you though Djay.. I was inspired by This visit my post on Emu-UK For more info (Post here though if you don't wanna post over there!!) Anyway Djay maybe we can help each other out along the way I aim to have a clear plastic/glass case with lots of neon lights and cabling

24 March 2003, 00:05	#12
Djay 95th User Join Date: May 2001 Location: Brighton/UK Age: 48 Posts: 3,120	i got a couple of questions.... can you get an internal floppy drive cable long enough to move the internal floppy drive to the front of an ATX case? if i sit the mainboard slighty back from the back of the case i could get an autoswitching mouse/joystick adapter... yes? i'm gonna get those bright blue leds for the power/floppy/hd lights

24 March 2003, 00:13	#13
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	Well it is apparently possible to build your own mouse/joystick switcher, all you do is mount the ports onto some veroboard and connect the the mouse port, then attach a switch to the +5v on both ports, when it is switched one way the mouse works, when switched other the joystick works.. My electronical knowledge is not good enough to build an autoswitching device! I will look for a long enuff cable, if not I'll make an extension cable myself.. cant be too difficult! I will be creating cables for all the ports on the back anyway! --- I too want bright blue LED's but only because they are not too common

24 March 2003, 00:19	#15
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	I am gonna post on both, my next update will be posted on here.. and does it really matter the APoV will be getting everything AND the photo's and a proper write-up.. ---- I cant be arsed to type it on both tbh!!!

24 March 2003, 00:22	#18
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	Okay last attachment for now basically this pic shows my plans for the front and back of the machine and where I plan to put the ports etc.. After seeing Jon_The_Prongs tower on Ebay I decided to do this, now he has put all the ports in the PCI blanking plates.. I plan to put them where the ATX Mobo ports are.. I also plan on getting/making a roboshift mouse/joystick selector so I can connect 2 joystick and a mouse together, the roboshift changes to the correct device after pressing fire on the device I have also decided to put the RF and Composite for completeness! The diskdrive and power sockets are not needed, as they will only be internal I plan to put the audio ports on the front with a headphone jack, I hope to be able to automatically cut sound to the external audio when headphones are plugged in, so a simple amplifier maybe.. any Ideas? ---- If you look at the front number 3 & 4 are switches (on/off & reset) now these switches are transparent, so I hope to make them light up when the power is on The power l.e.d I am going to make into the floppy drive l.e.d and the HD l.e.d will remain where it is, but it is behind a larger transparent cover, so I am going to try and make the whole thing light up Finally I will remove the USB ports and put the phono&headphone sockets there.. ----- SO guys what are your thoughts so far, and any tips? p.s to get an ATX PSU to power up, at plug that goes into the mobo there is a green wire (only the 1) now simply connect this wire to ground (any of the black wires) and voilla.. Now someone with some basic electronics know how will be able to connect it to the on/off switch and add an L.E.D (Dont forget the resistor tho!) Look HERE for more info Last edited by BippyM; 01 November 2008 at 17:08.

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