Fit A1200 into A1000 with extra bits - do I have the bottle to do it?

[AmigaDweeb]

For almost 3 days on and off i've been playing about with old Amiga hardware in my spare time and 'attempting' to get the bottle up to do possibly the Amiga hardware hack of the quarter century.

I'm still toying with the idea of fitting all the A1200 bits into my A1000 case and doing a spray job on it with the amiga boing red white check pattern Big job and still not had the balls to do it yet, but have already sourced what I need parts wise just in case.

On the other hand I could just aquire on old 4000 like the one currently on eBay?... then again that would'nt really be quite as awesome as my idea above if done correctly really.

Some hardcore Amiga heads would consider this Sacrilege too, but I reckon I could do a good job of it (I think LOL).

What do you think?... I have the skills but I'm still on the fence on this one given there is nothing wrong with the still working hardware albeit a bit yellow etc.

P.S. Since looking into this I've noticed another person here who was going to do a similar mod but perhaps lost their bottle in 2008?

[pmc]

I've never been a hardware modder myself - not very good with DIY in any form really but I wish you luck with your endeavour - it'd look awesome with that custom paint job.

[AmigaDweeb]

Originally Posted by pmc

I've never been a hardware modder myself - not very good with DIY in any form really but I wish you luck with your endeavour - it'd look awesome with that custom paint job.

Thanks yes I think it would take me about 2 or 3 weeks to do the job in my spare time (if I do it heh).

[Paul_s]

The A1000 preservation society are most displeased with these turn of events.

We will dicuss your fate at our next meeting, Stonehenge, UK

P.S. We have Grot Bags as one of our witches (who was responsible for Superfrog)

[AmigaDweeb]

Lol

[asm1]

Its an interesting idea but seems a shame to butcher an A1000 if its still working However it is your hardware and your decision. Is the A1000 the one with all the signatures inside the case ? You could always find an empty case to hack about, then if it doesn't work at least you aren't "oh Sh*t I've ballsed up an A1000"

Also not sure how the A1200 mobo would work in an A1000 case... Maybe an A4K mobo in there instead ? I know people have put A1200 in an A500 case, and one brave soul has managed to get it in an A600 case with lots of cutting lol.

best of luck

[AmigaDweeb]

The A1000 has the sigs in the lid yes.

I know it's a somewhat scary idea that I'm trying to get out of my head.

Most of the bits I have these days relate more to the A1200 hence why I wanted to fit that mobo, but I take your point that it maybe better to buy another A1000 to do the mod just for the case.

Thank you for your input on my crazy idea so far.

[AmigaDweeb]

The butchery has begun!... God of all Amiga's forgive me for what I am about to do... the quest for the coolest A2200 hybrid on the planet (I hope).

Pictures in due course once I get tooled up and underway - there is much to do.

[AmigaDweeb]

Progress in pictures here (Flickr)...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fuzzydw...7622433927862/

[Peter]

I must admit, it did make me feel a bit uneasy seeing all the signatures in the lid and then seeing the "butchery" begin... once over the initial shock I guess it is an interesting project - what upgrades are you making to the A1200 before you put the lid back on...?

It is certainly going to be quite unique - I cant see many others sacrificing an Amiga A1000 like this....!
I still feel uneasy about cutting some USB slots in my A1200 casing...

[T_hairy_bootson]

Wont someone think of the children?

[asm1]

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease think of the chiildrennn

[AmigaDweeb]

So far it's gone quite well and there are not to many problems with the mod.

At the moment I'm putting in a GVP scsi/ram board and taking the socket and switches out to the right side. This will allow for external cdrom/scsi expansion if required.

There is of course the 1Gb 2.5 hd which contains my old amiga development stuff and is more than enough space for me really.

I'm just about to cut the pcmcia port slot (for network card) in the left side of the case and have already cut the led holes in the front facia plate for the original a1200 led board.

Most 'useful tool' so far is my wifes mini-cooking blowtorch to heat sharp disposable blades to cut/shape plastic etc

More pictures will follow at the flickr address above as I complete each task and when some of the bits I still require arrive here.

Most of it has to be hardware prototyped/positioned in place first and then all taken to bits again for the respray later and of course test.

I'm hoping that the original A1000 floppy drive is pin for pin compatible with A1200 board connectors for power rating and data - I'm going to check this soon and that should be the only problem.

I hope to put the power pack inside the case and mod that, but early experiments may mean it stays external (not sure yet).

[TGM]

ooo quick question - how easy is it to shape the case? I've been meaning to create a cutout for my slimline dvd in my A1200, but worried I'll break it going the dremel route

[AmigaDweeb]

What I've done so far is pencil mark what you what to cut first to be 100% sure.

Score with blade to mark area to cut.

Heat up very sharp blade with micro blowtorch and with steady hand and firm grip of plastic make the cut like butter against a hard 'non plastic' straight edge to keep the line.

'Do in open air space with mask' given plastics are never good when burnt!!!

Cut of any melted crud with sharp blade and use fine grade emery board (thanks wife again) to shape plastic to finish.

Remove pencil marks with clean rubber - done (in my case I'm doing a multicoat spray and laquer later so will be washing final plastics anyway ready for base primer).

[TGM]

Brilliant! Thanks for the method

[Megamix]

i always wanted to put a A1200 into a CDTV unit complete with CD Rom and put it under the TV, I could never find a CDTV and as I have 2 A1200`s I`ll keep my eye open for one.........

But the pictues look good be nice in black

[AmigaDweeb]

Cool yes the CDTV would be a good case also and make a nice mod, tho I've not seen one of those in years myself either.

I'm going to upload part 2 pics (same link) this evening when I get chance (today was mostly more plastic hacks and adding a second HD floppy etc.) and hopefully do a photoshop mockup of the spray job before I actually do it soon.

I only really have to make one more hole in the plastic for the AT keyboard interface and I'm done and ready to spray the case and do a hardware test again run before I assemble it all into the finished case.

[Zetr0]

@Adrian

Firstly what happened to the A1000 ? if you have no home for it, I would lovingly look after it =D

that and an A3000 is are the only models of Amiga I dont have =( *yet*

I would suggest two further upgrades for you,

1. get off that IDE chain, you have SCSI2 avaialbe thats 5x faster!!!!

SCA adapters are cheap as are 9GB disks!! if you want help finding some just PM me =)

2. use the native IDE for a SFF (Laptop) DVDROM/RW drive, a small cut out in the front (keep it sympathetic to the lines of the case and inline with the FDD)

you could use a Slot loading optical that would be quite a nice change and if done well would look VERY tastey indeed!

Other Options to consider -

• Internal power supply, (something in the PicoPSU range of 120watts =D)
• Internal SD/FF or Indivision module
• Internal Clockport Spliter (2 clockports)
  • 1 clockport to sound card (prelude / delphina or even MP3
  • 1 clockport to internal Serial via "port junior"
    • make serial to MIDI board
    • add DB60XG or better wave-table synth card,
      use to mix all audio and provide upto 32/64 channels of multi-timbral synth =D
• Internal *wired* 2 joystick port extender (from paralell)
• PCMCIA port angle riser + Wire/Wirelss network card.

thats about as far as I got so far =D

[AmigaDweeb]

Hi Zetr0,

The Amiga 1000 has been taken apart of course and I have left over... the working mobo, the 256Kb ram module, PSU and keyboard all from the original 1000. I 'may' sell these parts as working spares on eBay but not sure yet as I may even do something yet with that board

Thanks for the pointers tho the mod here is all about using what I have available other than some spray paint and an AT keyboard interface. I'm simply merging the best of what I used to use to develop software in the old days and not really looking for a fully pimped Amiga system, rather just the pleasing shape of the Amiga 1000 case with the classic AGA stuff inside for those retro gaming moments on the real hardware.

Thank you tho anyway all comments are welcome.