Amiga Upgrade Options

[Harrison]

I've started a new section in the Wiki called Amiga Hardware Upgrade Options. The idea of this section is to expore what is possible to upgrade on each model of Amiga.

http://wiki.classicamiga.com/Amiga_Hardware_Upgrade_Options

I've split the section into pages for each model of Amiga to make it easier to manage.

I've so far completed the sections for the A600 and CD32. But this means that the other sections for the rest of the Amiga models still needs to be worked on.

If any of you have some time and can add some content into these pages that would be great. If you take a look at the A600 page you will get an idea of how it is being structures so far and the information that is being included.

http://wiki.classicamiga.com/A600_Upgrade_Options

[Buleste]

I've just found this (http://www.amiga600.de/index.htm) page which details that there were prototype A600's with clockports and that a Chip RAM expansion from Individual Computers adds a clockport as well so maybe some information on clockport stuff could go on there.

[Harrison]

Oh yes, that is true. I forgot about the clockport info for the A600. Thanks for adding that. I have read that the official Commodore A601 1MB trapdoor ram expansion includes a clockport. However I've got that expansion in my A600 and I can't see the clockport anywhere on the card. Any ideas? Am I not looking at it correctly? I does have metal shielding encasing the card though so maybe the port is hidden under the shielding in a similar way to the clockport on an A1200.

[Buleste]

TBH I don't know. If the clockport is going to be anywhere it's going to be on the expansion card. As far as i know only the prototype mobo has the clockport inbuilt and even then if you look at that webpage the clockport is outside the shielding.

[Harrison]

Hmm... on some clockport expansions it mentions that they work with the A1200 clockport and also the A600 clockport located on the ram expansion card. So it might not just be a prototype board as mentioned on that site.

I will have to have a closer look at the card when I get time.

[Buleste]

It's the A602 expansion that has the clockport. Here's (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=533) an old link from AmigaKit.

[Harrison]

Ah! So an actual production ram board with a clock port does exist for the A600. Cool. Shame I only have the A601. :(

Looking at the Amiga Hardware site the A602 is shown as being a third party card made by 3State, and not Commodore as it might suggest by the A602 name that follows the official Commodore A601 expansion. However the picture of the A602 on that site doesn't show a clockport either. Hmm... :unsure:

[Buleste]

There are two A602 cards. One by 3State and one by Individual Computers. Individual also did a interface expander which was a clockport that clipped over the Gayle chip (I think it's the prototype board as shown in the first website I found.). If you look here (http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/search.pl?company=individual%20computers#a600chip2m) you can see the information on the cards.

There are pictures on a German page here. (http://www.bboah.com/cgi-bin/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=1758) The A602 moniker may be wrong but for certain it's a 2m Chip Ram expansion with inbuilt clockport.

[Harrison]

Interesting. I will add this information into the page when I get time. I bet these cards are very rare.

[Buleste]

Zetr0 with all his knowledge of hackery might know more. I can't find any homebrew about adding a clockport to the 600 (I can about the 500 and 500+ though).

[Buleste]

Just found the Individual Computers announcement of the A600 expansion. It can be found here (http://www.jschoenfeld.com/indexe.htm) under the News section dated 08.06.2006 (Did you know that Individual were planning to do a accelerator for the A600 which unfortunately got shelved in 2006?).

[Harrison]

Nice find. So the product announced here is the one that was for sale on AmigaKit. :) I will contact AmigaKit to ask if they have any further info about this. Did it actually appear and did they sell it.

[Buleste]

I already did a link to AmigaKit for it but here (http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=533) it is again.

AmigaKit definitely sold the A602 as I've found a post on Amigans from someone having problems with the RTC in dec 2006.

[Buleste]

Just found this (http://asb-computer.com/shop/product_info.php?osCsid=5c4f2cc38c7e2e93885f4fe9808d4f61&currency=EUR&manufacturers_id=14&products_id=346&osCsid=5c4f2cc38c7e2e93885f4fe9808d4f61) on ASB - computers website where you can get the clockport adapter at the moment for Euro 10.00. The A602 (I'll user this name instead of A600 Memory Expansion with Clockport) is out of stock but you can order it from here. (http://asb-computer.com/shop/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=14&products_id=528&osCsid=5c4f2cc38c7e2e93885f4fe9808d4f61)

[Harrison]

That's a good find. I've never ordered anything from ASB Computer. Have you?

The clockport adapter definitely seems to be in stock for €10. I wonder if it really is?

I had a quick look around the rest of the product range on the site and most is showing as out of stock, so it looks like i could be.

[Buleste]

I'd email them first as they're showing BVision's in stock and they are quite rare. Have had a quick trawl through the site and whilst a lot of the stuff is :-

This product is “out of stock”, but you can pre-order the product, then when it arrives with us we’ll dispatch it to you.
Availability: Not available

The A602 is

This product is “out of stock”, but you can pre-order the product, then when it arrives with us we’ll dispatch it to you.
Availability: 2 weeks

and lets face it 600 expansion cards are getting more and more rare so it's worth just asking and if they can order it then getting a couple and flogging them on Amibay for a small profit.

I don't know how reliable they are as I've never ordered off them but I may consider it soon.

[amigakit.com]

The A602 project was a product that was funded by us and manufactured exclusively for www.amigakit.com by Individual Computers

ASB will not have stock and will not be able to get hold of any stock.

We sold out of the A602 production run in the Summer.

[Harrison]

Thanks for that information. I will update our Wiki page to include this information.

Do you have information on who actually designed the A602 project? I'm interested in trying to contact the designers and developers of such projects to see if they would release the PCB schematics so that others can use them for homebrew projects to create their own versions.

[Buleste]

The A602 project was a product that was funded by us and manufactured exclusively for www.amigakit.com by Individual Computers

ASB will not have stock and will not be able to get hold of any stock.

We sold out of the A602 production run in the Summer.

Will you ever be commissioning any more?

[amigakit.com]

Yes we are arranging a new production run of A602 at the moment. The PCBs will be ready in January. More news to follow..

[Harrison]

That is very good news. If you can let me know when the new A602's are ready to ship I will post an announcement on the classicamiga homepage news section for you to help advertise them. Plus I will add that to the Wiki too.

Keep up the great work at amigakit. :)