Pc in Amiga A1200 - started !!!

[Harrison]

Great. Look forward to seeing how you get on.

As you know I've been interested in doing something very similar, putting a PC inside of an A1200 as I had a spare A1200 case here. I also have a spare A600 case and keyboard and was thinking that could make a very interesting mini-PC too as it is so small. I think I would go the route of a mini-itx motherboard instead of a laptop one because they run a lot cooler and most are passively cooled too. I do also think they using a SSD would be good to again reduce heat and remove any noise. It should actually be possible to create a completely silent PC this way these days. The only moving parts would need to be a CD/DVD drive if one was included. For this I have some spare laptop DVD drives which could be utilised nicely inside Amiga cases.

I was also thinking that you wouldn't actually need that much storage on the system itself as all rom sets could hosted on another networked PC, or a NAS, you depending on the OS being used you would only need about 20-30GB max for XP or 200GB for Win7. Or explore the cut down custom XP builds to make an even smaller one. It might be possible to utilise a CF or SD to IDE interface that way, but I think the limited speed of memory cards (unless you buy expensive ones) would negate their use for a PC.

So many options and possibilities for these projects.

I had an idea for a blog on the forums. Exploring conceptual system building. Not actually building them, but just exploring what we could achieve with available technology. What do you think? Could be an interesting "think tank".

[Tiago]

So many options and possibilities for these projects

So true, for now i will use the 2.5 HD, but i think i will try a compact-flash or sdcard, but i guess i will have a slower machine. Let's see.
I will take more photos of the project on saturday, i am looking forward to test the keyrah.

I had an idea for a blog on the forums. Exploring conceptual system building. Not actually building them, but just exploring what we could achieve with available technology. What do you think? Could be an interesting "think tank".

why not?

[Tiago]

Ok, here are the photos of the project so far:

Pc in Amiga 1200 case

The laptop:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34186375171074

Inside the laptop:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34244506474098

The laptop Mother Board:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34516526621154

The A1200 case:
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...33702752576610

Getting space on the case (cutting some plastic)
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34160185073378
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34196627151746

notive the keyboard was cuted, i need the space to put the laptop m.board
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34377110221218

USB extensions
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34663968327506

VGA extension
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34727214242578
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34700036410818

First test with mother board out of laptop, keyboad still needed, because the power on/off button is the keyboad
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34422700006818

trying to locate the pins of power button on/off with a multimeter. pins 2 and 8 from right to left
also tracking where was the F12... pins 2 + 22 from left to right
to test is simple, just put a wire from 1 pin to another
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34355801641762

setting the ports on the back
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34559888965618

firts ports vga on right and 2 DB9 on left, but they are not fixed in place yet
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34619183825042

The Keyrah A1200 adapter front
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34429135854994

The Keyrah A1200 adapter back
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34464280190242

As you can see there is no space for the M.board, so far
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34470907873714

i will put it up side down, and with a bit rotation the the left
https://picasaweb.google.com/1025638...34471309723842

That's it for today

[Andrew1971]

Tiago how are getting on with is project have you got any further with it ??
As i am tempted to have a go at something like this
Many Thanks
Andrew1971

[Tiago]

well, i stoped a bit, because my iron solder broke up, i need a new one. I almost have every components that i need, except the iron solder.
I will try to give it a boost this weekend.

[Andrew1971]

Tiago dont forget to take some photos with some close ups. And how its going to laid out in the case approx.
Hope i am not asking for much Thats when you have the time.
Many Thanks
Andrew1971

[Tiago]

Yes yes, i am taking photos of it.
Are you thinking in doing something similar? with a laptop mboard?
You do need to mesure the size of it, my mboard is going to fit inside upside down with a strange angle... the only way possible.
Do you have a keyrah?