When I upgraded my A1200T to SCSI era, its IDEfix became obsolete and it was now free to protect the IDE connector of the A600. I had some spare hard disks in size range of 1-3 gigs and couple Compaq Slim CD-ROMs. So I fancied about A600HDCD - I have seen mods on the net where those were crammed into A600/A1200 cases.
Disclaimer
All information on these pages is provided "as is". The information may be
misleading, inaccurate or completely incorrect. I take no responsibility if
you break, fry (as I did) or in other ways demolish your assets after following
these instructions. These pages contain graphic images of violence towards
valued Amiga hardware. Viewer discretion is advised.
A600's top shielding was already bent to incorporate the floppy drive and
because of the wider A1200 case, the space was now free for a HDD. 3.5" HDDs
are slightly longer than floppy drives and thus I had to cut out a piece of metal
shielding to make room for the bigger power connector.
Original 1GB Quantum drive was few millimeters too thick and I had to
swap it to unnecessary big capacity Fujitsu (3GB) to get the keyboard fit
without any bigger pressure.
The spinning HDD is nowdays replaced with IDE-CF adapter and 1GB card.
This makes loading slightly faster and eases some mechanical pressure inside the case.
And not mentioning the noise.
For some A1200 case mods the authors have installed slim CD-drives into original
A1200 case. In these mods the drive ejects to left side, but because the case
near PCMCIA port was already quite fragile and I use mouse left-handed, I
concluded that the coffee cup holder was better popping out to backside. This way
there was also more room for the cables and IDEfix. Although I had to remove some
parts of its PCB near the second IDE connector to get a perfect fit.
According to A1200 schematics the host ATA(IDE) connector on the motherboard does not
use some of the standard's signals. One of those is Cable Select (pin 28, _CSEL).
Info on the net claims that _CSEL should be grounded on the host and then whether or not
it is connected in cable connector selects master (low, grounded) or slave (high, open).
On Amiga it is not connected (NC). To make the host follow the standard I added
a solder blob between pins 28 and 30 (GND). I also removed the key pin (20).
When I got my hands on the Compaq slim CD-drives, I noticed that they apparently
have a connector similar to high density IDE/ATA used in laptop hard drives
instead of some more exotic one. Connecting one of the drives should be a piece
of cake. As usual, I was wrong. The connector has 50 pins and I had to check
its pinout. A forum post hinted the connector being actually ATA and indeed traces
looked highly identical to my IDE/ATA 2.5" -> 3.5" adapter.
I attached the ATA adapter and connected the drive to the PC. Then I got confused.
The drive did not spin at power on or respond eject like it should. After some
googling I learned some facts about JAE-50 connector and verified pins 45-50 of
ATA-50 connector having connection to +5V line. ATA adapter supplies +5V via pins
41-42, so I soldered an additional molex power connector to the Compaq adapter.
Now the drive spun up and was recognized by the BIOS as slave, so I was ready to
finish the drive's backplate.
I connected the drive to the IDEfix using drive's original 50-pin cable. I switched
power on and immediately smelled the Magic Blue Smoke coming out of somewhere.
I sniffed like a hound around the Amiga and pinpointed the source to the back of
the CD-ROM drive. And back to the drawing board ...
The Compaq JAE-50 adapter seemed to be somewhat customized version of ATA-50.
My guess is that the fried component is the audio amplifier. A deeper investigations
revealed that the adapter has following pinout:
| Pin | Compaq | Amiga |
|---|---|---|
| 1-40 | ATA-40 | Almost ATA-40 |
| 41 | Audio R | +5V Logic |
| 42 | Audio L | +5V Motor |
| 43 | Audio G | GND |
| 44 | Audio G | +5V pullup |
| 45-50 | +5V | - |
I recycled some of the original Compaq fastening parts. On the left is the
filler from bottom right and the right one has lost some unnecessary pieces of
metal.
The CD-drive is now hold on more or less firmly in its position. The keyboard
prevents the drive from tilting when a CD is inserted.
The top cover got also its share of hacksaw treatment. Sadly I got little too
excited when I had almost finished sawing and slightly drifted into wrong side of
guide line (see the left side). Fortunately the bad quality craftsmanship is in
the backside, so I do not have to stare it continuously.
My workplace had some old servers being end of their lifecycle and going to be scrapped.
Their optical drives are used once or twice, sometimes never due remote options, so I salvaged one for my beloved Amiga.
Being mechanically brand new, the drive is also patched with RPC-1 firmware, so playing region locked DVDs should not be a problem ... :)
Same time I ditched the RF/EMC shield and de-soldered RF Modulator to prepare the system for future accelator/expansion and make room for modern video output connector.
Moving the optical drive away from the Vamp basically means complete re-ordering of the internal extras.
The ODD is now very close to floppy drive. So, to make my life easier, I teared the ribbon cable to 4-wire slices imitating the round IDE cables.
Now it fits much more easily under the ODD.
Fits nice and tight.
After the previous build, I have salvaged from recycle bin a new flat Slim-IDE adapter.
It is much more flexile than the old style 50-pin ribbon cable.
Due space constraints, I had to cut the audio out connector, but I had no plans ever to use it.
Also drilled a hole for mounting screw.
Because the ODD is in new position, old tray cut-out needs a new purpose for its existence.
I fancy mounting there the CF adapter and Vamp's JTAG for easier access in case of an emergency.
Suitable solution still awaits, so storage stuff is just stacked together.
I finally had some spare time to go to a shopping spree and get some parts for EZ-Access option.
I extended the Vamp's JTAG connector to the back to ease my access in case of an emergency.
Also replaced IDEFix - CF connection with round IDE cable stolen from a PSTN test appliance.
There is also room for a micro-SD extender I noticed existing from one of MsMadLemon's videos.
Not so pretty any more, but gets the job done.
Once there was an unused slot loadind DVD±RW burner in decomissioned server.
To get some purpose for its lifecycle, it befriended with an Amiga to relieve some tress and forces during insertion.
IMHO looks like a real thing having years of enjoyment behind.
This Frankenstein's baby is parsed together from following body parts
A600: Mobo, FDD, stickers, PSU case and cables
A500: Keyboard frame and MPU
A1k2: Case, LEDs, white (yellowish) key caps
PC: Optical Drive, slim IDE adapter, round IDE cable, floppy power connectors
Igor: Vampire V2.1
Jens: Idefix, Memories
Amikit: re-Caps
Ebay: Hi-Def Vision
TME: PSU
Jump to
Part 1: Base system
Part 3: Power supply