Latest update March 28, 2011

More A4000 News

So, I have been slowly Plugging away on my A 4000 restoration. I have cleaned off the Warp Engine, Found 4, 32 Sticks of matching EDO ram to bump it up to 128 Megs. Yesterday, I started on the Power Supply. I am indeed cleaning this power supply up, but I am still debating if I am going to gut this puppy and install a fully ATX up grade or leave it stock. This particular power supply is in somewhat nice shape. The wires are all nice and flexible, and the Molex Power connectors are not brittle, and still somewhat pliable. Unlike some other power supplies that I have come across. Sure signs of age are: Wires are stiff and brittle, the Molex connectors turn "clear" or you can start to see through them and they feel like they will break in your hand.
In fact, other than a slight layer of dust and a few cob webs, this power supply is in Very good condition. Even the fan looks like it will clean up nicely. I could not see a glass fuse in it, so I might break out the soldering iron and install one. That's IF I decide to keep this stock. I know I am probably better off to hunt down a "Dead" one and convert that.
I know what some of you are asking "why not just slap in a ATX and be done with it?". The reason is the space inside the A4000, does not allow a "Standard" AXT power supply, so I will have to use the same Case and put AXT guts in it.

I have also ordered the IDE parts from AmigaKit last week and I hope to see them in Either Friday or Early next week. I have ordered an IDE 4 device interface and a 4 Gig CF hard drive for this unit. Yep, this A4000 will not only have 1 CF drive as the main hard drive, but a second CF "Port" to transfer files and such. I am not sure yet, but the second port might have an SD slot instead or also, so I can utilize the Cheap SD slots.

What I want to do is get a Slim line CD/DVD burner and have space either above or below it for the second CF port. By utilizing a Slim drive from a laptop (remember about 2 year or so ago, I purchased a few "converters" to convert a laptop drive to a regular IDE chain see the original post here )

While now I can Utilize one of those converters.

As you can see in the above examples, I do have some choice. Now All I have to do is decide which I am going to use and how to mount them all in a 5 inch drive sled. This will also leave me with some room for a USB header, for I wish to install USB sometime in the future when the budget permits it. As it sits, the USB "Deneb USB 2.0 controller is $156 at AmigaKit and I defiantly will have to wait on that.

One last note for today. On Saturday, I got the KEY to this A4000 (sadly, just one) so it will be complete that way.

See you next month.

 

:March 13,2011

Backstabbing and work on the A4000

This week, I have been putting at least an hour a day in getting the A4000 cleaned up, I believe I am about halfway done. I did not hear back from the lady with the Amiga Magazines and such that she was suppose to drop off last weekend. I even e-mailed her back and nothing. I did not think about it all that much, then I found out today, that someone specifically went behind my back and scooped it all, knowing full well that it was all promised to me, for I had mentioned it last week. A few people are upset over this, besides myself. The sad thing as the A4000 that was suppose to come in was destined to be put up and running in our recording studio, with the Video Toaster for editing. Now, it will sit un-used in the guy's basement, or shed.

I am not sure who to be upset more with, the guy that scooped them or the lady that promised them to me in the first place. At the VERY least, she could have called or sent an e-mail stating that she was giving them to someone else, or the guy that scooped them told the lady, he was picking them up for me. Either way, this is backstabbing in my opinion and it just proves to be that a bunch of people can't be trusted, and to never tell about anything until after the transaction has happened.

 

 

 

March 6, 2011

Holy Crap ! It's March and still 20 Below..Plus a A4000

First, let me apologize for my not posting through February. There is really no good excuse, other than work has taken me away from my main love.

I did manage to get a few things done with no real internet. I am resorting to tethering my iPhone and that is real pricey. $50 bucks a Gig if you go over your limit is just plain barbaric. Words can not describe how fucked up that is. I really pray all this UBB (usage based billing) war we are having here in Canada amounts to something. If you could drop a few bucks to the donation jar it would be much appreciated to help pay for this access.

VIC 20 Blues:

First, 2 weekends ago, I finally got around to setting my VIC 20 up. I got Brian Bagnell's latest edition of "On the Edge" now called "Commodore: A Company On the Edge"

This book is a major reworking of the book titled, "On the Edge: the Spectacular Rise and  Fall of Commodore." Now includes 15 additional interviews, dozens of period photographs, an  accurate chronological presentation and more amazing first-hand stories than ever before. This book just covers the "Jack" Years, up until the launch of the C64. The Second Volume, Titled "The Amiga Years" will be out in 2012.

So I got the urge to get the VIC up and running. No go the VIC chip is dead, so I am hunting for a new VIC 20.

Last weekend, I got a opportunity from Rob from the Amiga Club. He basically wanted to give me his A4000, as long as I took everything. It was quite a haul. Not only did I get a A4000, I also got a 17 inch monitor and a whole lot of boxed software and such.

The unit had been sitting in his basement in storage for years, it was a bit dirty and he said had some issues. It sounded like the classic "processor card not seated properly" issue, that the last 2 A4000's I came across had.

This unit has potential though. At first glance you can see the dual floppy drives. Most A4000 I have seen only have the one. Second, this unit has 2 bonus features inside. 1 was a Cybergraphics 64 graphics card. YES, I have been hunting forever for a real graphics card, that didn't involve selling one of my kidneys. Second, this unit has the Warpdrive 04/40 card. This is actually the same speed as this unit had stock, but the Warp Drive has SCSI on it. Its actually a waist, because I hate SCSI and plan to make it all IDE again.

The "bad" news:

This unit had the barrel battery removed and a "Radio Shack" battery pack installed. Sounds good but the battery pack leaked goo all over the motherboard and as a result we had some green corrosion on the pins.

Yesterday (March 5), I tore down the whole unit, and began cleaning it up. The lab page will have the complete story on that.

I also got in an Amiga Technologies 17 inch m1764 monitor to go with it. The monitor has a lot of smoke tar on it, so I will clean that at a later date. I was under the impression that these monitors were quite rare in Canada, but I was told they were quite common, so once that is cleaned up, it will replace the big ugly 17 inch monitor I have for the Amiga's.

I was also expecting another load in yesterday from another source, supposedly a lot of Amiga Magazine and such, but that never happened. If it does, I will let you know.