Amiga Thread.


Well I think I just snagged that Vampire 600 V2 Accelerator in a private sale, I guess it pays hanging out on the Apollo-Accelerators IRC channel ( #apollo-team )...

hopefully legit...
 
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rygD said:
I thought they were the ones ED had, however I am not familiar with them and related sticks, so I didn't say anything.
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Yes, we sell the ones from Individual Computers, which have been manufactured by SpeedLink, but they are not the same ones as the USB ones.

Sadly, the USB ones are crap. They have quite a high latency, so playing action games doesn't work well. The buttons have sharp edges and the overall feel of the hardware isn't that good.

The DB9 version fixes those issues and feels a lot better.
It's better to get the DB9 version and a DB9 to USB-joystick adaptor.

The stick will be back in stock in my shop in a few days.
 
The wiki for the 2/3 button hack says not to use it on hardware other than Amiga, does that also apply when using it with a USB adapter? I'd like to use this stick with my emulators and it would need to have 2 or 3 fire buttons.
 
I had to open up my Amiga, So may as well take some pictures and show more details on my Gotek drive case mod.

So I 3D printed standoffs for each side as there really wasn't anything to fasten onto the that part of the case. I essentially just printed out a two rectangles and glued them in place, got the drive where I wanted, drilled pilot holes and used self threading screws to fasten the board down. Also shown is the possible too clunky toggle switch I use to switch power from one drive or the other. Then shown is the custom floppy cable I made and finally another justification for buying that IDC crimper I bought a while ago. Amiga drives differ from PC drives, a twist in the cable doesn't determine which drive is which, it's a done with a jumper on the drive, two drives on the internal cable is possible, but most games only launch of the first drive anyway. Some hacks have pin 10 the drive select pin put on a switch, I thought of this, but just switching power on the drives was an easier solution. I don't see myself needing to use both at once.

IMG_20170109_215816233.jpg IMG_20170109_215846110.jpg

Also once the Vampire accelerator comes in I'll need to figure out where to put an HDMI port, I found this thin HDMI cable and a panel mount coupler that I can use. Some people desolder the RF modulator and use the hole left behind to fasten the HDMI port, I decided since I already put holes in the case, I'll most likely just do the same for the HDMI adapter. But waiting to mod that when the card actually comes in.

IMG_20170109_220023078.jpg
 
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Yes, I guess that partly since the Amiga is a system where the floppy discs have more capacity than the system has RAM (at least on the old 500), but mainly because running the system with only one floppy drive was quite common, most copy utilities will pause and let you swap discs (or switch power in your case) to copy data from one to the other.
 
So I noticed what looked like ink on my hands wondered where it came from, I noticed a smear from the LED panel, there was a plastic tape over it, I took it off when I did the drive install. So maybe I wasn't supposed to take that off... well I cleaned it up, removed all the black from the LED display with a bit of alcohol and I think this looks a lot better more discrete.

IMG_20170109_233419392.jpg
 
That's odd, but it does look better now I think. Assuming it still lights up appropriately, maybe it was so that you can choose to have it either black or white - but if that was the case why not use a solid colour on the tape, not put liquid ink (or maybe particulate toner I dunno) behind the tape.
 
levi said:
That's odd, but it does look better now I think. Assuming it still lights up appropriately, maybe it was so that you can choose to have it either black or white - but if that was the case why not use a solid colour on the tape, not put liquid ink (or maybe particulate toner I dunno) behind the tape.
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I think it may have been a paint of some kind, and I believe perhaps the protective tape that was over it was keeping it tacky, it did take a bit of effort to fully clean it off.

It still works perfectly, and happy with the outcome.


next adventure, the keyboard has been a bit flaky at times. sporadically lose functionality in certain rows, looks like the flex ribbon cable is wearing. so picked up a new keyboard membrane: http://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/3264
 
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Not drunk or anything which is usually how my Ebay purchases happen, but I just bought an Amiga 600 Motherboard off Ebay, this one doesn't have Capacitor leakage and is a PAL model, so I won't have issues with games like Cannon Fodder and what not. It wasn't badly priced either. But I feel I need an intervention or something to tell me stop spending money like this.
 
New motherboard came in today, Working and in great shape, no corrosion. It doesn't look like the electrolytic capacitors have ever been replaced, they're most likely dry and crusty by now, so I'm keeping it packed up until replacement capacitors arrive. When I'm replacing the caps I may as well remove the RF modulator (big metal can with the S on the left side) to make room for an HDMI port for the Vampire V600 V2 Accelerator card.

IMG_20170123_171000253.jpg
 
Did a bit more playing today with the new motherboard. I de-soldered all the electrolytic caps and cleaned up the pads ready for the replacement caps hopefully coming in later this week. this time around It was a much easier experience as these caps didn't leak all over the place and there was no corrosion lifting up the pads and such.

I also removed the RF modulator and came up with a 3D printed board fastener to hold down the HDMI coupler. Note in the picture it looks like there may be two SMD Electrolytic caps that may get in the way of plugging in the HDMI, luckily checking the schematic those two don't need to be repopulated as they're part of the RF modulator circuit and not needed anymore.
 

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Wooh!, Vampire V600 V2 accelerator now in the mail! It may beat my replacement caps...


EDIT: Caps are in and fully replace, Amiga is running good. The Vampire Card is being delivered by Canadian post, I assume Sled dogs are involved as it seems to be taking it's time.
 
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