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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:AMIGA NOTES
Notice:Join us in the *NEW* conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:HYDRA::MOORE
Created:Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5378
Total number of notes:38326

4605.0. "Kludge of the month needs A2000 keyboard" by LEDS::KUZEJA (Almost never always available) Tue Mar 19 1991 15:16

I've been working on a project lately that has got to qualify for the kludge
of the month award. I have an A500 with a SupraDrive adapter, 4 Meg of expansion
RAM, and two hard drives in an external (obviously) box with power supply.
My system is split into these pieces that are a hassle to disassemble and
re-assemble when transporting my system. Also, I curently have a fan on my
hard drive and on the expansion memory which makes the whole system loud when
powered up.

I decided to get an old IBM AT box and stuff the A500 inside of it. To do this,
I had to rotate the A500 90 degrees and consequentially, I had to create
"extension cords" for all the ports on the back of the A500. All of that wasn't
much of a problem. I even got some nice 5.25" adapter brackets for the
hard drives and floppies. The big problem is...the A500 keyboard.  Call me
cheap but I don't want to buy a new A2000 keyboard just to get the plastic
casing to house my perfectly good A500 keyboard.
Does anyone out there have an old A2000 keyboard that they want to replace or
does anyone know of where I might find one?  I tried local Amiga dealers and
they tell me to order a new A2000 keyboard.

Thanks for any help,
Tom
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
4605.1A coupla questions...GOBAMA::WILSONTLLead Trumpet (Read that...LEED!)Tue Mar 19 1991 17:1212
    ->  I'm curious about the cabling of a an A500 keyboard.  Is it similar
    (or even the same) to the A2000 keyboard.  I know that physically the
    cords are different.  But the basic wiring (4 wire or 6 wire) is what
    I'm asking about.
    
    ->  What external box with power supply are you using?  Is it generally
    available?
    
    aTdHvAaNnKcSe
    
    
    Tony
4605.2A couple of answers...LEDS::KUZEJAAlmost never always availableWed Mar 20 1991 09:2110
The A2000 keyboard doesn't use the status and in-use LEDs (Red and Green
LEDs on the A500) and also does system reset on the motherboard. I don't
really want to use the A2000 keyboard itself, I want the plastic housing
which will fit the A500 keyboard (minus the LEDs) perfectly.

Also, my external box for the hard drives is a homemade job. It has a power
supply, fan and room for two 3.5" hard drives.

Tom
4605.3BOMBE::MOOREAmiga: Where 'multimedia' REALLY beganWed Mar 20 1991 18:044
    When I was in Memory Location the other day they had just received some
    nice looking new dual 3.5 inch hard drive cases.  Compact, low profile
    box, complete with power supply and all SCSI cables.  Sorry, I didn't
    ask the price...
4605.4Don't expand A500's - its too expensive!!GIDDAY::MORANI'm not bad-I'm just drawn that way!Thu Mar 21 1991 03:3730
    Sounds almost what I did to my poor old A500 about 1 year ago.
    
    I actually put mine into a standard IBM AT case - to make it fit I had
    to rotate the A500 motherboard 90 degrees as you did. I also had to
    extend all of the back connectors - I cheated and used IDC cable and
    connectors. The main problems was that the A501 ram expansion could not
    fit in because the 150W Power supply got in the way. This meant that an
    86 pin extentsion cable has to be hand made and soldered.  Don't make
    this too long or else you start getting RAM erros.
    
    Another problem was the Expansion connector. Needless to say I also had
    to make up another cable for that.
    
    RE: Keyboard
    
    I too went to 'Amiga' Dealers and asked about a plastic case. The also
    said commodore don't sell them. Rather than try to make my own I opted
    for the expense of an A2000 keyboard.  If you can afford it get it -
    the keyswitches are MUCH better than in the poor old 500.
    
    
    Moral of the story :
    
    Cut your costs now and buy a A2000. I went one step further and bought
    a A3000 with no regrets at all.
    
    
    
    
    Shaun. Brisbane Australia.
4605.5the priceNAC::BRANNONvalue addedThu Mar 21 1991 14:389
    re .3:
    The price they told me was $125 for the SCSI low profile dual 3.5"
    hard drive box.  It even had SCSI connectors on the back of the box
    and SCSI cables (not 50 pin ribbon).
    
    However, I went for a HardFrame controller from the consignment shelf
    and mounted my drive on the card instead.
    
    dennis