Ailing A1

[RobertB]

     When I last tried to power up the AmigaOne G4, it would try to start, i.e., the power light in the box would come on, but there would be no drive activity and no screen.  After awhile, the power light would lower its intensity (glow more dimly).  There was no reaction to keyboard or mouse input.  I'm hoping its just a power supply problem (it was flaky ever since I bought the box).

              Another to be diagnosed by Duncan at TOGA,
              Robert Bernardo
              Fresno Commodore User Group
              http://videocam.net.au/fcug
              July 25-26 Commodore Vegas Expo - http://www.commodore.ca/forum
              and click on ComVEX

[Rorshach]

RobertB,

It would be good to have it checked out before it gets much more use. A power supply problem can be troublesome for the other components. If anything on the mainboard gets abnormally hot a short in the supply could be the problem and that would be very bad news. I hope its a relatively minor thing though. Let us know when you get it going again.

[RobertB]

It would be good to have it checked out before it gets much more use.

Right.  I'm not using it anymore until Duncan diagnoses it.

                   Truly,
                   Robert Bernardo
                   Fresno Commodore User Group
                   http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                   July 25-26 Commodore Vegas Expo - http://www.commodore.ca/forum
                   and click on ComVEX

[RobertB]

Another to be diagnosed by Duncan at TOGA...

Oy!  Duncan did not show up to the Saturday TOGA meeting.  I'll have to catch him at the June TOGA meeting, or barring that, I'll have to contact him at another time.
     Not only does the A1 need repair, but I also have an A1200 in need of repair from the ACUG of Astoria, Oregon.

                  Hoping the A1 is repaired before the July 25-26 CommVEx,
                  Robert Bernardo
                  Fresno Commodore User Group
                  http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                  The Other Group of Amigoids
                  http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/

[RobertB]

Not only does the A1 need repair, but I also have an A1200 in need of repair from the ACUG of Astoria, Oregon.

Finally, the A1 will be delivered to Duncan next week, hopefully on Monday.  Also the ACUG A1200 and my A1200 which needs to be re-towerized with a Mediator PCI board.
     If my A1 does not make it to CommVEx, another attendee is bringing his A1.

                  Truly,
                  Robert Bernardo
                  Fresno Commodore User Group
                  http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                  July 25-26 Commodore Vegas Expo - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[RobertB]

    As soon as I got to his house, Duncan started tearing into the old French-made tower (which he called a piece of junk for its poor build) for the A1200.  After much effort, he was finally able to remove the A1200 motherboard and hard drive.  The new tower from AmigaKit came with no instructions, and so, it was a matter of deducing which went where.  Unfortunately, to be fully usable, the re-towerized A1200 needs some more parts - a right-angle PCMCIA adapter, an automatic VGA monitor switch, and possibly a new IDE-Express.  As to the matter of the last part, this is what happened to it; the IDE-Fix Express "smoked"!  It literally burned up, and it was hooked up right and everything.  Duncan said that we were very, very lucky it didn't take out anything else with it.  So, do I want to take my chances with another IDE-Express?
     With the A1200 waiting for parts, it won't make it to CommVEx.  Duncan had no time to look at the A1 but agreed that it might be a p.s. problem.  The solution...  for me to stick a new p.s. into the box and see what happens.

              Well, the A1200 tower will be ready for the October AmiWest,
              Robert Bernardo
              Fresno Commodore User Group
              http://videocam.net.au/fcug
              July 25-26 Commodore Vegas Expo - http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex

[RobertB]

...the re-towerized A1200 needs some more parts - a right-angle PCMCIA adapter, an automatic VGA monitor switch, and possibly a new IDE-Express.

The right-angle PCMCIA adapter has come in from England, and I will be mailing that to Duncan today.  Also he has installed an old KVM switch within the A1200 tower so that with the reset button on the front of the case, it can switch between AGA and RTG (the real computer reset switch has been moved to the back).  The Radeon graphics board is working excellently!

                   Back from CommVEx,
                   Robert Bernardo
                   Fresno Commodore User Group
                   http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[RobertB]

...my A1200 which needs to be re-towerized with a Mediator PCI board.

The Mediator PCI adapter gives memory errors on an old mem test, but all other mem tests work fine with it.  Now all that is needed is an appropriate flatscreen monitor to go with the A1200 tower.

               Truly,
               Robert Bernardo
               Fresno Commodore User Group
               http://videocam.net.au/fcug
               The Other Group of Amigoids
               http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
               Southern California Commodore/Amiga Network
               http://www.sccaners.org/

[RobertB]

The right-angle PCMCIA adapter has come in from England...

All that the PCMCIA adapter needs is a wi-fi card with an external antenna lead (so it can fit outside the metal case of the tower).
     Lately, I've been thinking about USB solutions for that A1200 tower.

                    Truly,
                    Robert Bernardo
                    Fresno Commodore User Group
                    http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                    The Other Group of Amigoids
                    http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
                    Southern California Commodore/Amiga Network
                    http://www.sccaners.org/

[RobertB]

     Next Saturday I hope to pick up the completed A1200 tower from Duncan M. at the TOGA meeting.  I'll have a chance to talk to him about USB for that tower.

                Truly,
                Robert Bernardo
                Fresno Commodore User Group
                http://videocam.net.au/fcug

[RobertB]

Next Saturday I hope to pick up the completed A1200 tower from Duncan M. at the TOGA meeting.

Nope, still not quite ready.  It needs more shielding around the cables leading out of the graphics card.  He had A-Web working on it through Miami.  Boy, is A-Web primitive-looking!  I told him that IBrowse would be more sophisticated and compliant.  Also, at higher screen rates, there is some flicker; no wonder he told me to get a LCD monitor that can support 50 Hz. and also scan rates at lower frequencies.

I'll have a chance to talk to him about USB for that tower.

O.K., Spider USB through the PCI slots is out, because the driver is impossible to get.  Then there is USB through the clockport, but it is very, very slow.  I finally decided on CompactFlash as a platform-portable storage medium.  I just have to order a SCSI-to-IDE adapter and a CF adapter to that.

                Truly,
                Robert Bernardo
                Fresno Commodore User Group
                http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                The Other Group of Amigoids
                http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
                Southern California Commodore/Amiga Network
                http://www.sccaners.org/

[Paul]

Robert, this sounds very interesting.  So if I understand you correctly, you're using a CF card connected to the SCSI bus?  Could you get pictures of this, and post links to the hardware vendors that make this possible?  I wonder if there's SCSI SD card adapters that would work.

[RobertB]

So if I understand you correctly, you're using a CF card connected to the SCSI bus?  Could you get pictures of this, and post links to the hardware vendors that make this possible?

O.K..  I still have to order the relevant parts, but as soon as they are installed, I'll dig up somebody's digital camera (or use my film camera) and snap some shots.
     To my way of understanding, it's similar to the method of converting a CMD hard drive to solid state, i.e., you'd need a SCSI-to-IDE converter and then attach a IDE-to-CompactFlash adapter.

                  Truly,
                  Robert Bernardo
                  Fresno Commodore User Group
                  http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                  The Other Group of Amigoids
                  http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
                  Southern California Commodore/Amiga Network
                  http://www.sccaners.org/

[Paul]

Currently, I use Iomega zip disks.  At 100MB each, they're plenty big enough to behave as a hard drive for the Amiga, and when I plug the disk into the IDE zip drive on my PC, WinUAE will boot from it.  The SCSI zip drive is plenty fast enough.  That's how I transferred files easily for the Jumpdisk Preservation Project.  If I could format a CF card, or even better a MicroSD card as an Amiga hard drive (as I can do with the zip disks), I won't need to worry about the eventual failure of the zip drive.  My A500 could be completely solid state, and thus would last indefinitely.

Looking forward to the results, Robert!

[RobertB]

My A500 could be completely solid state, and thus would last indefinitely.

I know that some people (including one of my friends) uses IDE-to-CompactFlash on the A1200.  The A1200 is then completely solid state!

                Truly,
                Robert Bernardo
                Fresno Commodore User Group
                http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                The Other Group of Amigoids
                http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
                Southern California Commodore/Amiga Network
                http://www.sccaners.org/