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CrazyC's Sanitarium

Checkmate Build (Part 5)

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CrazyC
, 27th December 2020 at 16:11 (1642 Views)
Well for Xmas I got a rapidroad USB for my checkmate. I got a couple of short USB extenders that did not have chunky female connectors, and took my dremel to my spare little additional front panel for the checkmate case.

At first it was great, but then I realised that I could not refit the panel with the connectors in place as it would not fit back in and I did not want to modify the case panel itself. Luckily the little panel is reversible which while it doesn't give the same continued lines along the front, it does give you more options, and I could just about make these fit.

Now, actually fitting the rapid road was all quite straightforward. I have heard some concerns about these having issues with various power supplies and so wanted to run this from the min board floppy connector which I am not currently using (my floppy drive and CD drive are powered off the PSU directly). This meant removing the PSU but that was fine.

So I set up the rapid road, carefully following the pics on the website (seriously, why are these not in the manual) and ensuring I got the clockport connector the right way round. I plugged in the power cable from the motherboard and left the passthrough power connected vacant as I don't need it (see above). I then connected the USB port cable. Switched it on and the nice white light stayed on suggesting all was connected!
Booted up to my workbench, checked and found I have an old version of Poseidon installed and so ran the install from the floppy that came with the rapidroad. Again, all was quite smooth and simple.
Pretty much the only other step was to add the rapidroard device and mark it as online, and save the configuration. Plugged in a USB stick and all sorted. (I already had Fat95 etc installed from when I used the card in my towered Amiga, which is why I already had poseidon). so, connected it all up and put the lid back on, and now my baby has USB!
Click image for larger version.  Name: rapidroad 1.jpg  Views: 43  Size: 191.0 KB  ID: 163205Click image for larger version.  Name: rapidroad 2.jpg  Views: 35  Size: 137.7 KB  ID: 163206
The floppy disk had a nice USB stick icon that I am using for the minute although I may change it.

That only really leaves the CDDA sound to sort out and this will be done!
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  1. Bladejack's Avatar
    I could not bring myself to put the USB at the front as I felt it ruined the look of the Amiga 3000 inspired case and put them on a pci bracket on the back, but after using for a few months I can see a reason for putting them on the front, can be a pain to pull the case forward everything you want to use them. I did not want to attach the floppy power supply just in case it went bang it might take out the A1200 as well , so connected it to the PSU instead, maybe over cautious but I'd rather change a power supply and Rapid road than the 1200. Just today my Hard disk started given checksum errors all over the place and on reboot the Games drive is gone , looks like I'll be rebuilding it again soon, so bye bye 3.5" ide hdd
    Updated 30th December 2020 at 16:15 by Bladejack
  2. CrazyC's Avatar
    I did worry about messing with the lines but I have a spare little front panel if I decide I don't like it. Had to refix the connectors again - hopefully a little more securely but time will tell - am not that confident. As a compromise and as mine is on risers I did consider running it out the back and affixing a USB extender under the case - I may still do that at some point and I may switch the power over to the way you have it.
    Didnt have a spare PCI slot at the back as have my CF card coming out of one and the DVI out of the other (see earlier posts).
    Sad to hear about your HD - this happens occassionally with my CF based drives as well (or I tinker with stuff and then cannot fix what I have done) which is why I usually keep a backup image that I just write to an new card -that why I keep the card accessible at the back.
    Hope you haven't lost much.