First Look at Fitzsteve's Super Secret project :D

Hi Folks!

Having trouble sleeping tonight so messing with some miggy's instead (will regret this tomorrow :lol:)

I recently picked up an A1200 Tower with BPPC 040/BVision inside and decided to put them in an A1200D as I really missed my old project.

I bought an empty case from Airey36 and a NOS Keyboard from another seller on eBay and thanks to ShadieB from these boards I got the lower shield needed to make a start on this project (Thanks again!)

So as you guess at the heart of this project is the BPPC/BVision. BPPC is 040/25mhz and PPC side is 175mhz :ninja:

Both are in the original state and never modified :)

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000693.jpg

BPPC is fully loaded with 256mb Ram :cool:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000692.jpg

The Motherboard I'll be using, very clean Rev1D4 - Is the one that came with the Tower so I know it works fine with this setup.

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000694.jpg

A1200 Case after a quick clean and brand new Keyboard :coffee:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000641.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000642.jpg

Let the surgery begin!

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000696.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000697.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000698.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000700.jpg

I do love new Keyboards :)

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000701.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000702.jpg

Don't worry, case only closed for show - I don't plan on booting this up again until I have some better cooling :thumbsup:

Also along with my IdeFix Express I have a Delfina Soundcard and SubwayUSB to mount in the case, that will be fun!

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000643.jpg

And a few screen shots I took when testing the parts when installed in the Tower:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000596.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000595.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000600.jpg

And a short Video of Wipeout2097 running :cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lcFbzntvrk

Updates to come soon!!! :coffee:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fitzsteve

I recently picked up an A1200 Tower with BPPC 040/BVision inside

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You make it sound like it's an everyday occurrence, where the hell do you get them all from?:help:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by -Acid-

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fitzsteve

I recently picked up an A1200 Tower with BPPC 040/BVision inside

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You make it sound like it's an everyday occurrence, where the hell do you get them all from?:help:

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I'd love to know as well! I can't seem to find anything "in the wild"!

Yesterday though, I was talking to a mate who's parents ran a large shop in Sydney many years ago selling and repairing Amiga hardware. I only just found this out, but apparently, there might be "heaps of stuff" still held in storage sheds by his mum. He's going to find out for me if they still have any of their old stock.

Here's hoping!

nice project steve :thumbsup:

steve always finds them with the help of his guinea pig

Quote:

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Originally Posted by johnim

nice project steve :thumbsup:

steve always finds them with the help of his guinea pig

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Is that his secret? I have wondered about this for quite some time now. I love how he just happens to stumble on spare PPC hardware. :lol:

Clearly I need to move to Kent. That's where all the miggy hardware is hiding!

Anyways, thanks for sharing, Steve. Even if a PPC never comes my way, I can at least always enjoy your pr0n threads!

:thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by -Acid-

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fitzsteve

I recently picked up an A1200 Tower with BPPC 040/BVision inside

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You make it sound like it's an everyday occurrence, where the hell do you get them all from?:help:

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I think he flies over the neighborhoods with his lazer vision searching attics for forgotten gems.

Because those i see is for sale at a price I wonder if they dip them in gold prior to shipment.

:drool:

it is a secret, ssshhhhhh!!!!:ninja:

Just be careful not to connect your clock ports the wrong way round :)

Mostly its local collection stuff off ebay :-)

I've got a little problem with this now, just tried booting up and the cpu isn't responding (blank screen and caps lock test)

First though was not enough power to the bvison but pulled and still no booty :-(

The connector may be used to being towerd though so will re tower and test.

Probably I've just been too greedy!
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.5; en-gb; HTC_DesireHD Build/GRJ90) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Mostly its local collection stuff off ebay :-)

I've got a little problem with this now, just tried booting up and the cpu isn't responding (blank screen and caps lock test)

First though was not enough power to the bvison but pulled and still no booty :-(

The connector may be used to being towerd though so will re tower and test.

Probably I've just been too greedy!
Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.5; en-gb; HTC_DesireHD Build/GRJ90) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1

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Yup, karma is calling, it wants its luck back! :D lol

I've read in the manual it needs 5 V supplied at the floppy connector. Stan has several youtube vids about it. I would solder two lines to it. (gnd) +5v

---------- Post added at 10:36 ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 ----------

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX3HZ5iruAk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jvdbossc

I've read in the manual it needs 5 V supplied at the floppy connector. Stan has several youtube vids about it. I would solder two lines to it. (gnd) +5v

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Hi!

I did also connect 5v to floppy, didn't help sadly. Of course I can solder but I never needed on my old setup (you have now) ran without just fine.

I'm going to put back in the Tower, I remember having some issues with OS4.1 Classic locking up on my last tests.

I have to check to see everything is working still with the BPPC :coffee:

I'll report back later :thumbsup:

I just hope it is not a death card.. Good luck!

In the worst case scenario if the Bvision is dead, I think there are many who are selling one here. Also, I have sent my spare Bvision for testing to someone very reliable who is well known here... to definitely see if it is dead or alive. Who knows, maybe you could buy your card back cheaper than you sold it for :D :cool:

Let's hope his hardware is fine.

Indeed! Let´s hope they´re fine. These are real delicate stuff. I have learned it is easy to shortcircuit and break the pci expansion port of the bppc. When that happens, it is 50-60 chances if the bppc will still work as standalone card.

I have had a miraculous self recovery of a pair of bppc and bvision that I thought for sure were never going to work again though, they were even tested elsewhere and voltage modded and would not work... then they just suddenly started working out of the blue... after I had removed voltage mod... so go figure. :)

These cards are far to precious. I hope some new hardware really comes to us to undercut it.

Good news folks, all is working fine when back in the tower - phew! :coffee:

Plan B, keep in Tower? :whistle:

From what i know that looks like Nice set up( dont know much about these type of computers, always a console or newer gen pc games) the only type of computer i uses back then was DOS, I also had a look at your Amiga room nice collection

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Good news folks, all is working fine when back in the tower - phew! :coffee:

Plan B, keep in Tower? :whistle:

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yay!:thumbsup:

oh and hi :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Good news folks, all is working fine when back in the tower - phew! :coffee:

Plan B, keep in Tower? :whistle:

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That's good!

J

phew steve thats lucky :thumbsup:

Thanks guys, I was pretty worried!

I guess either the BPPC gets a better connection in a Towered enviroment or the PSU in the Tower is stronger.

The PSU I use for my Desktops (Amigakit modified PSU) has never had an issue running a BPPC before though so I'm wondering if I need to raise the A1200 Mobo a little to get a little bit of angle on the connector.

Thing is I really hate experimenting with this old hardware, it really shouldn't come off the connector too often!

Updates on this project later over the weekend :)

Kinky! Always nice to see some MINT looking retro gear...especially working (mostly!) ;)

Phew thats good. Looking forwards to the updates! :thumbsup:

Problem with 5v?
Use an AT power supply. :thumbsup:

Regards
Pedro ;)

I think I found the cause of the intimittent booting:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...P1000695-1.jpg

Nasty! :o

I don't know what causes this on the Mobo?

With my spare RevB A1200 Mobo I have managed to get it booting outside any case, I did also clean the connectors with IPA.

This was a very short session as I need to find some cooling for the BVision :explode

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000703.jpg

And besides, everyone loves naked hardware :lol:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000705.jpg

Mariosbench FTW :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000707.jpg

I will sort that Mobo out for you Steve ;)

TC :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheCorfiot

I will sort that Mobo out for you Steve ;)

TC :)

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You're too kind mate!

Sorry for the cr@p pics, (phone pics) as the Camera battery is on charge, however just wanted to share OS4.1 Classic up and running :)

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMAG0595.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...IMAG0596-1.jpg

Awesome eh! :cool:

The whole setup and dual software, ie marios 3.9 and 4.1 looks awesome especially with that rtg option.......

Hope you rebuild this back into the a1200 case as it is going to be an amazing bit oif kit under the bonnet...

Really looking forward to spending some time with this baby....

Whatever you have that needs repair send it through buddy as we previously discussed, glad to help out....
Pity you dont live closer because I would happy to help you big up your repair skills my friend.
However anytime you come near south wales you have a place to stay and chill out ;)

Keep these gorgeous piccys coming lol..

TC ;)

Thanks for the kind words mate, I'm glad you enjoyed the pics.

Maybe the next Amimeet? Would be great to meet up and then you can take the A1200 away safely!

---------- Post added 12th August 2012 at 00:21 ---------- Previous post was 11th August 2012 at 23:22 ----------

Ok guys, inspired by the encouraging words of TheCorfiot I have some more pics for you!

Some Heatsinks added to the BVision and everything returned to the case!

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000713.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000712.jpg

VGA adapter mounted in the case with hot glue (before testing, that's how confident I was!)

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000710.jpg

And low profile fan fitted to the case to keep the BVision uber cool (trust me this thing is a monster, I need to fit a fan speed controller on this!)

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000711.jpg

Temporarily wired up to my ATX PSU for testing!

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000715.jpg

Okay! Time to power it on :whistle:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000716.jpg

Yay!

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000717.jpg

To do:

A1200 needs to be raised so there is airflow under the case or else the BPPC will fry its self :coffee:

Need to fit Subway USB and Delfina sound card :whistle:

For that I'm going to need a clockport expander and balls of steel and the patience of a saint so I don't wire something back to front! :Doh:

Need to get some wiring blocks and wire up the fan/floppy port that way. I intend to either solder cables to the motherboard (under near the Power socket) or fit a Molex adapter/extender to outside the case to drive the extra power.

That's it for now!

Looking good stevo so whats the surprize then :)

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

Steve has all the cool toys! :thumbsup:

Heather

Amazing stuff, Steve! :thumbsup:

If you feel like experimenting with the heat issues of the BPPC, you could try to fabricate a heat sink that also acts as the trap door for the A1200. It wouldn't probably eliminate the need to put higher stands on the case but the bottom would not need to be bare naked.

Wow awesome.....

I love the fact that for all intents and purposes it still looks like a bog std a1200, imagine finding that at a car boot sale....:lol:

You can get some larger stick on feet to raise the beast matey, I had to do this with my 040 equipped 1200.

TC :)

Nice A1200 Steve, and great OS3.x setup (I'm clearly jealous, lol :roll:).

Instead of raising the Amiga to improve the airflow, you can also open a hole in the desk and implement fans. :-P

It sounds like a joke but on my side I'm thinking about doing something like THIS... or to use the self ventilated station sold for laptops.

I think I need to sit on something like that in this weather.

Thanks again for all the kind comments guys :thumbsup:

@Rakeim132, I am indeed thinking of an ultra thin laptop cooler under the trap door area, that should do the trick :cool:

I fitted some feet just now (more hot glue ;))

And to show better how the fan sits:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000719.jpg

And to prove the case still closes (just!)

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000722.jpg

I'm not going to bother with a floppy drive, I will use the slot for USB/Sound outputs from Delfina.

Indeed Pete, very hot today - not going to be firing this bad boy up in this heat!

I have to say Steve - the best thing about your collection is that everything is so clean!
I love the way you look after your stuff mate - I hate to see grubby Amiga's and Consoles - makes me sad!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peter

I have to say Steve - the best thing about your collection is that everything is so clean!
I love the way you look after your stuff mate - I hate to see grubby Amiga's and Consoles - makes me sad!

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Thanks mate :thumbsup:

You really need to some over some time and have a play! :)

Cheers - yes I will do mate - I also need to start using my Amiga more as well - at the moment I am up to my Knee's in XBOX's - I got another one today at Hayes Farm - my 7th XBOX! My girlfriend thinks I have gone mad.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peter

Cheers - yes I will do mate - I also need to start using my Amiga more as well - at the moment I am up to my Knee's in XBOX's - I got another one today at Hayes Farm - my 7th XBOX! My girlfriend thinks I have gone mad.

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Ha ha, she might be right! How was Hayes? I had a late night so didn't get up in time :Doh:

It wasn't too bad today - our Cat woke us up at 6.30 so I thought I might as well get up and go along - no Amiga stuff at all but I got the XBOX and a few PS2 and Gamecube games - I'll find an A3000 one day!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peter

It wasn't too bad today - our Cat woke us up at 6.30 so I thought I might as well get up and go along - no Amiga stuff at all but I got the XBOX and a few PS2 and Gamecube games - I'll find an A3000 one day!!

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Yeah one day a nice rare classic Amiga will turn up :cool:

And I'm going to spoil you guys with another update ;)

I just installed the Delfina, the first time I've used this since buying 'untested' off eBay a couple of weeks ago :o

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000724.jpg

I've installed the drivers and setup AHI and it seems to work, the sound was working in 'Quake II' although there seems to be a loud buzzing :dry:

There is a newer delfina.library so I will try that!

Also installed my IDEFix Express for a little more speed over the IDE, really I don't know why but 040's really cripple the onboard IDE :thumbsdown:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/P1000725.jpg

That really is it for now, I need a clockport expander before I can install the Subway!

Tempted to get this BPPC upgraded to 060/PPC300 too! 040/25 seems really slow with AfA_OS and 32bit Icons! PPC175 is ok for Wipeout2097 and ADoomPPC but seems slow for Quake II :(

Haha, was just about to say you need to make that upgrade to 060 and also I would recommend getting indivision aga and picopsu for it. If you are like me and have trouble installing picopsu, I´m sure there are lots of people around there in the uk who can help with that. (I actually sent one of my miggys to bad_ad84 for all the soldering and such) :whistle:

Great thread Steve, what a feast for the eyes seeing all the Amiga gear, must admit I am a bit envious seeing all the awesome Amiga hardware you get to play with, I barely get time to get switch on my Amiga as it is, hate Japan time lol. Anyways keep at it, awesome work!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fitzsteve

I've installed the drivers and setup AHI and it seems to work, the sound was working in 'Quake II' although there seems to be a loud buzzing :dry:

There is a newer delfina.library so I will try that!

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Could it be that some/all inputs are enabled in the mixer and, being connected to nothing, just pickup noise?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BLTCON0

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fitzsteve

I've installed the drivers and setup AHI and it seems to work, the sound was working in 'Quake II' although there seems to be a loud buzzing :dry:

There is a newer delfina.library so I will try that!

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Could it be that some/all inputs are enabled in the mixer and, being connected to nothing, just pickup noise?

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Yeah I'm sure it's something simple, I only tested quickly after installing the AHI driver and software :)

I got my Clockport expander now too so I can install my Subway USB over the weekend :cool:

@ami_junkie

Thanks for the kind words my friend :thumbsup:

@mendel

Thanks! No need for the IndiAGA here though as I have perfect output over RGB/Scart for native modes :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SkydivinGirl

Steve has all the cool toys! :thumbsup:

Heather

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I was just thinking that! He must be single (and rich?) LOL ;) :thumbsup: