Amiga 600 - Pimped MJ style

[mamejay]

Hey guys,
Picked up a Amiga 600 off eBay a couple of months ago and then could not help myself and started hitting it with some mods.
I wanted to get WHDload running of it smooth as possible and from what I read RAM was the big factor for this one.

Anyway mods done so far.

4MB fast ram expansion. This clips over the 68000 CPU and gives an addition of 4MB of fast ram. Got this from Kipper2k.

Second was a Kickstart rom switcher. I had one in the computer originally but due to the size of the 4MB expansion I could not have them both installed at the same time. I decided to go custom on this one and piggy back a 3.1 rom over a 1.3 rom. Just had to add a couple of resistors and use the same switch from my original switcher board. The 3.1 rom I burnt myself using my new eprom writer.

Third mod was an additional 1MB of chip ram to big her up to 2MB of chip. Thanks to the sticky thread about this one. Was a bit tricky soldering the chips together but crossed the line.

Last add on was a 40GB IDE drive. I know it is over kill but her. This is how we roll. I used two partition and PFS3 file system. 2GB for workbench and the rest for games and apps. currently the drive is only held in using some double sided tape as I am waiting on a long 44pin IDE connector. Thinking of mounting the drive in the trapdoor bay.

Have Classic Workbench 3.1 running and a complete set of WHDload games copied over.

So far I have found that it works pretty good. Only thing I have found is that sometimes the exit keys assigned for the games do not work and I have to do the 3 key salute to reset the 600.

Things learnt so far is that the amiga is old and does not always want to play nice. WinUAE is a godsend and I could not complete this project without it. Also there is so much differing information about system setups around. I had to pretty much just do my own testing and come up with my own solution.

Anyway here are some pics of the project.

The little beast. A600 was such a cool little machine

Rom switcher switch.

Piggy backed chip ram mod

Hard drive added. I know its not the neatest but will be better soon. I know the case looks hammered. When I went to pick up the 600 from the seller on eBay I noticed it and he said "Oh I did not notice.". Anyway ended up getting the 600 for a song due to this one

4MB fastram add on. Used a bit of hot glue to keep her in place.

Home made piggy backed rom switcher. Works perfectly

 

[imaga_050]

Nice mods mj, that's a nice and small WHDLoad machine.

 

[AndyLandy]

Neat stuff. The WHD quit key requires an 010 or higher to work on some (many?) games, but it's not the end of the world having to reboot.

I do love these more modest projects. It's all well and good whacking in an ACA630 and making the thing fly, but it's far more fun to piece together something specific.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[demolition]

Neat stuff. The WHD quit key requires an 010 or higher to work on some (many?) games, but it's not the end of the world having to reboot.

Would it be possible to find an 010 in PLCC package which could fit in the 600? Would be a neat upgrade.

 

[AndyLandy]

Neat stuff. The WHD quit key requires an 010 or higher to work on some (many?) games, but it's not the end of the world having to reboot.

Would it be possible to find an 010 in PLCC package which could fit in the 600? Would be a neat upgrade.

If such a thing exists, it would probably just be a "simple" job of desoldering one and soldering the new one in. Zetr0 and rkauer likely know best on CPU packaging.

 

[BLTCON0]

It does exist - also exists in PGA packaging

 

[demolition]

I thought about doing a similar piggy backing mod of the chipmem in one of my 600's, but won't it interfere with the FDD mount? It looks like there is something wedged in between on these pics and in my 600 it looks like the pins will be touching the FDD bracket -> big risk of breaking something after a while due to FDD vibrations.

It does exist - also exists in PGA packaging

Nice, maybe I should look for one for my A600 - the WHDLoad quit key is a nice feature and almost never works on the 68k.

 

[mamejay]

I thought about doing a similar piggy backing mod of the chipmem in one of my 600's, but won't it interfere with the FDD mount? It looks like there is something wedged in between on these pics and in my 600 it looks like the pins will be touching the FDD bracket -> big risk of breaking something after a while due to FDD vibrations.

It does exist - also exists in PGA packaging

Nice, maybe I should look for one for my A600 - the WHDLoad quit key is a nice feature and almost never works on the 68k.

It was close but still enough clearance to not be a risk. I removed the screw from the bracket which gave me a bit more clearance and what you see is some black electrical tape on the bracket just in case.