Fitzsteve’s Amiga Journey - Part 4

[fitzsteve]

Fitzsteve’s Amiga Journey - Part 4​

Welcome back those of you who have been following my Amiga Journey and a warm welcome to those that are joining me for the first time!

As always, if you’ve missed any of the earlier chapters you can find them at the links below:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3


Well I hope you’re strapped in tight because today is going to be a long one!

I’d put together the basic shell of my A1200 Tower and everything was working a treat, all to do now was add the Micronik Z3i Busboard and some other goodies that had arrived. First if which a nice shiny CyberVision 64/3D RTG Graphics Card that came all the way from Canada, at first I feared this was lost but after about a month it finally arrived – phew!

And I done a trade deal with my buddy Zetr0 to get my hands on an Apollo 1240

Mr Zetr0 kindly also made me up a PSU with the right connectors for the Z3i Busboard so I was good to go – full steam ahead!

This for me is where things started to get really exciting, I mean I’d had some fun upgrading the A1200 Desktop and A600 but this was a whole new league. Not really knowing where to start I stripped the Tower back down and began cramming all these goodies into the case.

It was pretty clear right away that the EZ Z4 Tower would need some modification for the slots to line up with the Zorro cards, luckily the slots are detachable so if need be you could always drill some new holes and re mount them.

SpeeeeeeedZ =D

So far as I could tell everything was going to plan. I checked and double checked all the connections and everything checked out, so it was time to try and configure the software. I had a basic booting Classic Workbench that I was going to use as my base so I went ahead and flicked the switch.

This is where things started to go down hill…

It would seem the Apollo 1240 and Micronik Z3i are not friends, despite double and triple checking all the jumper settings the Fast Ram would not show up on the Apollo however determined to get something working I stuck the Typhoon 1230 back in.

Luckily the Typhoon’s Fast Ram was working so I could crack on and try to setup my first ever Amiga with RTG!

I’m afraid this did not go to plan, whatever I tried I could not get any display out of the CV64/3D even though it was a known working unit and the Z3i Busboard was also known to work, so it had to be a compatibility or software issue.

I think I tried for three weeks to get this setup going and even though the awesome members of Amibay and EAB tried to help with advice I just couldn’t get it going.

Then even if I did get the RTG going, what about the Fast Ram on the Apollo? What a waste to have to use the 030 when I had this awesome Apollo 1240 sitting there.

A broken man I gave up! I threw in the towel with the Zorro Busboard and decided to setup the system without the Z3i and give up on my dream of an RTG system, with a heavy heart I listed the Z3i and CV64/3D for sale on Amibay.

Its not all bad news though, I managed to setup the Tower with the Apollo 1240 and it ran real nice off the RGB Scart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKT65qVf_Os

But as you can imagine, I was not satisfied with this! So I used the funds from sale of the above and bought this little lot!

But you’ll have to wait till the next chapter to see what I do with it!

Click here for Part 5

 

[Hell_Labs]

Word to the wise - NOTHING branded as Apollo has ever been good. Be that bicycles or turbo cards. Just ask Jens.

 

[fitzsteve]

Lol, I used to work at Halfords

By the way @mods - does it bother you I've made seperate threads for the chapters? I thought that was better than letting them get lost in a huge thread. At least this way if you want to read back to back it would be straight forward. I can always make a giant thread at the end?

Anyway - had a complaint at EAB so if this is problem here do let me know.

Steve.

 

[davideo]

Lol, I used to work at Halfords
Steve.

I wonder how many of us have tried to ride the local bike? :run:

By the way @mods - does it bother you I've made seperate threads for the chapters? I thought that was better than letting them get lost in a huge thread. At least this way if you want to read back to back it would be straight forward. I can always make a giant thread at the end?

Anyway - had a complaint at EAB so if this is problem here do let me know.

I haven't a problem with the format of your thread(s) - A couple of the piccys take a while to load (perhaps some of the images are a bit big) but otherwise I think you're good to go

Dave G

 

[fitzsteve]

Lol, I used to work at Halfords
Steve.

I wonder how many of us have tried to ride the local bike? :run:

By the way @mods - does it bother you I've made seperate threads for the chapters? I thought that was better than letting them get lost in a huge thread. At least this way if you want to read back to back it would be straight forward. I can always make a giant thread at the end?

Anyway - had a complaint at EAB so if this is problem here do let me know.

I haven't a problem with the format of your thread(s) - A couple of the piccys take a while to load (perhaps some of the images are a bit big) but otherwise I think you're good to go

Dave G

Thanks bud, the images are hosted off site so as not to affect site bandwith and maybe the traffic is busy. I stuck with the large pics and decided against links because I didn't want to redirect people away from the site as that annoys me since I hate all the popups ascosciated with these sites!!!

Also I'm using the original pictures I took and hosted at the time as it helps me keep the story in order!

Steve.

 

[AndyLandy]

By the way @mods - does it bother you I've made seperate threads for the chapters? I thought that was better than letting them get lost in a huge thread. At least this way if you want to read back to back it would be straight forward. I can always make a giant thread at the end?

Anyway - had a complaint at EAB so if this is problem here do let me know.

Nah, that's cool. We like to think the moderation style here is much more laid-back than places like EAB ;-)

 

[Phipscube]

Great stuff Steve! Really enjoying your story! I especially like this photo today: -

Looking forward to seeing how you put this lot together!

 

[fitzsteve]

Thanks PhipZ,

Then you're going to love chapter 5, but the bad news is I haven't even started it yet!

So my friends you must wait

*Breaks into song with a bit of Phil Collin's*

 

[BrooksterMax]

fitzsteve another good read.

Looking at all that gear on the plastic sheet its just so odd, there is so many PCBs doing allsorts of crazy and wonderful things.

I remember the Amigas (for me personally) back in the 90s as boxes you bought, stuck on a desk and that was all.

Seeing all these extras is amazing

Good work - BTW your Trader Review rating is over 100, I am sure it was only 20 a week ago - you are buying lots more kit aren't you! ??!

 

[fitzsteve]

@BrooksterMax

Thanks for the kind words

I'm glad you like the idea of showing everything this way, the reason I have so many trades here is because I have traded up on each upgade, i.e I sold the 1230 to part fund the 1240, etc. And I always offer my items back here first and if I came into a bargain with it then I pass that on

Although I have bought a lot here I've also helped out with people requests becuase I acumulated so many spares throught this journey!

For example the Mediator & bits came in a Tower off ebay, obviously I used the bits for my project but I sold the Tower here.

Steve.

 

[salaxi54]

Steve, that red cable soldered on the CV64 board, is it a mod you made, or was it like that when you got it? I'd like to know it's purpose...

 

[fitzsteve]

Steve, that red cable soldered on the CV64 board, is it a mod you made, or was it like that when you got it? I'd like to know it's purpose...

It was like that when I got it, but I don't know what it was for

I since saw another CV64/3D for sale on these boards and it had the same cable so I think maybe this came from the factory like it. Maybe re-worked problem on that revision card?

Steve.

 

[salaxi54]

Thanks mate, i do hope someone knows for sure..
Great rig you're building there by the way!

 

[Tajmaster]

My CV64/3d has the same red cable mod, its a DCE version. Could it perhaps have something to do with the fast Z2 mode that this card supports in Z4 busboards?

 

[AmiNeo]

Awesome Mr. Fitz! Had a great time reading all these. Wouldnt mind hearing the rest of you guys stories...