Well I thought I would post here some ideas for the projects I intend to complete. I think after reading some threads on here, they are fairly modest, but here goes anyway.
1. A500+ and A530 Accelerator - fully restored. This will be one of two 'working' systems for me. My first ever Amiga was a standard 500 and I always wanted to get some addons for it; at the time it was partly for bragging rights and partly because it would do more. Now its just to get the best possible performance overall. I have pretty much all the hardware for this entire project now; the restoration process is well underway. I have to admit im a bit of a perfectionist, so its taking a long time, as will everything im detailing here. The only possible hardware addition to this might be an Indivision ECS so I can use a more modern screen.
2. Black Amiga 500. Yes, I saw a couple of these in various places, and have to admit I was blown away by how cool they look. A simple A500, stripped and cleaned and all the necessary work done on it, together with several good layers of suitable paint. Some may consider this carnage of an Amiga; I think its yet another way to show just how good they continue to be, even to this day. Considering how cheap Commodore got towards the end of its business life, the Amiga computers have remarkable longevity I reckon. Maybe a hard drive addon with this too, as I hate working from floppies all the time. As a few people have done, the keys from a CDTV keyboard really help this along; but Im undecided whether to do that (I have a CDTV keyboard here already), or an NMB style keyboard which are very comfortable to use, and have grey/white keys which would contrast well with a black chassis.
3. Amiga 1200. This one for the working and 'serious' software as opposed to games. I have gotten to like the 1200 a lot because of its built-in hdd possibilities and general improvements over the 500/500+. A decent accelerator for this one too. I currently have a blizzard 1230 and a GVP Jaws II with SCSI adaptor; both are damn fine accelerators from what I have read although Ive not had any time to really put them under test. I will probably go with the GVP in the end as I have a love of the GVP hardware.
4. (Possibly) Amiga 2000. Not sure on this one yet. I have a A2000 base unit, nothing in it expansion-wise, but fully working as is. It would cost me a small fortune to build this up to what I would consider a decent system.
5. Project Idea. I have a further idea for a really wicked Amiga project that Im fairly sure has never been attempted before. Im not detailing any of it here as such just yet; its only early days yet and Im still pondering if it is even possible. It would be truly amazing if I pull it off though!
6. Goliath Power Supplies. I have 2 of these right now. Not currently being used until I can get them recapped and cleaned up and tested properly. I'll probably replace all the wiring in them too, and give the cases a new paint job. I got these to make sure my systems mentioned above would have enough power; we all know how feeble the Commodore PSU's can be. My plan is to pimp one of them a bit, with a couple of voltage displays for the 5v and 12v lines, and also look at adding a series of surface mounted sockets in the case itself. To complete it, I will then construct a set of corresponding connector cables; kind of modularising it to a degree. This will allow it to power several devices at the same time and do a really neat job of it too.
With all of this, the hardware is obviously quite old as you all know, so the restoration work on each system will include getting the mobo's fully recapped with some high quality caps, sockets replaced, power supplies reworked.
Im sticking with scsi based disk systems where I can as I think they are still the best *if* you get the right hardware and do a proper job of it.
And of course, all the cases and other bits will be properly cleaned/retr0brighted to make them look new as well.
I have a lot but not all of the hardware already; its a painstaking job bringing this kit to its former glory as we all know.
The only thing I can see that may change in respect of the hardware is the new stuff that Jens has posted about. The ACA500/ACA520/ACA1231. Very nice additions indeed I think!
Well these are my Amiga project plans to date, just thought I would share
1. A500+ and A530 Accelerator - fully restored. This will be one of two 'working' systems for me. My first ever Amiga was a standard 500 and I always wanted to get some addons for it; at the time it was partly for bragging rights and partly because it would do more. Now its just to get the best possible performance overall. I have pretty much all the hardware for this entire project now; the restoration process is well underway. I have to admit im a bit of a perfectionist, so its taking a long time, as will everything im detailing here. The only possible hardware addition to this might be an Indivision ECS so I can use a more modern screen.
2. Black Amiga 500. Yes, I saw a couple of these in various places, and have to admit I was blown away by how cool they look. A simple A500, stripped and cleaned and all the necessary work done on it, together with several good layers of suitable paint. Some may consider this carnage of an Amiga; I think its yet another way to show just how good they continue to be, even to this day. Considering how cheap Commodore got towards the end of its business life, the Amiga computers have remarkable longevity I reckon. Maybe a hard drive addon with this too, as I hate working from floppies all the time. As a few people have done, the keys from a CDTV keyboard really help this along; but Im undecided whether to do that (I have a CDTV keyboard here already), or an NMB style keyboard which are very comfortable to use, and have grey/white keys which would contrast well with a black chassis.
3. Amiga 1200. This one for the working and 'serious' software as opposed to games. I have gotten to like the 1200 a lot because of its built-in hdd possibilities and general improvements over the 500/500+. A decent accelerator for this one too. I currently have a blizzard 1230 and a GVP Jaws II with SCSI adaptor; both are damn fine accelerators from what I have read although Ive not had any time to really put them under test. I will probably go with the GVP in the end as I have a love of the GVP hardware.
4. (Possibly) Amiga 2000. Not sure on this one yet. I have a A2000 base unit, nothing in it expansion-wise, but fully working as is. It would cost me a small fortune to build this up to what I would consider a decent system.
5. Project Idea. I have a further idea for a really wicked Amiga project that Im fairly sure has never been attempted before. Im not detailing any of it here as such just yet; its only early days yet and Im still pondering if it is even possible. It would be truly amazing if I pull it off though!
6. Goliath Power Supplies. I have 2 of these right now. Not currently being used until I can get them recapped and cleaned up and tested properly. I'll probably replace all the wiring in them too, and give the cases a new paint job. I got these to make sure my systems mentioned above would have enough power; we all know how feeble the Commodore PSU's can be. My plan is to pimp one of them a bit, with a couple of voltage displays for the 5v and 12v lines, and also look at adding a series of surface mounted sockets in the case itself. To complete it, I will then construct a set of corresponding connector cables; kind of modularising it to a degree. This will allow it to power several devices at the same time and do a really neat job of it too.
With all of this, the hardware is obviously quite old as you all know, so the restoration work on each system will include getting the mobo's fully recapped with some high quality caps, sockets replaced, power supplies reworked.
Im sticking with scsi based disk systems where I can as I think they are still the best *if* you get the right hardware and do a proper job of it.
And of course, all the cases and other bits will be properly cleaned/retr0brighted to make them look new as well.
I have a lot but not all of the hardware already; its a painstaking job bringing this kit to its former glory as we all know.
The only thing I can see that may change in respect of the hardware is the new stuff that Jens has posted about. The ACA500/ACA520/ACA1231. Very nice additions indeed I think!
Well these are my Amiga project plans to date, just thought I would share
) and thinking of dropping the ZII Ram or adding Zips to my IDE card as I have spare Zips here 
