Weirdest Expansion Board I've Ever Seen...Anywhere.

[dkasten]

Here's some fun eye candy..

Over the weekend, I came into posesssion of what appears to be a very early Amiga 2000 (serial #001901).. Inside, I found this absolutely gonzo-looking expansion board..a Microbotics "StarBoard 2" from circa 1986. But how the heck is thst possible? The A2000 wasn't released until 1987!

Here's what I think happened...

Microbotics StarBoard 2 - Amiga Hardware Database

Amiga Hardware Database - Microbotics StarBoard 2

amiga.resource.cx

This thing appears to be some sort of modular expansion board that once lived inside an A1000 sidecar... that was later removed from the sidecar, given an adapter board, and then mounted in an A2000 slot...and then added to, later.

This card is not one, not two, but three different layers...with a horizontal card edge connector stemming from the second layer that sticks out above the third layer, offering the promise of a fourth layer. The second layer appears to be the "original" A1000 sidecar board, with an adapter board mounted below it to allow it to fit in an A2000 Zorro slot. The third level of this insane sandwich appears to be the 1MB RAM expansion option, riding above the 1MB socketed on the second "original" layer.

Looking past the fossilized rubber foam, It also features some of the most uniquely creative bodge work i've ever seen.. including cross-legged bus pins and and a spring-loaded test hook, still clinging to the leg of an random IC after nearly 40 years.

lol...this card was seriously loved by somebody!

 

[Magic]

Does it work?

 

[dkasten]

Does it work?

I'm not able to tell yet, unfortunately. Both the A3000 and the A2000 I rescued this weekend both have significant Varta damage, and cannot boot beyond a black screen, despite hours of restoration/cleaning effort. I've literally bathed both in QD/DeOxit 5, gone at the corroded pins with vinegar and a soft-bristle brush, CPU-swapped them, you name it. No luck. The A3000 will be on its way to a repair shop in California on Tuesday. The A2000 will likely follow it. I hope they're recoverable... I don't know where else (or who else) to send them to. I know there's a guy on YouTube (Chris "Dr. Chris" Edwards?) who does excellent repair work, but he's probably got a stack of work floor to ceiling of people like me trying to get their systems repaired. The guy I usually go to for vintage electronics repair recently developed Parkinsons...so i'm completely at a loss as to where to go from here.

The only other Amiga I own is a Kickstart 1.3-era 1MB Agnus A500, which I rescued from a barn only a week ago. After being dormant for 35 years, it still works, amazingly. Still 100% original, no busted caps, no leakage....even the power supply still works (although I've switched to a new one for safety reasons..) ..All it required was a proper cleaning.. half a can of Lysol wipes and 20 or so Q-Tips later, she's a beauty.

This A500 was the first Amiga i'd seen in the flesh since 1994.

 

[Skyrunner]

Microbotics "StarBoard 2" from circa 1986. But how the heck is thst possible? The A2000 wasn't released until 1987!

Developer machines must have been sent out to hardware and software developers before the official launch to the public.