(March 20, 1998, A2000T hack version 1.1) This is an update document to my original A2000T.lha hack uploaded to aminet quite a while ago. This is really just a small fix, I had forgotten to connect Power Good to a +5V source in Figure 4. This resulted in no power getting to the +5V_user line as the original diagram was done, resulting in a motionless mouse pointer but working mouse buttons. I believe this was the only problem that would show up with that, as I can find no other usage of the +5V_user line other than the mouse (joystick) ports. By connecting the Power Good to a +5V line and leaving the rest as it was in the previous diagram version, everything is fine now. Also, for those with an A2000 revision not having a J300, you might look into the file Mix_and_Tick.lha on aminet, as it recreates the tick line circuitry as was done in the A2000 power supply. I haven't seen it yet, but it's supposed to work... Also, although not shown in the pictures, I have a few 1 inch square logo things with the AMiGA logo (ala Escom) for those indentations in PC cases, I would mail one to people interested, first come, first served, while supplies last. These were printed with a color bubblejet, havee the red square to dot the 'i', and are covered with clear laminating plastic. This document is a description of how I hacked my Amiga 2000(B) into a standard PC full-tower case. First, I am not responsible for any damage incurred by anyone attempting to hack their computer in this manner. If anything goes wrong, it's your loss, so attempt this hack at your own risk. Disclaimers aside, here are the main problems I encountered with my case. 1: The 5.25" drive bays had a metal panel across the bottom, to which the 3.5" bays mounted to. This panel was in the way of fitting the motherboard. 2: The power supply unit was also in the way, it interfered with the 2000's video slot connector and other surrounding components. 3: The mounting holes were, of course, in standard PC hole locations. This document refers to the iff pictures included in the archive. 1: OK, so this metal panel is in the same place I need my motherboard to be. (Figure 1)This one was relatively easy compared to the PSU hack. I simply cut out a 1 inch wide strip from front to back in the bay. Luckily, the 3.5" bays mounted on the opposite side. I started the far right side flush with the motherboard mounting panel, and went as far left as I could without interfering with the 3.5" bay mounting. This gave me a 1" wide hole, which is enough room for the motherboard and a VXL030 board which is boosted up to fit a MegaChip. (Figure 5) I have been using this configuration with no problems. I do have a PP&S 040/500 board which is intended to replace the VXL, but the physical arrangement of this board conflicts with the case. I was lucky with the VXL board. I'm not sure what would happen with CSA boards or ATonce, etc... I am currently working on a small PCB to move things around enough to fir the 040 card. I'm also working on a similar PCB to allow the use of an ICD Flicker Free Video 2 card which doesn't fit under the VXL030 or 040 card. 2: Now, the tricky one. The standard PC baby power supply wanted to occupy the same space as my motherboard. The PSU was mounted horizontally, and the right side went right up against the video slot connector and surrounding components, bending the MB outward. So, I cut a square out of the back panel, surrounding the PSU mounting holes. I then spun the square 90 degrees, putting the PSU vertically on the left side of the case. (Figure 2) I then used some epoxy (Quicksteel brand, check your automotive outlets) to put the square back in, and used paperclips for a bit more strength. Still, I didn't think it would be strong enough to support the weight of the PSU, so I kept hacking. I got a dead baby PSU and threw out its circuit board. Now, just the back panel of it with the fan and power connectors are left, and they work quite well on the back of the case. I put the real PSU in the top of the case. (Figure 3) I drilled some holes in the top panel of the case, and matching holes in the PSU. I then epoxied some nuts inside the PSU to hold the mounting screws. The PSU was screwed inside the top, and the screw heads were filed down to let the case cover fit properly. Some salvaged power cables were put between my fake PSU and the real one, and the fan was connected to a spare hard drive power connector from the PSU. Now I had to hook the thing to the motherboard, so I cut the connector off the original 2000 PSU and shoved the wires into corresponding spots in the PSU's PC connectors. (Figure 4) Also, J300 was switched to take the TICK clock from the vertical sync pulse instead of from the PSU because the PC PSU doesn't have this signal. 3: Now that everything was out of the way, I had to make a way to mount the motherboard. And, I had to have the expansion board brackets fit with the back panel brackets, anything else would be uncivilized. So, to make sure that this worked, I laid the MB in and put in a few cards. I screwed in the expansion brackets to make sure they fit properly. Then I marked on the mounting panel where the holes in the 2000 are and removed everything. I then drilled the holes in the panel. Now, to make it fit properly, the MB had to be lifted slightly to match the expansion brackets. So I put the screws through the panel, put a couple washers on and then the nut, so the screws are permanently mounted. The motherboard fits onto the screws, and nut are used to secure it in place. A related problem was that the top expansion bracket on the case was still in the way, so the side towards the MB was cut out and that spot was covered with a slice of metal from the drive bay and epoxy. At this stage, my ports were a bit unusable. They were up against the back of the case, a relatively small problem. So I removed the connectors from the motherboard on the back, the keyboard, mouse and joysticks were left in place. The connectors were soldered to ribbon cable and reattached to the motherboard. (Figure 3 again) They were mounted to the nice Db cutouts on the back panel of the case, except for the video connector. It was put into an expansion bracket with spaces for both a 25Db and a 9Db. This way the standard video and flicker free video connectors were together. Extension cables were made for the keyboard, mouse and joystick. These are just strips of ribbon cable with connectors on each end, one at the back panel and one plugged into the corresponding connectors of the Amiga, at the front of the case. The keyboard connector is in the 3rd DB9, under the mouse and joystick connectors.The audio connectors were mounted in holes which were drilled under the mouse/joystick/keyboard connectors.(Figure 2) The motherboard was now mounted, and I had to install the floppies. The floppy drives in my 2000 were taller (1.25 inches) than the PC standard (1 inch), so I used something else. I had a "Backup Buddy" drive, which is standard PC size, that wasn't a problem, but I wanted 2 drives. Originally I had an Amiga 500 in this case, and one of my A500 floppies was standard PC size, the rest were too tall, like the 2000's drives. It fit, it worked, but had no faceplate. My case had come with 2 dummy plates, the ones that cover an empty bay but are molded like the floppy. So I just cut out the holes in one of these dummy plates and epoxied an LED in it place. It works well, and is hard to tell from the real thing. Yes, it was a pain, but I am very picky about how my computer looks... Now, what can those 2 PC case buttons be used for? The turbo switch is used to switch my VXL030 between default CPUs, 68000/030. I made my reset button perform the equivalent of ctrl-A-A. Since I had originally had my 500 in the case, I had an A500 keyboard hacked into the shell of a dead A3000 keyboard. The reset line was present, using the fifth line of a standard XT keyboard extension cable. My 2000 keyboard flaked out, so I wanted to use the 500 keyboard, which has worked very well for me. I needed to reset off its signal, which works similarly to the reset button. So I compared the 500/2000 service manuals, and the 500 signal goes to pin 5 of Gary with a 10K pullup resistor to +5V. The 2000 only uses 4 keyboard wires. So, I put in the resistor and wired my reset line from the unused 2000 keyboard pin to pin 5 of Gary. (I had planned ahead for this, making sure I put the 500 keyboard reset where it wouldn't conflict with big box machines.) It works very well, and I am typing this document on the 500 keyboard on my 2000T. The reset button is easily added here, connect one side of it to pin 5 of Gary and the other end to ground. Make sure you have the 10K pullup resistor to pin 5 also!! You now have a functional reset button. I'm not sure if this part would be usable on a 3/4000... Now, I have a cool tower case, beige, with a door covering the drive bays. The clock frequency display was set to 25 and 7, the speeds of my 030 and 68000. I have a very nice keyboard. But, there's this empty square thing in the case, where a company logo should be. It just looks weird with nothing there, so I made an Amiga logo for it. I scanned the Escom/AT Amiga logo and printed it on a 1 inch square. I laminated it and stuck it in the empty square. Now, remember those few spots on the back panel, where the square cutout is, and the metal plate covers my hacked expansion bracket? That looked like crap. So, I sanded the epoxy down, smoothing it out. I removed the computer from the case. I painted the whole metal assembly with light gray Rust-oleum primer. This makes it look very nice, and protects the cut areas from corrosion. Nobody likes a rusty computer, right? Everything was put back together, and looks real nice. The case I have is available from a couple places (US, don't know about overseas...) and is about US$125 each place as of 7/96. Jinco Computers Case Depot 1-800-253-2531 1-800-200-6118 item# 780B/W item# 572B/W www.jinco.com Have fun with this project, and let me know if you would like and more information, have ideas I didn't think of, or have any comments. Keep flames to yourself. :) Incidentally, I also hacked a Logitec Mouseman for my system, but that's already available on aminet somewhere, look for a bus mouse hack... This document is Copyright 1996 by William W. Toner II. It may be freely distributed on the internet, BBSs, etc. If these files are to be included in a floppy PD collection, please do not charge any more than The cost of the media plus US$1. CD-ROM publishers (Fred Fish, aminet, etc) have my permission to include these files as long as the price of the CD does not exceed US$25. Any other distribution methods must contact me for permission. I can be reached at: William W. Toner II or 20 Kimball Drive 18 Arlington Drive (until Nov. 1998) Rochester, NY 14623 Warren, PA 16365 wwt5491@rit.edu http://www.rit.edu/~wwt5491 or amigabill@hotmail.com Please do not put me on any emailing lists, I boycott spammers so don't waste your time...