ScuzzBlog: Diaries January 2019
Entry 7th January 2019: Post 02: A1200 - "We can do this!"
A1200 - "We can do this!"
I had intended doing some disk salvaging today to have some fun and
games with DiskSalv. However I got ever so slightly distracted at
first rummaging through a stock pile of old external floppy drives.
And then worse ( or should that be better ) I found this very sad
and somewhat bedraggled Amiga 1200 with no hope written all over her.
Sadly who ever owned her in a previous life had brutally written
in magic marker comments all over the port face. There was inky
black to the main cover but that was removed.
The computer has a differing base to the top which is a dead ringer
for a tower install. The motherboard gives further indication of
tower mods, including the removal of pin 1 to enable certain 3.5"
drives like the Connor.
I knew the computer didn't work. The keyboard was unresponsive, there
was no floppy drive or hard. It was questionable whether a hard drive
would even work and I wasn't even sure about mouse action. I had
made the comment previously that I should at least be able to play
a game like Arcade Snooker on mouse. So that became the challenge.
To play Arcade Snooker... with the additional quest to install a
hard drive.
First up I took the computer apart and noted not only the missing
top shielding, but also the lower tray and clear plastic liner. She
also had no floppy drive or any cables, internal power lines and or
LED connectors for lights.
So first up I checked over the keyboard. I do not dismantle and dish-wash
I clean with paper and cotton buds. Very gently, removing all the
dust bunnies from below the keys. I then checked the connector etc.
A quick scan of the motherboard top and bottom as I recorded everything
did not reveal any great issues. There were a few mods to the mobo
though these I had seen before. There was a piece of Velcro on the
motherboard which kept in place probably a Power Flyer. The clock
port pins had been laid flat to take the board. There was also a
tacky substance on the back by the connector which was tape I guess
to shield an accelerator.
I had a go with one internal drive and then another. This drive clicked
and fired up but needs a lot more work to get ready. I found three
of the external drives that I salvaged not to work but the fourth
one did so the computer was fine. I did struggle finding a suitable
floppy ribbon for a while, plus power connector.
I reconnected the LED lights though need to solder one of the wires.
I then connected additional cables for a 3.5" drive. I used an old
Win95 drive and that fired up no problem when I powered the A1200.
So we had activity on the screen but sadly I was not able to get
any keyboard activity what so ever... well not totally true as the
green caps light blinked and was on until I activated mouse
control to call for keyboard usage i.e. change name of new drawer.
The computer booted off the hard drive and used the external floppy
albeit the internal floppy is active and clicking. The mouse works
no problem. So I dragged the Arcade Snooker game to the hard drive
and fired it up.... And played Arcade Snooker. That was the task.
So having achieved what I set out to do I named the machine LUX
after my character in League of Legends... and then I had lunch.
She's working just need to sort out the keyboard. May sound odd but
my tower has a keyboard adaptor for an A2000 keyboard and I am
wondering if the board hasn't been hacked. I need to check.
Anyway she's fine, and technically a working Amiga.... ish.
She is back on the bench for tomorrow. Let's go round again !!
As you do
A1200 - "We can do this!"
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