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Bulletdust

Posted Sun Jan 01, 2017 11:44 pm

I've been all through the forums and I can't find a post anywhere where members can show off their rig's to fellow Commodore enthusiasts.

So I've decided to start a "Show us your Commodore rig" thread where all Commodore users can show off their setups - Doesn't matter if it's Amiga or any of the 8bit machines, I'd personally love to see them!

While I've got pristine Amiga 1200 and Amiga 500 setups, I don't have the deskspace to have them all set up at once, therefore I need to rotate machines. At the moment my C64 breadbin is taking pride of place on the desk, so that'll be the Commodore rig I'm posting photo's of today! Enjoy.

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Equipment as follows:

- NTSC C64 converted to PAL.
- 1541 Ultimate II+.
- 1541 'Gate leaver' floppy disk drive with JiffyDOS.
- Wimodem @ 9600 baud for all important BBS surfing under Striketerm 2014.
- Hercules 17" LCD via composite.
- TAC 2 joystick.
- Altec Lansing speakers with stereo SID.
- 1351 mouse for when I run the desktop on my Final Cartridge III ROM as supplied by the 1541 UII+.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Jan 02, 2017 10:46 am

Gorgeous setup, Bulletdust, and awesome Post idea!
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My C= Setup

I have what my wife calls a "man cave" which is in truth a glorified closet. It's too small to be a bedroom, and too large to be a simple closet (and is in-between the stairwell and furnace room). But it does have power, and it does have a door so I can shut it when I want privacy.

Deep down, it's The Commodore Room.

I can run two machines side-by-side. I always have the C64 on the right:
  • C64 Breadbin
  • Ultimate ii cart
  • 1541-ii drive (also have an original in the closet as a trusty backup)
  • 1581 drive (I used this more before I had the U-ii)
  • WiModem and Schema WiFi Modem (currently running Jim Drew's WiModem)
  • 1702 Commodore Monitor - I like those CRT scanlines :)
  • 1520 Plotter
The C64 is a combo of 2 previous breadbins: one had a perfect housing and keyboard, but dead board. The other had a perfect board, but sloppy keys. I combined the two into one very fine specimen.

On the left I have one of my Amigas running. I currently have 3: 2 Amiga 1200s and 1 500. I expect to get 1-2 2000s in the next week. One of my 1200s is NOS that had been sitting in a warehouse for 2 decades, never opened. It is a Canadian version, NTSC, but annoyingly boots into PAL by default.
In that machine I've installed a 4GB CF HD, and an ACA1221 board that is maxed out at 128MB RAM. It's awesome for using the RAM disk. It is the later model Amiga - Amiga Technologies - with the little red square over the "i".

My other is a recent acquisition that is an original USA NTSC 1200 that is currently my daily driver (I split my time between it and the C64 lately). It has:
  • 40MB HD
  • 8MB RAM
  • 1084s Commodore monitor (stereo)
  • 1010 external disk drive (I have 2, 1 is NOS in the box the other is refurbished. I am going to sell the refurb later this year)
And of course lots of original joysticks - the ones I had back in the 80s. I'm so used to them I wanted the same these days, too. And, stacks and stacks of original boxed software. If I can find it for "a deal" I get it if I intend to use it. I'd much rather have the original manuals and codewheels when I can get my hands on them. If - on the Amiga (almost always) the disks are shoddy - I will download an ADF or use WHDLoad (which, amazingly, never seem to have annoying crack intros on them. Yay!).

Oh - and since the 1702 is arcade quality and has the ability to run 2 devices, I also have an SNES plugged into it (which you can see at the far right in the pic above).

User avatar
Bulletdust

Posted Mon Jan 02, 2017 2:09 pm

Awesome setup Intric8! So envious of the 1702 and the 1581, I have a 1084S but sadly the flyback transformer died and I haven't had the time to even look at fixing it yet.

I found a couple of old shots of my A1200 and A500 setups:

A12000:

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A1200 specs as follows:

- Individual Computers ACA 1232 accelerator with 68030 overclocked to 40mhz and 128MB of fastram.
- Internal CF to IDE adapter.
- 8GB CF HDD.
- AmigaOS3.1 with Scalos desktop (ClassicWB install)
- iGame front end and WHDload.
- Individual Computers Indivision AGA MkII CR+
- PCMCIA to CF adaptor.

A500:

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A500 specs as follows:

- Indivision ACA500.
- Individual Computers ACA 1232 accelerator also running a 68030 overclocked to 40mhz with 128mb of fastram.
- Individual Computers Indivision OCS/ECS.
- ECS chipset
- AmigaOS3.1 with Scalos desktop (also ClassicWB)
- iGame front end and WHDload.
- 8GB CF HDD.
- 1mb Chipram.

In the pics you see me running the Hercules monitor, I actually run a Dell 17" now as it's got better IQ and scales the desktop better.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Jan 02, 2017 4:55 pm

Those machines look amazing, Bulletdust! You've definitely been having some fun hacking those rigs. The little plexiglass case for the 500's expansion is a trip! Is that custom?

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Bulletdust

Posted Mon Jan 02, 2017 6:32 pm

I love my Commodore rigs, they're my babies!

The plexiglass enclosure for the ACA500 + ACA1232 was custom made by myself as well as the DVI mounting in the rear of the A1200. The toggle switches switch between overclocked 40Mhz and standard 20(? Can't remember the default clock speed) Mhz.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Jan 02, 2017 10:15 pm

The standard 500 (and 1000 and 2000) were 7Mhz. :) Amazing what those 7Mhz can do!

Your custom enclosures look fantastic. If you could get some blue or purple LED lights in there, to enhance the mood, that'd seal the deal, man. 8-)

User avatar
Bulletdust

Posted Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:16 pm

I was gonna buy an enclosure for the ACA500/1232, but all the ones I looked at were either cheap ugly looking things or they had poor ventilation - That 68030 gets pretty toasty @ 40mhz even with a heatsink on the chip. I was in the Electronics store when I noticed the aluminium, standoffs and smoked plexiglass and thought 'bugger it, I'm making my own enclosure!'

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out TBH.

Here's a Sysinfo screenshot, both the A500 and the A1200 get the same results as they're running the same processors at the same clock speeds:

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Bang for buck, an A500 with an ACA500/1232 is a pretty awesome combo, the only real advantage the A1200 has is 2MB of chipram and the AGA chipset.

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Bulletdust

Posted Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:28 pm

Intric8, did you draw those pictures on your wall?

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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:38 pm

;) From left to right, I drew the first 3. The 4th was done by the master himself Bernie Wrightson. It's not from an amazing comic or anything, but it's an inked piece he did with his own hands that was the original page from a comic. He did the art and inks for it. I also own a Punisher page he did all of the pencils for, which is pretty amazing.

He's one of my favorite comic book artists. His most famous work includes the original Swap Thing series, Captain Stern from Heavy Metal (the movie) and his insane pen and ink magnum opus Frankenstein.

But his old horror comics are the best. So, when I found his stuff online in a sort of "throw-away" bin I snapped them up. These days his stuff is too pricey for my blood; he's got some form of cancer that he's been battling for some time now.

But yeah, I dabble in it from time to time. It's been a while, honestly. I did those three in 2012.

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Bulletdust

Posted Mon Jan 02, 2017 11:44 pm

Very good mate, I can't draw to save myself! :)





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