User avatar
Mr.Toast
Roseville, CA

Posted Thu Dec 27, 2018 11:38 am

Legal disclaimer stuff: The below info is not intended to speak on behalf of, or represent, the local Amiga computer club. Merely, my impressions and interpretations of recent experiences (all positive).

Backgrounder:
I'm a "Returner"... fell in love with the platform in 1985/6, couldn't get my own until 1989 ($$$$). Did a lot of 3d modeling and animation stuff which eventually lead to a 15+ year career-later switched to an engineering career where I am at now. I owe it all to Aegis VideoScape, Modeler, TurboSilver, Real3d, and eventually Lightwave which I rode out until about 2009. As these demanding tasks were system intensive, I had to jump ship about 1995. But, like many of you, I never forgot my roots and always kept an eye on the emulation scene. In the last year or so, I finally decided to dust off the old gals (A500, A1000, A4000) and discovered they all needed some technical love. Luckily, I have been cultivating soldering, assembly and troubleshooting skills associated with day my job, as well as my other hobby-FPV "drone" building and flying.

And, what a great time to reignite my passions for Amiga as well as 8 bit CBM! There's new hardware, software and of course, a vibrant community of people who either are returning to the Amiga, or never left. And I tip my hat to all the YouTube content creators who have kept pushing the envelope on what should be mere museum curiosities. They're my inspiration for getting back in the hobby.

Sacramento Amiga Computer Club:
Earlier this year (2018), when I was digging around for resources, I ran across the SACC. I reached out to them and was directed to the current president. I found the club to be warm and inviting, if a bit aging-which is to be expected for one of the few remaining computer clubs focused on CBM with roots back to the early days. I offered my soldering skills and tools to help the group, and was invited to bring my kit to the venerable "AmiWest 2018" show and do on site work. This event was a hoot and I wish I could have stayed for the whole thing. I got to do some fun repair work and see gear I'd never got to play with when I was a younger man (An A3000T with Varta damage is a very scary experience!).
20181013_144546.jpg
You're going to need a bigger soldering iron, kid.

Overall, AmiWest was a great experience. So much passion and energy-and from what I understand represented an uptick in attendance and activity from previous years. I really look forward to participating in this event next year and maybe be a little bit more involved in the hosting of the event. So, if you are around, look for me swinging a soldering iron or test probes at AmiWest 2019!

This is about when the club's president told me about the "Abyss". Over the years, the club had amassed a significant amount of Amiga gear, software, and magazines. During the darker times, schools were dumping their equipment, club members were literally dying off, as well as some rescue operations took place to save machines. At one point, it occupied at least one full storage unit. Amiga upon Amiga upon Amiga of all flavors. Storing this gear represented a substantial recurring financial drain on the club. So efforts have been made to reduce the physical footprint and convert it into some sustainment funding. Over time, they have been either selling the assets, or finding new homes (like the newish http://bayarearetrocomputing.club/). Items have been gradually making their way out to new owners, typically with a modest donation. These donations help cover a fraction of the storage costs.

ENTER THE ABYSS (©) :
I was recently invited down to the Abyss and given access to help organize some stuff and maybe grab a few picks myself. Unfortunately, much of the meat on that bone has been pared down. I'm not into collecting physical software-nor magazines.

*Box upon box upon box of Amiga magazines and software collections-many "backups" as well as originals*

Although it was quite fun to dig through boxes of magazines from AmigaWorld, Video Toaster User, and Amiga Video. Unfortunately, I just neither have the space nor the patience to try and collect any of this stuff. However, I did see a WALL of empty A2000 and A3000 cases. Many of these cases were in great condition likely from users who relocated their gear to tower cases. I'd bet many of them regret that years later. I grabbed a few Amiga 500s and scavenged motherboards that were marked as dead for future projects/donor boards. Also, there were a few boxes that were clearly from people who tinker with electronics. They contained old components, hand tools, some chips (74 series logic). Lots of cool stuff to me anyway. I also picked a Mediator USB board which will come in handy when I get my A4000 fully back to health.

I am looking forward to returning to this dusty shrine. Maybe next time, I'll grab a few A3000 cases and clean them up for resale. :D

All in all, it looks like I picked a great time and place to re-enter the Amiga hobby and very very fortunate that there is a local community of sorts to share my passion with.

At the upcoming February 2019 club meeting, I plan to be demoing SMT recapping on an A3640 board. If you can make it out here to the Sacramento area, stop in and say hi. Details at http://www.sacc.org/.

2019 Amiga Cheers from Mr. Toast
Last edited by Mr.Toast on Sun Feb 28, 2021 9:34 pm, edited 3 times in total.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Thu Dec 27, 2018 12:16 pm

Super inspirational, man - yes! And good on you for helping out to give those keyboards new homes to help fund the club. That club is easily one of the longest running in the country no doubt. I know of a few SAC folks that are deep into retro (including/especially Commodore and Amiga). Maybe they'll join that club and add some new blood in 2019.

I can say from personal experience that founding and participating in a local Commodore club has been one of the most fulfilling things I've done in years.

User avatar
EzdineG
Springfield, MO

Posted Thu Dec 27, 2018 2:19 pm

Here's a toast to Mr. Toast!

As a fellow returner, it's great to see another enthusiast among us. You came to the right place with those A1000 keyboards, that machine is a favorite around these parts ;)

User avatar
Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Fri Dec 28, 2018 10:49 am

Awesome story!

Hey that's why there is so many Amiga 1000s sold with no keyboards! ;) :lol:

User avatar
Dynamic_Computing

Posted Sun Dec 30, 2018 10:50 pm

I would be willing to buy some A3000 case parts to fund the club. Specifically looking for a Ppower Supply and the internal drive holders. Mine have vanished. I have jury rigged a temporary solution, but would love to have a permanent solution and help the club, too!

User avatar
dalek
Australia

Posted Mon Dec 31, 2018 5:03 pm

If you come across any 3000/UX cases I could really use the front plastic to replace my badly yellowed non-UX one that currently runs amix :)

User avatar
Mr.Toast
Roseville, CA

Posted Sat Feb 09, 2019 9:16 pm

Eeesh. What to do with this? Still cleaning out the Abyss. This nekkid B2000CR motherboard has most of the meat picked off and is mostly just bones now.
IMG_20190209_170946.jpg
Nekkidness

Whoever got this before it was put into stasis snatched the organs out and put them on the black market.
IMG_20190209_171001.jpg
I'm looking for Pismo Beach, sir. It should be right here.

And it is quite nasty.
IMG_20190209_171043_1.jpg
Clean up on aisle B2000CR, please.

So you folks tell me what I should do with this?
1. It still has a few useful parts but its going to take a fair bit of time to strip down to just the board. Go for it?
2. Might make for an interesting piece of art?
3. Are there any of us who are intrepid enough to tackle a real restoration effort?
4. Have a Viking Funeral?

What are your ideas?

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sat Feb 09, 2019 11:19 pm

Man, when I look at that nekkid thing it reminds me of what my dad told me once. "You know, we generally just look better in clothes." I was all, Speak for yourself, pops! But he was right, unless you just so happen to look like Michelangelo's David. That nekkid board is down right butt ugly.

Just speaking for myself here, but I'd scavenge the good chips and e-cycle the board. Maybe put it on a little raft with some candles and send it down the Sacramento River. RIP

User avatar
Robert_MyAmigaShop
USA

Posted Sun Feb 10, 2019 4:08 pm

Hi Mr. Toast,

If its a rev6.4 board, I'd say try and salvage/restore it if you think its restorable. Rev6.4 boards are the last version that Commodore made of the Amiga 2000 desktop that I know of. The Big Book of Amiga Hardware mentions a rev6.5, but as far as I can remember I've never had one or seen one, anywhere, ever. :-) So in my opinion the rev6.4 would be desirable to restore. :-)

As far as I can tell from the pictures, the battery doesn't look to have leaked much, so you wouldn't have that to deal with. Looks like the biggest thing to overcome is replacing all of the missing parts and hopefully once thats done, she'll boot up and work great! :-)

I could probably provide alot of the missing chips/parts with the exception of a few. I have a few older version doner boards where the battery leaked so bad that I decided to use them as doners. The most difficult parts to replace would be any that are not interchangeable from older version boards. If there are any chips specific to the rev6.4, I'm not sure of, other than the version of Agnus I think was a specific version of Agnus not on previous versions.

I'm still learning about electronics, so not exactly sure what could be purchased new and what would need to be salvaged from another Amiga 2000 motherboard. And not sure if you'd want all originals or replacements would be ok...?

Prices are crazy with this stuff, up, down, who knows, but last year I sold one of these for $500+shipping. Not sure how many would pay that, but... :?: Plus its just plain fun restoring these when it works. :-) yeh?

So, thats my 2 cents... :D

Robert

User avatar
Mr.Toast
Roseville, CA

Posted Sun Feb 10, 2019 11:42 pm

Robert_MyAmigaShop wrote:Hi Mr. Toast,
So, thats my 2 cents... :D

Robert
I'd take those 2 cents! But, we're looking at about five other boards that are in much more complete state that are more likely going to need some donor options to get up and running. With that in mind, I bit the bullet today and set about salvaging all the logic chips and some of the exotic sockets (23 pin M/F). I got a pretty good look at it up close and was disappointed that the previous scavenger removed the board RAM with what was probably a Harbor Freight special. Tracks were damaged and there were still legs left on some of the ground plane pins!

Maybe someone with a really good CNC router can mill the board into some keychains or something?

-Toast





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