Amiga 1000 Phoenix Board, Part 2: Internal SCSI HDD Install

[intric8]

Minor Update:

Now that the Phoenix is “done” (note: it’s never done) I decided to put the case all back together and plop my 1084S monitor on top. I was ready to go through the very satisfying ritual of putting useful utilities onto the machine.

However…

As soon as I put the monitor on top of the case, the extreme weight of it made my floppy disks get stuck inside the FDD! I wound up having to put some washers into a few locations around the floppy drive bracket and its subsequent mounting screws. I got it really close to perfect. It did remind me, however, that the chunky, ugly 3D-printed button needs to be addressed. I need to sand it a bit and paint it for this to be totally fixed.

But my current fix is close enough at least to use the machine. I quickly installed DOpus 4, SysInfo, HDInstTools, and 64Door terminal.

Now that I had this collection of software installed the little Phoenix started to feel more real. It wasn’t just a basket case hardware project anymore. At the end of the day, it’s not just hardware. It’s the software, too.

To that end, I am learning that PAL machines often don’t like NTSC software, just like a lot of NTSC machines don’t like PAL software, either. You can obviously go down the WHDLoad route, sure… but that means you need at least 8MB of RAM.

I also discovered that when I inserted a 2MB RAM expansion into the Phoenix it stalled the startup-sequence when RAM gets assigned. So there’s something funky going on there by adding RAM through the side car.

So, for now, the Phoenix is just going to be PAL focused. As such, I probably won’t be using it on a daily basis since most of my current interests are with NTSC software. But I do have 8MB on the way (a groovy little device that sits under the CPU and uses the same slot), and if I can get it to work with the Phoenix my interests might change.

I did install Populous II on it, though.

And over the weekend I fired up 64Door on the Phoenix with the Jim Drew Wifi modem and hit my favorite BBSes. it was pretty danged cool.

1084S sitting atop the Phoenix with the obligatory masking tape on the front tray.

[Bulletdust]

That's actually a pretty clean setup you have there now Intric8! But how do you adjust the volume on the 1084S with the trapdoor taped shut?

It's probably a good idea to have both PAL and NTSC A1000's anyway due to software fragmentation.

[intric8]

Yeah it's not a bad deal at all. I just wish I had a bigger desk/room! Ideally I'd have it like this:

C64
Stock 1000 (with 3MB RAM)
Phoenix (PAL)
A2000 (Daily workhorse)

But I have to pick 2 these days and just do a lot of shuffling.

I don't want the kids to move out... that's at least 10 years away. But damn - hurry up kids! (Joke - when they leave it'll kill me.)

[Bulletdust]

From memory the Rev 6 A500 had the ability to switch between PAL and NTSC by shorting a jumper on the motherboard, I find it surprising that the Phoenix doesn't provide the same functionality? I would have assumed such an option would have been a major selling point on an enthusiast motherboard.

I know all about space issues!

[intric8]

The Phoenix came in both PAL and NTSC flavors. But to my knowledge there's no switch per se. That being said, I never found the software switch on the 1200 very reliable when it came to software.

The cool thing about it all? I get a PAL motherboard from AU, but I'm in NTSC-land and only have an old NTSC case/PSU. After much research and discussions with smarter folk than me (e.g. mattsoft and some other folks in AU) we came to theorize that the crystal on the Phoenix would adapt to NTSC when used with my hardware. And it did! It's still a PAL machine, but works perfectly with my case/PSU/monitor (there is a very slight almost imperceptible jiggle in the monitor that I can see if I look away from the machine - I think due to the 10 Mhz difference in signal and output).

All in all good times.

[Bulletdust]

The Phoenix came in both PAL and NTSC flavors. But to my knowledge there's no switch per se. That being said, I never found the software switch on the 1200 very reliable when it came to software.

The cool thing about it all? I get a PAL motherboard from AU, but I'm in NTSC-land and only have an old NTSC case/PSU. After much research and discussions with smarter folk than me (e.g. mattsoft and some other folks in AU) we came to theorize that the crystal on the Phoenix would adapt to NTSC when used with my hardware. And it did! It's still a PAL machine, but works perfectly with my case/PSU/monitor (there is a very slight almost imperceptible jiggle in the monitor that I can see if I look away from the machine - I think due to the 10 Mhz difference in signal and output).

All in all good times.

When looking through Version 1.3 of the Phoenix owners manual there is the brief mention of L10 (Link 10) which switches between PAL and NTSC modes?

Just an observation, not sure if your board has the link or not. Out of curiosity, how much chip ram do you have? 1MB or 2MB?

[intric8]

Oh, that's interesting!

As for Chip, mine has 1MB. It's 1MB chip, 1MB "slow", ECS Super Agnus.

1.3 and 2.0 KS ROMs. And fully functional internal SCSI! (I am so stupidly proud of that.)

If I can flip that jumper to NTSC... dude, you may have changed my life! I thought the MBs were fundamentally different! I'm going to have to pull the case off again tomorrow and take a look for sure. Thank you, Bulletdust!

[Bulletdust]

Oh, that's interesting!

As for Chip, mine has 1MB. It's 1MB chip, 1MB "slow", ECS Super Agnus.

1.3 and 2.0 KS ROMs. And fully functional internal SCSI! (I am so stupidly proud of that.)

If I can flip that jumper to NTSC... dude, you may have changed my life! I thought the MBs were fundamentally different! I'm going to have to pull the case off again tomorrow and take a look for sure. Thank you, Bulletdust!

That's ok mate!

I just remember that from the Rev 6 A500 onwards PAL/NTSC was hardware switchable and I'd be very surprised if the Phoenix didn't offer the same functionality.

I've noticed that McTrinsic's Phoenix equipped A1000 has 2MB of chip ram, you should find out just how he achieved that!

[McTrinsic]

For the 2MB Chip you can have a look in the manual. It's detailed out there. You need the respective Agnus, though, which is by now really hard to get by.
I'll have to check one post on A1k where one of the other Phoenix- owners put in one of the later Agnuses with a tiny mod to the mainboard.

[Bulletdust]

For the 2MB Chip you can have a look in the manual. It's detailed out there. You need the respective Agnus, though, which is by now really hard to get by.
I'll have to check one post on A1k where one of the other Phoenix- owners put in one of the later Agnuses with a tiny mod to the mainboard.

You'd need 'Obese Agnus' from the A3000, I actually know someone that's got one laying around. Interestingly enough, the Rev 6a A500 can also be fairly easily modified for 2MB of chip ram using the same Agnus variant.