Micronik Infinitiv A1200 Tower Case Project

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Revision as of 10:55, 26 December 2008

Micronik Infinitiv A1200 Tower Case Project
Micronik Infinitiv A1200 Tower Case
Created	2008
Creator	Tiago
Based On	A1200
Kickstart	3.1
Operating System	3.1
CPU	68020 @ 14MHz
Memory	2MB (2MB Chip + 32MB Fast)

Hardware Spec

• Micronik Infinitiv A1200 Tower Case (with PC AT PSU and PC keyboard adapter)
• A1200 Motherboard
• Kickstart 3.1 roms
• 32 MB RAM Blizzard 1230 MK-IV Phase 5
• Buffered IDE Interface eyetech MK4
• 3.5" Harddrive
• CD-Rom Drive
• PCMCIA 90º angle adapter
• CD-Rom audio to RCA (Phono) output

Project details

For this project i bought the Infinitiv tower here in Portugal, it came with a A1200 board with 3.0 Roms but it didn't work well, video output signals were instable and sometimes image went black, so i replace the M.Board for a new one.

The Infinitiv tower only have a few screws, for the sides, the front, and the top you only need to put them in the right place and press a little bit, no screws here. So opening the case, is very easy and fast.

This case is not a vulgar pc case, it was made for holding an A1200, so placing the Board was easy. The Power supply unit is a vulgar PC AT one, and it fits also very well. It has an adapter so you can connect the A1200 to it.

There is also an adapter for a PC Keyboard, the original Infinitiv case had a proper keyboard, but the one i bought didn't come with it, but i have the adapter that plugs to the Board and transforms it into a PS/2 output, any PC PS/2 standard keyboard can be connected.

One of the first things i did after was replacing the Roms. The Board had 3.0 Roms, so i took them out very carefully, and replace them by the 3.1 Roms, you don't need any drivers, just replace them.

Regarding the Hard Disk, i had one 3.5" available that i could connect directly to the Board, but i was also thinking in a CD-COM, so the best think was getting a IDE Interface so that i could connect both to the board. I search on ebay and found a cheap IDE Interface, with connections to 2 HDs of 3.5" or 2.5" and a CD-ROM.

Again it was easy to connect everything. One cable goes to the A1200 Board, and then i connect the 3.5" HD to 1 IDE available on interface, and the same thing for the CD-ROM. Notice that the 3.5" HD needs to be powered, like any PC 3.5" HD, if you use 2.5" there is no need for power, the interface provides it. The PSU had enough power cables to connect HD and CD-ROM.

For placing the HD, you can insert it through the inside case or simple from the back, this case have bays so that you can mount and dismount HDs very fast and easy.

After HD and CD-ROM connected i need to run some software. With HDs bigger then 4GB, we need to run IDEFIX software to be able to use the full HD space. The software that came with the IDE interface also enables the System to emulate Amiga CD32 titles and also to play audio CDs. I found a solution for playing CDs directly from CD-ROM to output speakers, i modify a simple audio card cable, that ones that you connect the cd-rom to a sound card, just took off the audio card connector and solder the cables to RCA outputs. (I will put were a link to this project later)

The Case has one problem, i think most of the A1200 tower cases has, the PCMCIA port is not usable because there is not enough space to put the card, so the best solution was getting a 90º angle adapter so that the card has space and doesn't go through or outside the case. Just connect it and it's ready to roll.

Other problem that i found was the floppy eject button. The hole in the front case was not center related to the eject button, the hole was a bit to the left, i cut a bit of the plastic, the hole went a little bigger, and also i enlarge the eject button.

I received my memory expansion in 24-12-2008. A beutifull Blizzard 1230 MK-IV with 32MB Ram from Phase 5.

Project Gallery

Micronik Infinitiv A1200 Tower Case Project

"Powered by Amiga" Case logo	"A1200T front image 1" Case front	"A1200T front image 2" Case front	"A1200T side image 1" Case side	"A1200T side image 2" Case side
"A1200T back image 1" Case back	"A1200T back with RCAs image 1" Case back	"A1200T inside image 1" inside	"A1200T inside image 2" inside	"A1200T floppy image 1" floppy
"A1200T floppy image 2" floppy	"A1200T hd connection image 1" hd connection	"A1200T hd connection image 2" hd connection	"A1200T IDE interface image 1" IDE interface	"A1200T roms change image 0" rom change
"A1200T roms change image 1" rom change	"A1200T old roms 3.0 image 1" old roms 3.0	"A1200T new roms 3.1 image 1" old roms 3.1	"Blizzard 030 mkIV image 1"	"Blizzard 030 mkIV image 3"
"Blizzard 030 mkIV in tower image 3"	"Blizzard 030 mkIV processor"	"Blizzard 030 mkIV back"

Additional Reading

See also:

• CD-Rom to RCA audio project.
• A1200 Upgrade Options.
• Amiga Reference Books.

Reference

• http://www.lobodias.com/ (2008) - Amiga 1200 Tower Project; Website.