Path: kernighan.cs.umass.edu!barrett From: steve@bh01.demon.co.uk (Stephen Bridges) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Infinitiv (A1200) Tower Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Date: 28 Jun 1997 18:53:39 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 255 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <5p3mjj$mc6@kernighan.cs.umass.edu> Reply-To: steve@bh01.demon.co.uk (Stephen Bridges) NNTP-Posting-Host: knots.cs.umass.edu Keywords: hardware, tower case, A1200, commercial X-Review-Number: Volume 1997 Number 9 Originator: barrett@knots.cs.umass.edu PRODUCT NAME Infinitiv (A1200) Tower [Z-1i rev5.42 Busboard] [MODERATOR'S NOTE: This is an update to the author's previous review, Volume 1997 Number 5. It replaces the old review. - Dan] BRIEF DESCRIPTION A kit that turns an A1200 into a "big box" Amiga, including; 1 Video slot 5 Zorro II slots (2 inline with PC-AT slots, 2 inline with PCI slots and 1 inline with the Video slot) 2 3.5" bays (both exit as 'floppy disk slots' at the front) 2 5.25" bays (both exit at the front) 200W PC Power supply PCMCIA slot right-angled adapter An adaptor/cable to 'enable' the video slot Extra 'bits' not in the kit price: SCSI external connection panel (50way SCSI internal to 25way Sub D) SCSI Adaptor (25way Sub-D to 50way SCSI Internal) COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Micronik Computer Service Address: BruckenstraBe 2 D-51379 Levenkusen Germany Telephone: +49 2171 7245 0 FAX: +49 2171 7245 90 E-mail: service@micronik.de World Wide Web: http://www.micronik.de LIST PRICE 369.95UKP 29.95UKP / Extra 5.25" Bay 12.95UKP / Extra 3.5" Bay 16.98UKP SCSI Adaptor 16.98UKP SCSI Connection Panel Blittersoft 6, Drakes Mews Crownhill Industry Milton Keynes Bucks MK8 0ER United Kingdom SPECIAL HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS A1200 :-) A3000/AT102 (with adaptor) or Win95 Keyboard MACHINE USED FOR TESTING A1200 Blizzard 1230 (16MB SIMM) Blizzard SCSI (16MB SIMM) Picasso II+ MultiFace III 540 MB 3.5" IDE 214 MB 3.5" IDE 52 MB 3.5" SCSI INSTALLATION First of I'd like to explain the reason for this updated review. I wrote the original review along time before it was posted, about 3 months, Dan had exams, and a lot has changed in that time, so here is the state of play now. Where to begin? Well first; don't buy this product unless you are sure that you are up to gutting your A1200. I cannot emphasis this enough. I don't think this is the place to describe how to take your A1200 apart, so I'll start at the point where all you have left of your A1200 is the motherboard, floppy and hard drives. The kit is made entirely of a hardened plastic, which clips together with built-in clasps. The A1200 motherboard screws to a "sled" which slides into the back of the tower. The Zorro busboard is also on this "sled" and is attached to the motherboard at the CPU (trapdoor) connector, with a passthru' for accelerators. There is an enclosed "box" on the "sled" and this has a ribbon coming out of it, this connects to the keyboard interface on the motherboard. On the outside of the "box" is a new/small PC keyboard connector, the type used for Win95 keyboards. Amiga specific keys are transposed on to the Win95 keys. The video slot adaptor lead is now available and is shipped with all kits. It still doesn't have any English instructions, but it is fairly obvious how to connect it. It consists of 3 'chip holders' that clip over chips on the A1200 motherboard, and a single wire that needs to be soldered on to a pin on another chip on the motherboard. Don't try soldering this wire if you don't know what you are doing, chips don't take well to soldering irons. Get somebody who knows what they are doing to do it. Only a few cards actually need the video slot anyway. The installation went very well until time came for me to fit the accelerator, this is when I found that it was too tall to fit in the tower. It turned out that I needed an extra 5.25" bay, which snaps onto the top of the tower. This wasn't pointed out when I brought the kit, even tho' I told the salesperson that I had an accelerator. So beware. Also the accelerator needs to be fitted after the "sled" has been installed. This is a job if you have a SIMM on the SCSI board as I have. The SIMM needs to be removed and the power supply needs to be moved while you install the accelerator/SCSI board. Then the SIMM can be reinstalled and the power supply moved back. Anyone who has just gutted their A1200 won't find this much of a problem. To be fair if you only had an accelerator then it would be fairly easy. Right where does the SCSI socket exit? A special adaptor is now available which enables the 25way Sub-D to exit at the back of the tower in a spare zorro slot slot. Tho' as it is really only a male 50way SCSI internal to female 25way Sub D adaptor mounted on a blanking plate you will need the 25pin to 50pin adaptor at the other end and a 50way internal SCSI lead as well. Right, with both adaptors in place, a 3 headed 50pin SCSI lead and an old 52MB internal SCSI drive connected, everything is working fine. So just to recap, I've now got an internal SCSI hard-drive and an external CD-ROM and Zip drive, all attached to the SCSI module of my Blizzard 1230IV. There are only 2 3.5" bays (I've got 4 drives). Extra 3.5" bays can be added either below the original ones at the front or below the power supply at the rear. If you have a 2.5" IDE drive it would be safe to just let it sit on the bottom of the tower as it is all plastic. If you have a 3.5" IDE drive, you will need a long (~40cm) 44 to 40 pin ribbon cable as it needs to loop around the Zorro boards, that's if you want to install it in a 3.5" bay. And so on to the Zorro boards. It has been pointed out to me that the bottom two slots have an extra punch out in the rear slot to allow for boards such as those that have lots of connectors on them, which include my Picasso II+ and MultiFace III. I guess I must be stupid because as far as I can see there is still no way the boards are going to fit properly as there is a piece of the tower case behind them which snags the hex bolts on the boards. Also the bottom slot with the punch out doesn't line up with a Zorro slot anyway. So to reiterate, neither of my boards fit properly but they do work fine. Someone else asked about the floppy drive, well I replaced mine with a High Density one at the same time, so I felt that it wasn't fair to comment on the troubles I had with that. I include here a usenet posting from Kevin Henry (thanks Kevin) about the trouble he had installing his standard floppy: "I had a problem with the original floppy disk drive, as it wouldn't fit in the bay correctly as the poles that the eject buttons use were too long and stopped the drive from working. I found that the button on my original drive wasn't long enough to fit to reach the outside of the tower case. So I had to glue the one supplied with the tower to the old one." REVIEW Well there isn't much of a review, as when it is all installed it works just like an A1200 with Zorro II slots. What more can I say. DOCUMENTATION After someone informed Blittersoft about my original review, they contacted me, so I asked them to send me some English docs, as well as ordering the SCSI bits. Well, as they didn't, I still can't comment on them. LIKES It works well. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS There's not enough room for the accelerator, especially with the SCSI board, it gets very hot hard up against the side of the tower. The video slot adaptor really needs installing by a professional. There are far to many 'extras' needed. VENDOR SUPPORT The UK distributor Blittersofts' tech people have been very helpful. I wish I could say the same for the sales staff. WARRANTY I'd guess 1 year. CONCLUSIONS After I ironed out the troubles it has now been happily working on my desk for many months and so I'm very pleased with it. If you are not adverse to a bit of fiddling then all the problems I've encountered are fairly easily overcome. 4 out of 5 stars (4.5, with the Video slot and internal SCSI) COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1997 Stephen Bridges -- Stephen Bridges steve@bh01.demon.co.uk A1200T/A3000 "How do we tell the people in the white coats enough is enough --- Accepted and posted by Daniel Barrett, comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews Web site: ftp://math.uh.edu/pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/index.html