Very awesome build - I love Pimiga and you're showing how powerful it can truly be. Great job - maybe I'll be as crazy as you some day soon... the pi could even be used for much more than only Amiga. Great stuff thanks for sharing yer secrets.
I got a bit excited at this idea, I have an old A1200. But then I realised you can't use the original Serial and Parallel hardware. The second disc drive is'nt a problem, but I have samplers and MIDI interfaces plugged into mine as well as RS232 hooked up to my ZX Spectrum. Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year. :)
that's practically the only problem i am facing also, if it only could be possible to use those generic usb audio dongles also to sample, and the standard known usb2midi interfaces from roland or yamaha or whatever to connect my fysical RolandMT32 to it or whatever midi keyboard or module it would be complete. and the fact that keyrah's are not that easy anymore to obtain. ( still got one on shelve because i was thinking and gathering stuff about this mod for years, and now my greaseweasle is actually fully supported in Chris Edwards PiMiga 3.0 the build will happen one day.)
@@frankowalker4662 indeed if your A1200 still works somewhat you should consider sending it to an expert just to do a recap on the old capacitors and dont think about butchering it for any case mod. I am using old parts I have laying arround overhere but i keep my hands of my working Amiga's. they are precious in original condition.
@@janwiersma1449 It's just had a recap and has a new PSU. But it can still get a bit buggy. It could be a conflict between the old software I run and the new ROMs. I'll be sampling and it will just lock up, when I do a reset OR a power cycle it won't recognise any of the drives, not even the floppy. And yes the floppy and the sampler have been recapped too.
This was great! I’m trying to do something similar. I’ve turned my A500 into a USB keyboard to use with my Windows work machine, and will be popping a greaseweasel in there too, for an authentic emulation experience.
So now my retro to watch list brought me here 😅Hallo Wolfgang nochmals, Frohe Weinachten und Gruesse aus Holland. This is soooo cool! Retro with a new vibe. I think I may do this too at some point. The best do both worlds. I have a vampire v4 stand-alone but it’s not really as robust and compatible as the team suggests. This is fast (enough) and compatible. Great project and nicely done!
My experiences exactly with the electric screwdriver. I gave mine away. :) Good to see you posting again. And by that I mean nice to see RUclips alerting me again, you know, since I'm a subscriber and all. Jeez, you would think that YT is being run by Musk... Very cool project!, and I'm pretty sure that I have most of the pieces on hand. :)
I had most pieces at hand and so I went and build it. It's just sticking cables in things, but it's great that we can do this now without soldering or programming stuff. Even the LEDs went relatively smooth. That really added to the experience.
For removing the plastic, get some fine files and file it away, much better than trying to break it away, and you still should file it down a bit to smooth afterwards after breaking it.
I did work it a little more off camera. You can see it in some shots. I also added a little plastic tab behind the cable to make surre nothing gets bend to much.
True you can get nicer shape filing. I have a sharp hot iron and side cutters for plastics though. The only reason is that, unless it's a visible cosmetic edge, I like to reduce particles when I can, and score and break. I used to modify instrument clusters, and found this method was best for me because cleanup, and chance scratches was all but eliminated.
Many retromaniacs will hate me for that oppinion but I think that emulation is much better than messing around with old hardware. I'm emulating Amiga on my Linux laptop with FS-UAE using MegaAGS package. I also use modern style gamepad Logitech F710. It's freaking blast. It's reliable, super accurate and I can have multiple virtual Amiga configurations from A1000 up to A4000 with any Motorola CPU and absurd amount of RAM. Also emulating Amiga on a laptop is very comfortable, because it has it's own keyboard and display. Also the same laptop can be used to emulate basically everything from 8-bit and 16-bit era, 3D consoles like PS1 or N64 and most of the arcade machines. Another argument for using emulation is rising prices of old hardware. Even new replacement parts are expensive. These old digital DB9 joysticks can cost more than great quality gamepad or arcade stick and as far as I remeber they are total junk, excluding ones that used arcade like switches and were made with high quality materials.
I love my Mister as an emulation machine. It cost a fraction of an real Amiga or most other computers when I got it, but I also love to tinker with the original machines. Neither brings back the good old times most of us are hunting for.
Very nice build indeed. I've not long just completed my very own "FrankinPi" as i like to call it, around a Raspberry Pi 3b+ and Keyrah v2 board but haven't included an internal floppy drive nor Greaseweasel and my setup is running "Amibian v1.5".
@@RetroWK I also purchased the A1200 LED board ( i bought it from RetroPassion here in the UK ) but when i connect the pin header to my Keyrah v2 board, no LED's light up at all. How did you get your LED board to work on your Keyrah v2 board for "Power" and "HDD Disc" please, bud ?
@@scouse1967 I had the same problem and connected the led directly to the rapsi gpio pins. GND from your LED boards needs to be connected to PIN6 on the Pi GPIO. You need to put a 330ohm resistor between the GND and Pin 6 so that the LED does not get roasted. Then you connect the power led wire to PIN 8 on the Pi GPIO and the hd led wire to pin 23 on the PI GPIO. Then you need to edit the file /boot/config.txt and add the following lines: enable_uart=1 dtparam=act_led_gpio=23 dtoverlay=pi4-act-led,gpio=23 If you have a pi3 put pi3 instead of pi4 in the last line. Save the file, reboot and go!
Great work. As there is a lot of space inside, you might add a CD/DVD drive slot-in drive also, so you actually can read the Amiga Future Cover CD every two months. Of course you can add an external CD/DVD-drive, but I think an inside drive would be more convinient. I think about using an A600 case for such an emulator. I already made a mechanical keyboard (github A600kb) and there is also a kb-controller based on a pi pico. I also made some keycaps, but they are not perfect yet, and also I do have to label them (dysub). Of course, best would be a mechanical A600 keyboard with matrix of the Pi400 keyboard, so no extra controller needed (the Pi 400 is the only easy to get "normal" Pi at the moment anyways). For the A600 there are stls to print your own case. So you can mod it to make mounts and openings for a slim slot-in CD/DVD drive, a slim (notebook) floppy drive and so on. Sadly a voron 350mm still would not be big enough, you need a 400by400 fdm-printer (like the Anicubic Chiron) or bigger to print the case in one pice. The keycaps I printed in resin for the moment. But with the Revo 0.15mm and arachne in actual prusa slicer, I might try FDM with filamentchange for "Double Shot" keycaps (my first Amiga was the A2000 Braunschweig Edition, so I never got used to the non-mechanical keyboards with pad-printed keycaps). Actually the only part realy missing on emulated Amigas is an exact parallel port emulation to use old Fischertechnik Computing. A parallel-USB adapter would not do the job (but might be O.K. to connect an old matrix printer). For serial devices a serial-usb adapter might be O.K therefore. With Pimiga 3 the emulation just got to a very new level, as you can open native apps of the underlying linux on the Amiga screen. So now all thinks like browser, eMail, LibreOffice and Video-Player work without leaving the Amiga Emulator. So you can even use this Amiga for your dayly work (another reason for a mechanical keyboard).
@@RetroWK I did not try USB to parallel for Fischertechnik controllers myself, as they are already reported for not working. But I had controlled one by arduino, so I actually know, how crazy the connection is. If I remenber correctly, some bit are used as output, some as input, and lines are for clock shift registers and so on (due to the shifting two interfaces can be dasy chained). Needs quite a hardware level of programming; even on real PC's only standard LPT-cards work - some none so common parallel chipsets and it does not work (for the DOS-Version of old software). Practicly the "parallel-port" is used more like the "user-port" of a c64, adressing the I/O-lines directly. Something not supported by USB-Parralelport-devices... Of course there are adapters based on Arduinos, practicly emulating the "newer" serial "Inteligent Interface" controller and let it be controlled by RoboPro with a PC, so you can combine all the controllers fischertechnik ever made until 2021. But you can not use RoboPro on an Amiga. But I just reserched: A later version of Lucky Logic seems to support the second generation of controllers ("intelligent interface" with com-port), so it might be possible to controll the old interface by using an Arduino, converting to an "intelligent interface" this way. Maybe building this interface-adapter and integrate it to the Amiga-emulator would work. So a "parallel-port" not useable for printers but only for connecting the very old fischertechnik interface (and seen as "serial" by the Amiga side). Might be interesting. But still, a perfect emulation of the old Paralelport would be preferable. For the keycaps: The keycaps for the checkmate are only to convert a PC-keyboard to "Amiga style". Still 12 Function keys with 1u. Also normal width spacebar. At the moment only US-Layout. If german gets available, I might get a set. Cool for external keyboards, as Amiga and PC-keyboards are not as different as maybe a c64 and an Amiga keyboard. So for big box Amigas (or other Amigas with external keyboard like CDTV, C32 or the checkmate's) these are quite nice, just use standard mechanical keyboards. As the A2000 Braunschweig edition also has a bit different layout (1u function keys, but only 10, a gap between spacebar and Amiga keys) than later A2000 and A500, for an external keyboard just changing keycaps of a "standard" keyboard to "Amiga style" optic is totaly OK with me. But for an internal keyboard in an A500, A600 or A1200 case there is simply a need for the correct wide keycaps for function keys and space bar, any change would be too obvious. Of course there is a way for nearly original keycaps: Use original ones. If you are lucky, you might get some cheap, there retrobrighting ended in letter-soup. Actually, retrobrighting 2 or 3 times with thermo method (keycaps in a box with Hydrogenperoxid, in the oven @65°C for 3.5h) you can "delabel" all pad-printed keycaps and get the plastic to original colour. With dysub-method you can relabel the caps permernently (resisting future retrobrighting) and in better quality. To mount keycaps on a mechanical key, cut out the original inside of the cap and glue in a 3d-printed "repair-part" for cherry keycaps (actually a keycap without the cap, just the inner part). For the mouse: I am quite uncomfortable with the A500mini-mouse. It is 10% smaler than the original. It feels not retro for me. As I have one original tankmouse coverted to optical (and retrobrighted), I might make an USB adapter for the emulator (or just print a tank mouse in correct size and put the electronics of a chep usb-mice inside) Happy Midwinter and be carfull at Knut
@@RetroWK The keycaps seem very nice. I had known there are such keycaps, but I missed the fact the set also included the caps for an A600. While still they are for Mitsumi keyboards only, I ordered two sets now, as they look quite nice. I will use a Drehmel to remove the inner part and replace it by a resin printed part for using the keycaps on cherry switches therefore. I might not even have to design it myself, as there is a part to repair cherry keycaps on thinkiverse as I remember. I hope it will work out as expected. Of course I will do my test with the spare keycaps that are not used anyway on an A600 keyboard, so if it does not work out as intended I would still be able to use an old original A600 keyboard. Why two sets? One set for my A600-style Pimiga3 project, preferably with mechanical keyboard, one for a mitsumi keyboard in an external case for my second CDTV (have two of them, but only one original CDTV keyboard). The CDTV-keyboard may use some more time, to make a perfect black case. I still have not assemled my big Jennyprinter 650 (a 650by650by650 Voron-style printer kit) now. I mainly bought it to print keyboard and computer cases, but I have to carefully choose the place where to assemble it. It outer dimension avoid it to fit through any door or window after assembly...
What happened to the real parts? I thought I needed a new keyboard, but I needed to clean it real good. Be careful with popping off the keycaps. There are springs under each key and they are impossible to buy anywhere. The PCB and the "sandwich" design is spill and dust and everything proof. It's very solid and heavy. Mine still works like new. I wouldn't recommend taking apart the sealed OEM PCB for many reasons. Probably the "sealed" part (membrane board screwed with mini screws to the metal backplace).
There are no real parts. It‘s a replacement case (new) and an a500 keyboardy. The 500 lives but is attached to an a2000 keyboard now. Pretty easy to do.
Finally got my "Power" and HDisk LED's to work BUT my "Caps Lock" LED light doesn't light up at all. This i've tried in Ambian v1.5 AGS (Amiga Game Selector) and PiMiga. I have even changed the A1200/Caps Lock LED diode for an exact same type and it just wont light up. Every key on my A1200 keyboard works btw and i'm able to switch between Upper case and Lower case charactors using the Caps Lock key no problem at all. My own build "FrankenPi" is built around a Raspberry Pi 4 (i did start off using a Pi 3b+ but was getting constant "Under Voltage" all the time. My A1200 is connected direct into my Keyrah v2b interface and the Keyrah is plugged into my Pi 4's USB port. Any idea as to why my Caps Lock LED just wont light up please, Wolfgang ?
Thanks for giving me the inspiration to do something similar. I already had the pi4. Do you think the greaseweazle would work with a gotek or goex connected to it instead of the original floppy drive ? I can’t think of a reason it shouldn’t work.
@@exaturbo I dont see the point using one, the reason behind greasweazle is to be able to connect "REAL" floppy drive to a system that has not one, and be able to read original physical Amiga format floppy disks, we have on shelf from old times. There is no reason to attach a Gotek to it instead of a real FFD, since you already have the option to use ADF images in the emulated Amiga directly via USB port. Why to go the extra route adding another USB port to a machine that already has USB ports?
Nice but still software emulation. I told long time ago and will repeat again. If Apollo team released Vampire standalone in A1200 mbo form factor they would have nailed it. That would be true Amiga sucessor, although a bit pricy one.
Yes it's software and it is far from perfect, but this is more of a concept and the asking the question "how close to the real experience can I get it without soldering and stuff?".
But genuine CBM Amigas are NOT 100% compatible with each other. CBM themselves couldn't achieve that. Some third part peripherals and accelerators cause incompatibilities, especially 040 and 060 boards. Neither are the Vampire boards or the PiStorm completely compatible. Software emulation isn't perfect, but it's a damn site easier to update that code than it is to get ALL real hardware working properly. It's only going to get better as CPUs get faster and the code better optimised. An emulated machine can give you the fastest 68K CPU ever, more RAM, faster and higher resolution graphics than any Amiga, fast USB, SATA drives, high speed networking, and access to hardware that simply doesn't exist in the Amiga world. And emulation is also CHEAP. Real Amigas get older and flakier, rarer and more expensive.
Depends. I love real hardware, so I would probably stick with real hardware. If you don't have one and have a pi around, that is totally great because you also get way faster speeds, a Gotek like experience, a hard disk, RTG graphics with hdmi out and all for a very reasonable price. If you would try to get an A1200 to that level that would probably set you back 800 - 1000 Euros or $.
Hello again. I have yet another question for you. As I’m in the middle of making my own pimiga 1200 project, just waiting on parts to arrive. Onto the question. How are you connecting the keyrah to the pi4 without using an external usb cable looping back into the case ? The keyrah is the last piece that I need. And no one has stock. Looks like I’ll be waiting for v3 units.
I did solder to the internal usb-header on the pi and connected that to a usb-hub inside the case. As for the keyrah .. there are other solutions. Check the comments to this video. I listed them somewhere.
@@RetroWK thanks. I figured that it would be the internal pin header. As for the keyrah alternative, I did look at that, but that one only does the keyboard , and I really would like to have the option for 9 pin joysticks. Thanks again.
I got mine from ebay, but there is also a PCB version which is much more durable ... but I can't find it on PCB-Way ... maybe it was a different manufacturer.
@@RetroWK I ordered a set of NO/DK caps for my 1200 today. It is already in a grey'ish-blue a1200-case. Recapped machine, new membrane, tsunami-1230 and indivision-aga-mk3.
@@RetroWK Totally... C64 keycaps are still missing. But yeah. I would have loved if the keycaps that are usually grey, would have been red or green. That would look better than all black. But hey.... New keycaps are better than no keycaps.
Now if some smart fellow can figure out how to use sound samplers or a DCTV , or some other plug in parallel port peripherals I would be all in but for now I have to stick to my real Amigas as I use them for creative process not just playing games.
Emulation isn't just for playing games. The emulators can usually access hardware via the host OS. High quality sound samplers exist on many platforms. You can use the captures on real or emulated Amigas. DCTV was a niche device even back then. Today there are far better options for real Amigas, and emulation of DCTV is certainly possible.
@@another3997 it’s possible maybe , but not available as of yet. I use emulation for Lightwave rendering, so no it’s not only for games. I would like to know what better options are available for my 500/2000. I just read this from WinUAE developer Toni Wilen “ parallel port emulation isn’t worth the trouble” Nov 2021
its raspberrypi with amiga keyboard inside amiga case. fastest? how fast pistorm is? it use raspberrypi too. how fast is raspberrypi with amiberry no amiga1200? lol no need buy pistorm32 lite...when some different coming again. is it last then we should buy LOL
Very awesome build - I love Pimiga and you're showing how powerful it can truly be. Great job - maybe I'll be as crazy as you some day soon... the pi could even be used for much more than only Amiga. Great stuff thanks for sharing yer secrets.
Thanks man!
I got a bit excited at this idea, I have an old A1200. But then I realised you can't use the original Serial and Parallel hardware. The second disc drive is'nt a problem, but I have samplers and MIDI interfaces plugged into mine as well as RS232 hooked up to my ZX Spectrum.
Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year. :)
that's practically the only problem i am facing also,
if it only could be possible to use those generic usb audio dongles also to sample, and the standard known usb2midi interfaces from roland or yamaha or whatever to connect my fysical RolandMT32 to it or whatever midi keyboard or module it would be complete. and the fact that keyrah's are not that easy anymore to obtain. ( still got one on shelve because i was thinking and gathering stuff about this mod for years, and now my greaseweasle is actually fully supported in Chris Edwards PiMiga 3.0 the build will happen one day.)
If your 1200 works.... Then first check the market value. It is a rare and sought after machine today.
@@janwiersma1449 This is the first time I've heard of these mods. :)
@@frankowalker4662 indeed if your A1200 still works somewhat you should consider sending it to an expert just to do a recap on the old capacitors and dont think about butchering it for any case mod. I am using old parts I have laying arround overhere but i keep my hands of my working Amiga's. they are precious in original condition.
@@janwiersma1449 It's just had a recap and has a new PSU. But it can still get a bit buggy. It could be a conflict between the old software I run and the new ROMs. I'll be sampling and it will just lock up, when I do a reset OR a power cycle it won't recognise any of the drives, not even the floppy. And yes the floppy and the sampler have been recapped too.
This was great! I’m trying to do something similar. I’ve turned my A500 into a USB keyboard to use with my Windows work machine, and will be popping a greaseweasel in there too, for an authentic emulation experience.
I did the same before this. Works great on a Windows PC too.
So now my retro to watch list brought me here 😅Hallo Wolfgang nochmals, Frohe Weinachten und Gruesse aus Holland. This is soooo cool! Retro with a new vibe. I think I may do this too at some point. The best do both worlds.
I have a vampire v4 stand-alone but it’s not really as robust and compatible as the team suggests.
This is fast (enough) and compatible. Great project and nicely done!
Thanks man and Frohe Weihnachten dir und deiner Familie!
My experiences exactly with the electric screwdriver. I gave mine away. :) Good to see you posting again. And by that I mean nice to see RUclips alerting me again, you know, since I'm a subscriber and all. Jeez, you would think that YT is being run by Musk...
Very cool project!, and I'm pretty sure that I have most of the pieces on hand. :)
I had most pieces at hand and so I went and build it. It's just sticking cables in things, but it's great that we can do this now without soldering or programming stuff. Even the LEDs went relatively smooth. That really added to the experience.
It is a tight solution. Giving you much of the original feel, just in the shape of the physical original feel.
Yes. I think you could bring this to a full Amiga with all the connections (except the trap door expansion).
For removing the plastic, get some fine files and file it away, much better than trying to break it away, and you still should file it down a bit to smooth afterwards after breaking it.
I did work it a little more off camera. You can see it in some shots. I also added a little plastic tab behind the cable to make surre nothing gets bend to much.
True you can get nicer shape filing. I have a sharp hot iron and side cutters for plastics though. The only reason is that, unless it's a visible cosmetic edge, I like to reduce particles when I can, and score and break. I used to modify instrument clusters, and found this method was best for me because cleanup, and chance scratches was all but eliminated.
Many retromaniacs will hate me for that oppinion but I think that emulation is much better than messing around with old hardware. I'm emulating Amiga on my Linux laptop with FS-UAE using MegaAGS package. I also use modern style gamepad Logitech F710. It's freaking blast. It's reliable, super accurate and I can have multiple virtual Amiga configurations from A1000 up to A4000 with any Motorola CPU and absurd amount of RAM. Also emulating Amiga on a laptop is very comfortable, because it has it's own keyboard and display. Also the same laptop can be used to emulate basically everything from 8-bit and 16-bit era, 3D consoles like PS1 or N64 and most of the arcade machines. Another argument for using emulation is rising prices of old hardware. Even new replacement parts are expensive. These old digital DB9 joysticks can cost more than great quality gamepad or arcade stick and as far as I remeber they are total junk, excluding ones that used arcade like switches and were made with high quality materials.
I love my Mister as an emulation machine. It cost a fraction of an real Amiga or most other computers when I got it, but I also love to tinker with the original machines. Neither brings back the good old times most of us are hunting for.
Really inspires me do do something similar!!
It's an interesting experiment, but to tell you the truth: I am still just using my real Amigas.
I've done the same 🙂I can only recommend it!
This would be cool project to do with new black A500 case and new Amiga black keycaps.
I just ordered these. The new keycaps are finally available!!!
Very nice build indeed. I've not long just completed my very own "FrankinPi" as i like to call it, around a Raspberry Pi 3b+ and Keyrah v2 board but haven't included an internal floppy drive nor Greaseweasel and my setup is running "Amibian v1.5".
Thanks! The floppy and the working LEDs really add to the experience.
@@RetroWK I also purchased the A1200 LED board ( i bought it from RetroPassion here in the UK ) but when i connect the pin header to my Keyrah v2 board, no LED's light up at all. How did you get your LED board to work on your Keyrah v2 board for "Power" and "HDD Disc" please, bud ?
@@scouse1967 I had the same problem and connected the led directly to the rapsi gpio pins. GND from your LED boards needs to be connected to PIN6 on the Pi GPIO. You need to put a 330ohm resistor between the GND and Pin 6 so that the LED does not get roasted. Then you connect the power led wire to PIN 8 on the Pi GPIO and the hd led wire to pin 23 on the PI GPIO. Then you need to edit the file /boot/config.txt and add the following lines: enable_uart=1 dtparam=act_led_gpio=23 dtoverlay=pi4-act-led,gpio=23 If you have a pi3 put pi3 instead of pi4 in the last line. Save the file, reboot and go!
@@RetroWK Awesome, thank you ever so much for that. I'll give it go for sure.
Another neat trick would be, if you could boot on the floppy drive.
That actually works! You can boot from floppy!
Nice work!
Great work.
As there is a lot of space inside, you might add a CD/DVD drive slot-in drive also, so you actually can read the Amiga Future Cover CD every two months. Of course you can add an external CD/DVD-drive, but I think an inside drive would be more convinient.
I think about using an A600 case for such an emulator. I already made a mechanical keyboard (github A600kb) and there is also a kb-controller based on a pi pico. I also made some keycaps, but they are not perfect yet, and also I do have to label them (dysub). Of course, best would be a mechanical A600 keyboard with matrix of the Pi400 keyboard, so no extra controller needed (the Pi 400 is the only easy to get "normal" Pi at the moment anyways).
For the A600 there are stls to print your own case. So you can mod it to make mounts and openings for a slim slot-in CD/DVD drive, a slim (notebook) floppy drive and so on. Sadly a voron 350mm still would not be big enough, you need a 400by400 fdm-printer (like the Anicubic Chiron) or bigger to print the case in one pice.
The keycaps I printed in resin for the moment. But with the Revo 0.15mm and arachne in actual prusa slicer, I might try FDM with filamentchange for "Double Shot" keycaps (my first Amiga was the A2000 Braunschweig Edition, so I never got used to the non-mechanical keyboards with pad-printed keycaps).
Actually the only part realy missing on emulated Amigas is an exact parallel port emulation to use old Fischertechnik Computing. A parallel-USB adapter would not do the job (but might be O.K. to connect an old matrix printer). For serial devices a serial-usb adapter might be O.K therefore.
With Pimiga 3 the emulation just got to a very new level, as you can open native apps of the underlying linux on the Amiga screen. So now all thinks like browser, eMail, LibreOffice and Video-Player work without leaving the Amiga Emulator. So you can even use this Amiga for your dayly work (another reason for a mechanical keyboard).
Thanks! Did you try a USB to parallel solution? Keycaps are available from A1200.net and for mechanical keyboard from the Checkmate1500 website.
@@RetroWK I did not try USB to parallel for Fischertechnik controllers myself, as they are already reported for not working. But I had controlled one by arduino, so I actually know, how crazy the connection is. If I remenber correctly, some bit are used as output, some as input, and lines are for clock shift registers and so on (due to the shifting two interfaces can be dasy chained). Needs quite a hardware level of programming; even on real PC's only standard LPT-cards work - some none so common parallel chipsets and it does not work (for the DOS-Version of old software). Practicly the "parallel-port" is used more like the "user-port" of a c64, adressing the I/O-lines directly. Something not supported by USB-Parralelport-devices...
Of course there are adapters based on Arduinos, practicly emulating the "newer" serial "Inteligent Interface" controller and let it be controlled by RoboPro with a PC, so you can combine all the controllers fischertechnik ever made until 2021. But you can not use RoboPro on an Amiga. But I just reserched: A later version of Lucky Logic seems to support the second generation of controllers ("intelligent interface" with com-port), so it might be possible to controll the old interface by using an Arduino, converting to an "intelligent interface" this way. Maybe building this interface-adapter and integrate it to the Amiga-emulator would work. So a "parallel-port" not useable for printers but only for connecting the very old fischertechnik interface (and seen as "serial" by the Amiga side). Might be interesting. But still, a perfect emulation of the old Paralelport would be preferable.
For the keycaps: The keycaps for the checkmate are only to convert a PC-keyboard to "Amiga style". Still 12 Function keys with 1u. Also normal width spacebar. At the moment only US-Layout. If german gets available, I might get a set. Cool for external keyboards, as Amiga and PC-keyboards are not as different as maybe a c64 and an Amiga keyboard. So for big box Amigas (or other Amigas with external keyboard like CDTV, C32 or the checkmate's) these are quite nice, just use standard mechanical keyboards. As the A2000 Braunschweig edition also has a bit different layout (1u function keys, but only 10, a gap between spacebar and Amiga keys) than later A2000 and A500, for an external keyboard just changing keycaps of a "standard" keyboard to "Amiga style" optic is totaly OK with me. But for an internal keyboard in an A500, A600 or A1200 case there is simply a need for the correct wide keycaps for function keys and space bar, any change would be too obvious.
Of course there is a way for nearly original keycaps: Use original ones. If you are lucky, you might get some cheap, there retrobrighting ended in letter-soup. Actually, retrobrighting 2 or 3 times with thermo method (keycaps in a box with Hydrogenperoxid, in the oven @65°C for 3.5h) you can "delabel" all pad-printed keycaps and get the plastic to original colour. With dysub-method you can relabel the caps permernently (resisting future retrobrighting) and in better quality. To mount keycaps on a mechanical key, cut out the original inside of the cap and glue in a 3d-printed "repair-part" for cherry keycaps (actually a keycap without the cap, just the inner part).
For the mouse: I am quite uncomfortable with the A500mini-mouse. It is 10% smaler than the original. It feels not retro for me. As I have one original tankmouse coverted to optical (and retrobrighted), I might make an USB adapter for the emulator (or just print a tank mouse in correct size and put the electronics of a chep usb-mice inside)
Happy Midwinter and be carfull at Knut
@@oleurgast730 www.a1200.net/shop/amiga-keycaps-set-black/
@@RetroWK The keycaps seem very nice. I had known there are such keycaps, but I missed the fact the set also included the caps for an A600. While still they are for Mitsumi keyboards only, I ordered two sets now, as they look quite nice. I will use a Drehmel to remove the inner part and replace it by a resin printed part for using the keycaps on cherry switches therefore. I might not even have to design it myself, as there is a part to repair cherry keycaps on thinkiverse as I remember. I hope it will work out as expected. Of course I will do my test with the spare keycaps that are not used anyway on an A600 keyboard, so if it does not work out as intended I would still be able to use an old original A600 keyboard.
Why two sets? One set for my A600-style Pimiga3 project, preferably with mechanical keyboard, one for a mitsumi keyboard in an external case for my second CDTV (have two of them, but only one original CDTV keyboard). The CDTV-keyboard may use some more time, to make a perfect black case. I still have not assemled my big Jennyprinter 650 (a 650by650by650 Voron-style printer kit) now. I mainly bought it to print keyboard and computer cases, but I have to carefully choose the place where to assemble it. It outer dimension avoid it to fit through any door or window after assembly...
What happened to the real parts? I thought I needed a new keyboard, but I needed to clean it real good. Be careful with popping off the keycaps. There are springs under each key and they are impossible to buy anywhere. The PCB and the "sandwich" design is spill and dust and everything proof. It's very solid and heavy. Mine still works like new. I wouldn't recommend taking apart the sealed OEM PCB for many reasons. Probably the "sealed" part (membrane board screwed with mini screws to the metal backplace).
There are no real parts. It‘s a replacement case (new) and an a500 keyboardy. The 500 lives but is attached to an a2000 keyboard now. Pretty easy to do.
Wow love it 😀
Damn awesome cool 👍😊
Will you just hurry up and open it!!
Finally got my "Power" and HDisk LED's to work BUT my "Caps Lock" LED light doesn't light up at all. This i've tried in Ambian v1.5 AGS (Amiga Game Selector) and PiMiga. I have even changed the A1200/Caps Lock LED diode for an exact same type and it just wont light up. Every key on my A1200 keyboard works btw and i'm able to switch between Upper case and Lower case charactors using the Caps Lock key no problem at all. My own build "FrankenPi" is built around a Raspberry Pi 4 (i did start off using a Pi 3b+ but was getting constant "Under Voltage" all the time. My A1200 is connected direct into my Keyrah v2b interface and the Keyrah is plugged into my Pi 4's USB port. Any idea as to why my Caps Lock LED just wont light up please, Wolfgang ?
I transfaired my A 2000 into a pistorm amiga, but that is max I would change..
Thanks for giving me the inspiration to do something similar. I already had the pi4.
Do you think the greaseweazle would work with a gotek or goex connected to it instead of the original floppy drive ?
I can’t think of a reason it shouldn’t work.
and I cant think of a reason why would you wanna do that? Explain please.
It should work … but why?
Why not ? That’s all. I have the parts already.
@@exaturbo I dont see the point using one, the reason behind greasweazle is to be able to connect "REAL" floppy drive to a system that has not one, and be able to read original physical Amiga format floppy disks, we have on shelf from old times. There is no reason to attach a Gotek to it instead of a real FFD, since you already have the option to use ADF images in the emulated Amiga directly via USB port. Why to go the extra route adding another USB port to a machine that already has USB ports?
Hi Wolfgang. Can i use a original A1200 keyboard.
If you have a Keyrah V2, V3 or similar adapter.
Nice but still software emulation. I told long time ago and will repeat again. If Apollo team released Vampire standalone in A1200 mbo form factor they would have nailed it. That would be true Amiga sucessor, although a bit pricy one.
Yes it's software and it is far from perfect, but this is more of a concept and the asking the question "how close to the real experience can I get it without soldering and stuff?".
But genuine CBM Amigas are NOT 100% compatible with each other. CBM themselves couldn't achieve that. Some third part peripherals and accelerators cause incompatibilities, especially 040 and 060 boards. Neither are the Vampire boards or the PiStorm completely compatible. Software emulation isn't perfect, but it's a damn site easier to update that code than it is to get ALL real hardware working properly. It's only going to get better as CPUs get faster and the code better optimised. An emulated machine can give you the fastest 68K CPU ever, more RAM, faster and higher resolution graphics than any Amiga, fast USB, SATA drives, high speed networking, and access to hardware that simply doesn't exist in the Amiga world. And emulation is also CHEAP. Real Amigas get older and flakier, rarer and more expensive.
How did you connect the case leds to the pi ? One thing you really didn’t cover.
Please check previous comments. I explained it there.
@@RetroWK thanks. Found it. I will also have to look at how the fdd led might be able to be made to work.
@@exaturbo Thats easy. Find the two spots on the disk drive where the internal led is connected and solder yours there.
I've done similar with an A500 case.
Nice!!!
Would you say it's better to keep the original Amiga or install a RP 4 in it?
Depends. I love real hardware, so I would probably stick with real hardware. If you don't have one and have a pi around, that is totally great because you also get way faster speeds, a Gotek like experience, a hard disk, RTG graphics with hdmi out and all for a very reasonable price. If you would try to get an A1200 to that level that would probably set you back 800 - 1000 Euros or $.
Hello again. I have yet another question for you. As I’m in the middle of making my own pimiga 1200 project, just waiting on parts to arrive.
Onto the question. How are you connecting the keyrah to the pi4 without using an external usb cable looping back into the case ?
The keyrah is the last piece that I need. And no one has stock. Looks like I’ll be waiting for v3 units.
I did solder to the internal usb-header on the pi and connected that to a usb-hub inside the case. As for the keyrah .. there are other solutions. Check the comments to this video. I listed them somewhere.
@@RetroWK thanks. I figured that it would be the internal pin header.
As for the keyrah alternative, I did look at that, but that one only does the keyboard , and I really would like to have the option for 9 pin joysticks.
Thanks again.
@@exaturbo There are 9-pin to usb adapters out there: monsterjoysticks.com/9-pin-joystick-to-usb-adapter
And how do you power everything
Just a simple USB-C wall wart plugged into the RaspberryPi.
this machine has it got a 1.76 mb floppy drive? or an 880k one? thanks.............
Works with both. I think the one here is 880k.
where do you get the new membrane.
I got mine from ebay, but there is also a PCB version which is much more durable ... but I can't find it on PCB-Way ... maybe it was a different manufacturer.
which power supply did you use?
Just some generic 5V, 2 AMP power supply from Amazon.
And A1200 have relesed new keycaps. 😉
Yep. Just ordered. Thanks for the heads up. I was on their website last week and they were not available.
@@RetroWK I ordered a set of NO/DK caps for my 1200 today. It is already in a grey'ish-blue a1200-case. Recapped machine, new membrane, tsunami-1230 and indivision-aga-mk3.
@@brostenen Nice! We finally get new keycaps!
@@RetroWK Totally... C64 keycaps are still missing. But yeah. I would have loved if the keycaps that are usually grey, would have been red or green. That would look better than all black. But hey.... New keycaps are better than no keycaps.
can you please link to the ?Akira? board you are using. Google knows nothing about any such device or pcb
Sure! www.vesalia.de/e_keyrahv2.htm
And here: www.amiga-shop.net/en/Amiga-Hardware/Amiga-classic-hardware/Keyrah-v2-USB-keyboard-joystick-interface::606.html
@@RetroWK Thank you kindly!
And an available alternative: www.retro32.com/product/amiga-500-micro-usb-keyboard-adapter-hid
@@RetroWK Thanks for the great info on these adapters. Had no idea about either before this.
Now if some smart fellow can figure out how to use sound samplers or a DCTV , or some other plug in parallel port peripherals I would be all in but for now I have to stick to my real Amigas as I use them for creative process not just playing games.
I think someone is working on that!
Oh that would be Amazing can finally save my Amigas
Emulation isn't just for playing games. The emulators can usually access hardware via the host OS. High quality sound samplers exist on many platforms. You can use the captures on real or emulated Amigas. DCTV was a niche device even back then. Today there are far better options for real Amigas, and emulation of DCTV is certainly possible.
@@another3997 it’s possible maybe , but not available as of yet. I use emulation for Lightwave rendering, so no it’s not only for games. I would like to know what better options are available for my 500/2000. I just read this from WinUAE developer Toni Wilen “ parallel port emulation isn’t worth the trouble” Nov 2021
its raspberrypi with amiga keyboard inside amiga case. fastest?
how fast pistorm is? it use raspberrypi too.
how fast is raspberrypi with amiberry no amiga1200? lol
no need buy pistorm32 lite...when some different coming again. is it last then we should buy LOL
Are you in your 40's?
Ugh.