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New Plastic For Old Amigas and Commodores
Ichijo writes: Several years ago, Slashdot reported that the Amiga community had developed a way to restore old, yellowed ABS plastic to like-new condition, and they put the recipe for the gel, dubbed Retr0bright, into the public domain. Since then, it was discovered that the effect of the gel is only temporary, and plastic treated with the gel soon reverts to its original yellowed state even when efforts are made to block it from additional UV light.
Now, Amiga enthusiast Philippe Lang has created a new Kickstarter campaign to design and build new, improved molds for Amiga 1200 housings and do a licensed production run using anti-UV ASA plastic in the original color plus black, transparent, and 9 other colors. His team is also investigating the feasibility of producing new Amiga 1200 keyboards if this campaign succeeds. This follows a successful production run by Commodore 64 enthusiasts of new C64c housings using the original injection molds and new C64 motherboards designed to modern standards and production methods. And a new Amiga 1200 clone motherboard is also in the works.
Now, Amiga enthusiast Philippe Lang has created a new Kickstarter campaign to design and build new, improved molds for Amiga 1200 housings and do a licensed production run using anti-UV ASA plastic in the original color plus black, transparent, and 9 other colors. His team is also investigating the feasibility of producing new Amiga 1200 keyboards if this campaign succeeds. This follows a successful production run by Commodore 64 enthusiasts of new C64c housings using the original injection molds and new C64 motherboards designed to modern standards and production methods. And a new Amiga 1200 clone motherboard is also in the works.
I'm sure we'd all be O.K. with HDMI out instead of RF video. And, you could include an Atari 800 and whatever other emulators you want in there, too.
The original commie keyboards really, really sucked, so that part is good. I sure wish there was an updated SX-64 keyboard because I have 4 SX-64s that could all use one.
But really, how many Amiga guts are out there to house in these new cases? Will this make all-original Amigas that still run really really valuable to collectors over time?
we'd all 3D print these at home with digitally downloaded anti-Luddite files?
People hate Windows 10 snooping so much that they are going retro
Table-ized A.I.
...the Originals are _quite_ rare.
I keep my Commodore VIC-20 "The Friendly Computer" in its original packaging and stored in my closet. Computers used to have personalities until they went all corporate.
Remember the signatures of the designers that were molded onto the inside of the original Amiga 1000 enclosures? Well, I see an update on that kickstarter page that the new A1200 boxes will get a similar treatment with at least one signature.
I still fondly remember the day back in the mid '80s when I opened up my first Amiga and found those signatures. It showed the designers really cared about what they'd created.
Kind of like the 'easter egg' hidden in a later version of Workbench that after a magic disk/in/out/mouse/press/etc incantation, would put up the message "We made Amiga, they f*cked it up". Implying they == Commodore.
I must dust off my old hardware and check out this kickstarter page in more detail.
Very mooooving tribute to the scene.
I'd kind of like an ATX-compatible clone of an Amiga 2000 case. Or an Amiga 4000 Tower.
I have a Sam440ep-flex board that I'd love to put into something that looks more Amiga-ish than the generic black case it's in now.
And putting a gaming-grade PC in one would have amusement potential as well.
I have a C64-Reloaded board with one of the newly produced transparent C64C cases. I have to admit it looks pretty cool. ...and that's kinda of a problem. For all the replacement boards and cases for these retro projects... there are no replacement KEYBOARDS or chips.
I only had to find a broken C64 to salvage the keyboard and chips from it.
For this A1200 replacement board and case, there are no replacement keyboards. You have to rip an old one apart to put one together - or find a broken one and refurbish it.
It's a pity that we can't completely rebuild these computers part for part without salvaging broken units.
Indeed in the case of the C64, the chips are hard to replace or replicate exactly (particularly the SID sound chip, which is highly sought after by electronic musicians)
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
My experience says that electrolytic caps dry out after 20-30 years, which is the age of these machines. Not sure what else goes bad, I haven't worked on old hardware for about 20 years now.
/. really change 'Reply', which tells me I'm replying to the current article, with 'Post', which tells me I'm creating a new story? Dafuq Dice, are you driving anybody with more than 12 happily co-existing neurons out?
Did
But how can we use this to encourage more women to join STEM fields?
I owned a Commodore and an Atari, there were some great games for each of them.
My Atari was outfitted with the "Happy Drive", does anyone remember that? :) You could copy any game with one of those, and I do mean any game, regardless of all the funky copy protection schemes they came up with. Missing sectors, duplicate sectors, "fuzzy" sectors, sectors written outside the normal cylinders, etc etc.
My old Atari has been stored in a box for so long I'd be afraid to turn it on for fear of something blowing up (like the electrolytic caps). I have tons of cartridges and loads and loads of floppies, all lovingly stored away. I have no idea if the floppies could even be read now, but who knows. Sectors were gigantic back then so they might just still be recoverable.
I know there are software emulators out there for it, but a new Atari hardware gadget or re-make or whatever would be something I'd probably pony up some bucks for.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Seriously, you could just have one 3D Printed now...
Amiga Spawned Schwartz Who Is Gods Gift To Furry's
I would like mine yellowish.
Achille Talon
Hop!
While cool and all that a community is able to accomplish stuff like this it is getting pretty weird up in here. This level of fetishism over mass-produced plastic is crossing over from preservation territory into furry-level disturbia.
I'm having an extremely difficult time understanding why these antiquated toys are worth salvaging. Kindly explain why...
I did quite a bit of work to integrate an Amiga 4000 Tower motherboard into a product that was not released until long after Amiga went belly up. Why anyone would still want a system based on single-ended open collector logic in this day and age is mystery to me. Invest in a decent emulator and let that shite hardware be recycled into something much more useful.
Why????
Well how about the Amiga500 which sold much MUCH more units than the 1200 (which was as I recall the last available version)..
I hear they have this stuff called "paint" now. If you're going to all the trouble to remove the plastics, just take them outside and shoot them with some Krylon Fusion. Your PC can be any color you like. Granted, it can't make things transparent, but it can handle the other colors. If the color you want doesn't come in fusion, use it as a midcoat. It'll give normal spray paint adhesion.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
a friendly warning on anti-competitive behavior: the new C64 and Amiga motherboards from "Individual Computers" will only work satisfactory with their own add-ons, i.e. vendor lock-in.
Take care of your original mother-boards as long as you can, and be careful with Individual Computers' piggy-back expansions, as they damage the mother-board by using excessive pressure to latch on to the chips - again, most likely a way of securing a future customer for their mother-boards.
I loved my Amiga's. I owned a 1000, 500, 2000, 1200 and a 4000. When the writing was on the wall of its demise in the mid 90's, I held on too, hoping that it wouldn't die, but in 1999 embraced Linux, and sold everything Amiga. Isn't it time to say goodbye?
Anyone else just get an email from .. Software Hut?! What is this, Amiga Nostalgia Day?
(This might be a first, BTW: I'm usually annoyed by unsolicited email, but this one made me smile.)
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
I was on the original campaign which didn't make it. I have high hopes for this one so I can get my three cases!
why not just get some good white spray paint ?
After you remove the oxidized layer, you have to protect it from being yellowed again. That's why those headlight renewal kits have a liquid you wipe on afterward-- it's a clear coat. I'd try using whatever that stuff is on your case after you "clean" it. Or, you could try something mundane like polyurethane spray, but it'll likely add a sheen to the case and you'll probably want to remove the guts first or at least plug up the ports and the vents from the inside.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
clean the plastic with a rag and Brasso copper cleaner, afterwards use another rag to wipe it clean, use spray paint to repaint. (anyone having a commodore should be able to type blindly)