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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

Amiga 2000 Firebird Relocator Adapter

WitchDoctor B

Posts 3
03 Nov 2021 13:49


Just received my Firebird and it looks beautiful. Having some difficulty with fitting into my 2000. Does anyone have suggestions for a relocator bracket for an Amiga 2000 that is available for purchase and will work? The overhang of the board in the 68pin socket hits the top of my ACE2 or a megachip by a few mm, and the top of the USB ports hit the drive cage if I try to install at this height. With my vertical CPU slot adapter, any wires plugged into the card (USB,DIGITAL-VIDEO,NIC) would hit the top of the case.
 
  I'm imagining a slot adapter that rotates the socket 90 degrees to have the I/Os face the rear of the case, but tall enough that the edge of the card doesn't hit the motherboard.
 
  I haven't located my 1mb Agnus yet, so I haven't tried with the lower profile for that port. I believe the Fireboard can add extra chip ram, so having a megachip may be redundant??
 
  Thanks
 
 


Roy Gillotti

Posts 517
03 Nov 2021 15:23


Only one I know that works well isn't in stock.

EXTERNAL LINK 

I know for a fact you don't want this style even though they advertise it as being able to work with the Vampire.

EXTERNAL LINK 
Personally I'm just going to plug it directly into the regular 68k socket.


WitchDoctor B

Posts 3
03 Nov 2021 15:28


I agree. I'd prefer the 68k socket as well. If I ever find my 1MB Agnus, I'll probably go that route, assuming it lowers Firebird enough that the USB ports no longer hit the drive chassis.


Ronnie Beck
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 199
03 Nov 2021 16:52


This is hard.  I have 2 variants of the Arananet adapter board, which rotates the Firebird at right angles to the motherboard.  Plus I have the ACIL/Kipper2k adapter board which sits the Firebird upright.  I have always preferred the ACIL Adapter because it always works.  Always.  The two Aranet adapters don't work for me with the Vampire 2 (I tried two A2k v6.2 boards and two Vampire cards). but I know it does work for other people.  That said, the Firebird did work in the Arananet adapter for me.
 
  The clear advantage of the Arananet adapter is that the Digital Video, USB and SD Card slots are facing the back.  So you won't have to hunt for specialised cables.
 
  I have prefered the ACIL upright adapter simply because it always works.  But the Firebird is slightly longer than the V2.  I have a right angle DIGITAL-VIDEO cable which fits with about 1cm of head room.  I took a couple of pictures here:
 
  Without case:
  EXTERNAL LINK 
  With case:
  EXTERNAL LINK 
  When using the ACIL adapter, the problem will be the ethernet, usb and SD Card slots.  I am not optimistic one will find cables that will fit (please someone prove me wrong).  Despite my preference for the ACIL adapter, the Arananet adapter is the better option I suspect.  But my recommendation comes with a warning that at least 2 Accelerators I have didn't work with that.
 
  I have not tried the firebird in the CPU socket myself.


Roy Gillotti

Posts 517
03 Nov 2021 16:56


"I have not tried the firebird in the CPU socket myself."
 
  The V2 fits fine under the drive tray, I will need to test it on my Firebird when I get some time. I can put it in my old and busted motherboard until I finish soldering my Replica A2000 PCB.
 
  Yeah I have a first generation arananet adapter and it did seem to have intermittent connection problems, I think the PCB thickness of the adapter is slightly too thin.
 
 


Ronnie Beck
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 199
03 Nov 2021 17:10


Roy Gillotti wrote:

Only one I know that works well isn't in stock.
 
  EXTERNAL LINK 
 
  I know for a fact you don't want this style even though they advertise it as being able to work with the Vampire.

The developer behind this is a really nice guy and has made lots of neat stuff which is intended to be used with the Vampire.  Sadly, some of it isn't properly tested.  I have also a CF Card adapter from him which has written on the board "V500/V4".  It doesn't even fit in the V4.  The master/slave selector sticks out the side and collides with the SPI ports.  Even after I removed this I discovered that the IDE header socket is too fat to fit into the IDE sleave on the V4.  It clearly wasn't tested in a V4.




WitchDoctor B

Posts 3
03 Nov 2021 19:30


EXTERNAL LINK 
Looks like there was a brief discussion on the topic on Discord. Looks like Apollon, DJBase, and the BigGun maybe brainstorming something!

posts 7