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From: greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Greg Harp)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Amiga500 tower case
Message-ID: <47823@ut-emx.uucp>
Date: 24 Apr 91 18:43:49 GMT
References: <1991Apr21.234648.6518@sbcs.sunysb.edu> <1991Apr24.004123.10015@iitmax.iit.edu>
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Reply-To: greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Greg Harp)
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Organization: The University of Texas at Austin
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In article <1991Apr24.004123.10015@iitmax.iit.edu> technews@iitmax.iit.edu (K. Kadow) writes:
>In article <1991Apr21.234648.6518@sbcs.sunysb.edu> dtiberio@eeserv1.ic.sunysb.edu (David Tiberio) writes:
>>
>>  I am dying to get a tower case for my A500. The dimensions almost exactly
>>match the A500 motherboard, and there is room for my floppy and hard drive.
>>I am interested in one of those tiny tower cases.
>
>Where can you get a baby AT tower for $25???

Word of warning:  Take a ruler or tape measure with you when shopping for a
case.  When just eyeballing it, a baby AT case might look big enough, but from
my experience the drive mounts and power supply get in the way.  The A500
motherboard is approx. 14" x 10" which is larger than the typical baby AT
motherboard (12" x 9" I think).

I had my motherboard in a _full-size_ AT case for a while and _that_ was a
tight sqeeze.  I had it mounted something like this:

   |-------------------|       (1) A500 motherboard (expansion port pointing 
   ||---------||------||           towards the front of the case)
   ||         || (2)  ||       (2) 250W AT power supply
   ||   (1)   ||------||       (3) Floppies mounted in 5.25" to 3.5" brackets
   ||         ||------||
   ||         || (3)  ||
   ||---------||------||
   |-------------------|
          Front

Note that even though an AT case is huge and ugly (huger and uglier than an
A2000 ;) the motherboard barely fit.  I had to remove the hard drive mount
(usually a 5.25" full-height drive bay situated to the left of the floppy bay)
and some of the other hardware.

I don't really recommend this project.  I soon moved my motherboard into an
aluminum (so sue me ;) box that I obtained.  It's 17"x10"x3" and it just fit
my motherboard along with the A1010 board and two floppies (in the upper right
corner like a 2000).  It's black too.  Of course, after thinking I had
something original I found out that a Canadian company has been making cases
like that for about a year.  (I think it's the same people who do the ALF
controllers.)

BTW, my keyboard is mounted in an old Leading Edge XT/AT keyboard case.

Recasing the A500 can be fun in a sick sort of way.  Just make sure you know
what you are doing and you can afford to have any damage you do repaired.  Try
to avoid cutting cables.  Instead use the proper connectors and add your
longer cables to the existing ones as needed.  That way you can always put it
back the way it was if you get tired of it.

A computer/electronics surplus is the place to shop for any parts you need,
including the case.  Used cases can get down to the $10 range.  Of course, a
new tower with a P/S can cost around $150.

Good luck and don't say I didn't warn you... ;-)

Greg
-- 
       Greg Harp       |"I was there to match my intellect on national TV,
                       | against a plumber and an architect, both with a PhD."
greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu|            -- "I Lost on Jeopardy," Weird Al Yankovic