Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    When I used to have a 2000 I kept it on end in one of those standard
    IBM brackets.  I think it was just coincidence, but I did have a hard
    drive problem shortly after I went to that position.  The drive
    developed a stiction problem.  I sent it back to Quantum under warranty
    and they replaced it.  Never had another problem after that.  I have
    heard that you should re-initialize the disk after the reorientation,
    but I don't know that this is necessary. In fact at work I know I've
    never done that and have had drives sitting in various orientations.
    
    I've still got the bracket.  It's the metal one from radio shack. You
    can have it for $10.00 if you want it. I think they ask $24 for the
    metal one.  You can get a plastic one from lechmere's for not much more
    than $10 (or maybe even less :-)).  I work in Marlboro (MRO4) and live in
    Lunenburg.
    
    -steve

re .0

	My 2000 is standing on what used to be it's left end (viewed 
from the front).  This puts the Connor disk thats on the GVP Series II 
card back to a more conventional orientation (vertical spindle, 
circuit board down).  I did this for convenience of space arrangement, 
it doesn't seem to have had any adverse effect, having the floppy 
drives uppermost seemed to make sense - coincidentally, the power 
switch at the rear is now at the "top", which is also quite 
convenient.  I remember that some of dec's disk drives used to have 
upper heads and lower heads; I think the upper ones had a loading 
force that was a couple of grammes less than the lower heads, 33 vs 35 
or so, I forget.  Maybe this is less critical these days ??, that was
back when field engineers changed heads and did alignments, which is 
why I knew that stuff (-:

	Reg

Re: .0

You are correct about the orientation of the mount, joystick, keyboard,
and floppy ports.

I've had my 2000 turned on its side (using the same metal stand from
Radio Shack described in .1) for over two years.   I've had zero
problems.

For what its worth, my hard disk is mounted in the second floppy
drive bay.  So, my tower orientation has put the hard disk on its
side, like it was mounted on a hard card.

The orientation of the disk seems to be a non-issue.

I also have a CD/ROM drive mounted in the 5.25 inch drive bay (I got it
for Christmas).  It doesn't seem to mind the sideways orientation either.

    What about moving the Amiga into a 286/386 tower box.  I have seen them
    for $150.00 - $200.00.  How does the size of the Amiga 2000 mother
    Board compare with the 286/386 mother boards.  I imagine some hacking
    would need to be done to get the connections on the back and possibly
    rewire the power supply connector. 
    
    Has any one heard of this being accomplished?
    
    Alan
    
    

    
    Mounting a machine on its side should be okay (as far as drives are
    concerned). As long as a drive is either vertical or horizontal they
    seem to be okay. Put them at an angle and sometimes things get get a
    little questionable. I have had drives rightside up, upside down, on
    their left, and on their right, and in quite a few spots in between.
    One hard drive I had (not in a case and sometimes I just held it in my
    hand while I was using it) would make strange noises and get all sorts
    of errors if I tilted it. I could spin it in its plane (te platter's
    plane that is) and it would be fine, But if the platter was spinning at
    an angle other than 0 or 90... no good.
    
    bob
    
    P.S. I don't recommend using your drives that way. They get way too hot
    if they aren't in a case and it's very inconvenient to have to hold it
    in your hands every time you use it.
    

>   What about moving the Amiga into a 286/386 tower box. 

I think the most reasonable thing here is to get one of the tower boxes
marketed specifically for the amiga. There are at least 2. The reason is the 
mounting holes in the motherboard are not the same as a PC and getting things
to line up with slot openings and such could be very frustrating or impossible
if you are not competent with metalworking and have a shop handy.

	-SES

    I gather, from reading the RZ specs, most drives are spec'd for
    operation vertical (on either side) or horizontal (right side up),
    but not upside down.

>    I gather, from reading the RZ specs, most drives are spec'd for
>    operation vertical (on either side) or horizontal (right side up),
>    but not upside down.

Yup, that was always true. In fact, DEC used to spec them as "right side up"
or "on the RIGHT side only" (or was it LEFT side? - Picture a PRO 350 in one 
of those desk side stands. That was the side we qualified them on...)

Nowadays, most 3.5" drives can run in any orientation. In fact the RZ22/23
drives were DMTed at the vendor running at a 45 degree angle!

john