Amiga Hardware DatabaseManufacturer “Microbotics”
20 expansions in database
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1993 | Amiga A1200 | Interface clock port |
- clock
- a simple battery backed up clock
- connects to the internal clock port of the A1200
front side
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Autoconfig ID 1010 / 64,65 |
- No description available.
Do you own this expansion, or have information about it? Please let us know.
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1988 | Amiga A2000, A3000, A4000 | Interface Zorro II | Autoconfig ID 1010 / 31010 / 4 |
- SIMM version
- eight 30 pin SIMM sockets accept 8 MB RAM
- MicroBotics offered so called PopSimms which are SIMMs with eight empty DIP sockets
- supports 256 kB or 1 MB SIMMs, either conventional or PopSimm
- accepts SIMMs in pairs giving 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 or 2, 4, 6, 8 MB configurations respectively
- DIP version
- 64 DIP sockets accept 8 MB RAM
- supports 1M×1 DIPs only
- accepts DIPs in groups of 16 giving 2, 4, 6 or 8 MB configurations
- no waitstates
- the autoconfig space is divided into two 4 MB areas
- by disabling the autoconfig, the address space can be set to be totally continuous
DIP version, Rev 2, front side
DIP version, Rev 2, back side
DIP version, Rev 3, front side
SIMM version, front side
- 8Up_StarBoard2.dms
Memory Test disk v3.11
296 kB
Advert (US)
1988-09
Advert (US)
1989-03
Advert (GB)
1989-06
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Autoconfig ID 1010 / 32,96 |
- No description available.
Do you own this expansion, or have information about it? Please let us know.
Vapourware
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1988 | Amiga A2000 | Interface Zorro II |
- No description available.
Do you own this expansion, or have information about it? Please let us know.
Advert (US)
1988-02
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1989 | Amiga A2000, A3000, A4000 | Interface Zorro II | Autoconfig ID 1010 / 150,158 |
- SCSI controller
- Adaptec AIC-6250DL controller IC
- word length, FIFO buffered DMA transfers
- autoboot ROM (HardFrame.device) - autobooting requires at least Kickstart 1.3
- RDB compatible
- the time to wait for the hard disk to spin up is set by a jumper to 30 seconds, otherwise it waits 5 minutes
- place for a 3.5" hard disk on the card's metal bracket
- 50 pin internal header
- DB25 external connector
- hard disk activity LED connector
- autoboot disable jumper
- does not work with the A2000-A motherboards
- A2000-B motherboards below revision 4.5 also might be problematic, requiring the U605 patch
front side
back side
- HardFrame.pdf
installation guide (english)
7 kB
- HardFrame-19.dms
install disk v1.9
(with full User's Guide)
389 kB - Hardframe_EPROM-18.bin
EPROM v1.8
32 kB - Hardframe_EPROM-19.bin
EPROM v1.9 (latest)
32 kB
Advert (DE)
1989-10
Advert (DE)
1989-11
Advert (US)
1988-02
Advert (US)
1988-09
Advert (US)
1989-03
Advert (GB)
1989-06
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1988 | Amiga A1000 | Interface trapdoor slot |
- 256 kB Chip RAM expansion
- eight 64k×4 DIPs
- connects to the front panel expansion slot
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1988 | Amiga A500 | Interface trapdoor slot |
- 512 kB RAM
- sixteen 256k×1, 120 ns DIPs
- battery backed up clock
- rechargeable Ni-Cad battery
- connects to the trapdoor slot
front side
Advert (US)
1987-09
Advert (US)
1988-02
Advert (US)
1989-04
Advert (GB)
1989-06
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1990 | Amiga A500 | Interface trapdoor slot |
- 512 kB RAM
- sixteen 256k×1 DIPs
- battery backed up clock
- connects to the trapdoor slot
- disable switch
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1991 | Amiga A500+ | Interface trapdoor slot |
- 1 MB RAM
- eight 256k×4 DIPs
- connects to the trapdoor slot
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1987 | Amiga A1000 | Interface parallel port |
- SCSI controller
- connects to the parallel port, the port is passed through on the back of the drive
- very slow - the parallel port limits the data transfer - but noticeably faster than a floppy and very reliable
- does not autoconfig and cannot autoboot
- requires its own parallel.device
- the driver software is written by Carl Sassenrath and Bob Burns, members of the original Amiga design team
- the hard disk, controller and power supply are contained in the same external unit
- male and female DB25 parallel ports
- DB37 external SCSI connector
- hard disk activity LED
- conflicts with parallel port digitisers but not with printers
Advert (US)
1986-11
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1993 | Amiga A1200 | Interface trapdoor slot | Autoconfig ID 1010 / 1291010 / 193 |
- optional PGA FPU 68881 @ 14 MHz - 68882 @ 50 MHz
- MBX 1200 has a 68881 @ 16 MHz installed
- one 72 pin SIMM socket accepts 8 MB 80 ns RAM
- with 8 MB RAM installed the board conflicts with the PCMCIA port
- MBX 1200z has, MBX 1200 has no battery backed up clock
with RAM, front side
front side
back side
- MBX_1200z.pdf
user manual
112 kB
- MBX1200.dms
utility disk
227 kB
Advert (US)
1993-03
Advert (US)
1993-06
Advert (GB)
1993-02
Manufacturer Microbotics / Paravision, USA | Date 1993 | Amiga A1200 | Interface trapdoor slot |
- processor
- 68EC030 @ 40 MHz or 68030 @ 33 / 50 MHz, PGA
- optional PGA FPU, clocked with a separate oscillator
- memory
- one 72 pin SIMM socket accepts 128 MB 40-80 ns RAM
- under Kickstart 3.1 the RAM is autoconfigured, under 3.0 it's configured by software
- EEPROM
- stores RAM wait-states settings
- adds non-autoconfig RAM to system
- notes
- battery backed up clock
front side
- M1230XA.pdf
user manual
151 kB
- M1230XA-10003.dms
install disk (SetXA v1.0003beta)
369 kB - M1230XA-101.dms
install disk
SetXA v1.01 + MBRTest-2 v1.22
242 kB - M1230XA-12.dms
install disk v1.2
AutoXA v1.00, MBRTest-2 v1.22
251 kB
Advert (US)
1993-06
Advert (US)
1994-10
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Amiga A2000 | Interface Zorro II | Autoconfig ID 1010 / 18 |
- No description available.
Do you own this expansion, or have information about it? Please let us know.
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1987 | Amiga A1000 | Interface joystick port |
- clock
- battery backed up clock
- provides a holder for a AAA battery, battery needs to be replaced after 2 years
- time is read by a CLI command, it does not take over the system clock
- connects to the A1000's 2nd mouse port
- once the port has been used (eg. by reading the clock or pressing fire on a joystick) the MouseTime clock puts itself to sleep making the port totally transparent - but the time no longer can be read from the clock until the next hard reset
- passthrough connector
front side
Case opened, rear side
rear side
- Mousetime.lha
tool disk
44 kB
Advert (US)
1987-09
Advert (US)
1988-02
Advert (GB)
1989-06
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1986 | Amiga A1000 | Interface side expansion port | Autoconfig ID 1010 / 0 |
- memory
- 512 kB, 1 or 2 MB zero-wait state RAM
- 32 256k×1, 150 ns DIPs for 1 MB RAM (on "Main Deck")
- optional "Upper Deck" module with 32 DIPs for the other 1 MB
- both decks have four sockets for parity chips which can be utilized with the Multifunction module
- two StarBoards can be connected together for 4 MB RAM total
- optional Multifunction module
- 68881 @ 14 MHz
- StickyDisk - rebootable ram disk with hardware write protection
- allows parity checking of memory in the host StarBoard when extra parity RAM is installed - if a parity error is detected, the Amiga crashes with a GURU message
- battery backed up clock
- optional SCSI controller - StarDrive
- AMD 5380 controller IC
- pseudo-DMA
- DB25 external SCSI connector
- battery backed up clock
- notes
- one StarBoard can hold either a Multifunction or a SCSI module, as they connect to the same headers
- connects to the A1000 side expansion port
- removing the StarBoard's case, it can be installed in the A2000 using the SB2000 Zorro II adaptor card
- passthrough connector
front side
back side
Upper Deck, front side
Upper Deck, back side
MultiFunction module, front side
MultiFunction module, back side
StarDrive module, front side
StarDrive module, back side
- Starboard2.pdf
user manual
2.3 MB - Starboard2_SB2000.pdf
user manual for SB2000 Zorro Adaptor
359 kB
- 8Up_StarBoard2.dms
Memory Test disk v3.11
296 kB
Advert (US)
1986-11
Advert (US)
1987-05
Advert (US)
1987-09
Advert (US)
1988-02
Advert (GB)
1989-06
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1988 | Amiga A500 | Interface side expansion port | Autoconfig ID 1010 / 0 |
- the StarBoard 2 / 500 is a StarBoard 2 with a different case
Exterior, top side
Case opened, right side
Case opened, left side
- Starboard2.pdf
user manual
2.3 MB - Starboard2_SB2000.pdf
user manual for SB2000 Zorro Adaptor
359 kB
- 8Up_StarBoard2.dms
Memory Test disk v3.11
296 kB
Advert (US)
1988-02
Advert (GB)
1989-06
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1988 | Amiga A1000 | Autoconfig ID 1010 / 2 |
- SCSI controller
- StarDrive is the optional SCSI module of StarBoard 2
- AMD 5380 controller IC
- pseudo-DMA
- DB25 external SCSI connector
- battery backed up clock
front side
back side
Advert (US)
1988-02
Manufacturer Paravision / Microbotics, USA | Date 1994 | Amiga CD32 | Interface trapdoor slot | Autoconfig ID 1010 / 1291010 / 193 |
- turns the CD32 into an A1200
- external box (15 × 20 × 6 cm), plugs into the rear expansion connector
- passthrough connector, the FMV module still fits inside the CD32
- memory
- one 72 pin SIMM socket
- accepts up to 4 MB RAM with the FMV module installed or 8 MB without it
- supports 1, 2, 4 or 8 MB SIMMs, 80 ns or faster
- when 8 MB is installed, it appears as two blocks of 4 MB
- memory disable jumper
- interfaces
- serial DB9 male, RS232
- parallel DB25 female, Centronics
- video DB23 male, analog RGB
- external floppy DB23 female
- internal 44 pin IDE header
- external DB37 IDE connector
- 6 pin mini-DIN audio input for mixing external audio and CD32 sound
- 5 pin DIN connector for an IBM-AT keyboard
- notes
- the serial, parallel and floppy ports are controlled by two onboard CIA chips
- place for a 2.5" hard disk inside the case
- boot delay jumper - adds a 10 second delay before booting for slow hard drives
- supports up to three floppy drives
- disables the Aux port's serial connection feature - it can be used to attach Amiga keyboards only
- battery backed up clock
- disable switch - leaves alive the RGB port, the memory and the clock
- jumper settings
| 1 - | SIMM type: ON - double sided, OFF - single sided |
| 2 - | SIMM size: ON - 4 or 8 MB, OFF - 1 or 2 MB |
| 3 - | RAM autoconfig: ON - disabled |
| 4 - | autoboot delay: ON - enabled |
| 5 - | AT keyboard: ON - two Alt keys, OFF - right Alt key mapped to right Control key |
Main board, front side
Main board, back side
Connector board, front side
Connector board, back side
- SX1.dms
tool disk (RDPrep v3.91, RDPrepX v2.90)
148 kB
Advert (AU)
1994-10
Manufacturer Microbotics, USA | Date 1991 | Amiga A500, A2000 | Interface 68000 socket | Autoconfig ID 1010 / 68,691010 / 136 |
- processor
- 68EC030 or 68030 @ 25 / 40 / 50 MHz
- optional PLCC FPU up to 68882 @ 50 MHz
- optional VXL RAM-32 memory board
- the VXL RAM-32 board needs a VXL-030 rev3.0 board, older revisions (v1.0 and v2.0) must be upgraded (exchange of 10 ICs)
- 2 or 8 MB RAM using sixteen 256k×4 or 1M×4 DIP chips
- Kickstart socket for a 2.04 ROM - not accessed in 68000 mode
- hardware maprom even from the motherboard ROM
- burst RAM access selectable with a jumper - works only with 60 ns page mode DIPs
- RAM access speed selectable with a jumper, 60 or 80 ns
- the address space of the memory can be set inside or outside of the 68000 memory space
- if set inside, DMA is supported into the 32 bit RAM
- in 68000 mode the RAM is still usable, it just becomes 16 bit wide
- notes
- the 68000 fallback mode is switchable either by software or jumper
- connects into the 68000 socket - the 68000 is replaced onto the board
with RAM-32, front side
with RAM-32, back side
front side
- VXL30-Configuration.pdf
Configuration, Chip Installation, and Upgrade Notes (english)
432 kB - VXL30-Installation.pdf
Installation and Operations Guide to VXL*30 and RAM-32 (english)
54 kB - VXL30-RAM32.pdf
RAM32 - Installation and Configuration Diagram and Notes (english)
236 kB - VXL30-Sticker1.png
sticker (english)
77 kB - VXL30-Upgrade.pdf
Upgrade Notes for Use with RAM-32 (english)
168 kB
- VXL30-12.dms
setup disk v1.2
239 kB
Advert (DE)
1991-11
Advert (US)
1992-01
Advert (US)
1992-01
Advert (US)
1992-10
Advert (GB)
1993-02