[comp.sys.amiga] Taking my Amigas to Japan

4526P@NAVPGS.BITNET ("LT Scott A. Norton, USN") (02/05/88)

In a few months, I'll be moving to Yokosuka, Japan, to my next shipboard
assignment, and I'll be taking my two Amigas along.  The A1000 will
live onboard ship, and the B2000 will be at home.( That's why _I_ thought
the buyback deal was a good one! )

Onboard ship power is US flavor, 60 Hz 110V, but in Japan it is 50 Hz, and
I think 220 Volt.  Of course, I'll need a transformer to step down the
voltage, but what I am worrying about is the effect of the 50 Hz on timing.
Is this when I should shift the B2000's clock from LINE to VSYNC?  Are
there any other effects that 50 Hz power will have?

I'm not planning on trying to change the video output from NTCS to whatever
Japan has ( basically NTSC line count, but a larger bandwidth, I'm told ).
Both Amigas will stay paired with 1080 and 2002 monitors.

Also, can anyone give me advice on packing the systems so they will make
the trip safely?  I'm particulary concerned about the hard disk in the B2000.
I didn't tell prep to park the heads, so is the now anyway to manually
park them?  A DOS packet I could send to the hard disk driver, maybe,
to seek to track 70000? (I've got the A2090 controller )

Please mail any recommendations to:

LT Scott A. Norton, USN
Naval Postgraduate School
Monterey, CA 93943-5018
4526P@NavPGS.BITNET   4526P@NPS.ARPA
4526P%NAVPGS@jade.berkeley.edu
 ( if your mailer can't handle the .BITNET domain )

kjws@eagle.ukc.ac.uk (K.J.W.Smithers) (02/12/88)

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In article <8802050159.AA11570@jade.berkeley.edu> 4526P@NAVPGS.BITNET ("LT Scott A. Norton, USN") writes:
>In a few months, I'll be moving to Yokosuka, Japan, to my next shipboard
>assignment, and I'll be taking my two Amigas along.  The A1000 will
>live onboard ship, and the B2000 will be at home.( That's why _I_ thought
>the buyback deal was a good one! )
>
>Onboard ship power is US flavor, 60 Hz 110V, but in Japan it is 50 Hz, and
>I think 220 Volt.  Of course, I'll need a transformer to step down the
>voltage, but what I am worrying about is the effect of the 50 Hz on timing.
>Is this when I should shift the B2000's clock from LINE to VSYNC?  Are
>there any other effects that 50 Hz power will have?

	I successfully took my Amiga 1000 out to Japan (Tokyo) and had some
interesting experiences. 
	My major difference from your problem was that I have a PAL (UK) Amiga
so the problem with the tv/mains is all switched around. I have heard rumours
of only flimsy nature that there are parts of Japan that have a different supply
system to tokyo. However I am sure that the following is true in my apartment
in Tokyo. The mains voltage is 100v at 50hz, not 110v or 220v but 100v. The
100v supply has been known to work for some US equipment. It is easy enough to
get step up transformers for the job, where I was working we had about 20 
terminals all go down sick after a couple of months at 100v. Bolting on some 
step up transformers cured them!
	The tv system is the same as USA (NTSC) there would seem to be two 
versions but I never saw the NTSC 4.43 one in use, the other was something like
NTSC 3.14. My PAL amiga was a very early UK one that had a PAL agnus but NTSC
circuitry on the composite video, our world standard tv had no trouble adjusting
to 50hz 625line with NTSC colour encoding. I did however find a multistandard
RGB monitor (made by JVC).
	As for transporting the amigas I just wrapped mine up in my suitcase
(no monitor) with my clothes and prayed, no-one had been willing to insure it!
It arrived safetly and once I had it going it never gave me any trouble. 
	Hope this helps..
		Kit Smithers
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Still trying to go hard and fast :-(

kjws@ukc.UUCP			!! prehaps try rpa@ukc.UUCP or !mcvax!ukc!rpa
!mcvax!ukc!kjws			!! it might get through better :-(

or via British Telecom MUD (MultiUserDungeon) as 'Dingbot'
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yann@ai.toronto.edu (Yann le Cun) (02/23/88)

In article <4400@eagle.ukc.ac.uk> kjws@ukc.ac.uk (K.J.W.Smithers) writes:
>In article <8802050159.AA11570@jade.berkeley.edu> 4526P@NAVPGS.BITNET ("LT Scott A. Norton, USN") writes:
>>In a few months, I'll be moving to Yokosuka, Japan, to my next shipboard
>>assignment, and I'll be taking my two Amigas along.

>	I successfully took my Amiga 1000 out to Japan (Tokyo) and had some
>interesting experiences. 
>	As for transporting the amigas I just wrapped mine up in my suitcase
>(no monitor) with my clothes and prayed, no-one had been willing to insure it!
>It arrived safetly and once I had it going it never gave me any trouble. 
>		Kit Smithers

I did that too when i moved from France to Canada. My PAL A1000 (with a 
PAL/RGB colour monitor) works fine with a transformer.
Remember that the video refresh rate is *NOT* related to the power frequency,

Yann le Cun                            yann@ai.toronto.edu, yann@ai.toronto.cdn
AI Group, Dept of Computer Science     yann%ai.toronto.edu@relay.cs.net
University of Toronto, Canada M5S 1A4  {uunet,watmath}!ai.toronto.edu!yann

wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (03/02/88)

Some items get a little giddy in Japan because their wall outlet
voltage is 100 volts rms, rather than the 120 volts rms typical in
the continental USA.  An Amiga would probably run on 100 volts, but
the duty cyle on the power pack's switching regualtor circuit would
have to adjust itself to have a pretty high on to off ratio.  That
might shorten the life of the power pack.

A 500 watt transformer would be enough to run an entire Amiga
system.  One could probably get away with a 1.1:1 turns ratio auto
transformer.  A good industrial electronics supplier should have
such a thing.  It would probably be easier (and cheaper) to buy the
transformer in the USA.

--Bill

kjws@eagle.ukc.ac.uk (K.J.W.Smithers) (03/04/88)

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In article <1030@neoucom.UUCP> wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes:
>
>Some items get a little giddy in Japan because their wall outlet
>voltage is 100 volts rms, rather than the 120 volts rms typical in
>the continental USA.  An Amiga would probably run on 100 volts, .......
>system.  One could probably get away with a 1.1:1 turns ratio auto
>transformer.  A good industrial electronics supplier should have
>such a thing.  It would probably be easier (and cheaper) to buy the
>transformer in the USA.
>
>--Bill


	If you ever go to Tokyo then you will find a little area (
(about a square mile) dedicated to selling electronics called Akihabara. This
area I am fairly sure will provide you with cheaper transformers than available
in the USA. I bought my step up transformer (100 to 240v) from little stall that
seemed to sell only transformers. It cost me 2500 yen for a 100watt version that
powered my a1000 +2-meg and 2nd drive happily. Of course with the US dollar
acting like a roller coaster it may not be cheaper but especially if you fly out
to Japan, the weight of your luggage is at a premium. At excess luggage rates
just to carry my transformer (2Kgs) would cost 50dollars.
	Just another militant attack on the US economy.
		Kit Smithers.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Still trying to go hard and fast :-(

kjws@ukc.UUCP			!! prehaps try rpa@ukc.UUCP or !mcvax!ukc!rpa
!mcvax!ukc!kjws			!! it might get through better :-(

or via British Telecom MUD (MultiUserDungeon) as 'Dingbot'
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------