Running A1200 without RF shield

Just a quickie - is this recommended? After a long absence I have decided to get back on my A1200 rebuilding project and I'm wondering if it's really necessary to replace the RF shield. Mine was corroded to hell but the underlying board seems perfectly fine.

As far as I'm aware the only possible problem would be mounting a hard drive, however I intend to use a CF card instead for internal storage so I'm hoping this won't be an issue. Will I encounter any problems mounting a new floppy drive?


In other news, I have just been given an Atari 1040FM with hi-res monitor, extra disk drive and other bits and bobs. Not particularly relevant to this forum I know, but I wanted to share my epic retro hardware WIN :D

Hi Fern. Long time no see. Welcome back. :)

You can run an A1200 without the top shielding perfectly fine. Many people do because it gives a bit more room in the case and easy access to the motherboard for upgrades.

Also anyone with a indivision flicker fixer will probably not have the shield in place either.

I personally have the shield fitted in my A1200, purely because I prefer the bit of extra protection it offers. I can still fit a buffered IDE interface, CF card reader and slimline DVD-RW drive in the case with it there, and it offers easier mounting options for such hardware in my view.

Congrats on getting the ST too. I also recently got a free Atari 520STFM. I've posted details in a thread here. Also I've included a download in that thread to allow you to write Atari ST disk image (.ST) files back onto real floppies using a PC to run them on the ST, and it works well.

I am also still looking for a 1040 STE if I can find one as I want to be able to run the newer STE games and the STE only demos. But STE's seem to be quite rare and people sell them for silly money on ebay. Some currently on a BIN for £90!

Hey Harrison, cheers for the info :) No doubt that disk utility will prove useful too, I plan to get hold of some DX7 editor software for use with my vintage synths, the ST was THE machine for that back in the day!

Have just powered her up for the first time in many years, and aside from a busted power board (got her running off a regulated bench supply, which just makes the setup look even more badass!) everything seems to work fine. I have nothing more exciting to play with than a word processor and spreadsheet at the moment but it's enough to test basic functionality.

If you are looking for software to try pop over to planetemu.net as they have an old TOSEC archive which includes the ST one with loads of games and software.

Until my recent tower conversion, I always ran my A1200 without the sheilding, mainly because it was a pain to put back in place.
One of my A500s has no sheilding in place either.