Review: Toaster Oven 4000GT

By: Andre Perusse - animax@ra.isisnet.com

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Toaster Oven 4000GT

A VERY LARGE tower case for Amiga 4000 computers.

Anti-Gravity Products
456 Lincoln Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90402
Tel: (310) 393-6650
Fax: (310) 576-6383

The entire Toaster Oven series is manufactured by Ambitious Technologies.

Note: I was working for an Amiga dealer at the time that I ordered this unit. I actually bought it from the dealer I worked for.

I don't know what it lists for, but I paid $1599.00 CDN (about $1150 US) for the 4000GT. And if you live outside the USA, be prepared to pay a hefty shipping charge.

You must supply a desktop Amiga 4000 computer.

Amiga 4000 w/Warp Engine 4040
34MB RAM
Workbench 3.0
Video Toaster/Flyer w/2 x 9GB Hard Drives

The Toaster Oven is essentially a tower case for Amiga 4000 computers. To assemble your 4000 Tower, you move all of the components from your desktop 4000 into the new Tower Case. This encompasses moving the motherboard, daughter card, hard drive(s), floppy drive(s), Zorro and PC cards, and the Processor Card. Additionally, the drive bay cover on the dektop's 3.5" drive bay must be used on the Toaster Oven to cover its unused 3.5" drive bay (unless, of course, you have another 3.5" device that must remain uncovered).

The 4000GT is apparently the interim replacement for the GT-4400 which has been advertised (for quite some time, I might add) by Anti-Gravity in North American Amiga magazines. In fact, when I was first trying to order the GT-4400, the salesperson didn't know what I was talking about. He was only familiar with the basic Toaster Oven model and didn't realize that his company had been advertising the GT-4400 for months. (The GT-4400 was a larger version of the basic Toaster Oven with more drive bays and a more powerful Power Supply Unit). Upon trying to place an order for this unit, I was met with several delays. Granted, Anti-Gravity never committed to a shipping date although I was told more than once that it "should" be ready next week. I was not too upset over the delays, but I would think twice before ordering something from Anti-Gravity that I needed in a hurry. (As a side note, I had ordered two units as I was working for an Amiga dealer at the time; ie. I had ordered them as a dealer, not as a consumer.) Eventually, I was told that they could finally ship a model called the 4000GT, which was "essentially" the same thing.

Let me start off by stating that this unit is HUGE. It is all metal (not plastic) and it measures 2.5 feet tall by 9 inches wide by 20 inches deep. The unit comes with casters but I chose not to install them. They would have added about 2 inches to the height of the unit. On the front, there is room for 2 half-height 3.5" drives and 5 half-height 5.25" drives. A removable metal door covers these bays. Internally, there is room for 11 (eleven!) half-height 5.25" drives (they mount on their sides). That's a lot of bays (and the main reason why I spent the big bucks for this unit). The base unit comes with a pitiful 250 watt power supply. When you're talking about putting several 9 GB A/V drives in this Tower, a 250 watt PSU is rather puny. I was expecting a 400 watt PSU like I had tried to order (the specs for the GT-4400 had it listed as standard). Because I didn't get the EXACT specifications for the new 4000GT (I assumed they were virtually identical to the GT-4400), I wasn't aware that a 250 watt PSU was standard. I can't put the blame entirely on Anti-Gravity for this one, although selling this large a tower with anything less than a 400 watt PSU does not make sense to me. A large fan is located on the front inside of the unit (like the 3000T, only much larger) in addition to the fan of the Power Supply. The much advertised "Big Ethyl Sisterboard" never did make it into this unit (I knew this when I ordered it, however, so it was no surprise).

Included with the unit is a different sisterboard, which allows you to add 6 cards that fit into a PC XT slot. These slots do not provide any communication to the computer - they are powered slots only. They are meant for such cards as TBC's and other assorted video-related cards. The advantage here is that these slots are isolated from the Zorro slots. The sisterboard also contains the new video slot. This relocates video cards (such as the Toaster) so they are no longer in-line with a Zorro slot.

The assembly of the ToasterOven proceeded as follows:

1. Disassemble desktop 4000. Completely. Unscrew and unplug everything.
2. Secure motherboard to ToasterOven chassis. The motherboard is mounted vertically, with the Mouse ports facing straight down. Two internal cables are provided to re-route the mouse ports to the back of the chassis. This places the mouse ports above the serial port.
3. Secure processor card (in my case a Warp Engine) and attach all motherboard cables (IDE, Floppy, SCSI, Motherboard Power, Keyboard Lock Jumper, LED jumpers)
4. Attach provided "sister board" to second level "daughterboard platform" (a sheet metal plate). This platform is secured about 3 inches from the motherboard. Once the platform is secured to the chassis, getting at the motherboard is a real pain. If you want to have an external connector for your SCSI port, it would be a good idea to install it BEFORE securing this platform. Also, pulling the sisterboard power cable through the large slot in the platform should be done now.
5. Install provided daughtercard extender. This relocates the CBM daughtercard to the same platform as mentioned is step four (the daughtercard lies alongside the sisterboard). From here, two small ribbon cables relocate the video slot to the sister board. By doing this, the Zorro slot that is in-line with the video slot becomes available. And if you have a Video Toaster, the adjoining Zorro slot is also freed up. Confused yet?
6. Install drives (floppy, hard disk, CD-ROM, etc.). Actually, I found that it made more sense to install all the drives FIRST. Because of the way the the internal drive bays are arranged, drives are easier to secure if they are done first. Otherwise, the daugherboard platform gets in the way.
7. Install Zorro/PC cards. I found this to be very aggrevating. The daughtercard platform is too far away from the side of the chassis that you install the cards on. This results in cards not being seated properly. The cards do not make good contact and are prone to popping out. This can be remedied with the skillful use of a round file. There is a card bracket (the piece of metal where you actually screw your expansion cards into) which is held in place by screws. If you use a file to enlarge the screw holes just a little bit, you can move the bracket a fraction of an inch closer to the daughtercard platform. Expansion cards will now fit better.
The kit was fairly complete, but it needed more than a little work to make things fit properly. First, the drive bay that is intended for the floppy drive does not have the screw holes drilled in the right position. You must drill four new holes through the sheet metal so that you can position and secure your floppy drive properly. Additionally, the large fan in one of the 4000GTs made a horrible whine as it resonated against the chassis. I remedied this by placing rubber foam between the fan and the chassis (an hour-long operation due to the way the fan is secured to the chassis). The other unit did not exhibit this problem. The ToasterOven 4000GT came with all the screws I needed and most of the extension cables. You will have to fabricate your own hard drive activity LED cable and your own Keyboard Lock cable, however (the cables from the desktop are too short). And if you're like me and installed all of your Video Toaster Flyer hard drives inside the case, you'll need to have custom SCSI cables made.

This unit did not come with an LED display either. There was a spot on the front of the unit for it, but it just wasn't included.

A seven page manual details how to put everything together. It is sufficient, but hardly a professional job. There are several diagrams which help, but there are too few that illustrate "how" to do something. Many intricate details are lacking and the user must examine things carefully before proceeding. For the amount of money I paid for the 4000GT, this manual should have been many times better.

I like the fact that I can put everything inside of this box. It is big and sturdy. The option to put casters on the unit is also nice. Extra holes are provided on the back of the chassis to allow for external connectors (SCSI ports, other I/O ports). When closed, the small metal door muffles the sound of the fan and makes things a little less noisy.

One thing that was particularly disappointing about the unit was the lack of an LED display. Yes, I know they are fairly useless but there was a big gaping hole where it was supposed to go. The transparent red plastic cover was provided, however (cute, but I was not impressed). A minor complaint is the organization of everything. Many screws are in positions that are near impossible to get to (how did they get there in the first place?). However, I have yet to see a case that was completely accessable. The 250 watt PSU is a real bummer, too. Make sure that you order the PSU that you want. And have a drill and metal file handy when you assemble the 4000GT. For a unit that cost this much money, it should have been done better. Paying $1150 US for a CASE is insane enough without having to drill holes in it.

The only other product that I have seen in this same category is the Commodore-made Amiga 4000T. The A4000T has an extra Zorro slot (for a total of 5) and 2 video slots, which is nice. However, the A4000T doesn't have anywhere near the storage capacity of the ToasterOven 4000GT. Additionally, adding a Video Toaster to the A4000T covers up BOTH video slots (and their in-line Zorro slots). This is not the case with the 4000GT, which seperates the video slot from the Zorro slots. Also, adding an accelerator card to the A4000T is difficult as a drive platform covers the processor slot. I had to cut a hole in this platform in order to fit a Warp Engine into an A4000T. There is plenty of room in the ToasterOven for a processor card, and no cutting is required. I have heard about a new Tower case by a different manufacturer which provides 7 Zorro slots. As far as I'm concerned, you can never have too many Zorro slots.

There is a one-year warranty on all electronic components.

If you want to have your Flyer system completely enclosed in one box (and have fairly deep pockets), the 4000GT is for you. It has its problems, but I for one am quite (though not 100%) satisfied with it.

This article is Copyright 1995 by Andre Perusse. All rights reserved.