In Tim’s Retro Corner, the spotlight turns to a Mini-ITX Amiga-compatible board known as Denise—a Swedish-designed reinterpretation of the Amiga 500 Plus. This isn’t just another replica. With a smaller footprint, support for two Zorro II slots, a 72-pin SIMM slot for 2MB Chip RAM, and compatibility with PS/2 peripherals, the Amiga ITX Denise build offers a different path for hobbyists looking to assemble or restore a classic Amiga in a modern enclosure.
Tim kicks off the process by working through the surface mount components—some of which, naturally, are still missing. Even so, the groundwork is solid: a high-quality ENIG-finished purple PCB, an optional pre-soldered SMD version, and an interactive BOM to guide placement. It’s a slow-paced build that follows real-world hobbyist logic: use what you’ve got, make mistakes, clean up, and keep going.
The Denise kit includes two boards: the main board and a RAM riser. Tim begins by populating capacitors using two different methods—traditional soldering for the first batch, and hot air with solder paste for the rest. Both get the job done, though neither goes perfectly. It’s clear this isn’t about speed but building something functional, one step at a time.
Resistor installation hits a snag when Tim realizes the ones he used were the wrong wattage. Most come off, save for the few that match the spec. The missing pieces get added to the reorder list. But the project marches on. Transistors and TVS diodes follow, each added with a mix of careful soldering and trial-and-error corrections.
The video closes with a half-complete but well-formed Denise board, cleaned up and ready for the next batch of components. For those following along—or thinking about starting their own Amiga ITX Denise build—this is the kind of project where patience, spares, and a bit of improvisation go a long way.
Anyone interested can pick up their own Denise PCB from Tindie or Flamelily, and full details are on Enterlogic’s project page.
