Where to now?

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Hi everyone!

I've largely been absent from Amiga matters for a few years now (only a few!), and I've just recently gotten back on board.  I was SUPER into it for a while, and I feel like I've forgotten everything!!  

Anyway, to cut a long story short, while I was cleaning, I found a box full of gear that I received from a generous benefactor who was leaving the Amiga scene a while back, and I guess this thread is all about where to go.

So basically, I was born in 84, so I knew the Amiga as a gaming machine, not as a productivity machine.  WHDLoad is my best friend, and my A600 (A620/Indi ECS) is a wonderful machine for that purpose.  I'm a musician, and I've always kinda wanted to get into that side of Amiga productivity.  Anyway, I'm after advice!!

I found the following:
- A couple of A1200s (in pretty good nick - one with a missing keyboard - one with 3.0 roms and one with 3.1)
- A Blizzard 1260 with the SCSI kit
- Mediator SX
- Subway USB
- A bunch of useful PCI cards (Ethernet, SB, Voodoo etc)
- Viper 1230 Mk II
- 28mhz 020 + 6mb accelerator.

So I guess my question is - given that my experience with the Amiga as a productivity platform is limited, what can I gain from going down the Mediator/RTG path?  I guess we have multiple Amigas for different reasons, right?  A WHDLoad machine and a productivity machine etc.  Does anyone have advice on how the Amiga might be useful for current music production? (I'm classically trained - Sibelius is my scene, not GarageBand)

Where I feel like I SHOULD be going based on what I've read, is throwing the 030 in one 1200, along with a CF card and an Indi AGA or something similar - and then towering the other with the 1260 and Mediator.  RTG does not pass through games, right?  I would need another monitor?

Thanks so much for any advice.  I feel like I need help to get the most out of this gear that I'm really lucky to have - so if you've got any thoughts, I'd love to hear them!

[Rob]

Hi everyone!

I've largely been absent from Amiga matters for a few years now (only a few!), and I've just recently gotten back on board.  I was SUPER into it for a while, and I feel like I've forgotten everything!!  

Anyway, to cut a long story short, while I was cleaning, I found a box full of gear that I received from a generous benefactor who was leaving the Amiga scene a while back, and I guess this thread is all about where to go.

So basically, I was born in 84, so I knew the Amiga as a gaming machine, not as a productivity machine.  WHDLoad is my best friend, and my A600 (A620/Indi ECS) is a wonderful machine for that purpose.  I'm a musician, and I've always kinda wanted to get into that side of Amiga productivity.  Anyway, I'm after advice!!

I found the following:
- A couple of A1200s (in pretty good nick - one with a missing keyboard - one with 3.0 roms and one with 3.1)
- A Blizzard 1260 with the SCSI kit
- Mediator SX
- Subway USB
- A bunch of useful PCI cards (Ethernet, SB, Voodoo etc)
- Viper 1230 Mk II
- 28mhz 020 + 6mb accelerator.

So I guess my question is - given that my experience with the Amiga as a productivity platform is limited, what can I gain from going down the Mediator/RTG path?  I guess we have multiple Amigas for different reasons, right?  A WHDLoad machine and a productivity machine etc.  Does anyone have advice on how the Amiga might be useful for current music production? (I'm classically trained - Sibelius is my scene, not GarageBand)

Where I feel like I SHOULD be going based on what I've read, is throwing the 030 in one 1200, along with a CF card and an Indi AGA or something similar - and then towering the other with the 1260 and Mediator.  RTG does not pass through games, right?  I would need another monitor?

Thanks so much for any advice.  I feel like I need help to get the most out of this gear that I'm really lucky to have - so if you've got any thoughts, I'd love to hear them!

Going the RTG path via the Mediator is a good option since you already have the hardware.  Workbench and system friendly apps benefit greatly from the higher resolutions and colour depths available and the speed is so much faster than any AGA mode can provide.

Games and other hardware hitting software cannot be passed through an RTG card but since you already know about the Indivision then you can have that connected to a DVI input and and the Voodoo the VGA.  It can be annoying if you have to switch inputs via a menu option though.

When I had my 060 based A1200 with mediator I found most games ran via WHDload so building up a an 030 based system just for games is not really necessary.  Some of the games, flight sims etc, will actually have better frame rates on the 060 too.