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Offline ZortBTopic starter

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Re-building an Amiga.
« on: January 15, 2011, 11:16:28 PM »
Hi guys, Went through the attic the other day and dug out all my old amiga kit. Its been up there for about 9 - 10 years and I suddenly got the urge to get it going again. The problem is im missing some bits and havent got the manuals for the rest.
 
The kit i've got is as follows:
-Amiga 1200 mobo in bottom of case (no top, keyboard, FDD and drive lights). 3.1 roms.
-Amiga Tower. If I remember from Eyetech. (Thats why the bits above are missing).
-Internal flicker fixer (Scan magic?)
-Elbox PCkey 1200 keyboard adapter.
-Hypercom High speed serial device.
-A couple of external FDDs in the tower.
-BVision PPC GFX Card (Fried the accelerator many moons ago. I still feel the pain. Ouch!!!)
 
I know i've got to buy some bits to get it going again, just wanted to ask some questions as i'm rusty as hell.
 
- If i get a long IDE cable can i run a cd rom and a HDD of the internal IDE connector?
- Seem to think i need the leds attached to for the amiga to boot, so I need to buy them? Can't remember where from but it sticks in my mind.
-Can I connect directly to an lcd monitor from the vga port on the flicker fixer?
- Are there any obvious do's and dont's i need to observe?
-Is there anywhere i can get the manuals/software for the kit I've got?
 
I apologise if theres already a thread with this info, had a quick look, If so can you point me in the right direction.
 
Thanks.
 

Offline fitzsteve

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Re: Re-building an Amiga.
« Reply #1 on: January 15, 2011, 11:29:09 PM »
Hi There!

Sounds like you have most of the bits to get going on this project, there is one important thing missing though and thats the Accelerator card.

If you want to use the BVision you'll need a Blizzard PPC, although I'm sure you are aware of that.  If you don't want to go to the expense of getting another one (they fetch silly money these days) then you could always sell the BVision and buy another Accelerator like an 030/040 board.

I'm guessing your case has LED's on it, Amigakit sell a simple adapter to wire these to:

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=718

Although not essential for the Amiga to boot they will give you an idea if anything is wrong.

You can hook up a HDD & CDROM to the the internal IDE but if you do I'd suggest a 4Way Buffered IDE device.

The DCE Scan/Flicker Magic you have will let you hook up and LCD Monitor but the picture isn't that great, they are much better solution if you use a CRT Monitor.  With LCD's you'll get in most cases faint vertical lines.

Other then that it sounds like you're good to go!

Best of luck with the project.

Steve.
 

Offline ZortBTopic starter

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Re: Re-building an Amiga.
« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2011, 12:43:20 AM »
Quote from: fitzsteve;606938
Hi There!
 
Sounds like you have most of the bits to get going on this project, there is one important thing missing though and thats the Accelerator card.
 
If you want to use the BVision you'll need a Blizzard PPC, although I'm sure you are aware of that. If you don't want to go to the expense of getting another one (they fetch silly money these days) then you could always sell the BVision and buy another Accelerator like an 030/040 board.
 
I'm guessing your case has LED's on it, Amigakit sell a simple adapter to wire these to:
 
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=718
 
Although not essential for the Amiga to boot they will give you an idea if anything is wrong.
 
You can hook up a HDD & CDROM to the the internal IDE but if you do I'd suggest a 4Way Buffered IDE device.
 
The DCE Scan/Flicker Magic you have will let you hook up and LCD Monitor but the picture isn't that great, they are much better solution if you use a CRT Monitor. With LCD's you'll get in most cases faint vertical lines.
 
Other then that it sounds like you're good to go!
 
Best of luck with the project.
 
Steve.
Not bothered about the Accelerator. Have been looking on ebay. OUCH!!!. Any Ideas what the gfx card is worth? Please, no "lets take advantage of the noob" answers.:)
 

Offline Karlos

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Re: Re-building an Amiga.
« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2011, 12:53:40 AM »
Cards like the BVisionPPC can fetch a decent price, simply because they are rare nowadays.

Man, Franko chose a bad moment to leave, he was allegedly looking for one of these puppies for ages...
int p; // A
 

Offline ddniUK

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Re: Re-building an Amiga.
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2011, 12:58:45 AM »
BVision PPC? Have seen recent ones sell for upto £100.
 

Offline fitzsteve

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Re: Re-building an Amiga.
« Reply #5 on: January 16, 2011, 11:34:18 AM »
Quote from: ddniUK;606955
BVision PPC? Have seen recent ones sell for upto £100.


Yep thats about right IMHO, there are a couple of guys EAB and Amibay looking for one...

Should buy you a nice entry level accelerator otherwise you're going to have a standard 2mb A1200 in a Tower and really that wont be much fun unless you intend to play games mostly from floppy's.

For £85 you can buy a brand new ACA1230/28 from Amigakit or on the used market you should be able to bag yourself a Blizzard 1230 or similar.

All the best.

Steve.
 

Offline ZortBTopic starter

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Re: Re-building an Amiga.
« Reply #6 on: January 16, 2011, 04:12:50 PM »
Thanks guys, its give me a few ideas. Got me thinking back to the good old days. Will look into an accelerator.
 
Dont want to go over the top straight away. Did that 1st time round. It was expensive at th time( 030, then 060, then PPC), didnt think it would be now. Though it just goes to show.