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Author Topic: n00b (well at least to Amiga)  (Read 1809 times)

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Offline mrfreshTopic starter

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n00b (well at least to Amiga)
« on: May 12, 2004, 12:57:46 AM »
I am an avid computer collector.  I primarily use OSX on the Mac Platform.  I build and repair PCs (Windows and some Linux) and have had an interest in Amiga since I was a kid.
I could never get my hands on one until today!

Happy to be here and hope these forums rock!  \m/
 

Offline cecilia

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Re: n00b (well at least to Amiga)
« Reply #1 on: May 12, 2004, 01:06:38 AM »
welcome, and which amiga do you have? :pint:  :banana:
the no CARB diet- no Cheney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld or Bush.
IFX CD Tutorial
 

Offline mrfreshTopic starter

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Re: n00b (well at least to Amiga)
« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2004, 01:09:50 AM »
Amiga 2000 HD with a Commodore 1084S monitor
 

Offline macto

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Re: n00b (well at least to Amiga)
« Reply #3 on: May 12, 2004, 01:26:16 AM »
Hello n00b!

Sounds like we have a bit in common, since I was recently given an A2000 too (and it was my first functional Amiga), have an interest in old computers, and use Mac OS X.  But the similarities end when you mention fixing Windows boxes.  Yuch!  ;-)

Do you have any other goodies hiding inside your Amiga?  I know the first thing I did was crack it open to drool all over it.  Which may explain some of the problems I'm having.  :-D

Anyhow, welcome to the club.  And don't mind all of the insane critters who claim the Amiga isn't dead.  My understanding is that we'll all be swayed to their side in short order.  Not that I would mind.  It is nice to have fun with computers again.
 

Offline mrfreshTopic starter

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Re: n00b (well at least to Amiga)
« Reply #4 on: May 12, 2004, 01:44:48 AM »
I didn't even notice where to plug things in.  I just started plugging away and found that the keyboard and mouse go in the front of the computer rather than the back.

I have gotten on the workbench

kickstart version 40.63
workbench version 40.42

assuming I have 100 MB storage (70M free and 30M in use)?

It has some old kiosk software from my church, and looks as though it was hooked up to a laserdisc.  Anyhow I can't find any other software (text edit or otherwise) besides utility stuff.  :-?
 

Offline macto

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Re: n00b (well at least to Amiga)
« Reply #5 on: May 12, 2004, 02:23:51 AM »
One of the menus will have an Execute option.  Select it.  Type newcli.  That should give you a shell.  Try typing memacs.  If it loads, you have a variation of microemacs.  Now quit.

Type 'dir', this will give you a listing of the files in the current directory.  Type in the name of a directory to change to it.  Typing "c:" will change to the commands directory.  Anything which comes before a colon is a device or an assign.  It acts a bit like a drive in other operating systems in that it serves as a root directory.  It also acts a bit like a ?PATH environment variable in Unix systems, in that you can define it yourself and you can combine paths.  Neat, eh?  Inside of drives or aliases, directories are separated by forward slashes (ie. '/').  Oh, and '/' has the same meaning as '..' in DOS and Unix.  So:

DH0:A/B is the file or directory B in the subdirectory A or the device or assign DH0: (which is a common name for hard drive devices).

If you are in DH0:A/B, then '/' would leave you in DH0:A and '//' would leave you in DH0:.

The problem with viewing things in the workbench is that the workbench only shows .info files by default.  You can view non-.info files as well, but I have found that you have to turn it on on a directory by directory basis.  Besides, there are a few really nice things about the shell.  :-D
 

Offline elendil

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Re: n00b (well at least to Amiga)
« Reply #6 on: May 12, 2004, 06:15:43 AM »
kickstart version 40.63
workbench version 40.42

---

Neat, that's 3.1 if I'm not mistaken. What a useful computer you seem to have gotten. Congratulations :)

Sincerely,

-Kenneth Straarup.

 

Offline mrfreshTopic starter

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Re: n00b (well at least to Amiga)
« Reply #7 on: May 12, 2004, 08:47:20 AM »
really?  Is 3.1 any good? The interface looks ancient ...
From what I read everyone else is on AmigaDOS 4?
I just wonder what I can do with this machine.  The guy who gave it to me was  raving about the capabilities of it.  I remembered them being powerful, but this thing is OLD!

The monitor is awesome, I have always liked the commodore monitors.  The ones I used in the past all had composite video, so I can connect other things to it as well... kinda nice...
 

Offline Brian

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Re: n00b (well at least to Amiga)
« Reply #8 on: May 12, 2004, 09:02:38 AM »
Well, OS4 isn't on the market quite yet though it will be soon. The good thing about ROM3.1 is that it's the latest ROM and what is needed in order to install all later AmigaOS such as OS3.5 and OS3.9.

The OS3.1 interface do look ancient but it works and runs perfectly even on an old 7Mhz CPU. ;)

Offline mrfreshTopic starter

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Re: n00b (well at least to Amiga)
« Reply #9 on: May 12, 2004, 09:23:54 AM »
how can I know what is the latest OS I can run on this machine?
 

Offline PMC

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Re: n00b (well at least to Amiga)
« Reply #10 on: May 12, 2004, 10:16:45 AM »
Quote

mrfresh wrote:
how can I know what is the latest OS I can run on this machine?


If you've checked the ROMs and they're labelled 40.xx then you're using V3.1 as you've guessed.  Yes the user interface is a little on the "clunky" side, but there are several tools to give it a facelift.

There were two subsequent OS releases, 3.5 in 1999 and 3.9 in 2000.  Both need 3.1 ROMs to work and will run on any Amiga provided there's adequate expanded (Fast) RAM and a CR ROM drive.  I think you'll need somewhere in the region of 6MB to run either of these OS's.  

OS4.0 is PPC only and will be released "when it's ready".  

:-D
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Offline Holley

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Re: n00b (well at least to Amiga)
« Reply #11 on: May 12, 2004, 10:57:47 AM »
ok, how many PC fixers are on here now? (me too ;-))

Amigas are more efficient, and easier to get to grips with than most any other machine, but they're also totally different!  Learning how to do stuff on them is fun compared to Windows ...
\\"Sex, drugs and rock n\\\' roll are very good for you\\" - Ian Dury