"New" Amiga 3000....

[blanghorst]

Don't worry guys, I have no intention of cutting the front of the case.  I love the A3000's look and don't plan on doing anything to deface it.  

[blanghorst]

I agree, don't cut your case! You can mount the SCSI card reader internally in the HD spot, although you wont be able to install a floppy drive in the location just forward of the HD mount.
 
I have been working on my A3K, although this is not its permanent spot, you can see the SCSI card reader in this photo. They work very well and it is very fast on a stock 3000.

Where is a good source for the card reader?

[mfilos]

http://a4000t.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_79&products_id=180

[blanghorst]

http://a4000t.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_79&products_id=180

Thanks!
 
So, if I bought one of these and decided to mount it internally with a CF card, would the Amiga treat it like a hard drive or would I need to do a bunch of extra configuration to get it working as such?   Also, I can research this, but maybe you guys know -- what is the max hard drive size that the A3000's SCSI controller supports?

[stevee617]

Thanks!
 
So, if I bought one of these and decided to mount it internally with a CF card, would the Amiga treat it like a hard drive or would I need to do a bunch of extra configuration to get it working as such?   Also, I can research this, but maybe you guys know -- what is the max hard drive size that the A3000's SCSI controller supports?

You just plug it in and go. You can set up the computer to used each one of those slots as LUNs. It's a great piece of hardware!!

[blanghorst]

You just plug it in and go. You can set up the computer to used each one of those slots as LUNs. It's a great piece of hardware!!

That sounds like it might be a good option.  I believe I have a spare 1 GB CF card in one of my camera cases and maybe I should consider copying the hard drive contents over to it and making that the new "hard drive."   I'm just a little weary of using nearly 20 year-old hard drives on a regular basis.  My A2000 has a 52 MB Quantum from 1992 that still works like a charm, but I'm a little nervous and need to invest the time to see what it would take to copy it over to a bootable ZIP disk or something like that.

[mechy]

Nooooooooooooooh! Don't do a "front case cutting" job! Keep the nice A3000 intact!
It's better to use a Buddha-Flash IDE controller or Tandem + Rear Mount CF-IDE adapter like this:

A agree don't chop it up!  just use a external scsi case with it, the 3000 has a db25 on the back for external scsi devs.

mech

[Darrin]

If the God Lord didn't mean us to butcher computer cases then he wouldn't have invented the Dremel.  :p

[blanghorst]

If the God Lord didn't mean us to butcher computer cases then he wouldn't have invested the Dremel. :p

Well if it makes you feel better, someone did take a dremel to the top slot in the back of the chassis on the A3000 I bought.

[Rodomoc]

So, after all these years, I'm finally the owner of an Amiga 3000 that I bought from someone on Amibay!

Congratulations on your A3000 purchase. I have had one for a long time now and can make a few comments....
 
Mine is 16mhz version of the 68030. And has the upside down kickstart mounting. It has been upgraded with A3640 V3.1 (manufactured by post Commodore company; Amiga Technologies. So this is 68040 25mhz w/ integral FPU. Card runs perfectly and a great performance added for reasonable price. The only real complaint I have for it is its physical mounting. As in it being just underneath the drive tray. I have a custom heat sink w/ fan to keep things cool. My machine still only 2mb chip / 16mb motherboard fast. Wish I had more. ZoRAM 128MB or 256MB are available. I do not have this though. As I understand it, speed will be limited due to Zorro Bus and not fast like what some accelerators have. I updated the main chipset to latest revision chips. It was a matter of principal I guess. I am not Amiga savy enough to explain any benefits to doing this. I run a GVP Spectrum 24/28 video card. RTG video makes a great experience in my opinion. I also have an XSurf network card. But have yet to hook it up to internet. So for now I just use it for its clockport; Subway USB. USB on an Amiga is awesome. Works like a charm for thumb drives. So for me it is my primary tool for transferring files from the outside world into this Amiga. The best USB solution is the Deneb card though, much faster. I upgraded to a 1.76MB floppy drive as a matter of principal. I hate floppies and only used for software install of my various hardware upgrades. I did run an Elbox FastATA IDE controller for a while. It ran with no issues. I have an external drive box that houses a cd/rw drive. Lately I have just been running a hard drive only from original SCSI, which works just fine of course. For the OS, I use a nearly stock 3.9, I have been meaning to get in there and massively update/patch it but have not had the time.
 
The 3000 is a great machine in my opinion. Sure it is not AGA but for my own uses, RTG gets me by just fine. As far as I know, the Indivision ECS could be added to this machine. I guess video upgrades are a matter of individual choice. I keep this thing running but do admit to exploring other Amiga alternatives. I think if I ever bought another real Amiga (probably will never do) it might be an A1200 which has AGA and very good upgrade hardware support.
 
Enjoy your 3000!

[blanghorst]

Congratulations on your A3000 purchase. I have had one for a long time now and can make a few comments....
 
Mine is 16mhz version of the 68030. And has the upside down kickstart mounting. It has been upgraded with A3640 V3.1 (manufactured by post Commodore company; Amiga Technologies. So this is 68040 25mhz w/ integral FPU. Card runs perfectly and a great performance added for reasonable price. The only real complaint I have for it is its physical mounting. As in it being just underneath the drive tray. I have a custom heat sink w/ fan to keep things cool. My machine still only 2mb chip / 16mb motherboard fast. Wish I had more. ZoRAM 128MB or 256MB are available. I do not have this though. As I understand it, speed will be limited due to Zorro Bus and not fast like what some accelerators have. I updated the main chipset to latest revision chips. It was a matter of principal I guess. I am not Amiga savy enough to explain any benefits to doing this. I run a GVP Spectrum 24/28 video card. RTG video makes a great experience in my opinion. I also have an XSurf network card. But have yet to hook it up to internet. So for now I just use it for its clockport; Subway USB. USB on an Amiga is awesome. Works like a charm for thumb drives. So for me it is my primary tool for transferring files from the outside world into this Amiga. The best USB solution is the Deneb card though, much faster. I upgraded to a 1.76MB floppy drive as a matter of principal. I hate floppies and only used for software install of my various hardware upgrades. I did run an Elbox FastATA IDE controller for a while. It ran with no issues. I have an external drive box that houses a cd/rw drive. Lately I have just been running a hard drive only from original SCSI, which works just fine of course. For the OS, I use a nearly stock 3.9, I have been meaning to get in there and massively update/patch it but have not had the time.
 
The 3000 is a great machine in my opinion. Sure it is not AGA but for my own uses, RTG gets me by just fine. As far as I know, the Indivision ECS could be added to this machine. I guess video upgrades are a matter of individual choice. I keep this thing running but do admit to exploring other Amiga alternatives. I think if I ever bought another real Amiga (probably will never do) it might be an A1200 which has AGA and very good upgrade hardware support.
 
Enjoy your 3000!

Hey, thanks for your feedback.  I appreciate it.
 
I just love the old hardware.  As I keep telling people on other forums I post on, computers from the 80s just had personality that the machines today don't seem to possess.  I've loved the A3000 ever since it was released in 1990 but I was in college then and couldn't afford one, so I'd go to the local Amiga store and play with it as much as I could.
 
Which brings me to a funny story.  I'd often go to this store and play on the A3000.  One time, I went in and something was wrong with it (don't recall what it was now).  At any rate, the guy at the store couldn't fix it so I looked at it and fixed it (I was much more Amiga savy back then).  He actually said to me "You know, I should charge you for coming in here and playing with the Amiga 3000 so much."  I looked at him and said "Yeah, and I should charge you for the tech support I just provided."  He never said another word.  :laughing:

[Motormouth]

If you plan to use your scsi with several devices get a 00-08 wd scsi chip look at the following thread:

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=57738

[Kremlar]

I have my CF card reader mounted in the right-hand floppy bay.  I used Velcro to mount it to the plate which mounts to the case.  Fits great, and no modifications to the case.

I can keep the plastic drive bay cover in place if I plug the CF card direct into the card reader.  If you want to use the PCMCIA converter you can actually remove the platic cover and use it through the floppy disk drive opening!

Definitely get it from Mechy in the link posted above.  He's the man!

He also sells the updated SCSI chip.

[matt3k]

So, after all these years, I'm finally the owner of an Amiga 3000 that I bought from someone on Amibay! It should be here in the next few days. I'm pretty pumped -- I was a college kid when the 3000 was released and couldn't afford one, so I had to make due with my Amiga 2000 (which you guys helped me refurb and upgrade last year).
 
It already has 3.1 ROMs, 18 MB of RAM, and a 500 MB SCSI hard drive. Any hints/tips/recommendations on what to look for when I receive it? I'd like to put a 68040 or above accelerator in it at some point, but I've read some confusing things about which chip revisions to look for, which revisions of accelerators to look for (esp. with the A3640), and stuff like that. Any tips you guys can give me will be appreciated.
 
Oh, and I have an old Scanjet 5P that I plan to hook to it. I assume Aminet would have drivers?

Congrats!!!  This is by far my favorite Amiga and I know you will have lots of fun with it.

I would only purchase either a Warp Engine 3040 or a Cyberstorm MKIII.  Do it right or don't do it at all, this will take more time and cost more money but, you will get the absolute best usability, and overall best performance.   Having the Ram, SCSI, and processor one the same bus really makes a huge difference.  Unless your ray tracing or need very heavy math, the 68040 (at 40MHz) is perfect and you won't notice much of a difference between an 060. The 3640 is cheap, but in the end if you really want to spend lots of time and enjoy the 3k, I would go with my recommendations.  

Same for the video, the 3 I would only choose: Picasso IV, Retina BLT Z3, or a Cybervision 64.  The other ones either have driver issues, too little of memory, or just plain slow.

If you can find a Buster 11, would put one in.  They are easier to come by that the ramsey/dmac pair.  With the cards I recommended, I don't remember any issues with older chips and accelerators.

I still use my 3000 with my Warp Engine and Retina Z3, and for most everything it is perfectly usable and still very fast.  


Enjoy!!!

[touringsedan]

Congrats! My A3000/16 purchase was also my favorite and like you I couldn't afford one when they were released, but spent lots of time dreaming of one and visiting my local Amiga dealer.

Recently acquired one and installed Mechy's SCSI reader, WD SCSI chip update and 16MB of FAST ZIP, ALL worked amazingly well!

Also found a affordable A3640 V3.2 that worked without incident in A3000 as well, but would prefer to complete the upgrade with a Cyberstorm MKIII anything.

I also hunted for the Ariadne I or II network card and transfer files from my Mac desktop easily and/or download on the Amiga directly.

Enjoy! I am now fully restoring an A2000 and on the prowl for a Tekmagic/GVP 68060 for the A2000.. Giggidy.

-Allen

[blanghorst]

So guys, this WD SCSI chip update -- which version should I be looking for and what issues does it fix?  For all I know, this box might have the updated chip, so I'll need to know what version to look for when I open it up.
 
Also, same question applies to the Buster 11 -- what does it fix and what is the version I should be looking for on the chip to tell if I already have it or not?