"New" Amiga 3000....

[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?

[blanghorst]

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

I pulled my A2000 out of the garage last year and powered it up for the first time in probably 10 years and only the second time or so in the last 17 years. Unfortunately, it did not work due to battery corrosion.
 
Since it was a revision 4.x board, I decided to buy a revision 6.2 off of eBay and I also bought a 68030 accelerator and Microway flickerfixer while I was at it. Those were two other things I always wanted and couldn't afford as a college kid. It was lots of fun and I removed the battery and wired a new battery pack that is located on the front of the chassis and behind the faceplate to avoid this issue happening again. I had a lot of fun doing this refurb and once I got everything built, everyhing powered right up and the only issue I had was with my Kickstart ROM and the 68030 accelerator, which I resolved by buying another ROM.
 
I've still got some work to do on it, and at some point, I'll post another thread here for some suggestions. I'm really rusty on AmigaDOS and need some help troubleshooting my startup-sequence file. I added a SCSI ZIP drive since that was the cheapest way for me to easily transfer files between the Amiga and my PC (I had an old USB Zip 250 in my closet that I got for free).
 
I still have the revision 4.1 board and bought a new CPU socket for it, so as I get time, I may try to refurb the board and if successful, I might try building another A2000 piece-by-piece.

[blanghorst]

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!!!

Thanks for the accelerator recommendations.  I'm in this for the long haul I think, so I can take some time and wait for the right one to come along.  That, and my wife won't be happy if a bunch of Amiga stuff starts showing up suddenly!  :roflmao:  When I told her about the A3000, her eyes almost rolled out of their sockets.
 
I'm a little torn on upgrading the video to be honest.  I'm mainly a classic Amiga follower (I have little or no interest in anything post-Commodore) and prefer to stick with the regular chipsets whenever possible.

[matt3k]

Thanks for the accelerator recommendations.  I'm in this for the long haul I think, so I can take some time and wait for the right one to come along.  That, and my wife won't be happy if a bunch of Amiga stuff starts showing up suddenly!  :roflmao:  When I told her about the A3000, her eyes almost rolled out of their sockets.
 
I'm a little torn on upgrading the video to be honest.  I'm mainly a classic Amiga follower (I have little or no interest in anything post-Commodore) and prefer to stick with the regular chipsets whenever possible.

Wouldn't worry about the wife, buy her flowers, take her to dinner, and spend some nice time with her (which is all fun anyways) and your hobby becomes less of an issue.  Let's face it the Amiga is a great clean hobby, one of which I don't have much time for sadly.  But I enjoy my kids and family more, doesn't help I work much more now also (economy in the US still down, so have to work smarter/harder/longer).

Lastly, you may want to add a video card, since the 3 I mentioned make a tremendous difference in speed (I love ECS, but a video card is way faster) and on how pretty you can make the screen.  The biggest bonus is you can use modern paint functions and have a reasonable browsing experience etc. on your amiga.  The drivers are the biggest benefit, since chip ram is not an issue and you don't have to worry about what your running.  I'm almost a true purist most of the time, and my kids 3k doesn't have a video card and it is fun to use ECS.  My kids don't surf the web on it or view pictures, so it is just fine...

A few final recommendations, if you want MP3 playback go with a delfina plus or the delfina just lower.  These cards relieve the processor for playback and make multitasking real smooth.  Perform the 50MHz mod to your 68882.  Track down a 3 1/2 floppy disk cleaner, 3000 floppy drives are more temperamental that the other amiga drives.

My personal favorite NIC cards the Ariadne (not the Ariadne II) and the X-surf.  I know many prefer going the USB route for 100 MB, but honestly 10mb is plenty for me since I'm moving smaller files only and it is nice to fill up the zorro slots.

Have fun

[blanghorst]

The USB route brings up an interesting possibility.  Does anyone know if there are compatible wireless N USB adapters for the Amigas?
 
Also, do you guys think it is worth hooking up a Scanjet 5p?  To give some background, this Scanjet was my main scanner until I upgraded my second PC last year and the SCSI card I have has no Vista or above drivers, so I can't use it.  It was cheaper buying a new USB scanner for the PC than buying a compatible SCSI card, so that's what I did but I still have this Scanjet just sitting here.

[lost_loven]

So what about the Indivision ECS, I am thinking of getting that for my a3k. Since I am along the same lines as you Blanghorst. I like the classic ecs chip set and graphic card i don't think would get much use.

lost

[blanghorst]

So what does the Indivision ECS buy us over the onboard (Amber?) flickerfixer besides double monitor support?

[lost_loven]

For me I had some battery damage on the mobo and now and then i get screen jitters, so i am thinking that is the solution for me, but it adds more screen modes and yes double monitor support which i think is nice. 1024 x 768 would make a nice workbench I think.

lost

[mechy]

The USB route brings up an interesting possibility.  Does anyone know if there are compatible wireless N USB adapters for the Amigas?
 
Also, do you guys think it is worth hooking up a Scanjet 5p?  To give some background, this Scanjet was my main scanner until I upgraded my second PC last year and the SCSI card I have has no Vista or above drivers, so I can't use it.  It was cheaper buying a new USB scanner for the PC than buying a compatible SCSI card, so that's what I did but I still have this Scanjet just sitting here.

No wireless N adapters. but you could use a wireless bridge.

As for scsi scanners, check out Betascan on aminet and there are a set of HP drivers to go with it, should work fine.

mech

[Darrin]

No wireless N adapters. but you could use a wireless bridge.

mech

I got one of these from Walmart earlier this month:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Universal-Wi-Fi-Internet-Adapter/14550215

I bought it for my Blu-Ray player and it works perfectly and it should work on my Amiga too.

If you have encrypted your wireless network then you do need to attach it to a PC first to access the built-in menu, enter the passcode, check it connects and then you can simply attach it to any other wired device.  You can either power it with the supplied DC adapter or it also comes with a cable to draw power from any handy USB socket.

[blanghorst]

It has arrived!  I am shocked by how tiny it is.
 
The machine is in excellent condition and boots up very quickly. I think the first order of business will be putting a battery on board. I think I'm going to try to do it without removing the board from the case, because I'm pretty lazy.

[blanghorst]

I also like the classic Amiga 3000 look with the floppy in the middle (left) bay, so I'll need to move mine.

[blanghorst]

Are there any utilities I can run which would show me the revisions of various chips, or do I need to open it up and remove the drive tray and read the print on the various chips?

[AmiDude]

Are there any utilities I can run which would show me the revisions of various chips, or do I need to open it up and remove the drive tray and read the print on the various chips?

Open it up to see the revisions of the chips. You have to install a new battery anyway...

[blanghorst]

Open it up to see the revisions of the chips. You have to install a new battery anyway...

Do you think it is possible to install a new battery just by soldering to the top of the board?  I am not sure I want to disassemble the whole thing.   Now that I think about it, I think I just soldered the battery on the top of my A2000 board when I repaired it.

[stevee617]

Disassembling the board isn't as bad as you think. It's pretty straight forward. I think doing it the way you describe isn't the proper way to desolder the battery. The solder is resting on the pad on the underside of the motherboard.

My soldering skills suck since I haven't soldered in so long. I had someone else who had more experience doing that replace the battery on mine. If you have the skills and feel comfortable doing it that way, go for it. What's the worst thing that could happen?

I just don't think I would do it that way.