Amiga setup "woes," possible change-up ahead...

[mechy]

Would like to agree about the 4000 being a better option over the 1200. But cost wise a 4000 is a lot more expensive.

I've yet to find a 4000 machine that was a good price, locally they're very rare.

1200 is usually around $80-$150 NZD
4000 is usually around $500 + NZD

I've always wanted a 4000 but 1200's are easy to get a hold of, and addon cards are usually cheaper and easier to find too.

1200 is not cheaper, another misconception.. you didn't do a fair comparison. With the stock 4000 you get a 040/25,good power supply,expansion bus,room for 16mb ram,place for a cdrom,place for a second floppy or card reader.

add those upgrades to a 1200 and you have probabaly equalled the price or surpassed it.Remember the 1200 is 020EC,2mb ram,bad psu,no easy external expansions,no expansion bus for slots unless you tower it and its still not zorro3.The pcmcia is the only big +.

sorry to hijacking your thread Blakespot!

[danbeaver]

I've been an owner of Amigas since 1986 and just recently built out a couple of A3000's; the A4000Ts I own are fast, stable, expandable and were built to be that way. The A500, A600, and A1200 were built with a trap door to add memory and a clock; everything else is kludge. I love my A4000's and can't wait to sell off my other machines. If you want a stable gaming machine then get an A2000, pop in a few items like an SCSI controller, one of Mech's card readers, and run the 4 GBs of WHDLoad ECS games out there. There are only around 100 AGA games and most I've checked have ECS counterparts.  

[Drummerboy]

I have say, thats room its most better i see in years.

Congratulations, wherever be the owner...

[klx300r]

.. And how bad _are_ the caps in the A4000? I've got a room full of computers...

http://www.bytecellar.com/photo_pano.html

...and I've never, ever had a caps issue in any of them.
bp

Wow I strongly suggest you open up each case (well at least save the Amiga's :-) & examine each cap for leakage right away.

I lost my A1200 IDE port last year because a cap right next to it slowly leaked and destroyed a bunch of traces beneath it ! It took a while to get her sorted out so do yourself a favour and replace them caps now & save yourself alot of headaches

[blakespot]

Wow I strongly suggest you open up each case (well at least save the Amiga's :-) & examine each cap for leakage right away.

I lost my A1200 IDE port last year because a cap right next to it slowly leaked and destroyed a bunch of traces beneath it ! It took a while to get her sorted out so do yourself a favour and replace them caps now & save yourself alot of headaches

I just opened my Amiga 1000. No leaky caps. It's one of the oldest machines here. Why do I not have caps problems? Is everyone else?



bp

[mbrantley]

I also have a bunch of computers
 of various vintage -- Amigas being my favorite. Other than leaky, corrosive barrel-style batteries on every single machine that had those (get them out of there now!), I have had leaking caps on three machines. Two were AGA-era Amiga and one is a Mac SE/30.

My original Amiga 1200 (purchased new in February 1993) lost its sound because of leaking caps. At the time AmigaKit was selling replacement motherboards so that was the easiest fix. A1200 with second motherboard is still running stong.

My Amiga 4000 desktop (purchased used a few years ago) had bad battery damage but it was leaking caps that eventually disabled the motherboard. I bought a replacement used motherboard from an A.org user and it too had similar damage from leaking caps. It looked a little better, so I sent it to the man in France for some solder surgery. It's working just fine now, but not without some serious money being thrown at getting it going again.

The SE/30 stopped booting but I cleaned up the cap leakage as best I can. Still boots, but sound is very diminished. I have a kit of replacement caps, but they are too tiny for my terrible soldering skills.

My ECS and OCS-era Amigas have never had leaking cap problems -- just batteries. But with AGA Amigas, I'd keep an eye on those motherboards.

For Blake's purposes, I think an Amiga 1200 in the wedge with a new 030 accelerator and Indivision for a nice WHDLoad machine is a good idea. Or reduce the A2000 expansions to the point where it is a reliable, nice WHDLoad machine. AmigaKit's PCMCI network card offerings will get you online for IRC.... or just stick to the Sam for that. (I have a Sam440 and an X1000 and love both dearly.)

My own current classic Amiga project is a 2000/060 that has a MegaChip, Indivision ECS, Deneb (machine boots from USB sticks) and Video Toaster and Flyer cards. It has turned into a FrankenAmiga for sure, but I am having fun playing with the Flyer for edititing standard-def video footage.

I am on IRC with my A1200 right now, and I like to keep that machine simple. I do not consider it a FrankenAmiga. But I like both approaches.

[klx300r]

I just opened my Amiga 1000. No leaky caps. It's one of the oldest machines here. Why do I not have caps problems? Is everyone else?
bp

ah but you are talking about the best built Amiga ever IMHO in the A1000. Build quality and parts went downhill from there.

FWIW, my A1000 has a build date of early 85 and the MB and PSU still look like brand new, now of course that doesn't mean that stuff won't start failing after all this time but my next project is replacing all the caps in my A1000 after my experience with my A1200 (build date 1992)

[motrucker]

I have had Amigas since about 1986, and never had a cap problem either.
These days, for a classic Amiga I tend to agree that the A4000T is the best choice if you can find one for a decent price. Regular A4000 next best.

[blakespot]

Nice systems, and thanks for the opinions.

I am not sure what to do. I have this A2000 060 with 128MB FAST RAM, ASDG Dual Serial Card, Picasso 2, Indivision ECS, and HxC2001 installed. But...it feels too "much" for what I want, what I use. My A1200 '060 tower is unstable and I am not using it at all right now.

I could sell both '060 accelerators and then the A2000 in a reduced config and fund a clean A1200 wedge with Indivision AGA mk II, ACA 1231 (030 42MHz, 64MB FAST), and 4GB CF IDE. Might be better for my WHDLoad purposes (and AGA demos). I'd also have A1000 and Sam 440ep Flex.

Decisions....



bp

[Lurch]

1200 is not cheaper, another misconception.. you didn't do a fair comparison. With the stock 4000 you get a 040/25,good power supply,expansion bus,room for 16mb ram,place for a cdrom,place for a second floppy or card reader.

add those upgrades to a 1200 and you have probabaly equalled the price or surpassed it.Remember the 1200 is 020EC,2mb ram,bad psu,no easy external expansions,no expansion bus for slots unless you tower it and its still not zorro3.The pcmcia is the only big +.

sorry to hijacking your thread Blakespot!

Try finding one in New Zealand ;-)

[TheBilgeRat]

I have caps issues in my A4000, in the audio section.  I have a bag of cosmos caps waiting to get on her, but I don't have the desoldering station or the patience to do it yet.

[orcish75]

.. And how bad _are_ the caps in the A4000? I've got a room full of computers...

http://www.bytecellar.com/photo_pano.html

...and I've never, ever had a caps issue in any of them.
bp

WOW! Impressive Mancave! :biglaugh:

Are my eyes deceiving me or is there some witchcraft at play? I see your A2000 is running Gauntlet 1. Wasn't it only released on the ST? (16bit)

Cheers

[blakespot]

WOW! Impressive Mancave! :biglaugh:

Are my eyes deceiving me or is there some witchcraft at play? I see your A2000 is running Gauntlet 1. Wasn't it only released on the ST? (16bit)

Cheers

No magic...

http://www.lemonamiga.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=93233&sid=14f226f3153edbc8781ad5094ec05b30

:-)



bp

[klx300r]

No magic...

http://www.lemonamiga.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=93233&sid=14f226f3153edbc8781ad5094ec05b30

:-)

bp

thanks for the link! played those 3 classics to death on my 64 so looking forward to playing on my A1000, damn i really have to visit good ol lemonamiga more often:)

[Damion]

In general, the capacitor issue refers to the radial SMD caps - A1200, A4000, A600, CD32, and Zorro cards that have them. The thru-hole caps in the older models were usually of decent quality and aren't as much of a concern (yet). I only replace the latter in PSUs.

[Ilwrath]

I had always heard that the A1200 is a more stable, compatible machine. That the extra hardware in the A4000 pushes it further afield from the center of compatibility.

Is that not the case?

Now, back in the day, when the machines were new, I'd say the A4000 was by far the more stable of the machines.  I owned an A1200 with expansions and an A4000/040 (later upgraded to 060), and my A4000 spanked my A1200 in so far as stability.  The 4000 was a rock-solid bulldog that could run for days (or weeks) on end without a reboot.  The 1200 might get a couple hours, if you were lucky.

And how bad _are_ the caps in the A4000? I've got a room full of computers...

Terrible.  The only two Amigas I've had cap problems on were both A4000s.  The 4000's also have the self-destructing SIMM sockets.  (The only broken SIMM sockets I've seen [besides extreme neglect/impact/stupidity cases] have also been on A4000s.  

Oddly enough I've never had the cap problems on my various 1200s, though several, including my current model have been plagued with the vertical flash syndrome.

Personally, I got rid of my big-box Amigas a few years ago, and I can't really say I miss the old hassles.  Priorities change, and I'm happier with my 1200 with an 030 in the stock desktop wedge, nowadays.  (Ironically, it's very similar to what my 1200 started out as back in the day, before I expanded it and sold the lot and bought the 4000.)