"New" Amiga 3000....

[blanghorst]

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?

[Darrin]

#1.  Remove the battery.

#2.  Remove the battery.

#3.  Remove the battery.

#4.  Add a Deneb (or Subway via a IDE adapter with a clockport) for USB and DVD ROM.  Plus a Zorro graphics card.



Depending on how many floppy drives you have fitted, Mechy sells a nice SCSI multi-card reader that you could install (with a bit of front case cutting) to mach transferring files between your PC/MAC and the Amiga easy via SD/CF Card.

[blanghorst]

Yeah, forgot to say -- the battery has been removed as well.

[bbond007]

#4.  Add a Deneb (or Subway via a IDE adapter with a clockport) for USB, RTG and DVD ROM.

there is a RTG driver for USB? You mean video? I want to try it...

Also, subway is pretty slow for RTG. Is it faster when connected to a clockport adapter vs a real A1200 clockport?


thanks

[blanghorst]

Right now, I have a SCSI Zip drive on my A2000 and a USB one on my PC to transfer files.  Unfortunately I haven't spent much time on my A2000 and there are definitely a few things I need to do, such as work on my startup configuration (not quite working the way it was intended) and copying the drive to a Zip disk.  I just don't remember all the nuances of AmigaDOS so I probably should do a refresher since I've been in the PC world almost exclusively since 1994.

[chfriend]

Nuance tip #1:  *.* == #? in AmigaDOS

[bbond007]

Nuance tip #1:  *.* == #? in AmigaDOS

i keep thinking i'm in unix and type "ls"

http://aminet.net/package/util/sys/ls-4.7LJR

[blanghorst]

I should probably post my A2000's startup sequence in another thread and see why it isn't working as it should.   I've got both 1.3 and 2.04 ROMs installed and the startup sequence is supposed to detect which ROM is active and then boot into the proper OS, but it doesn't seem to work.
 
Fortunately, I won't have that issue with this 3000 because I think it is just running 3.1.  Speaking of which, does anyone have suggestions on where to buy 3.1 source disks?

[bbond007]

I should probably post my A2000's startup sequence in another thread and see why it isn't working as it should.   I've got both 1.3 and 2.04 ROMs installed and the startup sequence is supposed to detect which ROM is active and then boot into the proper OS, but it doesn't seem to work.
 
Fortunately, I won't have that issue with this 3000 because I think it is just running 3.1.  Speaking of which, does anyone have suggestions on where to buy 3.1 source disks?

If you want physical disks I'd try amigakit although i don't see them listed you might want to ask...

If you just want a legit license then AmigaForever is your best bet. It comes with ADFs.

[Darrin]

there is a RTG driver for USB? You mean video? I want to try it...

Also, subway is pretty slow for RTG. Is it faster when connected to a clockport adapter vs a real A1200 clockport?


thanks

Sorry, the RTG was supposed to be seperate from the USB (something like a Cybervision64).  As far as I'm aware there is no USB RTG solution in the works.  Chris Hodge actually looked at drivers for a PC USB-Graphics card dongle in a thread on this board, but it wasn't doable (can't recall if it was a lack of documentation or a hardware issue).

[Darrin]

Also, subway is pretty slow for RTG. Is it faster when connected to a clockport adapter vs a real A1200 clockport?

I remember doing RTG over a serial null modem cable with my A3000 and my A1200 via Siamese, sending my output to an old Packard Bell 120MHz Pentium.  I got a nice 16bit 1024x768 display for Workbench.  I never got the ethernet connection working (didn't have a network card in my miggies back then).  I keep meaning to try it with the Minimig.  Image the Minimig v1.1 using a i7 PC as a graphics card.  

Somehow I doubt Siamese will work on Windows7, but it might work on a virtual XP machine running on Windows 7.

[AmiDude]

... Mechy sells a nice SCSI multi-card reader that you could install (with a bit of front case cutting) to mach transferring files between your PC/MAC and the Amiga easy via SD/CF Card.

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:

[stevee617]

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:

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.

[Darrin]

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.

That's the way I'd mount it, but my A3000 has a molded front that only has a space for the floppy to go through a slot and into the bare drive(s) behind.  It doesn't have pop-out plates like the A2000 and A4000 so to access all of the card slots you would need to cut a window in the plastic.

I hate the A3000 case with a passion.  Badly thought out for future expansion, it should never have left the drawing board.

If a certain company who shall remain nameless really wanted to make "Amiga" cases then they should produce a replacement A3000 desktop case with a bit more space and some extra drive bays.  If you could it a Mediator A3000D into it then all the better.

[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.