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Offline AmigaBruno

Re: stop by the Amiga lounge
« on: August 21, 2014, 06:21:26 PM »
That's a very interesting site! I've been reading your blogs about building or restoring A2000s as well as the other models. Unfortunately, almost all of your stock is NTSC, but I'm in the UK. I do own a 1084D monitor, which I assume is compatible if I connect an NTSC Amiga via the RGBi or composite ports. Can anyone confirm this? The problem is that the vertical resolution would only be 200 or 400 instead of 256 or 512. The monitor controls allow NTSC type games screens to be adjusted to fill the screen, though.

Another issue is that the graphics chip in my PAL Amiga A1200 can be switched between PAL and NTSC. Don't NTSC A1200s and A4000s also have this facility? Can their graphics chips be exchanged for the PAL equivalents?

As for the power supply, I seem to remember reading something about you exchanging a power supply if someone outside North America won or bought one of your Amigas. Was this just because of the weight, or is the new power supply 220-240V 50Hz?  

Years ago I really wanted an A2000 because of its expansion slots, but I'm worried now that I may just be playing with old Amigas in the same way my Dad played with old bangers (i.e. used, broken down cars). I doubt I would ever be able to sit in a room with an A2000 with someone else who also had an A2000 there.

As for how to get the money together to buy an Amiga from the Amiga Lounge, I thoroughly recommend the classic Amiga software Personal Finance Manager to plan your spending. Other tricks could be to open a savings account which doesn't allow access to your money at all without at least 7 days' or even 28 days' notice, or if you're outside Canada you could change some of your money into Canadian Dollars, or some other currency which you can't spend locally, such as Euros or US Dollars. Another idea which Amiga Lounge would have to set up themselves is to offer a voucher system, so that buyers don't have to pay all at once. Amigakit has a system like this, but they don't seem to have any classic Amigas in stock.
 

Offline AmigaBruno

Re: stop by the Amiga lounge
« Reply #1 on: August 22, 2014, 02:27:24 PM »
Quote from: quarkx;771413
I am in Canada, so I don't know or have to worry about anything that has to do with PAL. PAL does not exist here, so I can't be of any help to overseas PAL users on PAL Monitors. what I do know is that PAL machines just have to be booted into NTSC mode to work on NTSC monitors.
Sorry
What I do know is that on all big box Amiga's there is jumper somewhere on the motherboard (except the A1000) where that jumper is and if you need to do more than that's beyond my knowledge (and to be honest, not my target market-as it would cost me thousands of dollars to rig up some sort of PAL and European power grid to help you figure it out).
I have had a few PAL A1200s and A600s here, as PAL A1200s and A600s are more common than the NTSC counterparts, these days and far easier to get.
if you have 3.0 ROMS, you just hold the 2 mouse buttons down a boot and boot into NTSC mode.

The power supply thing. I have a contest to win an A2000 on right now. If the winner is overseas, I will remove the power supply and put an ATX converter cable from AmigaKit in to save on shipping. Most A2000 power supplies I have seen are non-switchable from 115W to 220W. I do not carry 220W power supplies as there is no market here in Canada for them. The only things we use 220 for are wielders, stoves and the occasional clothes dryer

All prices listed are in US dollars, as most of my customer base is the US market. October 1 is the date the new on-line store officially opens, and right now, there are 2 paypal "add to cart" one for shipping included to the USA and one for shipping included WorldWide. If we can change currency on the site, we will implement that at a later date

Well, I'm sure lots of people outside North America have read your site and are interested in the hardware on there. I thought you were interested in selling to them. Unfortunately, NTSC mode on Amigas means a loss of resolution for people used to PAL Amigas. It seems that my 1084D monitor can accept NTSC anyway. As for setting up a 220V or even 240V power grid, I don't think this would be necessary. I've recently been doing research into generating my own electricity and using non mains sockets to take more control over my life and save money. I'd appreciate any advice on this. The most important point is that this isn't mains electricity. Electricity can be generated by moving a magnet in a copper coil, or by the sun's rays shining on a solar panel. These devices can be connected to a 12V car battery, which I think may be standard across the World. After the battery is charged it can be connected to something called an inverter with a electrical socket that accepts mains type plugs. The inverter converts the 12V DC power into 230V 50Hz power if I buy it locally from a shop called Maplins http://www.maplins.co.uk  or from eBay. Unfortunately, I don't know how long a fully charged car battery can power an Amiga, an Amiga monitor, or a 60W light bulb, but I hope someone on here can tell me. It's interesting that there's some 220V mains supplies in Canada, though. Can't you connect to one?

Unfortunately, I may not be able to afford to buy any of your Amigas, although I'm not 100% sure about this. I plan to enter the competition, but I'm not sure where to write my address as well as have enough space to write or draw whatever I need to as my entry.
 

Offline AmigaBruno

Re: stop by the Amiga lounge
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2014, 02:46:16 PM »
Quote from: Darth_X;771452
Have you considered buying PAL Amiga stuff locally from ebay.co.uk or even the German EBAY site ebay.de ? There's lots of PAL Amiga 2000s on there. There's no sense in someone from the PAL area of the world, UK and Europe, buying equipment designed for use in NTSC areas like Canada/USA. It would cost you twice as much to ship the item to the UK from here, or more.

I've been looking on http://www.ebay.co.uk and http://www.ebay.de , but there doesn't seem to be much there at the moment, or at least not that I can afford. I often see Amiga 2000 computers in auctions due to end in 6-9 days, but by that time the prices are more than I can afford.

I may have to buy a big box Amiga one piece at a time, but this strategy isn't working either. The items on http://www.ebay.de are often listed as that they will only be sent to Germany, which I think is against EU law and eBay could be fined for this. I often send a message asking if they'll send me these items, agreeing to pay the postage or courier costs,  and they usually agree, though. If I search on the Austrian http://www.ebay.at I usually find that all items listed on there are available to me. I think this is due to the small population so they can get more buyers. The items include stuff from Germany which isn't listed as will only be sent to Germany.
 

Offline AmigaBruno

Re: stop by the Amiga lounge
« Reply #3 on: August 22, 2014, 02:54:27 PM »
Quote from: magnetic;771454
All amigas with 3.1 Roms allow you to enter early startup screen and Set PAL or NTSC. AFAIK all commodore monitors support both PAL and NTSC even the commodore 1702 monitors.

My Amiga A1200 with 3.0 ROMs also does this. If I fitted 3.0 or 3.1 ROMs to an NTSC Amiga 2000 could it also boot into PAL?

It's good to know that my 1084D monitor supports NTSC.