Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: DBAlex on June 15, 2010, 11:54:03 PM
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Just wondered if anyone here *only* uses their Classic Amiga for all computing and nothing else.
I think it would be kinda hard to keep up with most things... I think you'd have to have a PC/Mac/Linux to do some basic stuff like online banking etc...
If you do what problems do you have? How do you solve them?
I'm just genuinely interested. :-)
Cheers, Alex.
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The silence is defeaning and indicative of what is lacking on a classic Amiga.
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I did up until about 2002...
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Just wondered if anyone here *only* uses their Classic Amiga for all computing and nothing else.
Well, it doesn't make tea so there's no point trying to use it for that... :)
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Well, it doesn't make tea so there's no point trying to use it for that... :)
LOL... I knew those custom chips had a limitation somewhere... :D
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I did up until about 2002...
Cool!... So how come you had to get a PeeCee/Mac?
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I think that is a real impossibility in today's age. I would like to get my A2000 (or the 3000/4000 that just hasn't found its home with me yet :D ) to the point of being an email/wordprocessing/light-surfing machine, but its far off for now.
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There was a guy who used a suped up a500 up until very recently as his main rig. He was Swedish iirc and a member here.
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Although some people might disagree, it's just not practical is it?
I think most 1200 owners only use their Miggys to play games and demos (like me!) and most so called 'power' owners (eg expand A2000, A3000, A4000) currently have their machines sitting in a cupboard somewhere ;)
When I first started coding last year I tried to just use the 1200 but it was just so damn painful that I had to switch to WINUAE. I only very rarely use it to go on the internet if I have no other choice (and I'm not in any hurry!).
:)
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I did up until about 2002...
I did up until about 2004... It became too painful :(
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I did until I bought a PC in 2004 forced by work and web browsing needs... then I bought a Pegasos II with OS4.1u2 and MorphOS 2.5 and now the Pegasos covers most of my needs, except web browsing of some pages and VPN connection to my work's network. When I need to use da PC I control it over my LAN with VNC from the Peggy :)
Cheers,
Dragster
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Damn! you guys are hardcore! I jumped ship around 1999....I keep the classic miggy's around for audio and that's about it.
I have seriously thought about trying MorphOS as main machine as an experiment here lately seeing as how the HW has become dirt cheap...
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I thought of doing it as an experiment.
I wanna start doing some audio, once I get a better mouse and my accelerator card, but 90% of my gaming is on the amiga.
The remaining 10% is pretty much Steel Panthers remakes on the PC and Hearts of Iron :)
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I was 100% Amiga only until January 1, 2005 when I slaved a $99.00 Windoze XP bgcPC to my A1200T over Ethernet.
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I think if you change some expectations of what your computing needs are, any old platform, even from the early 80s can be quite usable for many things. I am a professional IT person so my needs to access clients systems remotely can't be done with systems of old but not everyone is an IT person.
So, I guess one has to ask themselves, what do they need in a computer and maybe can they get by with losing some computing capabilities they have grown use to in the 2000s.
I know this is not purely Amiga based, but I do have an Amiga 1000 as part of my "being used" collection of aged technology and as of now, I am on kind of a adventure of seeing what can be done with old tech and what can I "become AMISH" about and leave by the wayside as part of my new computing life.
Here is what I am doing..... For business purposes my newest machine is a 2.5 year old Macbook Air that is used daily as my business system. I have my own company and need to remote into Mac clients systems on a daily basis so need at least a OS X capable machine to do that. So, I get by with a 2.5 year old machine to run my business. From there, all is veteran equipment that believe it or not, I use all these systems weekly for either enjoyment ot actual tasks. :)
I think just having one old Amiga would be tuff for sure but how about using the Amiga for word processing, games, database tasks, and fun old programming. If you need web and email, heck, phones these days can do that and technically, they are not a desktop computer so you can say the only computer you use is an Amiga. :hammer: Then use say an iPhone great email and decent web browsing that can handle Paypal, eBay, some banking, etc...
As for me, I am using a BeBox Dual 133MHz today for playing CDs and listening to great tunes to end my day. Then I will sparkup my NeXTcube and can do some GREAT Desktop Publishing and I can even do email and basic web browsing from this old 68040 at 33MHz in NeXTSTEP. Some great old apps on a NeXT. Then I spark up my Atari 800 and play some great old games and end the day playing with my Amiga 1000 and some cool old apps.
In a nutshell, find a use for ALL your old equipment and not just let them rot in the box to say you own X number of Amigas. I like collectors but collectors that actually use what they own. Use it or Loose it. :laughing: Old tech dies if they sit in the box.
So, modify your expectations of what you need a computer for, find a alternative for what it can't do, and enjoy what you have. I could be happy with an Amiga and an iPhone I am sure if that is all God let me play with.
tj
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I used my A4000T in a hardcore way until 2003, then I had to move outside of my city to work and had to get a peecee laptop :-( Nowadays I use MorphOS as main machine, Amigas 68k for demoscene/coding/retro things. Sometimes I turn on my old laptop if there's something I can't do with my miggies but it's collecting dust lately.
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I think if you change some expectations of what your computing needs are, any old platform, even from the early 80s can be quite usable for many things. I am a professional IT person so my needs to access clients systems remotely can't be done with systems of old but not everyone is an IT person.
So, I guess one has to ask themselves, what do they need in a computer and maybe can they get by with losing some computing capabilities they have grown use to in the 2000s.
I know this is not purely Amiga based, but I do have an Amiga 1000 as part of my "being used" collection of aged technology and as of now, I am on kind of a adventure of seeing what can be done with old tech and what can I "become AMISH" about and leave by the wayside as part of my new computing life.
Here is what I am doing..... For business purposes my newest machine is a 2.5 year old Macbook Air that is used daily as my business system. I have my own company and need to remote into Mac clients systems on a daily basis so need at least a OS X capable machine to do that. So, I get by with a 2.5 year old machine to run my business. From there, all is veteran equipment that believe it or not, I use all these systems weekly for either enjoyment ot actual tasks. :)
I think just having one old Amiga would be tuff for sure but how about using the Amiga for word processing, games, database tasks, and fun old programming. If you need web and email, heck, phones these days can do that and technically, they are not a desktop computer so you can say the only computer you use is an Amiga. :hammer: Then use say an iPhone great email and decent web browsing that can handle Paypal, eBay, some banking, etc...
As for me, I am using a BeBox Dual 133MHz today for playing CDs and listening to great tunes to end my day. Then I will sparkup my NeXTcube and can do some GREAT Desktop Publishing and I can even do email and basic web browsing from this old 68040 at 33MHz in NeXTSTEP. Some great old apps on a NeXT. Then I spark up my Atari 800 and play some great old games and end the day playing with my Amiga 1000 and some cool old apps.
In a nutshell, find a use for ALL your old equipment and not just let them rot in the box to say you own X number of Amigas. I like collectors but collectors that actually use what they own. Use it or Loose it. :laughing: Old tech dies if they sit in the box.
So, modify your expectations of what you need a computer for, find a alternative for what it can't do, and enjoy what you have. I could be happy with an Amiga and an iPhone I am sure if that is all God let me play with.
tj
Very true about the iPhone... I have an iPod Touch and you could easily use it as your only web browser/email machine... iPhone is better of course due to 3G, but the iPod Touch is still very cool! Can't wait for the iOS4 upgrade! :-D
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I used exclusively Amigas until 1995, and then when the Internet arrived massively to my country, it basicly killed my Amiga monopoly :)
Till this day, Amigas have been great gaming, graphics, and sound machines for me. But the Amiga biggest flaw, has always been Internet support, and that was a point of no return for me. I love and use all my Amigas, but they all do suck at the web.
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I used exclusively Amigas until 1995, and then when the Internet arrived massively to my country, it basicly killed my Amiga monopoly :)
Till this day, Amigas have been great gaming, graphics, and sound machines for me. But the Amiga biggest flaw, has always been Internet support, and that was a point of no return for me. I love and use all my Amigas, but they all do suck at the web.
I think most non mac, windows,and maybe linux web capabilities are subpar. Tj
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Amigas were my primary machines up until 2003.
I have to admit that I never did all my computing on Amigas. I still used the machines I had before.
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I held on for a long time. Oddly enough, it was Yahoo (when they "modernized" My Yahoo a few years back) that forced me to rely upon other platforms more. Until then, I struggled with PDFs, printing of many kinds of documents, lived without Utube and flash. Ppl would email enormous pics and video that were hard to play.
I still use Amigas for many things. I trust AmigaOS more than any other OS. I know it better. It is still a living, fascinating thing that speaks to my imagination.
Other OSes belong to the corporations that created them. I use them because they forced newer standards that all the rest of the world adopted. It's tough to be an island. Grin.
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I packed mine away in 2000 after I got cable internet and an Athlon 1.4Ghz. The Amiga was embarrisingly limited about that time and the future of PPC Amiga looked pretty gloomy.
Now that the Ghz war has settled down and Aros is finished I can see myself using an Amiga as a home theatre/net surfing/mp3 jukebox/retro gaming system.
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the internet is the big limiter, but as someone has pointed out, these days with stuff like iphone, evo and other smart phones, peecees are almost being superceded anyways
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I did up till the end of the 90's, then I slowly made the shift to Windows 95, and began to examine a plethora of other Operating Systems, my main love of them being BeOS otherwise known as Haiku now a days.
Though, in spirit of the Amiga, I am planning on buying a eMac this week's end or next, in order that I may register MorphOS, hopefully at discount prices.
There is NO WAY I could do half the things I do now a days on a classic Amiga, though a HUGE CHUNK of that can be accomplished on an eMac from the sound of things, so I'd pretty much only have to resort to Windows for Advanced Video Editing, and DOOM Editing via DOOM Builder.
Eventually I will replace Windows with ReactOS, or another OS running Wine (hopefully not Linux), likewise I will always have an x86 machine around to run Haiku, and another for the sake of AROS.
Oh, and let's not forget my heavily modified Atari 8-Bit computers, with CF Hard Drives, expanded ram, audio, and soon video. ;)
I believe this pretty much the nature of the beast for all present day Amiga users. None of us own but one computer anymore, and it seems a lot of us love to explore the various OS's available out there, Amiga or not. :)
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Did that until 2005 when I got a Pentium 3 for free. Never had many problems with it. Also, I know a guy on another forum who still does, and who doesn't want a peecee at home, because he hates the things :)
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Much respect to him for standing his ground! :)
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I think I got my first PC in 97 or 98, up until then I mostly used my A3000 but without a graphics card browsing the web was a bit limiting even in those days.
I still had the A3000 as main computer probably until 2002
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I don't know why you have to put classic in there?
As far as I know classic is just a term others give to cpu they think are no use anymore, I've only ever used an Amiga so why would I consider it classic lol... I used my A4000 right up until they brought out a SAM (not that long ago really)... now I have 2 SAMs... and I'll probably own 2 x X1000s sooner than most of you think...
I've always used AmigaOS and AmigaHW since 1986 and nothing else...
I will never own anything but an Amiga running legitimate AmigaOS... even if they stopped today and never released anything else... my SAMs and any 2nd hand SAMs would be all I'd need...
As far as I know I am the only one left in this category... heh
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Just wondered if anyone here *only* uses their Classic Amiga for all computing and nothing else..
Yep, this A4000T/060 does all my work; personal and business. I have an A3000/060 as a backup machine, although that rarely gets used as the A4k has never given any trouble.
I think it would be kinda hard to keep up with most things... I think you'd have to have a PC/Mac/Linux to do some basic stuff like online banking etc...
Not really, IBrowse works fine with both of my banks for online banking. Not being able to view crap on YouTube is a benefit; if I had time to waste watching gay little internet videos, I'd sooner watch TV instead. Not to mention the fact that common internet adware and viruses are rarely a problem. No secret that Amiga viruses don't pop up much anymore.
If you do what problems do you have? How do you solve them?
My only real issue is that Ghostscript is a bit painful for lots of PDF viewing and aPDF only views older version PDFs.
There's a few specific things I've needed to do over the years that the Amiga couldn't, but also couldn't easily be done with other platforms either. So I've written various bits of software to do things, and developed various bits of hardware as well, including an EPROM programmer and various modems/interfaces for commercial radio communications work and embedded application development.
The machine runs 24/7, everyday uses include:
- Webserver (MiamiDX, ARexx webserver with scripting, plus some of my own server software) http://amiga.serveftp.net
- Local file and print server (Samba)
- FTP server (RC-FTPd)
- Remote client work (TwinVNC and some Telnet app from Aminet)
- Document publication and technical report writing (PageStream, FW97, Ghostscript for PDF generation)
- Document scanning (fxScan)
- Timesheet, job management, equipment records, misc spreadsheet work (TurboCalc)
- Email (YAM)
- Web access (IBrowse)
- Image generation and editing (TV Paint and Perfect Paint)
- Image effects (Candy Factory)
- HTML generation (Cubic IDE)
- Amiga software development, C and ARexx (Cubic IDE, SAS/C)
- Embedded software development, C and assembly (Cubic IDE, Term and scipts for compiling under DOS via PC-Task)
- A bit of audio editing (Samplitude Opus)
- CD writing (MakeCD)
- A bit of video editing (MovieShop + VLab motion)
- Audio playback (Songplayer and many others)
- Business fax and voicemail (STfax)
- various other things I can't remember right now
Works fine for me, can't see things changing any time soon. I guess the main sticking points are the reliability, flexibilty and ease of use.
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My father stuck it out with an A600 and noninternet until October last year... Then I gve him an old PowerBook G4 an a broadband connection... ;)
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You people are awesome :)
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Just wondered if anyone here *only* uses their Classic Amiga for all computing and nothing else.
I did until 2004, but then I got opportunity to buy 2nd hand Pegasos1 and it replaced my good old A1200 as my main computer. Lately it has been replaced with Mac mini G4 with MorphOS. In any case, I'm still using Amiga programs and Amiga compatible operating systems fully. I think it's still close enough to original question ;)
The a1200 was the same I bought as a new in 1994. It got upgrades from memory card with fpu to 030, tower, Zorro2 with CV64/3D, Amiganet ethernet card, 060, SCSI (with CD-RWs, DATs, external towers etc), Delfina Lite, MediatorZIV, Voodoo3, PCI NIC, TV-card, USB 2.0 etc. It is still working and I give it occasional use with net, coding, demos, games etc.
I got it online first with modem to BBS'es in 1994 and to internet in 1995/1996. Then I bought network card and got it connected to 10Mbps static line in 1998 (that's right). I ran ftp server etc on it 24h/day for years. IBrowse was a lot more compatible browser in those times than it is today and Amiga had some of the best internet apps, like AmIRC, DOpusFTP, DCTelnet etc.
For a hobby I've been testing other systems too, like Sun's Sparc Stations and SGI Indy... and of course bunch of free PCs during the years (from 120MHz P1 to 2,8GHz P4) for testing with Linux, Windows, BeOS, QNX etc. But I've never paid anything from them and they never got into real use and I've given most of them away after a while anyway. All my data and use have been on Amiga always. Amiga has been the serious computer for me, others are just for hobby or curiosity.
I think it would be kinda hard to keep up with most things... I think you'd have to have a PC/Mac/Linux to do some basic stuff like online banking etc...
I never needed other computers for that. Online banking has always worked here in Finland with IBrowse, and it still does, and I still use IBrowse for it :).
Basically I could do basic stuff I need pretty well with classic Amiga still, but with MorphOS I can do all. Including movies and modern browsing etc, where classic Amigas just are too underpowered.
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I stopped using my classic amiga (a1200) pretty much as soon as I got the Pegasos I. My A1200 was towered and expanded to the max (bppc, bvision, scsi hdds, pcmcia ethernet etc). After couple of months of not even powering the system up I dismantled it. I still have the parts, but haven't seen any reason to rebuild the system.
I currently use 2 PCs (Debian GNU/Linux), 3 macs (MorphOS, Debian GNU/Linux, Mac OS X) and a Pegasos 2 (MorphOS).
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You people are awesome :)
and mostly mental.
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Cool!... So how come you had to get a PeeCee/Mac?
Well, I didn't have to, it just sort of happened, really. At that time, my A1200T was my main machine - BPPC with BVision as the main expansions.
I'd been building PC's for friends for some time and I'd generally do it for free. When they started upgrading I'd inherit bits of old systems. By 2002, all I was missing was a case and hard disk, which I picked up new and I put together my first Frankenstein build.
It soon proved fairly useful to have, but my A1200 stayed my main machine for most purposes.
I'll be honest here, the first PC I built for myself using entirely new stuff was in mid 2008 and is the one in my sig :)
I still try to use my amiga machines as much as possible. I just enjoy using them.
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I stopped using my A1200 in the year 2000 or around that, had a PC with Beos for a while, then moved to an NG Amiga. I have also a laptop which I use for gaming and some cross-compiling.
Varthall
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I stopped using my classic amiga (a1200) pretty much as soon as I got the Pegasos I. My A1200 was towered and expanded to the max (bppc, bvision, scsi hdds, pcmcia ethernet etc). After couple of months of not even powering the system up I dismantled it. I still have the parts, but haven't seen any reason to rebuild the system.
Why did you actually dismantle it though? Taking up space or for safer storage of the components?
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Maybe the thread should be renamed to when did you STOP using your classic amiga as your main system... It could be a mini-contest to see who held on the longest, hehehe.
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Why did you actually dismantle it though? Taking up space or for safer storage of the components?
It was a huge frankenstein fullsize tower build. It took too much space and it was hacked together with tape and spit. Powering it up sounded like A380 taking off. Yes for both counts that is. :)
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Just wondered if anyone here *only* uses their Classic Amiga for all computing and nothing else.
I think it would be kinda hard to keep up with most things... I think you'd have to have a PC/Mac/Linux to do some basic stuff like online banking etc...
If you do what problems do you have? How do you solve them?
I'm just genuinely interested. :-)
Cheers, Alex.
Yes, I do.
My towered A4000 with CSPPC; Mediator PCI busboard with Voodoo4, Terratec 512i digital and 10/100 mBit NIC; DENEB USB 2.0 highspeed and OS 3.9(BBs I & II)/WarpOS 16.1 does the Job.
I don't do online internet banking - too much ragging there for my taste.
I never tried it via Internet with the Amiga - I only had it via BTX until German Telecom shut this service down.
Since then I prefer to go to the bank personally.
Other Amigans told me it would work with the Amiga - but I never tried it, as it seemed too risky to me...
Surfing the web mostly works flawlessly on the pages I visit.
If the rare situation occurs that I have to visit a page that doesn't work with IBrowse 2.4 I switch on the XP-PC underneath my desk and remote control it from the Amiga with registered version of RDesktop. This way I can get the few things done the Amiga is not capable of due to his aging software.
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from 1988 to about 2006 i was multiplatform: atari 8bit, commodore 8bit, apple 8bit, several amigas, numerous pcs.
so i never was amiga only. in 2006 (i think) i sold my last amiga an went pc/emu/aros only. I still have 3 amiga accelerators that i keep because they are amiga even though they dont work anymore.
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My first computer was a Vic 20, then C64, A500 ect up untill i got my A1200. I did everything on my A1200 (napster, irc, mp3's, apps games, demos,those web sites you visit when you get online for the first time that have those lovely girly pics, email ect ect) up till 2000. I remember everyone with a PC fearing that their computers were going to stuff up come the year 2000, but i did not fear at all for my Amiga. I still have it. Dont use it that much now, but what i do use is my recently acquired A4000 pretty much on a daily basis. I use this primarily for music, and all things Amiga related on the internet.
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and mostly mental.
Why? Because people like using Amigas? Yup, very mental indeed :lol:
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It was a huge frankenstein fullsize tower build. It took too much space and it was hacked together with tape and spit. Powering it up sounded like A380 taking off. Yes for both counts that is. :)
You know, mine's actually not too loud. It isn't silent but I ended up using 80mm fans to generally circulate air around the inside and they aren't that noisy.
Of course, I never did get around to installing any SCSI kit. I got the scsi version of the BPPC originally thinking I better had on the grounds I couldn't upgrade it later. And yet somehow, I ended up not using it. Bit of a waste really, I should get some cabling and a SATA <-> SCSI adaptor or something.
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I stopped in 1996 when I already got my first PC, I had to for college, it was requierd for my IT course.
I did bleed pretty well for that machine, by the time I was done paying for a P75 with 256MB and a 1GB harddrive I could have bought a PIII500 with 768MB and a 20GB harddrive.
But today I still play some games on my A1200 and I just experiment a bit with my A4000's.
On the A500's I'm playing with the Zorro adapters and I will also be getting 2 ram/ide boards.
Play on :hammer:
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Although some people might disagree, it's just not practical is it?
I think most 1200 owners only use their Miggys to play games and demos (like me!) and most so called 'power' owners (eg expand A2000, A3000, A4000) currently have their machines sitting in a cupboard somewhere ;)
When I first started coding last year I tried to just use the 1200 but it was just so damn painful that I had to switch to WINUAE. I only very rarely use it to go on the internet if I have no other choice (and I'm not in any hurry!).
:)
Your having a Laaarrrff !!! aint you, or just trolling.
I E-Mail and Chat on an A1200/WJawsMKII and 8 Meg Fast RAM/WiFi using my telly as a monitor.
I use a Towered A1200/Blizzard1240/40/SCSI system with printer and scanner for my DTP and Photo work.
I have an A4K desktop Apollo/4040/Picasso IV as my back-up system for when the Broadband goes down and I can use Dial-Up at a penny a minute.
Also my main classic is a Towered (Elbox) A4K/Cyberstorm MKII/SCSI/Mediator etc.
Regards, Michael
aka rockape
PS I have an old Mac Tower system which I watch the occasional youtube vid on. 60's Pop and Regiment stuff.
(still giggling at the thought of "must" own a Pee Cee)
arharr aharr aharr :)
Oh an I sometimes use my uA1, but thats not a classic so beyond the scope of this post.
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Was using Amigas exclusively up until around 2004, when I bought a Duron based x86 system for use with BeOS. After about 6 months or so I mothballed the A1200 and A3000.
Eventually both were passed onto other Amiga users.
I still use UAE but mostly I use Linux these days.
As to the why - simple really: The Amiga simply could not cut it online any more (arguably it never could but that is a whole different question). Trying to keep it going online stably whilst at the same time getting every last ounce of performance out of them was taking more and more time with fewer gains each and every time.
Using the Duron (and the systems I've had since) was a breath of fresh air by comparison - I had so much power at my fingertips I felt spoiled! I could watch films and they didn't look like postage stamp sized gifs blown up to fullscreen. I could listen to MP3's without my system groaning under the strain. I could play games that were modern at respectable frame rates. I could have an application crash and it not require me to reboot.
All in all, going over to x86 for me was about ease of use: The Amiga, whilst a great system in it's day and certainly easier to use day to day than other machines of the same era, required a great deal of time and effort on the part of the user to allow it to perform tasks that other more modern systems offered as out of the box functionality.
I don't regret for one minute retiring the Amigas. It was a great machine for me to learn on. But tbh even by 2000 really, for day to day use it was hopelessly behind the times and had been for a while.
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I think the problem is the lack of cheap available high end PPC cards. I couldn't do all the things I do with a modest Centrino* on a 680x0 Amiga. Even with OS4 on a classic Amiga with PPC and 128mb I don't know if all tasks I do on it have similar applications for OS4. Streaming flash content is definitely out though at PPC accelerator speeds probably so no TV at my desk I guess.
I wouldn't say becoming a PC owner was a 'joyful experience' at all, but then Commodore went bust and a few clueless muppets bought their IP so it's not like I had a choice. If the new owners of Commodore had kept up and at least just ported OS4 to x86 last decade and forgot about custom chips it would still have been enough. I wouldn't have been happy but still better than nothing and at least I could have avoided Winblows :)
*which I could still do on a P3 machine with XP I suppose.
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If the question is CLASSIC Amigas,that is,those made by Commodore Amiga then 68040 is the limit;and the CPU cards contemporary to Commodore's existence MIGHT allow PPC use.
Then again,didn't Commodore people actually start or contract the Amithlon ?
So maybe Amiga OS on PC should stop being considered heresy!
Haven't been online with Amiga since 1992 BBS days,but have used Amiga Forever as recently as a couple months ago online DSL.
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If the question is CLASSIC Amigas,that is,those made by Commodore Amiga then 68040 is the limit;and the CPU cards contemporary to Commodore's existence MIGHT allow PPC use.
I think you're over-analysing this. By "Classic" most people tend to mean the machines any anything you bolted onto them. Yes, this would include PPC accelerators.
Then again,didn't Commodore people actually start or contract the Amithlon ?
Usually when I read things like this I start making comments regarding possible drug use and requesting samples thereof.
Suffice to say, no, that is not the case. Amithlon was the creation of Bernd Meyer and was released not long after the Blizzard/CyberstormPPC cards came out. There never was a link to C= on any level beyond the OS that was being run.
So maybe Amiga OS on PC should stop being considered heresy!
Not going to happen, sadly.
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I still have and use Amiga only computers at home with no plans of changing ever.
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You people are awesome :)
I couldnt agree more.
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I guess the word SOLELY kinds of limits things as I have a whole bunch of machines that I use for different purposes:
Atari 5200
Atari 800
Atari 130XE w/custom OS ROM
Atari Mega STE (rarely use this one)
Amiga 500
Amiga 1000
Amiga 2000
Amiga 4000
Toshiba 4080XCDT (it has a fast parallel port for interfacing to all of the above)
A few others also that are rarely used.
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after reading this thread, Im very tempted to try, though I doubt I'll ever put my 1200 online
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after reading this thread, Im very tempted to try, though I doubt I'll ever put my 1200 online
Online for filetransfers it's very easy even with stock system, but for browsing and other more complex tasks it would require some heavy upgrading.
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Online for filetransfers it's very easy even with stock system, but for browsing and other more complex tasks it would require some heavy upgrading.
well, I got a PCMCIA compact flash kit for transferring files, so thats pretty covered.
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I used Amigas till April 2004, when I subscribed for LAN network. Unfortunately at the time there were no X-Surf cards for my Amiga 4000 in the shops. I tried with the A1200 and PCMCIA network cards, but they also did not work, freezing Miami. So I had the choise to stay with modem for Internet (very expensive and slow) or to buy machine with network card. I bought Hewlett Packard Vectra VL with PII 550 MHz and 256 MB RAM. I used it for almost 9 months, when I ordered my microAmigaOne. The next day after the arrival of the AmigaOne, the PC was sold and then I was again Amiga only. Unlike most other cases listed here, the new Amiga for me was upgrade from the PC, because it is faster and the movies are smoother.
Last year I bought this (http://hirudov.com/apple/PowerBookG4.php) PowerBookG4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQdHfjwhtg), but I rarely use it. It's slower than my MicroAmigaOne, despite having G4 processor, and I turn it on probably less than once per week. The fact that it requires new battery, and I need to set its clock everytime I turn it on, does not help the Mac usage either. MacOS X is clumsy for me.
Currently on the Amiga I can do everything I need - movies, Internet, coding, printing and scanning with the HP Photosmart C6280 (http://hirudov.com/misc/HPPhotosmartC6280All-in-One.php), gaming with Speed Link First Strike and Stirke² controllers, graphics, upload of movies, downloading pictures and movies from digital camera, thanks to the Chronos 80 in 1 Card Reader (http://hirudov.com/misc/Chronos80in1CardReader.php) and USB, image processing, spreadsheet, word processing and other causal computer tasks.
During the years, I had various machines (http://hirudov.com/about/), including Apple II clones, Oric Clones, IBM PC clones, NES clone, Sega Mega Drive clone, PSX and even Atari Mega ST with PC emulation card, but the Amiga always will be the platform that I prefer over the others. With the new Sam model and AmigaOne X1000, finally there will be above 1GHz Amiga machine, meaning the next decade will be Amiga oriented for me as well, just like the 1990-ies and the 20xx-ies.
Posted with IBrowse 2.4 OEM version :).
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I did till about 2002, once the browsers died I had to switch to a PC.
Today I just use my Amiga for HTML web pages, email, cleaning up digital pictures and some vista pro renderings and even those things are getting to slow for me.
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Just wondered if anyone here *only* uses their Classic Amiga for all computing and nothing else.
I think it would be kinda hard to keep up with most things... I think you'd have to have a PC/Mac/Linux to do some basic stuff like online banking etc...
If you do what problems do you have? How do you solve them?
I'm just genuinely interested. :-)
Cheers, Alex.
Even back in 1989 when I first got my A500, I didn't use it exclusively. Back then I did all the boring stuff on a DOS machine (word processing, business programming and class work programming) and all the fun stuff on the Amiga (games, demos, programming). It's sort of the same thing today but with PCs and consoles.
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I was using an Amiga for MOST things up to 2008 (except modern web-browsing). Then my Amiga broke down and it would have cost just way too much to get it going again. Since then I've been using a mixture of PC/Windows and WinUAE. It's been great, but there are a few things that would have to happen to AmigaOS for me to be able to switch back totally:
- a modern multitrack audio recording software DAW (like REAPER)
- a modern non-linear video editing application (like Sony Vegas)
- a modern browser (like a port of FireFox)
I know there's Audio Evolution, etc. for the Amiga, but the CPU to run it was always out of my price range. Video editing software would take the same brute force, and as far as I'm aware, nothing like it exists for the Amiga in a software only solution (I know about the Flyer but that's hardware). The port of FireFox is almost there I think.
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Not exclusively but I use the A1200 as my main machine.
I need other systems for OpenOffice, Firefox, Flash and Skype
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Just wondered if anyone here *only* uses their Classic Amiga for all computing and nothing else.
I think it would be kinda hard to keep up with most things... I think you'd have to have a PC/Mac/Linux to do some basic stuff like online banking etc...
If you do what problems do you have? How do you solve them?
I'm just genuinely interested. :-)
Cheers, Alex.
I'm too addicted to Internet surfing to use my A1200 exclusively. Although lately I've been thinking that using my A1200 might help cure my addition. :)
I stopped using my 1200 mostly because the 80MB HDD ran out of space. Back around 1998 the HDD would not hold Miami, and a 2.5 drive was too expensive for me, so I abandoned the 1200 for a P133 system. Should have just bought a 2.5" drive.
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I did at home only until about 2003-2003 when i finally got a pc, but even now I still use my Amiga 3000 alot and even fire up my A1000 for the occasional game of defender of the crown, sotb and so on.
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Just wondered if anyone here *only* uses their Classic Amiga for all computing and nothing else.
I used Amiga only until 2005. If it were up to me I had probably used just the amiga computer still. The other people around me forced an Winshit on me.
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I had an A1200 with 060 accelerator - I don't know when, well over 10 years ago I guess, and I was doing some web browsing with voyager. I had an NEC 3D multisync monitor. I was doing some website work on that thing - oh but it was horrible, I hate to even mention it - and I was doing some coding - some task at work where I was helping them do polling (yes on the Amiga, I was taking files home from work, sorting and processing them on my amiga at home, and bringing the results back into work ) and that actually got me a job in IT, and I was asked to learn SQL Server, and I've been a database admin ever since - although I was only on SQL server a year, before switching to Oracle.
about that Amiga - the 060 gave me a little oomph processor wise, but AGA was just a dog. I bought a powermac - I don't even remember the brand, it was 60mhz 601 variety - and I only bought it because I found a deal on one, it was a used model, that someone was selling - I didn't know then I was transitioning out of the Amiga world - but the web browsing was so much better, and later I found a copy of Photoshop for mac in a warehouse liquidation store, near my house - and that was totally cool too.
I've been a mac user at home ever since, and I've used hp-ux, and now linux, at work
For me the Amiga community is just a cool community of creative people, I don't really care to use an Amiga at all. I recently tried Icaros on VirtualBox, and on my core 2 duo, mac mini, it actually runs quite decent - but I'm typing this post in Safari, and I'm quite happy with the mac experience.
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I dropped out in 1999, when I got my first PC. In 2000, I bought into Big Mac's Amiga bullsh!t and bought a stock 1200 from SoftHut that languished in a box for months, used only twice, before I sold it. Bought Amithlon back in 2001 and used it quite a bit, after I tested it's boot disk to see if it would actually run. Now, I'm strictly WinUAE, due to my needs with Maya, Photoshop, Premiere, AfterEffects, Dreamweaver, Painter, etc. I did, however, rescue an A500 that was to be binned back in 2007. Turned it on once to play star wars. Not even sure if it still works.
I will *NEVER* go back to the Amiga, no matter how much I love the operating system, until the current "owners" get their heads out of their collective @$$es and give me an X86 version that can at least browse the web, just as well as Windozes does and I can dual boot. I have not the space, nor the inclination to work with anything else other than a single, desktop machine, plus a laptop. MiniMigAGA will probably be my last "Amiga" purchase, ever. MorphOS on a powerbook is another possibility, but a slim one.
Here's hoping AROS gets more robust, or they at least decide to break "backwards compatibility" and finally move forward.....
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I dont use an Amiga for surfing but I certainly dont use emulation. Although I do have other retro computers, Amiga is my main drug. :)
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Since I got my A1 I use my A1200T rarely... The old girl still gets used from time to time, but it was (and still is) quite unstable - to be expected unfortunately given all the additions to it... For a good while it was my main machine, though from about 2000 on I've also had a PC for hardware and software compatibility.
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:)Hi everyone
Yes I do. (well up until 4 weeks ago)
I have been using Amigas since 1986 when I bought my first A1000. I now own 7 Amigas and 6 monitors, I've lost count of the various add ons (accellerator boards etc..) that I own.
My most used is an A1200 Blizzard 060/PPC, 60Mhz/240Mhz, 256Mb Ram, 1Tb HDs, Elbox FastATA MKIII, 2 DVD Burners, Subway USB Device, Wireless Mouse. All built into a wooden custom built cabinet (yes I did say wooden !!!)
This little beauty can do all that I want it to do. I very rarely play games on it even though I have virtually every game ever made for the Amiga. I have written hundreds of WHDLoad files to run these games straight from the HD.
I write most of my own software (in 68k) just to prove it can be done and because you can't really buy any new software these days to do the things you want.
Now four weeks ago I bought an old Imac G4 as I was getting really fed up with friends and family telling me "you need to get online". Well the Imac was ok but to me it couldn't match the Amiga's operating system or it's ease of use. So two weeks ago I bought a G5 on ebay to see if this was any better (it's been sitting in the box since).
My main point is this, NO you don't need a PC/MAC to live... banking/shopping and communicating can still be done the good old fashioned way, ie: go to the bank, go to the shops, use that thing in the corner of your living room to talk (the telephone !!!). Since I got my first computer a VIC 20 way back in 1982, there's probably never been a day went by were I have not used a computer. So why am I on the internet you may ask. Well after years of being told "that you have to be" I have finally given it a go and all I can say is, It's not for me.
I ain't trying to put anyone down or slag off PCs or Macs, if that's your thing then good on you, but for me, now that I have tried it I think I'll just stay back in the good old days when computers were made of wood and ran on steam...
Cheers Everyone :drink:
Franko
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my A1200 is my main unit i have two A1200 but is never complete something is always being added.
as for accelerator cards for classic amiga`s,Cyberstorm is the fastest card,but iv got a funny feeling sooner or later a 32bit card is going to change that.
it`s just a matter of time.
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as for accelerator cards for classic amiga`s,Cyberstorm is the fastest card,but iv got a funny feeling sooner or later a 32bit card is going to change that.
All accelerators are 32 bit :lol:
Even a 68000 isn't really 16 bit:
16 bit data bus.
24 bit address bus.
32 bit instruction set.
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I considered (until I read some of your stories here!) myself quite hardcore, because I used an Amiga up until 2000. I even did some design and html stuff on it. But in the end, I had to make a living in computing and needed a pc. (never felt much for a Mac). Im glad I got my Amiga upgraded and working again last year, though! I missed out on so much fun.. and thats no sarcasm :)
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All accelerators are 32 bit :lol:
Even a 68000 isn't really 16 bit:
16 bit data bus.
24 bit address bus.
32 bit instruction set.
Cyberstorm PPC 64 bit memory vs Blizzard PPC 32 bit memory interface
The 604e has a 64-bit external data bus on the Cyberstorm.
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Cyberstorm PPC 64 bit memory vs Blizzard PPC 32 bit memory interface
Nitpicking I see.
The 604e was a 32bit processor. It's instruction set (IE, the bit that counts) was 32bit.
If the Cyberstorm had used a PPC 620 you might have had a case.
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I don't know anyone who ONLY uses a classic Amiga. I still use two real Amigas (one 68000 (A1000) and one 68040).
I also use Amikit on a Windows machine. But I also use Windows, Linux, C-128, and Apple machines.
BTW - I've been using an Amiga since 1986
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@Franko:
Next thing on the agenda, learn how to knit, so there won't be a need to go to the store and shop for clothes anymore.
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So far in this thread it looks like there is one person that claims to only use Classic Amiga computer(s) for all of his/her computing needs and never uses any PC's, or Mac's, AND 1 or 2 others that use a PC or Mac controlled by their Amiga via RDesktop, which I would consider almost qualifying, as they are on their Amiga doing all of their computing and the PC or Mac connected via a LAN and controlled by the Amiga is sort of like just another co-processor accessed by the Amiga to give it more functionality.
I would like to try out using just one Amiga computer for everything plus the RDesktop connection to my 3.0GHz Core2Quad PC for certain programs and tasks that need brute force. My most likely choice would not be any of my Classic Amigas though, it would be my 1.5GHz G4 Mac Mini running MorphOS2.5. I have not tried it yet, but I am pretty sure there is a version of RDesktop that is native for MorphOS, or at least runs well on MorphOS2.5.
That would probably be a better solution than the hassle of running more cables and finding a FVM switch that will connect to the two or three computers I want to use most often from one desk location in my home.
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So far in this thread it looks like there is one person that claims to only use Classic Amiga computer(s) for all of his/her computing needs and never uses any PC's, or Mac's, AND 1 or 2 others that use a PC or Mac controlled by their Amiga via RDesktop, which I would consider almost qualifying, as they are on their Amiga doing all of their computing and the PC or Mac connected via a LAN and controlled by the Amiga is sort of like just another co-processor accessed by the Amiga to give it more functionality.
I would like to try out using just one Amiga computer for everything plus the RDesktop connection to my 3.0GHz Core2Quad PC for certain programs and tasks that need brute force. My most likely choice would not be any of my Classic Amigas though, it would be my 1.5GHz G4 Mac Mini running MorphOS2.5. I have not tried it yet, but I am pretty sure there is a version of RDesktop that is native for MorphOS, or at least runs well on MorphOS2.5.
That would probably be a better solution than the hassle of running more cables and finding a FVM switch that will connect to the two or three computers I want to use most often from one desk location in my home.
I haven't used an Amiga as my "only" machine since 1994.
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Just wondered if anyone here *only* uses their Classic Amiga for all computing and nothing else.
If they did use Amiga exclusively could they even access this site?!
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Classic Gaming, Yes ;)
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@Franko
you can get online with amigas without problems. Ok, you won't be able to read all webpages but since most webpages I visit are amiga ones it's not problematic for me.
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I stopped using an Amiga as a main machine around in 1994.
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I got a 486 in 93/94 but my A1200 was still my main machine, the PC was for Uni specific work (things like writing Dbase 3+ code etc).
I think that all stopped a couple of years later when I got a Pentium MMX machine and used that for VCDs and Netscape.
PC games were boring most of the time in the mid 90s I found, I really didn't like all that CD-ROM FMV crap like 7th Guest or Megarace or the million and one point and click adventures like Sam & Max/Day of the Tentacle....now with sampled sound woooo (been there, done all that years before).
I think the turning point was Team 17 not even attempting World Rally Fever on Amiga, even 030 only machines etc, ditto with Psygnosis and Novastorm (CD32 much superior than PC CD for that game too!) but still I kept with it because Dos/Windows 3.x was a complete bag of shite and using a PC was not something I looked forward to, especially a million and one Config.sys setups for each game.
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If they did use Amiga exclusively could they even access this site?!
Yes.
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My first machine was a C64. I bought my first A1000 in October, 1985. I used Amigas exclusively until 1992 - 93 when professional requirements forced me to get a 486 PC in order to run 3D Studio.
During my Amiga run, I purchased at least a dozen machines and countless add-ons for the cable operation that I managed. Commodore's bankruptcy in 1994 was really heart-breaking.
I packed away my A2000 in 1996. I kept it in storage for about ten years until I discovered it had been ruined by neglect.
I've currently got two working A1000s, an A4000 and an A4000T in my closet, awaiting the opportunity for me to put them on display somewhere. Biggest challenge there is finding room for the massive monitors.
Nowadays I spend most of my time between two Core i7, Windows 7 towers, but my casual computing needs are being increasingly met by my iPhone 3GS and iPad.
I've always dreamed of a new Amiga that would take its rightful place among my most powerful machines, but try as I might, I can't envision the application space that this new Amiga would occupy.
Just imagine what might have become of our beloved machine if YouTube had existed back when Amiga defined the desktop video market...
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I got a 486 in 93/94 but my A1200 was still my main machine, the PC was for Uni specific work (things like writing Dbase 3+ code etc).
I think that all stopped a couple of years later when I got a Pentium MMX machine and used that for VCDs and Netscape.
PC games were boring most of the time in the mid 90s I found, I really didn't like all that CD-ROM FMV crap like 7th Guest or Megarace or the million and one point and click adventures like Sam & Max/Day of the Tentacle....now with sampled sound woooo (been there, done all that years before).
I think the turning point was Team 17 not even attempting World Rally Fever on Amiga, even 030 only machines etc, ditto with Psygnosis and Novastorm (CD32 much superior than PC CD for that game too!) but still I kept with it because Dos/Windows 3.x was a complete bag of shite and using a PC was not something I looked forward to, especially a million and one Config.sys setups for each game.
virtually everything I ended up learning about dos (even in the early windows days) and all that was from trying to get damn games to actually run.
Bloody hell.
I finally let go of the amiga in 98 or so, but I used the computers at school for internet access.
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I have been scouring the forums all over this sight and once I've figured out what I need and where to find it. I'll start trying to get hold of the bits and pieces and chuck this imac in the bucket where it belongs.
(and YES up until about four weeks ago I had only ever used my 'Classic Amiga's' and had never even used the internet...)
It looks like I'll have to start writing my own browser though. (now there's a challenge !!!)
Cheers
Franko
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I have been scouring the forums all over this sight and once I've figured out what I need and where to find it. I'll start trying to get hold of the bits and pieces and chuck this imac in the bucket where it belongs.
(and YES up until about four weeks ago I had only ever used my 'Classic Amiga's' and had never even used the internet...)
It looks like I'll have to start writing my own browser though. (now there's a challenge !!!)
Cheers
Franko
@Franko
What's wrong with AWeb and IBrowse??
If you have a really nice Amiga with an 060, graphics card and lots of memory you can try NetSurf 68K too :-).
For OS4 their is OWB of course. :-D
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@DBAlex
@Franko
What's wrong with AWeb and IBrowse??
If you have a really nice Amiga with an 060, graphics card and lots of memory you can try NetSurf 68K too :-).
For OS4 their is OWB of course. :-D
Hi DBAlex
My main amiga set up is as follows...
A1200 Blizard060/PPC603 60Mhz/240Mhz / 256Meg Fast Ram / 2 x 500Gb HD's / 2 DVD Burners / FASTATA MKIII / SUBWAY USB / Wireless Mouse
Now if you could let me know what I need and where to get it, to get this set up on the internet, then you will have made me the happiest Amigan on the planet :)
Cheers :drink:
Franko
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@DBAlex
Hi DBAlex
My main amiga set up is as follows...
A1200 Blizard060/PPC603 60Mhz/240Mhz / 256Meg Fast Ram / 2 x 500Gb HD's / 2 DVD Burners / FASTATA MKIII / SUBWAY USB / Wireless Mouse
Now if you could let me know what I need and where to get it, to get this set up on the internet, then you will have made me the happiest Amigan on the planet :)
Cheers :drink:
Franko
Wow!!
Amazing Amiga setup..!! (I never even seen 256MB in a real miggy unless it was using emulators ;-))
Well theirs many ways to get your miggy on the net. IMHO the easiest way if you currently use an ethernet connection is to get a PCMCIA ethernet adapter. These can be bought from eBay or AmigaKit. (Their's a list somewhere of compatible models - mainly they are 3COM models). (Search google "3COM Amiga PCMCIA")
The other alternative is to use WiFi. The orinoco gold and silver cards work great (I have one in my A1200, connects every time !) and then you can set it up easily using prism2 drivers from Aminet and a TCP/IP stack. (Pretty much any will do, as long as they let you set the device to Networks/prism2.device unit 0) - i'm still using the original Miami software.
An easier way to set the WiFi up is using the EasyNet software from AmigaKit, but that is pay for software (£10). But a lot of people say it's very easy to use for people who've never had their miggies online before.
I'll post more info tomorrow or let other people say more... but that's the general gist of it :-D.
Alex.
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@DBAlex
:banana:
Cheers mate, thats just the type of info I was looking for... You're A Hero :)
I will look into all that lovely info first thing in the morning (it's after 2:30 in the morning here and I need to get some shut eye !!!)
very curious (and jealous) about some of the set ups you've got there, but I'll ask you about them another time if that's ok with you. :)
I the meantime thank you very much for that info, very much appreciated.
Cheers :drink:
Franko
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Yes, I keep telling my A1200 is my main machine. I have PC, but do not consider my main computer.
With my hummble A1200 i can browse many sites without problems.. sometimes in some sites, the Page not display like other system like PC or MAC, but you can browse..
You know browse the WEB with Amiga give another nice taste.. you dont get with PC or other systems..
I compare this sensation like drive any vintage car, people who have any old car will understand what I mean..
In fact nowdays, i use PC, just for somthings, like Videos, Facebook, and other sites, but all other websites, you can browse with Amiga.
Right now i am writing this post from my A1200, and i am listening, my Mods Playlist, and are very nice atmosphere!.. you know if you like Amiga.. you have to like it..
I will use Amiga, until you can continue using..
Remember guys " ONLY AMIGA MAKEIT POSSIBLE!"
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I could't agree more :)
Franko
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Amiga_Nut: I think the turning point was Team 17 not even attempting World Rally Fever on Amiga, even 030 only machines etc, ditto with Psygnosis and Novastorm (CD32 much superior than PC CD for that game too!) but still I kept with it because Dos/Windows 3.x was a complete bag of shite and using a PC was not something I looked forward to, especially a million and one Config.sys setups for each game.
Ah. The days of configuring config.sys and autoexec.bat. Particularly for freeing enough memory with HIMEM to utilize the bottom 640K.
Indeed it was a pitty when Team17 and Psygnosis moved on to other platforms.
IslDreamer: Nowadays I spend most of my time between two Core i7...
[Drool] Oh, pardon me. :)
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@Franko,
If you really have never used the Internet until 4 weeks ago, I would contact AmigaKit and buy the EasyNet software and their wireless network PCMCIA card. That should have you up and surfing the Internet from your A1200 in no time. I have the same setup as you, without the PPC and it is probably my favorite Classic Amiga at the moment.
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@DBAlex
A1200 Blizard060/PPC603 60Mhz/240Mhz / 256Meg Fast Ram / 2 x 500Gb HD's / 2 DVD Burners / FASTATA MKIII / SUBWAY USB / Wireless Mouse
Your setup is quite like mine. I would recommend a PCMCIA network card. If you have your Amiga in a tower, you need a right-angle adapter aswell. After that, you can hook your machine up to your modem/router or to a networking pc. Im using IBrowse on Classic, OWB on OS4.
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Thanks for all that info guys... :) DBalex, amigadave, rvo_nl
I checked out the cards you were talking about and I am going to order one of each, the ethernet & wireless version. Although I won't be able to use them in my main miggy yet as the custom case I built for it doesn't allow me access to the PCMIA slot even with an adapter. (when I built the case I never had a use for that slot and thought that I never would !).
I can try them out on one of my other A1200 first.
be interested to know what sort of upload/download speeds can be achieved with your set ups. This old iMac I using just now to be on the internet maxes out at 2.6Mbs download and .6Mbs upload.
Thanks for the info guys. :biglaugh:
Franko :drink:
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expect transfer rates a bit slower than that.. Although it certainly didnt disappoint me. Good luck!