Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: BillHarrison on July 24, 2006, 04:33:44 PM
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Hi all. When I was younger (late 90's) I was really interested in Amigas. Could never afford one, but always went to the nearest computer store and played around. Demos, a few games, they were really ahead of their time.
Well, I got into PC's, and have been for a while. About 5 years ago, I ran into a guy with a few BRAND NEW Amiga 2000's, with HD (80mb I think) in box. I snapped one up, paid 75 bucks, seemed fair enough at the time. Well, I just stumbled over it in the basement, still in the box, for the hundredth time.
Why did I buy this? I Plugged it in once, ran the old newtek demo that i was so impressed with years ago, and realized its nothing my PC cannot do. Or my mac.
BUT, and here is a stupid question:
Can this thing be "modernized"? Can I make it useable for say web surfing/ basic image editing / email? I know it will never be a power house and replace my main system, but If I could set up a terminal to browse the web, check email, and so on without having to worry about virus's etc, I would not mind spending a little cash on the project (Plus I just hate to see it languish, It is what got me interested in computers to start with!)
Any suggestions?
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Hi Bill, and Wellcome to AO.
If your into retro gamming the Amiga is a great platform. You can still do video editing with it but like you said you can do most of that with your PC now. (If you had a Amiga 4000 then I would say that Newtek still has the Video Toaster with Flyer tat blows the doors off the PC for the price).
The 2000 is a great machine and is capable of doing minour internet but you would need to get an excelorator and graphics card for it. These are not easy to find or cheep but if your doing it for fun and have the cash sitting around it can be an adventure.
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Before we talk on you have to realize that you are facing an investment of around 200-400 $ depending on the degree of comfort you want to reach.
If you are willing to spend that amount of money we can discuss the details.
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If it is BRAND NEW, boxed, with all the manuals, polystyrene inserts, disks etc.
FLOG IT!
Flog (sell) it to a collector or a museum. Spend some time researching exactly which model you have, revision motherboard etc. If you use ebay dont scrimp on your advert, use your own webhosting for extra large photographs, as many as you feel is good, show the seals if they are intact, serial number etc.
Once sold for 4x or 5x what you paid, use the proceeds to get any other Amiga (much higher spec with hard drive and accelerator) you like :-)
Can this thing be "modernized"? Can I make it useable for say web surfing/ basic image editing / email? I know it will never be a power house and replace my main system, but If I could set up a terminal to browse the web, check email, and so on without having to worry about virus's etc
It is not economically viable to upgrade an A2000 (or any Amiga for that matter) to the level you need to do what you ask. It would have to be a labour of love.
To begin with you would need a Phase5 Blizzard A2060 card to come close and they cost perhaps $400 USD and an Ethernet card which is perhaps another $150 + Graphics card $300
If you want to use it just for retrogaming you need to get just a SCSI card with memory upgrade. I would recommend a GVP Impact Series II HC8+ http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=1196
They are very common and so very cheap, 8Mbytes of 30-pin simms also very cheap and SCSI-1 hard drive again very cheap.
With a hard drive and more RAM your Amiga is 100% more useful. (But no where near Web-capable).
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That's the usual question. You are correct about the Amiga being immune to almost all viruses, spyware, etc. I'm still here because I love the OS because it's not 'modern' (no registry, no swap files, etc). I love the RAM: disk. I'm online with an Amiga now. Unfortunately, I must suppliment my Amiga with modern machines (Windows and Mac) to print PDFs, work with Office docs, get Mp3s, or interface to astronomical cameras.
I still get the most pleasure using the Amiga and I trust it far beyond any other machine. It never forces me to do things the way someone else wants. It won't write to the HD without permission. It crashes far less often. It's always reliable. It serves only me and it never suffers conflict of interest. Grin.
If you view the computing trends as "fashion', as I do, the Amiga is above that kind of silliness.
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Obviously this would be a labor of "Love", of sorts, more a labor of cool geekiness to keep it moving, and do some web surfing etc with it. I obviously could put something to gether alot cheaper than that, in the pc world, but it would not be as cool as doing all that with a hopped up amiga.
Just looking for some ideas of what can be done, and some prices would not hurt. I would not mind spending around 250 on this endeavour, a bit more if it turns out to be really cool.
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The A2000 is unfortunately the worst of the big box Amiga's ( others being A3000(T) & A4000(T) ).
It doesnt have Zorro III which imposes some limits on the resolutions and colour depth of any graphics card you might get.
It doesnt have inline video slot making it difficult / risky to get a graphics card with a scandoubler (needed for VGA monitors)
The 680x0 cards for A2000 are VERY rare and so very expensive even when compared to those for A3000/4000. The A2000 doesnt have a PowerPC accelerator.
A2000 doesnt have the AGA chipset. Not that important, but it does prevent you playing most of the latest (1992 onwards) Amiga games / demos.
If you are going spend over $200 you should consider switching to a different Amiga.
For $250 the best buy for an A2000 is a Blizzard 2040 accelerator which are about $200 when they come up.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300008199719
This wont enable you to seriously web-browse as without a graphics card you wont be able to view anything above TV resolution.
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Thanks for that info, thats all stuff I was not aware of.
So I am thinking I would be better off with a 4000? Desktop model?
I could box this up nicely and probably get what I have in it back, and use that towards a 4000.
I have a 1200 floating around , but it has some video errors, and I never could figure it out, definitely something hardware related.
Bill
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If it is brand new and boxed (original Commodore box) with all packaging then you should be able to get enough money for a lower quality A4000@40 and then spend your $250 on a graphics card
Note: I edited previous email with more info including prices.
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@alexh
Not to sound like Doomy but other than ZIII, AGA and PPC coprocessor boards, the A2000 is a competent machine. In the US, 680x0 accelerators for the A2000 are much more plentiful than the ZIII A3000/A4000 (though 68040/68060 and large fastram boards are perhaps rarer). For retro gaming stuff and even internet surfing, a 68030 will do and doesn't present the incompatibilities of a 68040/060. The lack of inline video slot is not a problem, as the slot is used primarily for either a genlock board a la the Video Toaster or a Flickerfixer/Scandoubler, of which there are far many more Microways and A2320s designed for the A2000 than you'll find for an A4000 (A3000 has an A2320 chip built in). Care to rethink your A2000 bashing?
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Most importantly, which I'm suprised no one has mentioned is..
CHECK THE RTC BATTERY!!
If you are not comfortable opening it up and/or tearing it apart and soldering, bring it to an old school electronics repair shop. Battery leakage is a major killer of Amiga computers. It would be a shame for such a nice computer to be killed by a unseen battery leak :-(
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@ BillHarrison
I agree with alexh. If that 2000 is mint, it will get a nice price on Ebay (take Red's advice and check that battery right now though). I had an Amiga 2000, then an A1200 and now I have an A4000T. I had a lot of fun with the A2000, but in all reality if I had a choice between a mint A2000 or a used A1200 I would take the A1200 and spend the difference on a 68030 CPU card (or better). You might even get a used A4000D from the proceeds of the sale of a mint A2000. The A4000 is a better machine all round than the A2000 and you will be able to get expansion cards much easier for it than the A2000.
If you want to upgrade that A2000 to its maximum capability you will spend $$$$$$
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redrumloa wrote:
Most importantly, which I'm suprised no one has mentioned is..
CHECK THE RTC BATTERY!!
and ASAP!
http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=960
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You could use it to wedge open firedoors at your office. It is what I use mine for.
:-D
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Keep in mind. Any collector would be hesitant to buy a mint in box A2000 that has not had the battery removed or checked!!!! I bet it has leaked so remove it and clean the area with alchohol. The A2000 series are robust and can withstand some leakage and still work. But do remove and clean the battery before it kills it.
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The A2000 ain't the best machine out there..
If you were into Amigas then I'd say to do it up, it's more of a challenge with a 2000, but that adds to the fun.
But judging by your post you're not really into Amigas much but would like one...
An upgraded 4000 is the way I'd reccommend going. Nice stable system with a lot of good expandability and very reliable..
Failing that, the slightly cheaper route is the A1200. Also very expandable but not always the easiest... Haven't experienced this myself (yet) but I've heard stories of power troubles and accelerators working loose/dying. Don't let that put you off though, the A1200 is still a great machine, and like I say it's not happened to me yet.. and I have an A1200 system running inside a manequin torso, and that's largely held together with tap and glue.. lol :)
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In the US, 680x0 accelerators for the A2000 are much more plentiful than the ZIII A3000/A4000 (though 68040/68060 and large fastram boards are perhaps rarer).
?? A3000/A4000 680x0 accelerators are CPU slot upgrades not ZIII.
For retro gaming stuff and even internet surfing, a 68030 will do and doesn't present the incompatibilities of a 68040/060.
I challenge you to have an "enjoyable" surf with an 030 and 0.5Mbyte chip RAM and 4Mbyte fast RAM (largest amount the common A2630 can have).
The lack of inline video slot is not a problem
You telling me you wouldnt "crap your pants" when you had to snap your brand new PicassoIV in half to make it fit? I know I would.
Care to rethink your A2000 bashing?
No :roll:
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even internet surfing, a 68030 will do and doesn't present the incompatibilities of a 68040/060.
I challenge you to have an "enjoyable" surf with an 030 and 0.5Mbyte chip RAM and 4Mbyte fast RAM (largest amount the common A2630 can have).
I second that:
surfing wasnt a lot of fun in my classic setup of 2MB Chip, and 8MB Fast RAM. and an AGA chipset !
I had to deal with mails first, then close down YAM if I wanted to Surf (IBrowse 2.2).
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I wasn't suggesting surfing with just the stock A2000 graphics, though this can be done on a 68030 if you turn off image loading and just want to read text. Every Model B A2000 can be upgraded to 1MB chipram very easily. The vast majority of expansion cards, including graphics cards, are Zorro 2 compatible so there isn't much advantage in having Zorro III slots. GVP(-m), IVS, Progressive Peripherals, RCS Management, Phase 5, Apollo, CSA, Microbotics and even Commodore made tons of 68030/040 accelerators for the A2000. These are just as obtainable and much cheaper usually than ones designed for the A3000/A4000 fast slot (though these are usually at least a 68040). Add a Zorro 2 graphics card and a *fast* 68030 with 12+mb of fast ram and you should be able to surf as much as Ibrowse will allow for. Add a much easier/cheaper to obtain A2000 flicker fixer in the video slot if you want cheap vga compatibility for older games (the vast majority of which are OCS/ECS).
Again, we're not talking rocket ship here but functionality. The fastest 68K amigas are the A3000/4000 series for which you can get PPC coprocessors and ZorroIII or PCI busboard graphics cards. A1200 setups (with all the apurtenant timing issues/problems) can be also setup in a tower with PCI busboards and a slower PPC coprocessor. But for that kind of obscene money (including a flickerfixer), you'd be better off buying an new AMD64 machine with a Catweasel and running AmigaForever on it.