Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: xyth on September 23, 2003, 03:00:46 AM
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Well I saved up, borrowed a credit card, and eagerly went to the Elbox Online Shop to purchase a Mirage 1200 w/keyboard interface (~170 Euro)...
...only to discover that it would actually cost me more than the tower itself to ship it here to NZ (~200 Euro).
No wonder there's so much software piracy here. We have to pay more than twice the price for hardware.
Guess I'll be sticking with sticking with the 1200DO (Desktop Octopus).
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Why not try buying through some Australian dealers? I'm sure there are some available.
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seems like there always something knocking down our hopes and dreams. its money, its always money.I feel for you, same thing here I wanted fixes on my 1200 done by eyetech but its the money shipping thing again.
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Maybe a bit off topic...
I think this is going to be one of the big challenges for the new Amiga people. Commodore had a vast network of affiliates and subsidiaries to deal with these kind of things, near the end of the Commodore era this seemed to disintegrate and only US and Germany kept a strong Amiga presence. Since then the rest of the world has been dealing with these huge shipping costs, uncertainty about ever getting what was paid for etc... Living in Europe I'm one of the lucky ones, even if there's not much in my country I can get stuff in Holland, Germany... at somewhat reasonable costs.
Anyway... Good luck on finding your tower, I'm sure there must be some local place you can get them or maybe go through their system to have it shipped with other stuff they are getting from overseas, cutting down on shipping costs. Meanwhile, have one on me... :pint:
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Well, why just not make one of those tower hacks you can find on aminet, using a PC tower. They seem to be quite simple.
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Were you going to put a busboard and graphics card in the tower? If not you could always do the Atari Falcon-approach.
A lot of Falcon users run their computers with the top off and an external keyboard so that they can fit more stuff inside and outside their computer.
Like this... (http://www.sak.nu/nas/images/nas2k3/ct60-nature.jpg)
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there is shops in the country where u live who can halp ya..
good luck! ...
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That Falcon reminds me of my A1200 few years back. Looked pretty much the same.. Not too nice looking, but usable.. :-)
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@ carls
A system like that wouldn't survive a week in my house, my Weimaraner moults hair and dust so quickly...
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Yeah. There were a couple in Victoria when I lived there a couple of years ago. The situation may have changed, but my fellow Melbournians are sure to help you.
You could try emailing Computa Magic if they are still in business at commagic@alphalink.com.au.
They might be able to help you out.
There was also AmigaTech, but the link isn't working now, so they may be gone... :-(
Also, there is Amiga Innovations in Western Australia, but that might be too far. Check their website at http://surf.to/amigainnovations
Sorry, too lazy to make a link from this forum.
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Computa magic is only interested in selling thier old stock of amiga stuff. last i checked the really cool stuf like towers, keyboards, busboards, graphics cards accelerators etc they did not have. amiga tech arent trading. but hey you can get a pegasos in melbourne. i often drool at the systems available on amibench in the UK, at great prices but with the shipping charges and uncertainty of getting the goods i let them pass by. i tried to update my A1200 but when i had gone as far as i could eg 1260, external hard drive and cd rom box i found what i really needed was a better display dblpal. multiscan etc are just too slow to use for any graphics or dtp unless you want create video graphics. but here in aus i found i was better off getting an a4000 with graphics card than trying to upgrade my a1200
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@cyberus
You could build a case for it in for example Lego. I knew I guy who had a Lego SCSI cabinet for his CD-ROM (or was it his hard drive?). It looked very bizarre :-)
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carls wrote:
@cyberus
You could build a case for it in for example Lego. I knew I guy who had a Lego SCSI cabinet for his CD-ROM (or was it his hard drive?). It looked very bizarre :-)
Carls, this is 4 sure the most bizarre thing I ever heard! :))))
Take care,
levelLORD
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What? You've never seen the lego tower case?
http://members.cox.net/richw/lego.htm (http://members.cox.net/richw/lego.htm)
http://www.gruntville.com/casegallery/albun78 (http://www.gruntville.com/casegallery/albun78)
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/legobox/ (http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/legobox/)
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Some pics would be nice. :-)
But how do you make the insides secure? I ####ume you'd still have to drill some holes in the plastic, etc.
Ooooh here it is (looks through LEGO catalog).
LEGO Amiga Tower Case, ages 4-11
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see here (http://www.directron.com/contest1win.html) Pretty cool eh!
warning..it took about 5 mins (literally!) to load the page with my 56k connection (although I had D/Ls going in the background
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The wierdest case I ever saw was one made of expanding foam. The guy sprayed foam around his componets. Made a big mound looking thing. Had tunnels for cooling. Don't know how he would ever service anything, but I bet it was quiet.
Stew
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Cyberus wrote:
see here Pretty cool eh!
Wow, amazing.
He's even got the little lego guys inside looking through the windows. :-D
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I've checked out a bunch of amiga dealers in Aussie but none seem to deal with towers.
I really want to get the Mirage/Mediator combo because then I can get cheap as dirt PC graphics cards and the like, and I won't have to worry about extravagent shipping costs for custom Amiga hardware again.
The problem with going through a retailer is that I'll have to pay retail markups as well as shipping, which I imagine will add up to about the same as buying direct from Elbox anyway.
To be honest I think I'm going to have to give up on the idea of ever getting a tower or a mediator. I just can't justify spending that amount of money merely making my system more expandable, when I could get an entirely new PC for almost half that. Not that I ever will.
So I'll never know the joy of having a graphics card...
Oh well, maybe something will come up on Aussie or Kiwi EBay.
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I think "Anything Amiga" in Australia had towers,
may want to check with them. You could also
build a better one yourself, costs less money
but requires a little skill/patience. The most
difficult part would probably be creating the
backplate, but with some good measurements and
a template you should be set. Plus there are
some full-size server towers out there that
look much better than Elbox towers. ;)
The best one IMO was the RBM tower...too bad
they're nowhere to be found.
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I have the older power tower for the 4000 desk top and it's a piece of junk. Yeah, it works fine but not worth what I paid for it. Nice being able to exspand with the elbox boards but you could just buy the bus board and Mediator for about the same price as the case ; then put it in a pc case.
I could be wrong about the Mirage case but if it's anything like the power tower ;you will be disappointed. Anyone out there have one of these towers?
Ellis :-D
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And I've been happy with my Eyetech EZ tower Mk (fucknows).
and as a boon... Y'cn put a pc MoBo in it AS WELL !!
Mine is Siamesed together (Serial)
( Case Does weigh a tonne though)
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@The_Editor:
How is it that you were able to get away woth your EZ Tower description, yet others are unable to even ####ume? :-o
(maybe I'll get away with it...)
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-D- said;
I think "Anything Amiga" in Australia had towers,
may want to check with them. You could also
build a better one yourself . . . .
Indeed, Doug showed a Tower for A1200 mobos when he was in Brisbane earlier this month. He said he commissioned that design when he was dissapointed by UK designs.
It is also possible to use an AT Desktop case. Another Desktop option would be to fabricate a NEW upper section for the A1200 lower + mobo . . . be wild, use wood!
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To xyth:
Why not just sell your Amiga 1200 and then buy an Amiga 4000, like you should have done in the first place. You can get Amiga 4000 computers now on eBay for less then $500.00. The "big box" Amiga computers are much higher quality then the plastic cased, all in the keyboard models. In fact, The Amiga 500, 600 and 1200 are the lowest quality of all the Amiga computers. I think that you will be much happier with an Amiga 4000. Just make sure that you get one without battery acid leakage corrosion on the motherboard. Even an Amiga 2000 or 3000 is far better then the Amiga 1200. :-P
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Yes they DO appear on ebay ...
BUT
As Xyth has already stated ... He lives in the land of the haka ..
(http://www.newzealandsites.com/about-new-zealand/images/all-blacks-haka-challenge.jpg)
And Shipping to NZ costs MORE than the computers worth !!
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Maybe he should concider moving to a different area of our planet. :-D
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What you mean like the US?
From the accounts I've heard, you get enough hassle from immigration if you're going for a visit, let alone trying to emigrate!!!
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If all the stupid Mexicans can do it, so can you ! :-P
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Well .... The Amigo's have only gotta cross a bit of land ...
The Kiwi's have got to cross an entire ocean, just to get there.
Methinx the coastguard might see them coming... That is, of course, A-ssuming the Kiwi's would wish to leave their Garden of Eden for America !!
( Methinx NOT) :-o
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I had a look at Anything Amigas website but didn't see anything for the 1200, but I shall e-mail them and find out. Sounds promising.
And if that fails I believe a wooden case will be the way to go. I can't metalwork for s**t but my carpentry skills are passable. Though lego looks like a fun project..
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@DoomMaster and The_Editor:
A4000s do occasionally show up for sale down here, and I may well consider it next time I see one. But my 1200 and I have been together for near on 12 years and I'm loathe to give it up. (Aside from an early stint with an A500, it's the only computer I've ever owned).
Moving to the US wouldn't be a problem as I'm a Canadian citizen as well as a kiwi. But I wouldn't ever consider it. The American form of democracy(?) just doesn't feel right to me.
Besides I've yet to discover a country that makes better ice cream than NZ and you've really got to take these sort of things into consideration when deciding where to live :)
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DoomMaster wrote:
If all the stupid Mexicans can do it, so can you !
Intelligence obviously isn't a criteria ....
-- gary_c
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@Gary_c
lol
(http://amigaworld.co.uk/images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
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@DoomMaster
stupid Mexicans
So you're a racist too? How fitting.
You stupid american!
(yes, sarcasm)
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Why not just sell your Amiga 1200 and then buy an Amiga 4000, like you should have done in the first place.
I certainly would advice everyone to consider twice before following any of you "advice".
The "big box" Amiga computers are much higher quality then the plastic cased, all in the keyboard models. In fact, The Amiga 500, 600 and 1200 are the lowest quality of all the Amiga computers.
Funny that. A4000's are dropping like flies, whereas A1200s are going strong. Must be a big-box curse of some kind. A1200 is one of the most robust Amiga models ever.
Even an Amiga 2000 or 3000 is far better then the Amiga 1200.
I disagree.
If you compare stock models, then perhaps. But in expandability and flexibility, A1200 beats A2000 hands down. Plus A2000 is a slow 16-bit bus system with slow Zorro II. Junk basically.
A3000 is quite ok, in case you don't need AGA, and you can live with the limited desktop/tower space.
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@xyth;
have a look at this wooden tower. (http://www.freedesignsoftware.com/images/WoodComp2.jpg) (WARNING- big pic) True, its a tower but it may give you ideas!
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Sorry to hear about that! 200 Euros for shipping does seem a little extreme, but don't let it put you off finding another solution to towering your Amiga, it's well worth the effort.
Why don't you just go for the keyboard interface and if you can stretch to it a Mediator? Tower cases are very heavy things, so it might be a better idea to build your own.
I'be built my own case in the past, and while it isn't as easy as building an Airfix kit, it's certainly well worth the effort.
Paul
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DoomMaster what have you done! polititcians/careers/ jobs/ have been destroyed for remarks like that. we need a kinder/ gentler nation and that kind of talk won't get us there very fast. It's no problem making a personal attack if some reason warrents but to attack all of a countrys' people is just not right...