Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: alfredbonnabel on October 17, 2010, 03:02:38 PM
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Hello everyone. As of two o'clock yesterday afternoon I am not the proud owner of an Amiga A2000 and can finally start indulging in my passion for old computers.
First, a little about myself. My name is Alfred Bonnabel and I live in Conway, Arkansas, USA with my wonderful wife and high energy one-year old son. I am an avid collector and tinkerer of retro video games and have been doing so for a few years now. Computers have been a passion of mine since my parents purchased their first IBM clone in 1987-88. Since then I have dismantled and upgraded every home computer they purchased as well as anyone else's that would let me. I cut my teeth on DOS 3.0 and to this day I still prefer a command line whenever I can get one.
About a year ago I started actively looking in my local area for a Commodore 64 or, if I was lucky, an Amiga. Pickings are fairly slim in central Arkansas and the few C64's I found were all way over what I was willing to pay (we're talking triple digit $$$ for a beaten up, might work/might now systems).
But it seems that holding out for the right deal worked in my favor as yesterday I walked into a Goodwill thrift store with my wife and discovered this Amiga 2000 standing sideways and mixed in with the other computers. I immediately froze and had to take a moment to pick my jaw up before I could even talk. Pulling the system out and laying it down on a nearby table to examine my find, I was pleased to see that everything appeared to be in good cosmetic condition. A few scrapes on the top and sides with a small dent on the bottom were the only signs of damage I could find.
I looked around in vain for a monitor, keyboard, mouse or anything else but had no luck. The best I could hope for was a quick test to see if there was at least some power going to the system so I grabbed a generic ac cable and plugged it in to a nearby wall outlet. Sure enough I got a power light then the hard disk light began to flicker. Oh happy days!
Looking a little closer I noticed the mono video output so at least I could hook it up to a TV to see something. The keyboard port in the front would have been a challenge but I keep plenty of spare computer parts and I remembered having an old adapter just for this. No serial mouse to speak of unfortunately so that will have to be my first purchase. Two 3.5 inch floppies and a 5.25 inch floppy rounded out the system.
Needless to say that once I got home the first thing on my agenda was the get this baby plugged in and to see what I've got. Well, I was extremely excited to see that the system powered on and booted into Workbench successfully. Unfortunately, using my TV as a monitor is not going to work well. The text was so blurry that I was barely able to make anything out. Plus, black and white just isnt fun. So add a monitor to my wish list with the mouse.
Being the intrepid and curious sort I knew that I would have to crack the case and figure out what all was installed since there was evidence on the back of at least two expansion cards. Imagine my surprise when I found out there were actually 3 cards installed, all of which were even more exciting the more I learned about them.
The first card, after some research, turns out to be an A2091 with a Quantum SCSI hard drive installed. I didn't remove the card but upon boot the system seemed to indicate that the capacity was around the 100MB mark. Will verify that later. Unfortunately no additional RAM is installed on this board.
The next card, which I forgot to write the specific model number down when I pulled it out, turned out to be a 2MB RAM card. Very nice.
The third and final card is the A2088T which the 5.25 floppy is connected to. An emulator card is going to be very fun to play with indeed.
All in all, yesterday was very exciting and it has carried over into today. I am so glad I've been able to find a community of Amiga users and enthusiasts who truly enjoy this system. I look forward to spending a great deal of time here and learning from the combined expertise available. One day soon I hope to begin making my own contributions to the community, but until then I hope to learn all I can about this amazing system.
I've uploaded some pictures to my blog (http://www.alfredbonnabel.com/?p=482) if you care to check it out.
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You'll probably need an actual Amiga keyboard as well, the connector is the same as an AT keyboard's but the protocol is different, I believe.
Alternatively, this http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=49&products_id=228 will allow you to use a standard PC keyboard on an Amiga.
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Welcome and really enjoyed reading of your excitement with your new find.
Just would like to point out that the Amiga mouse is not a serial mouse (at least not in the same sense as operating through the IBM COM port.)
Enjoy!
Regards,
AmigaEd
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Welcome! The Amiga can be a challenge to get into (difficult availability of parts), but it's a lot of fun. I think you'll come to love the AmigaDOS command line, and ARexx for inter-process communication.
First order of business to ensure the longevity of your system to to make sure the battery isn't leaking. The clock batteries Commodore used were not designed to be around this long, so they usually leak and can easily damage the motherboard. In the A2000, the battery is located under the drive chassis. The Amiga only needs the battery to keep time while switched off, so the system will still work if you can't replace it right away (or ever). You can either cut it (carefully) from the component side of the board, or desolder it from the bottom.
As tone007 (EDIT: and AmigaED) says, those are not standard PC keyboard and mouse ports. In addition to the keyboard adapter, you can also get a mouse adapter that lets you use standard PS/2 mice.
If you're having trouble finding an Amiga monitor, you may want to look into the Indivision ECS, which will let you use standard VGA monitors.
Again, welcome!
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Thanks for the info tone007, AmigaEd, and Matt_H! Guess I've got a little more work to do before I can get into the fun and playing with this machine. :-)
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Welcome!
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Congratulations on your find! I see people have already pointed out about the keyboard and mouse, so I'll just add that until you get a monitor lined up, you can put Workbench into 320x200 mode with the configuration dialog, which will make it a lot more readable on composite video.
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Congratulations on your find! I see people have already pointed out about the keyboard and mouse, so I'll just add that until you get a monitor lined up, you can put Workbench into 320x200 mode with the configuration dialog, which will make it a lot more readable on composite video.
Wow, thanks for the tip commodorejohn. I figured there should be a setting somewhere but I hadn't given it too much thought since right now I can't even control anything. :roflmao:
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Welcome aboard!
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Welcome to the Amiga ! You are going to have lots fun if
you stick around . The Amiga is so much more then a retro
computer ! Its also way of life. Amiga has retro hardware
to die for! New school hardware like SAM 44o a kick ass emu
in winuae and clone's MorphOS and Aros .
So it how few Down the Rabbit Hole you want to
go with Amiga
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Thanks for all of the warm welcomes everyone. i can't wait to get a keyboard and mouse so I can get started on the full Amiga experience.
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I miss an A2000 and an A3000.
I think the A2000 is built like a tank.
I hope to get both next year.
Welcome to the site if you are new.
Have fun.
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Welcome from me too. I hope your time on this forum is fun and informative, I'm sure it will be.
You've come to the right place that's for sure, the level of technical knowledge around here is shocking at times. Never be afraid to ask for help, this is a great forum on the whole.
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Sounds like the original poster might be an ideal candidate to become a new Amiga user for life. I hope he does not get too disappointed with the A2088 bridgeboard, they were crap. A 386sx bridgeboard would be much better to run old DOS apps and games on his A2000.
Anyway, welcome to Amiga.org Alfred and enjoy your A2000. If you can't find an Amiga keyboard and mouse for a good price closer to you, contact me via PMail here on Amiga.org and we can make a deal on extras of those that I have in my collection. I am in Calif., so the shipping shouldn't be too much via USPS parcel post.
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Welcome. Never owned a big box Amiga myself. Towered A1200 but that another story.
There are a lot of nice friendly people around here. You will never leave, even if you stop using Amigas :)
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Welcome!
The A2000 was the first Amiga I ever worked on, the first real computer we owned (after an Atari 600XL ;) ) and the machine I learned almost everything computer-related on.
The RAM chips on the A2091 are not too hard to find, ask around here... (it takes up to 2Mb).
Have fun!
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You know, there really is something appealing to working on an older system like this. When my wife asked me why I was worrying about fixing it up, especially when considering the prices of some components these days, I told her it was equivalent to working on an old car. Sure my new computer has some cool tricks, but the Amiga has style.
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I told her it was equivalent to working on an old car.
..but crashing an Amiga is much safer!
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:roflmao:
So true! But I would still be equally heart broken.
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Welcome
:)
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welcome aboard:afro:
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welcome to the amiga - a very good computerchoice! maybe you will also take a look at the new amigas like the sam-boards, amigaos4.1 and maybe even morphos and aros are worth a look. have fun.
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i took a look at your a2000 on your internetpage. damn, that cool thing is in a really good condition! looks like only 1 or 2 years old! i would give you my old amiga-techno mouse if you would live in germany but i think, its a bit to expensive to send them to the usa. any idea of the costs?
greets x
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Welcome Alfred! owning an Amiga for the first time, I envy you!
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Wow that is really a sweet find, I'm jealous, and welcome aboard. The Amiga is only the best computer in the world, and the A2000 is touted by many as the Top Amiga Model. Certainly is durable anyway. :-)
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i took a look at your a2000 on your internetpage. damn, that cool thing is in a really good condition! looks like only 1 or 2 years old! i would give you my old amiga-techno mouse if you would live in germany but i think, its a bit to expensive to send them to the usa. any idea of the costs?
greets x
I don't know, with the way shipping costs keep going up it might be cheaper for me to buy it a passenger ticket on an airplane! :roflmao:
Thanks for the offer MaximvsPayne. Really kind of you.
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Wow that is really a sweet find, I'm jealous, and welcome aboard. The Amiga is only the best computer in the world, and the A2000 is touted by many as the Top Amiga Model. Certainly is durable anyway. :-)
Wow, really? I can't believe I lucked out first time. You guys are just making me search harder and harder for a keyboard/mouse you know that right? :razz:
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Don't be, crashes, aka Guru meditations, are part of the experience. Remember this is what life was like back in the early '90s. Enjoy.
:roflmao:
So true! But I would still be equally heart broken.
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I love the comment about messing around with an old Amiga is like tinkering with a classic car - I couldn't agree more actually!
I love all the weird and wonderful accelerator cards and expansion pieces - makes it all so interesting and potentially endless!
I always wanted a A2000 as a kid
:)
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You can get an amiga mouse pretty cheap from amigakit.com, or just check the sales forum on here, and Im sure someone can hook you up
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I love the comment about messing around with an old Amiga is like tinkering with a classic car - I couldn't agree more actually!
I love all the weird and wonderful accelerator cards and expansion pieces - makes it all so interesting and potentially endless!
I always wanted a A2000 as a kid
:)
You are correct about the wide range of cards available. Unfortunately that is making it kind of confusing to me about what stuff is and is not compatible. Not really important to know right now but later on once I get some Amiga hours logged I will want to start tinkering.
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You are correct about the wide range of cards available. Unfortunately that is making it kind of confusing to me about what stuff is and is not compatible. Not really important to know right now but later on once I get some Amiga hours logged I will want to start tinkering.
its a brave new world :)
In general, for accelerator cards and stuff, look for stuff that has a number of 20xx.
Tradition is that a card or expansion tends to have the first part of the amiga model number in it.
For processor cards, the last 2 digits tends to indicate the processor in question.
So 1230 would be an 030 card for a 1200, while 2030 would be the same for a 2000
In general anyways
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You are correct about the wide range of cards available. Unfortunately that is making it kind of confusing to me about what stuff is and is not compatible. Not really important to know right now but later on once I get some Amiga hours logged I will want to start tinkering.
I'm not really sure either to be honest! What I do know is that I would like a 030 accelerator for my A600!
Plenty of time for all that, and plenty of really helpful people on here! :)
The best thing about the A2000 is that it date's back to around 1985, yet with all the expansions etc. you can make it really more modern than it ever ought to have been should you wish!
If you like tinkering with old computers as I do, I think you'll be in your element with it :)
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its a brave new world :)
In general, for accelerator cards and stuff, look for stuff that has a number of 20xx.
Tradition is that a card or expansion tends to have the first part of the amiga model number in it.
For processor cards, the last 2 digits tends to indicate the processor in question.
So 1230 would be an 030 card for a 1200, while 2030 would be the same for a 2000
In general anyways
Wow, that's good to know. Thanks for the info runequester!
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Well guys, I finally got a keyboard courtesy of orb85750's sales thread over on Amibay! Now I just need a mouse and a better way to output video (mono composite sucks).
Incidentally, is there anything I can do with just a keyboard at this point? I booted into the GUI but couldn't seem to do any sort of navigation. Could be that I just don't know the proper keyboard shortcuts.
Also, does anyone have a good recommendation for a video card of some sort that would allow me to use a standard VGA monitor? Not having any luck finding an RGB-compatible monitor around here. :(
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Welcome, Picasso II is a good video card if you can find one. It will also need Amiga OS 3.1 to work.
:)
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Well guys, I finally got a keyboard courtesy of orb85750's sales thread over on Amibay! Now I just need a mouse and a better way to output video (mono composite sucks).
Incidentally, is there anything I can do with just a keyboard at this point? I booted into the GUI but couldn't seem to do any sort of navigation. Could be that I just don't know the proper keyboard shortcuts.
Also, does anyone have a good recommendation for a video card of some sort that would allow me to use a standard VGA monitor? Not having any luck finding an RGB-compatible monitor around here. :(
Try holding down one of the amiga keys and use the arrow keys.
As far as monitor, you'll need a scan doubler, either internal or external. Im at work currently, so I can't help much right now, but Im sure someone will jump in shortly
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you have two choices here, go with a TV set which has some kind of video input and use a A520 modulator, or get a .htm]scandoubler (http://www.vesalia.de/e_indivisionecs[6300) and use a PC monitor. Scan doubler will give you better result, but will cost you more.
when going for the modulator, keeping mind that NTSC/PAL units are different, so you'll be wanting a NTSC one.
also this guy will be producing some s-video/component (http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=57512&highlight=s-video+adapter) adapters for NTSC, it seems to be a good compromise of price/quality. (not really sure how much he will ask for them atm, but will probably be less than the scandoubler)
a scandoubler is universal though, so you may go PAL in the future if you want access to more European software.
btw, amiga mice are different to PC serial mice. Never ever connect a PC serial mice to your amiga, spare some bucks and buy a authentic amiga mouse.
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Thanks for the suggestions guys. Yeah countzero, I've gone through a couple of PC serial mice before I realized I had to have an Amiga one. :) Would like to go the route of an internal card like a Picasso. Will be keeping an eye out, but definitely getting a mouse is the priority.
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also keep in mind that getting a picasso or any other graphics card will only give VGA resolutions inside workbench only. Any application (read, any game, demo, software) using the native graphics chipset will switch the output to Amiga RGB output, taking you back to square one. If you're not interested in games/demos and stuff though, you'll be fine.
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Hmm, I didn't know that. Ideally I would love to just find a monitor and roll with that, but I've not been having any luck at all locally and I'm afraid of trying to have one shipped (cost and delicate nature of the unit).
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Cost isn't actually too bad within the continental US, and if you get it from someone who knows their way around computer equipment, they'll know to pack it thoroughly. Flicker-fixers and the like are always an option, but it might be worth your while to just get a Commodore monitor.
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yes, but also keep in mind that amiga monitors are OLD devices, and prone to failures anytime unless they're very well maintained (change caps etc). If you're going to pay more than 60-70$ (including shipment) I'ld seriously consider a scandoubler, which is more versatile, and will last longer.
I suddenly felt like a individual computers representative :lol: but yeah, it's the way to go, unless you can source a monitor/tv cheaply. :afro:
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also keep in mind that getting a picasso or any other graphics card will only give VGA resolutions inside workbench only. Any application (read, any game, demo, software) using the native graphics chipset will switch the output to Amiga RGB output, taking you back to square one. If you're not interested in games/demos and stuff though, you'll be fine.
The Picasso IV has a scan doubler and flicker fixer built in. It shows games and demos on a VGA monitor perfectly well.
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The Picasso IV has a scan doubler and flicker fixer built in. It shows games and demos on a VGA monitor perfectly well.
？ yeah but you forgot to mention they go for 300 to 400 bucks ...
Also you need to break the scandoubler module to use in a a2000 which is blashphemous ！:madashell:
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Until the indivision is in stock again, and before chucking 300 bucks on an internal card, this might suffice
http://www.ambery.com/rgbcgatovgac.html
I use it with a simple adapter and it works pretty good, though it doesn't like interlace modes