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Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: wrath of khan on December 16, 2014, 09:35:09 PM
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I'm in the process of expanding my a1200. Its a vanilla commodore a1200, so just 2 megabyte of ram. I have a cf gaming card instal2l2e2d but will need more memory to run whdload.
In the new year i will buy the Aca 030 accelerator on Amiga-kit.
Is the easynet pcmcia card work getting? I want to go online with my a1200 and it would be cool to be able to transfer files onto my cf card.
Indivision aga allows hd resolutions on amiga? Is that correct? Thus far i have an Rgb cable.
What else would ye recommend?
I'm gonna expand it over several months, as this stuff ain't cheap but it is mighty cool.
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I'm in the process of expanding my a1200. Its a vanilla commodore a1200, so just 2 megabyte of ram. I have a cf gaming card instal2l2e2d but will need more memory to run whdload.
In the new year i will buy the Aca 030 accelerator on Amiga-kit.
Is the easynet pcmcia card work getting? I want to go online with my a1200 and it would be cool to be able to transfer files onto my cf card.
Indivision aga allows hd resolutions on amiga? Is that correct? Thus far i have an Rgb cable.
What else would ye recommend?
I'm gonna expand it over several months, as this stuff ain't cheap but it is mighty cool.
I would say "Yes", the EasyNet & PCMCIA Ethernet card, or wireless adapter are worth getting for your A1200. Going "Online" with a stock A1200 can be a frustrating or disappointing experience, depending on your expectations, but if you know what you are getting yourself into and don't expect it to compare to a Windows, or Mac, or Linux, Internet experience, then you should not be too disappointed.
Expanding Amiga hardware is NOT CHEAP, but we are lucky to still have so many expansion choices and parts available to us after all of these years.
Good luck and be careful when taking things apart and putting them back together. Static electricity can do lots of damage if you are not careful.
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The Indivision AGA is pretty good. I run a 1024 x 768 with 16 colours. Its 800 x 600 mode is also pretty good. More pixels and more colours means more chip RAM so apply them sparingly. I have a Blizzard 040 expansion with 64MB RAM which I find is the true minimum if one is going to run OS 3.9 and applications in a responsive way; Side note, I don't know how I was ever OK with Final Writer running on an 020 with RAM expansion. I also have an EasyNet Wi-Fi card, mostly for AmiNet.
I'd like to get something that uses the clock port but it's really hard to find useful add-ons. I got an IDE-Fix in there as well so I'm running a 2.5" HDD and a Slim (Laptop) DVD-RW drive.
My main wish is for a boost in graphics. I wish someone would develop an RTG card that could fit into the wedge case. Like the BVision add-on to the BlizzardPPC.
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@agami,
Can we see some pics of your slim DVD installation in your A1200 case? I want to do the same add-on to my A1200 some day, instead of using an external SCSI CD, or DVD reader/writer. My A1200 is fairly maxed out with a Blizzard A1260@50MHz w/SCSI controller & 256mb RAM, an IndivisionAGA, Subway USB controller and wireless network NIC. I replaced the floppy drive with a new one from AmigaKit and I am using a Compact Flash card on the IDE controller, instead of a mechanical hard drive. Another modification I have been considering is relocating the Compact Flash to just above the PCMCIA slot, so it can be swapped out without opening the case. The recently released Compact Flash adapter that fits in the expansion space for the A1200 would require me to relocate my external SCSI port.
Would love to see pics of your DVD installation, to see if it would work for me with all of my current expansions.
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I wish someone (hint amigakit) would make a kit of a internal cd drive.
I too have a scsi connector in the extra bay. No way to re-locate it as its a cobra/Ferret.
So, how do we move the cf card to be removable?
M
Opps, went off topic...
Don't forget to consider usb as an upgrade!
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So, how do we move the cf card to be removable?
Pop it out above the PCMCIA slot. Never seen these before? Google Kipper2k. ;)
(http://www.kipper2k.com/amigaforsale/cfexternal.jpg)
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@Oldsmobile_Mike,
Does the Indivision pass thru the Spectrum? I though the bandwidth may not allow it.
Chris
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@agami,
Can we see some pics of your slim DVD installation in your A1200 case? ...
Yes, I've been meaning to get around to taking some pics and posting them so if other folk are interested they can see one way of doing it.
Maybe I'll get a chance this holiday season.
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Does the Indivision pass thru the Spectrum? I though the bandwidth may not allow it.
Yes, works fine. I was never able to get it to pass through a Picasso II (tried two different revisions), but no trouble with the Spectrum in any screenmode that I've tried (incl. the Indivision's 800x600 mode). :)
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Oldsmobile_Mike,
Now if I could feed that into a Picasso4, I would be in Heaven. My Combo card uses 4) 4Mb mem sticks so I have to remove 1 and I like no waste!
Chris
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Oldsmobile_Mike,
Now if I could feed that into a Picasso4, I would be in Heaven. My Combo card uses 4) 4Mb mem sticks so I have to remove 1 and I like no waste!
Chris
PIV has a passthrough for it's own scandoubler module, I wonder if it could be rigged to accept an Indivision input, instead? Not worth risking blowing something up though, I don't think. :(
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Pop it out above the PCMCIA slot. Never seen these before? Google Kipper2k. ;)
(http://www.kipper2k.com/amigaforsale/cfexternal.jpg)
Yep, that is the one I want to get from kipper2k. I have already contacted him with questions about availability and other projects he is working on. I need to place an order for that CF card adapter. I would get 2 of them and use the 2nd one on my A600, but I doubt the pictured CF adapter will fit with my ACA630 installed?
I already have a nice clean and white original A1200 case to replace my existing poorly modified A1200 case, so I can first try a slim CDRW/DVD drive installation in my existing old A!200 case for practice, then do it very carefully on the replacement A1200 case, so I end up with a finished customized A1200 case that has all the port openings I want/need, in the cleanest and most professional looking way. It is hard, or impossible to correct mistakes after you make them in the soft plastic cases.
Many Amiga owners have done great jobs modifying their cases, and I envy their results and want to duplicate the work on my A1200 & A600. The A600 w/ACA630 is for games, while the A1200 w/A1260 & 256mb Fast RAM is for productivity software, while the A2000 w/GVP TekMagic 2060, A3000T w/WarpEngine & A4000D inside the PowerTower case w/CS Mk2 68060 @ 80MHz are for video editing/production hobby fun. I keep my A1000 just for sentimental reasons, and the CDTV for it's unique case design. :)
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Thanks, for the info, but I have amigakits internal cf.
Correction, kipper site is great...there I found instructions and a cutting template for a cf holder like mine.
Thanks kipper!
M
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I'm very happy with my 68030 A1200 with 16Mb (?) ram, Indivision AGA and a pcmcia wired ethernet card. It meets most of my requirements for a daily use machine; although my daily use is probably atypical (IRC, FTP, ssh, basic web browsing).
If we had a decent ssh client it would be perfect. AROS would benefit from this too.
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So with the 030 for sale on amigakit, i should be able to run most stuff? I guess net browsing will be limited as 060's are at silly prices atm.
So, I have workbench 3.1 on disc and I assume that's whats on my cf card also. Is there many improvements in 3.9?
I'd like to make my workbench prettier with nice icons and such too. I'll have to get the pcmcia card for that i imagine. Here is the card ive just fitted in my 1200 http://www.ebay.ie/itm/141478923137?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
I'll get the easynet pcmcia card at some point too.
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So with the 030 for sale on amigakit, i should be able to run most stuff? I guess net browsing will be limited as 060's are at silly prices atm.
So, I have workbench 3.1 on disc and I assume that's whats on my cf card also. Is there many improvements in 3.9?
I'd like to make my workbench prettier with nice icons and such too. I'll have to get the pcmcia card for that i imagine. Here is the card ive just fitted in my 1200 http://www.ebay.ie/itm/141478923137?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
I'll get the easynet pcmcia card at some point too.
3.9 includes all the things you're asking about - web browser (although Ibrowse is better on classic systems), updated TCP/IP stack (although again, others are better than Genesis... some prefer Miami, EasyNet, Roadshow, etc.), really attractive (in my opinion) GlowIcons, multimedia apps, support for large hard drives, better support for CD drives, blah blah. Personally I think 3.9 is great on upgraded classic systems, and would run well on an A1200 with the accelerator and Indivision mentioned. Others hate it. You can't please all the people all the time! ;)
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3.9 includes all the things you're asking about - web browser (although Ibrowse is better on classic systems), updated TCP/IP stack (although again, others are better than Genesis... some prefer Miami, EasyNet, Roadshow, etc.), really attractive (in my opinion) GlowIcons, multimedia apps, support for large hard drives, better support for CD drives, blah blah. Personally I think 3.9 is great on upgraded classic systems, and would run well on an A1200 with the accelerator and Indivision mentioned. Others hate it. You can't please all the people all the time! ;)
Well i have alot to learn it seems. I guess i could run 3.9 on a separate hard-drive? As I don't know if its possible or wise to muck about with my already preconfigured cf-card.
I'd like a cd drive too...and i'll probably have more questions when the time comes as i upgrade.
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Well i have alot to learn it seems. I guess i could run 3.9 on a separate hard-drive? As I don't know if its possible or wise to muck about with my already preconfigured cf-card.
I'd like a cd drive too...and i'll probably have more questions when the time comes as i upgrade.
You could setup 3.9 and 3.1 on the same drive. Easiest way would be to just create a boot partition with 3.1 on and also another boot partition with 3.9 on (with a lower boot priority though) and then select the 3.9 from the Early Startup Menu as and when you fancy it (hold both mouse buttons down upon power on or reboot to get to this menu). Also, in the future should you decide you want 3.9 to boot first you just alter the boot priority so that it's above the 3.1 priority (with HDToolbox).
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You can use HighGFX and run 1280x720 when you have the 030 ACA card and Indivision AGA, it runs quite ok in workbench on 3.1 if you do not jump up the colors to much :)
What motherboard revision do you have?
I wish you good luck and hope you get a smooth ride!
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You can use HighGFX and run 1280x720 when you have the 030 ACA card and Indivision AGA, it runs quite ok in workbench on 3.1 if you do not jump up the colors to much :)
What motherboard revision do you have?
I wish you good luck and hope you get a smooth ride!
How do I check what motherboard revision I have? There are various numbers on stickers underneath the a1200.
Its a commodore model A1200 and nice and white it is too. Or do I have to open her up again to check?
I gather the timings have to be corrected, if problematic, for the aca 030 to run properly.
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Do I need the realtime clock in this accellerator? http://amigastore.eu/en/288-aca-1233-40-mmu.html#/rtc_real_time_clock_module-without_rtc/acatune_in_disquette-included
Or can I add one somewhere down the road? Any replies are apprecciated.
I'm gonna take the plunge and get this for christmas.
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You can add the clock module later. Plugs right in. ;)
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You can add the clock module later. Plugs right in. ;)
Thank you Mr Mike. Taking the plunge in 3...2...1...
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Btw, where do I check to see what revision my a1200 motherboard is? Darn timing fix thingie you see, chappie.
Edit: Yikes 200.09 euros erm..crikey!
In fairness its almost beyond fantastic, that anyone still bothers to make new hardware for Amigas. So one expects the price to reflect that!
Sheesh...may as well get the easynet pcmcia thingie now too. That will do nicely for the time being.
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Motherboard revision is printed on the motherboard. If you've never had 'er open before, now is a good time to familiarize yourself with all the bits. Probably could use a good cleaning, too. ;)
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Motherboard revision is printed on the motherboard. If you've never had 'er open before, now is a good time to familiarize yourself with all the bits. Probably could use a good cleaning, too. ;)
I opened er'up to put my cfcard in. I did a little spring cleaning and tis not even spring...not much though, I didn't want to damage anything. It was surprisingly clean.
I got the a1200 on e-bay, advertised as 'powers up but no further testing done'. I lucked into a minty commodore a1200. All systems seem fine captain, no anomalies detected...yet.
Ive ordered the easynet pcmcia card from amigakit. It's done I tell you and there is no going back!
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What version of ROMs are in that bad boy? Motherboard revision?
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If you have a network card you could set your time with NTP instead of using a clock module. A quick google suggested this software: http://aminet.net/package/comm/tcp/facts
A clock module would be preferable, though, if you intend to boot without starting the network stack.
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So my ACA 1233 accellerator arrived today. I hope my a1200 does not need timing fixes.
Here's some pics attached, I'm off to install this.