Beefing up A3000

[WeiXing3D]

I will be receiving an A3000 that I bought from a local acquittance (68030 030 CPU and 68882 FPU @25mhz, rev 9 motherboard, 2mb chip ram, 2mb fast ram, Kickstart 3.1 rom, Workbench 3.9 installed in HDD and additional 8 mb Static Column ram).

I want to beef it up by adding a modem (wi-fi, if at all possible) and a bigger HDD. Any recommendations? and where to find them? Thanks.

[WeiXing3D]

What Size SCSI HDD are you currently using, I might be able to find you a larger SCSI Drive, I'm sure I have a few 500MB SCSI I Drives. Larger SCSI HDDs (2GB +) are usually UW and require an adapter.

I will get back to you with an answer about the HDD inside the unit once I pick it up. I just closed the deal today.

[WeiXing3D]

Pardon my ignorance, but it's been 20 years since I last had a chance to enjoy my times with my loyal A500 before I sold it, is this the
DENEB USB 2.0 CONTROLLER you are all talking about?:

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=795

Are there any other alternatives to add a modem and USB connectivity to my "new" A3000?

Not sure what you intend to do with your A3000 but I can certainly throw in my two cents regarding recommendations. I run this machine myself.
 
1) fill up to 16mb ram on motherboard if possible.
2) additional ram available via some fast slot based accelerators or the new Zoram product. It is all a question of money.
3) Good deal on you already having the 3.1 kickstarts.
4) Modem? not sure. recommend standard ethernet upgrade. X-surf is a zorro based ethernet card and also includes 2 clockports (a nifty side feature)
5) I see former post about Deneb USB. This is the best Zorro based USB solution hands down. You will really like having USB ability on an Amiga. I run a clockport based Subway USB setup. Not as slick as Deneb but it does work just fine.
6) As far as hard drive, you can probably find plenty of larger SCSI drives out there for little to no $. There are modern possibilities as well. One such possibility is mentioned above (ACard adapter). I believe they have SCSI to either ATA or SATA conversion models. Now you can buy a brand new drive. There is also an Elbox Fast ATA Zorro card. I have an older model. It works fine...just takes Amiga a little longer to boot up the first time (loading drivers, starting the CDFS, etc...) After that it is great. I see they have a new version of this card that has multiple drive capability; ATA, SATA, Compact Flash). Wish I had that one.
7) I elected to go with an RTG video card. It is a GVP Spectrum 24/28. While not the best card there is, it works great. Indivision ECS is another possibility if you want to stay in ECS based video.
Accelerators are harder and more expensive to come by. I use a A3640 v3.1 which is a fairly generic 68040-25mhz and has FPU. It was cheap and does run faster than the original 68030 did.
 
Enjoy that A3000. Not many people have these machines or even like them because they are not AGA based. AGA does not matter to me, the A3000 is a very expandable big box Amiga and a real decent machine overall. Have fun with it.

[WeiXing3D]

You can add a PCI bussboard which will give you access to USB.

You could also add something with a clockport (like X-Surf) and add a subway to that, but subways are getting hard to find as well and will be slower than a denab.

Thank you for reply. I forgot to mention that the model I'm receiving is a 3000 desktop model. I found several options (pricey by the way) of PCI bus boards with USB port but for the 3000T model. Can I still use that one?
Like I explained this is my first 3000 (I had a 500 last century:lol:), so I need some coaching and easier to digest guidance:confused:

All in all, what I want is to be able to connect my 3000 to a printer using a USB connection and add internet connectivity.  Of course, I need things that I can still find and buy with relative ease. Any help will be welcomed.

[WeiXing3D]

PCI busboard, as mentioned above.  Maybe consider an Indivision OCS, but then the 3000 has a built in flicker fixer and VGA-out so maybe not.  ZorRAM is a nice way to get lots of RAM, quick.  Substitute your noisy old HD with a flash card.

This is my computer config:
- 68030 030 CPU and 68882 FPU @25mhz
- rev 9 motherboard
- 2mb chip ram
- 2mb fast ram
- Kickstart 3.1 rom
- Workbench 3.9 installed in HDD
- 16 mb Static Column ram

Could you please tell me then what PCI bus card to consider, what modem and flash card, so that I can look them up and buy? Thanks

[WeiXing3D]

get fastram, kick 3.1 and buy a network and a Indovosion/GFX Card.
If you have a Network Card you dont need a Modem or USB.
For best Compatibility get a HcX Floppyemulator and your Floppydisks are not longer needet.
For a PCI Bus System you need a 060CPu.
With standart 030 you have no fun with this !

I checked on line and it seems that the Lotharex HcX SD Floppy Emulator is not compatible with the A3000. Is this correct?

Any recommendations for network card and USB card?

[WeiXing3D]

get fastram, kick 3.1 and buy a network and a Indovosion/GFX Card.
If you have a Network Card you dont need a Modem or USB.
For best Compatibility get a HcX Floppyemulator and your Floppydisks are not longer needet.
For a PCI Bus System you need a 060CPu.
With standart 030 you have no fun with this !

Please forgive my ignorance, what is the Indivision/GFX card?

I looked into the HcX Floppy emulator and I will definitely get one of those when I receive and have my "new" old computer in my hands. Thanks for your input.

[WeiXing3D]

Network Card: X-Surf or Ariadne

Look here, the Floppyemulator works Great with a A3000D

Thank you for your input. What makes more sense: adding a USB controller card and use USB modems (with or w/o) wi-fi connectivity) of buy both separately a network card and a USB controller card?

[WeiXing3D]

I want to thank everybody for the overwhelming and great responses to this my first post. Like I said at the beginning, I just bought my system and I will receive later this week. Once I lay my hands on it, I will create a new post and tell you what I have installed, formally introduce myself with a little background so that you can assess the level of babysitting I will require, when asking for assistance. My priority is of course to get the system running, then find a way to exchange files with my Windows laptop (perhaps by adding the SD HxC floppy emulator first), then add Internet connectivity, add juice (I think I will have enough memory already).
So I will let you know how things go. Many thanks.