Hardware recommendations for a new (to me) A1200

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

If it were me, the first thing I'd get would be an Indivision, followed by an accelerator and RAM.

+1.  All of these products are available new from various Amiga retailers.

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1148

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1296

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1285

You didn't state (or maybe I missed it) whether you're in the US or Europe.  If you're in Europe, a lot of people rant & rave about the quality of SCART.  If, however, you're in the US, get an Indivision for the simplest install, or something like the GBS-8220 for a more complicated (but less expensive) upgrade, to allow yourself to use modern monitors.

3.1 + BetterWB (or 3.9) + Indivision + fast '020 or '030 = a really nice retro experience.  I'd replace the RF adapter with an HDMI port like this guy has done for a clean look.  Then from there you can start building the system out more.  You've already discovered some of the ways of networking, such as a PCMCIA network card or the Plipbox.  Have fun!  

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Dammit.  Gizmo beat me to it again.  With almost all of the exact same links I was about to post, lol. :lol:

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Fred Fish disks - no, not really.  Pretty much everything on them can be found on Aminet, or on the CD collections if you're particularly nostalgic for old versions of software.  

OS 3.9 comes from here:  http://www.vesalia.de/e_os39.htm

(or various other Amiga software vendors)

More info here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmigaOS_version_history#AmigaOS_3.5.2C_3.9

And here:  http://www.gregdonner.org/os39faq/about.html

Remove the shielding.  It's not doing you any good and will only slice your fingers / get in the way / trap heat inside the case.  Stick it in the back of your closet somewhere, or ship it to @scuzz if he wants to preserve it, lol. :lol:

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Is MUI still a thing?

MUI is used for a fair amount of productivity apps, web browsers, etc.  Make sure you get version 3.8 from Aminet and not one of the later 3.9/4.0/4.1/etc. versions, which require a heavily expanded system to work well.  Good progress so far, congrats!  

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

You're not going to get 1920x1080 with that hardware, but you can try the HD720 screenmode for a widescreen experience in Workbench and apps that support it.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Well, that answered that question. So with the hardware I've got here then a widescreen monitor is pretty much overkill and I could go with a "regular" width monitor and get a full screen... yes?

Yes. Although most manufacturers no longer produce "old fashion" 4:3 aspect ratio monitors. You can still find them pretty often on the used market, though. I have a nice 20.1" Dell UltraSharp that I use with my A2000, works great.

Alternatively you could use the display settings on your screen to stretch the image to get rid of the black bars on the sides, but some purists hate that look.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Also, to fill the screen, you could try using the Overscan Tool in System Prefs.

D'oh, overscan! I've had that turned on for so long on my A500 I quite forgot about it, lol.