Totally committed...... and new ☄ ♖

[JPondRobocod]

Hey there peoples of the Amiga internet-verse!! XD lol

overhappy hello out of the way, I've been an Amiga fan ever since I saw this ad:



It was in an issue of CVG and I was 5 then, and have since dreamt of owning it. I made a really cool version out of inverted colgate boxes complete with carefully cut-out heat sink vents and replaceable screens (two slots of cardboard that could hold paper which I wrote/drew fake monitor images of, such an a screen with pen-drawn DOS X-tree program)
to "emulate" a real Amiga by switching paper screens. Of course I knew nothing of Workbench back then and the X-tree DOS program was from my little exposure to moms boyfriend (back then) computer. My mom couldn't afford much for me back then as a single mom I didn't really have much.

Now, through the miracle of Ebay and being an adult, with money, I have myself my dream of all dream items, an AMIGA!!! 600!!! LIKE THE ONE IN THE MAGAZINE!!

TLDR version:
So its now 2014, and it was roughly 1991, so about 23 years later I am now a little too excited and frankly speaking, a little afraid.

I finally bought a working Amiga 600. Lifelong, really really lifelong dream of all dreams.

I haven't powered it up yet.

I have done the following:
1) Taken it apart, cleaned every bit carefully.
2) Sanded the very rusty metal back-plate (for operating board) as well as I can and sprayed multiple Clear-coat laquer layers over it.
3) Taken the Keyboard apart, cleaned immense caked on, well, brown cake?? and pencil shavings.
Done retrobright on the keys. Keys are nearly 100% white now, with just very little yellow (i ran out of hydrogen peroxide)
There is still a little rust on the springs.
4) Sprayed and customized the A600 Case. bottom case warped a little and now the board isn't sitting flat on it. Very depressing, but managed to make it fit. a little worried about stressing the Printed Circuit board as its not completely lying flat (though ive rectified as much as possible with some cardboard) and some of the ports are subjected to pressure from the case.
The clearcoat on the case is really well done and is really shiny not to mention no paint is coming off (the important bit)

I purchased the following a few months back :
1) Latest rom chip (3.1 i think?!?, can't remember but before I bought it I ensured it was the latest version)
2) ide to sd card adapter
3) 1MB ram upgrade via expansion

looking at buying a wireless or ethernet pcmcia card next.


What I think I need to do next:
This project has been two years at least in the making (from when I actually was reading up and buying the parts) and the Amiga has made its way from scotland to malaysia to australia, with me waiting here in Australia for it for a fair bit already.

In between work, daily life, and other commitments I have not been able to remember what I am supposed to do. I saved a bunch of .doc files in my computer(s) and with all my computers and backups of my files lying around I am sure where I kept them. Most were information I sourced from sites and forums (like this one), but now lost to the annals of hard drives and dvd backups containing vacation pictures, sporting records, family photos, old games etc etc.

Here goes:
After putting everything back together,
1) Remove old rom chip and put in the new latest rom chip
2) Plug in ide to sd card adapter (is a Sandisk 4GB Class4 the one to use?)
3) Format the 4GB SD card using appropriate software?!?! (winuae?)
4) Install winuae?
5) create partitions?
6) Reinstall workbench? possible from the sd card? (no floppy as ide will be adapter for SD card)
7) Copy games straight into the SD card?
convert games into appropriate format to play off SD hard drive?

so... help!
A list of what to do in my case for my setup would be great, in numbered steps of what I need to do and then I can source the appropriate guide myself for each step I need to do from google.

I am very set on using my IDE to SD card as my hard drive, and need guide on using the latest rom (I just plug it in and then set it up later, right?) I am not really fussed about pcmcia ethernet adapter cards or wireless network cards for now as I just need to get this setup up and going. And playing those games

Thanks for reading my crap lol but also thanks in advance for any responses!!

Have a great night!

[JPondRobocod]

Wow, I didn't think anyone would read my long thread. Thank you for the reply Dr Bongo!

Thanks a pretty cool chip!! very expensive for me though.. im currently saving up for my home and family one day and every little bit counts...
ACA 620 Accelerator with 9MB RAM
will defintely keep it in mind when i've got a really large deposit down pat.

And to persia, thanks for the embaressing shout out! im tired from working long hours and doing my postgrad course, hence why I need the step by step of what I need to do to help simplify this. I've just done a 20 page written report with detailed look into years and correlation with health, vitamin levels, and projections so much so that I think im in 2014!!!! there was two pages I wrote on the projected data from that year, so I keep thinking 2014!!! lol!!

sorry if that confused anybody

and to those that missed it, thanks i feel less stupid that way

[JPondRobocod]

Thats a cool name, Bongo! Dr. Bongo!

it reminded me of this one professor I knew of whose wife divorced him because he used to play bongo drums in the bed!!

and yes, sorry for making you "redundant". your post more specifically lol Im more tired than I think I am I think lol

Thanks again for the doc., Doc. With the document, Is it fine with an SD card of course? just to clarify. And the amiga specific file format, using the Winuae software on the pc, Do i still need to choose A1200 under emulated hardware although im on an A600?

I get it so far.... will get the courage to touch the damn amiga im just so paranoid about grounding myself and static as I am wearing a jumper thats so damn polysester and static inducing!!

[JPondRobocod]

Thats not a bad price for an accelerator. The accelerator that is in my 600 was, give a few pennies, £147. So the price of the other is very reasonable. Although I don't know if you would need a new psu for it.

But like you I saved like mad for all the goodies in mine. The accelerator was the single most expensive bit. Followed by the scan doubler, the HxC then the memory expansion and finally the HDD.

Wow... 150 quid. Thats a whole lot!! I'd love to justify it... but I can't look myself in the mirror after lol.

Yeah I do save like mad, first for my family and then some.

I spent about $35 AUD for my amiga ram and was pretty happy about it, and that was like a lot to me lol. I promise myself when i've put a roof over my wifes head for sure I'll buy stuff. Not sure if the family first save for rainy day mentality will go away anytime soon lol. plus I love a good bargain too lol

The accelerator basically ramps up the amount of cpu clock cycles, scandoubler creates double the scanlines for doubled resolution i am not that knowledgable but is that correct? and what does the HxC do?

are you using a pcmcia mem expansion?

[JPondRobocod]

Wow thank you for the reply Rob!!! The step by step guide you have written is very very useful and will be my reference and 'bible' for the project. It is very very appreciated!!

I am soo knackered and tired, its 5am here now and im going off to bed but not without saying thank you for all the replies and help. Ill reply in the morning and put some pictures up too to share. And thank you very much again Rob your guide is particularly helpful and i'll keep it close.

Night guys and chat again tomorrow!! Thanks again for all the replies and help!!!