Silly Newbie (sort of) questions

[c0untzer0]

Hey all,

Question for you.  I recently dug out my Amiga 2000 and wanted to play around with it again.  Is it possible to get it on the internet using my a broadband internet connection?

I'm sure it is, but seeings as the last time I played with it I was using a dial up modem to connect to my Penn State account I'm sure that I can probably get a decent ethernet card for it and hook it into my Router.

Any ideas as to where I should get starteD?  Hardware/software needed?

Thanks,
c0untzer0

[c0untzer0]

"What am I tryign to do"

GOod question.

Actually, I wanted to hook the machine up so I could pull things down via FTP from my Linux server, or directly from FTP sites that I found.

As for specs:  To be honest, I haven't fired it up yet, but from what I remember, I had updated the Kickstart chip as of around 1995 or so, as well as going to a newer version of AmigaDOS but as for the exact versions... can't quite remmber.  I think Kickstart 1.2 is sticking in my head.. but I"m not totally sure.

I know it's stock as far as Video and Ram go.. I never upgraded either of them... so 1MB of ram and standard video (to which I have no idea).  It also has a 286 bridgeboard on it, but at the time I was lacking hard drive space so I don't have much room on my HD for IBM stuff.  I do have about 4 500 MB SCSI drives I was planning on tossing into it (first project after getting it online), but after some reasearch, that might not be nearly as easy as I thought it was going to be.

I've been trying to hunt around for some basic hardware upgrade FAQ's just to get an idea of what kind of hardware I'd need to get it "current" or as current as it can be.  It's more of a pet project than anything else, because to be totally honest I work on PC's all day and they've lost all of the "techie" fun about them with Plug and Play and Windows... so somethign that will let me mod the crap out of a piece of hardware would be great.

SO.. after that rather long babbling.. if you have any other suggestions, please pass them along.

Oh, and I DO have an internal router that I can assign the machine a Static IP instead of trying to hook up DHCP on it (if that's even possible)

c0unt

[c0untzer0]

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Ok, so I take it you're looking for a cheap and fun challenge?
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You got it. MOre of a pet project.  Cheap usually ends up being expensive in the long run but that's okay.  As long as I get it back up and running and can get some fun out of it that's all I want.


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I'm going to guess that's Kickstart 2.1?  (1.2 would have been the original kickstart, if you bought the machine in 1987/88, or so.)  
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It's Kickstart 2.1 yes, and it has a software load of Kickstart 3.1.  Can you still get the 3.1 roms?  Ebay right?  =)

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There's still quite a bit you can do with Kickstart 2.1... But it's a lot more of a challenge.  Lots of newer software requires Kickstart 3.1 ROMs, so you might want to consider picking up a set.  
But, there ARE TCP/IP stacks and FTP programs that'll run on 2.1  You'll just have to work a lot more to get them running.  If you're looking for a challenge, you'd have found it!    I remember going through quite a few choice four letter words getting my AmigaDOS 2.1 A500 on line back in 1991.  (Configuring dial-up on AmiTCP is a learning experience!)  
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I had dial-up running through SLIP on it a while back, so I'm sure that will all come back to me.  I was more interssted in getting the Ethernet card in it and running than fussing with Dial up, so if it needs an OS upgrade so be it.

Along those lines, I see you need a CD ROM for 3.9, I have a SCSI burner lying around doing nothing will this work?

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Ouch!  You definitly need RAM.  A cheap thing to pick up on eBay might be a processor upgrade with local FastRAM.  A card with a 68030 @ 25mhz with 4 or 8MB FastRAM on it should only go for about $50, and give you a HUGE performance and function boost.
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I'll look for one.  Are there better ones?  Is there a place I can get a rundown of what is available and what they do?


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Personally, I'd probably do this first.  It should be an easy task, and it'll make getting the machine on-line later easier, as you won't be trying to build boot floppies, etc.
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Do you have a SCSI controller for them?  If not, again, I recommend eBay.  

I have a HD in it currently, so I'm guessin it has a SCSI controller.  If I need an additional one, I have a bunch of ISA SCSI controllers lying around collecting dust.  Can I install one of these?


Thanks again for all the help,

c0unt