A1200 install went broke. Need to start over. Ideas?

[Doppie1200]

Hello everyone,

Now I really done it. My A1200 does not boot anymore.
After some serious crashes it seems my HDD has finally given up .

No worry. I have another one in the closet.
The last software I ran on my A1200 was the 'Amiga in a box' stuff. This was intended for UAE but worked 'fine' on my A1200.

Now I need (or want) to start over. I would like some suggestions.

What is the best list of software to put on my amiga.
Where I'm gonna get it is my problem

Like I have OS3.1 laying around and and am able to transfer things to amiga disks from pc. So if I can download it I can install it.

All help is welcome.

BTW these are my specs:

Harddrive ???MB (it is +300MB I assume)
Ram 32MB
Cpu 030@40Mhz
(not willing to put it in a tower ever! but am willing to upgrade to 040 (maybe 060)).
No CD-ROM (PCMCIA drives are hard to find here)

Greetings,
Erno

[Doppie1200]

What I want to do:
Basically I want to be able to play loads of games. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a 4G harddisk so I can install loads of them :-P.

Also I found Hi-soft C in a box of disks I got from a flea-market. So perhaps I'll be doing some programming.

Ethernet:
The ether-Nic is not a problem. I use a PCMCIA ethernet card to transfer files from PC to my A600.

OS:
What I really wanted to know is if I was to install OS3.1 what patches will I need to make it an even more decent OS. Datatypes, tools, patches, features......and the sort.

Rom:
I have ROM 3.1 BTW.

Cpu:
Think I'll be saving up for an 060 if I were to upgrade. They are expensive though (210 euro's).
And I still doubt I really need the speed.
Would be nice for MP3 and 3D stuff.

Gfx:
The graphics is indeed a problem. Always running out of pens.
However I got AIAB running at reasonable speed in 256 colour PAL mode. The Icons looked pretty impressive for a 10 year old computer.

Does anyone know if I can get 800x600 ( not laced it hurts) out of the AGA set? (I do realize you need a VGA or Multisync for this)

Thanks everybody for all the replies so far.

Greetings
Erno

[Doppie1200]

Hi,

Thanks alot everybody.
I think I made up my mind what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna fix my A1200 up but I'm not going to do any expensive upgrades.

I would like an 060 (who doesnt) but the gain on an 030 1200 is not comparable to the price. I'll stick to the 030.

As far as graphics cards....the same actually. I agree with bloodline. I'm better off running UAE on a Mini-Itx board stuck under a keyboard (idea!). Otherwise I'll end up with an overpriced tower containting a CPU board and all kinds of PC peripherals with somewhere an A1200 board hidden that actually adds nothing to the system anymore.

So I'm going for retro computing. Fix my workbench up using UAE and transfer the lot to my 'new' 4GB drive using Compact Flash (I read this is possible).

Thanks all for all the replies.

Regards,
Erno