New to Amiga

[Argus]

From your photograph I can see you have either a 25MHz or 40MHz 68EC030 GVP Combo board, with what looks like just the 1MB (25MHz) or 4MB (40MHz) of 32-bit RAM soldered on the board.  Your cpu is a 'bed of nails' style cpu so you can simply replace the 68EC030 with a full 68030 version of the same/similar MHz rating to add a MMU (memory management unit).  You can add an extra 12MB of 32-bit memory but you'll need to find the rather expensive 64-pin GVP 4MB simms to do this.  The GVP is a "Combo" because you also have a full 32-bit DMA SCSI-2 controller (evidenced by the 50-pin scsi header in the upper right hand corner).  I don't know why it isn't be used though???

The other card is a Commodore A2091 SCSI-1 controller.  It's a DMA SCSI controller and you have version 6.6 of the eproms, which will allow a scsi harddisk up to 1Gb in size (can't tell what size Quantum drive you have there, but it's probably an LS120 or similar i.e. less than 200MB).  Those little sockets on the left hand side of the A2091 are for 16-bit memory.  You can add 2MB using simple dip style drams from old vga cards. You can add an internal SCSI CDROM or an external one off of the Macintosh style DB-25 connector on the back of the A2091, or you can use the GVP's built in SCSI controller (faster and better).

Your system rom is version 2.04 from what you said earlier, but you can either physically upgrade the rom to version 3.1 (40.68) or use ZKick or a similar soft-kicker to boot into 3.1 kickstart (though you'll need a legal rom version so probably just buy the 3.1 rom).

From the looks of the power supply I'm willing to bet you have a latter model Rev. 6.2 motherboard A2000 (it's printed in the lower left hand corner of the motherboard); so you probably have the latter 1MB chipram version of the Agnus chip (8372A), it's what's called an Enhanced Chip Set Amiga (though you may not have the so-called SuperDenise 8373 chip (check the m/b)). If it isn't done already it's a simple modification (jumper thrown and pad trace cut) to have the machine address the full 1MB of motherboard memory as chip ram (i.e. addressable by all the Amiga's custom chips) and to add a SuperDenise if you like (but don't really need, imho).  You also seem to have two 3.5" double density floppy drives (which are better than one).

All in all, that's an incredible deal for $15.00.  The GVP Combo board alone goes regularly for +/-$100 on eBay.

My suggestions for hardware upgrades (aside from a 3.1 system rom):

Zorro II graphics card (GVP Spectrum, Picollo, PicassoII)
12MB of 32-bit RAM (i.e. (3)4MB GVP simms)
Video Slot VGA Display Enhancer (Commodore A2320 or Microway FlickerFixer or ICD Flicker Free Video board)
2MB Chipram expansion (DKB Megachip or DCE Minimegs)
Bigger harddisk (up to 1Gb on A2091; up to 4Gb on GVP:depends on FaastROM version)
SCSI CDROM or CD/RW drive in internal 5.25" drive bay.
Add the extra 2MB RAM on the A2091
Add an extra 4MB Zorro II ram with another RAM board (slower than the GVP memory but may be useful as long as the RAM chips are faster than 100ns)
17" SVGA or LCD monitor (with display enhancer and/or graphics card only)
56K V.90 modem

If you get real crazy and have high-speed internet you can throw a Zorro II ethernet card like an XSurf, Ariadne or even old C=A2065 and a Zorro II USB controller card like the AlgorPro.  If you plan on just using a modem to surf the net (like amiga.org), get a fast serial port Zorro II card like a GVP I/O Extender, a MultifaceIII or a VMC board.

[Argus]

If you have a monitor that takes standard 15kHz NTSC video (like a Commodore 1080/1084), hook that up and start the computer.  Hopefully, there's already a system partition set up on the harddisk.  The easiest way to check memory and chip revisions is to use a diagnostic program of which there are many (SysInfo is probably the most famous).  Or, if you are more adventurous, take the vertical cards out of the computer (the GVP accelerator should be held in place with two small screws at the back of the machine.  Once the cards are out, carefully disconnect the power supply plastic connector to the motherboard and the floppy ribbon cable connector (pay attention to the orientation for reinstallation). Now, remove the four screws in the rear and three in the front that hold the power supply and drive bays cradle in place.  Lift the drive tray and power supply out of the way.

Now you should be looking at the bare motherboard.  In the center of the board next to the 86-pin accelerator slot is the original 68000 cpu, the rom is to the right of that (should read 2.04 37.xx), north of these is a square plcc chip called Agnus or Fat Agnus.  It is either a 8370 or 8372A.  The difference is whether the machine can address 512K or 1MB of system memory as 'chip ram'.  If you're real lucky, you'll have a small extra board with an 8372B chip and an extra 1MB ram chip.  This is a 2MB chipram expansion board called a MegaChip or Minimegs (but probably not). To the right of the rom chip should be eight ram chips totalling 1MB.  North of these is the Denise chip (either 8362 or 8373 (not really that important because the extra video modes of the 8373 SuperDenise you could live without). North of the Denise and Agnus chips you'll find the Gary 5719 chip and two timing chips called 'CIAs' numbered 8250. The last custom chip is the Buster chip located next to the slots left of the power supply connector (it controls the Zorro II dma subsystem).

A lot of Rev 6.2 A2000s were upgraded at the factory to version 6.4 to correct some timing issues with the 68000 cpu available at that time. You should see a small white sticker somewhere on the motherboard with "6.x" typed on it.