Hello from New Zealand!

[InTheSand]

Hi,

While I'm not strictly a new user, I've recently emigrated from the UK to New Zealand and, since I haven't ever posted an introduction, thought I'd make a post here to say hello and to try and get an idea of the Amiga's following in NZ...

I've been an Amiga user on and off since the late eighties, going through the route of ZX Spectrum -> Atari ST -> Amiga 500, then having a break from it all for a few years before getting an A1200 in 1994 when they were being sold off cheaply at Dixons (UK consumer electronics store). After sending two A1200s back due to faults (CBM's legendary quality control!), I finally got one that worked. I still have this, and it now has a 68060, 64Mb RAM, HDD and Subway USB.

I've since bought a few more Amigas (as well as many other home computers and the necessary evils of PCs!) and now have the following with me in NZ:
- A1200 mentioned above
- A600 (with HDD and 1.5Mb RAM upgrade)
- A500 (with GVP add-on hard drive and RAM upgrade)
- A1000 (with what I think is a 1Mb RAM upgrade)


There don't seem to be any Amiga dealers here, so I guess I'll be ordering stuff from the UK or elsewhere in Europe? I have visions of horrible shipping costs!

Cheers,

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

Hi,

Thanks for the AnythingAmiga information. I've bookmarked that site for future reference.

Cheers,

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

Hi,

Thanks for the welcome and the info!  :-)

Just been looking through your web site... The SMD soldering section was useful to read - you've helped to "de-mystify" it for me!

Cheers,

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

Hi,

@Sparky:
I'd discovered TradeMe (eBay NZ seems a bit poor!) so I'll be checking that in future for Amiga things!

Glad you're enjoying NZ. I came out here as my girlfriend is a Kiwi - she'd been in the UK for the past 9 years and wanted to return home, so I came with her. I'm enjoying it here so far, but am currently looking for an IT job in Nelson - there don't seem to be many!

@Castellen:
I visit Christchurch from time to time (we didn't know where we'd be based, so have a PO box there with all our UK post being redirected to it!). How much (roughly) would "cheap" be for an A3000? I'd be interested - would be nice to get a "big box" Amiga to go with my desktop ones!

And as for the SMD stuff - I was one of those people who considered it a secret science!

Cheers,

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

Hi again,

@Castellen:
OK, cool! You've got yourself a buyer! Especially if you can find a PC keyboard adaptor (which I would pay extra for, of course!). Not sure when I'll next be in ChCh, but please keep an A3000 by for me.

@Darklight:
I've not been here long enough to see what the NZ cricket team's like (sport's not really my thing!) but I expect the All Blacks to hammer the Lions!

Cheers,

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

Hi,

I'm still keen! Unfortunately, I don't have any 5-pin DIN keyboards (I did have, but chucked these prior to emigrating, d'oh!).

Would it work using a PS/2 keyboard and a PS/2 to DIN adaptor? Aren't the PS/2 and DIN connectors electrically the same?

Cheers,

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

Baa!!

We're kind of based in Nelson now as my girlfriend has already got a job here (plus some of her family is here and we both liked Nelson anyway). So... I realise 99% of the IT jobs are in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch but there's not much I can do!

Thanks for the Seek link, I've already registered on the IT Seek site. I guess it's just a case of continuing to look as things do come up from time to time in the local newspapers.

My "specialist subject" also doesn't help me - I've been doing Lotus Notes/Domino development work for the last 10+ years. That's starting to disappear in the UK, and the situation for it is far worse in NZ... I could convert to VB and/or VB.NET easily enough though, or could do PC support stuff if I had to.

I've not given up hope yet, I'll just have to be patient!

Cheers,

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

@Castellen:
They do appear to be the same, with the PS/2 socket's extra pin being unconnected:
http://pinouts.ru/data/MiniDinToDinKeyboard_pinout.shtml

... but I guess you probably already know that given your electronics background!  :-)

Cheers,

 - Ali