Recommend a gfx card for an old A2000

[amigau]

Some additional considerations:

If you use a PicassoIV in an A2000, you have to physically 'cut' the card to make it compatible with the A2000's video slot, which is different than that of the A3K and A4K - not a big deal for most people but I never wanted to do that to my PIV's, so I put in a C64/3D instead and have been more than satisfied with the result.  I also have a DKB Wildfire 060 in mine, though so that helps, of course.

If you are deciding between CGX4 and Picasso96, I tried both but could never get CGX4 to work, whereas Picasso96 worked first time I installed it and has been trouble free the entire time.

You don't need a flicker fixer with the C64/3D, so long as you use a mode promoter like NewMode to make sure any screens end up being Picasso96/CGX screens - note that even so, some apps will not allow 'promotion' (such as the version of ViewTek I have, I need to upgrade it) and thus since no NTSC/PAL screen is avail, they simply won't work.

Note also that in an A2000, you have only 1MB of ChipRAM, so getting a DKB MegaChip (or similar boards from other mfrs) is a good idea to double to the usual 2MB of Chip RAM (seen on A3K, A1200's and A4K computers)

Good luck!

kevin orme
amiga university
www.amigau.com

[amigau]

One additional point - if using OS 3.9, unlike earlier versions of AmigaOS, you can control where the Workbench RAM, etc. are used, in Chip Ram or Fast RAM - so you can best conserve the only 1MB chip ram in an A2000 much better if you can't find a DKB MegaChip.  OS 3.1 and older (not sure about 3.5) only lets you use Chip ram for the workbench, etc. so if you had lots of open HD windows and lots of files in those windows, you might run out of chip ram quickly.

I used OS3.9 initially and really liked it but found it still wasn't compatible with programs I wanted to use (e.g. Lightwave) and so had to back-grade to 3.1, unfortunately.

I was pretty disappointed because 3.9 was a really good upgrade and there are a lot of neat tools in it that aren't backwards compatible.  Doh!

kevin orme
amiga university
www.amigau.com