A1200 System recommendation please?

[Flashlab]

Connecting your Amiga to a modern monitor requires a scandoubler/flicker fixer (SD/FF) or a monitor which can handle SCART input.

When you use graphics card you can display Workbench on your card but not WHDLoad games! Only cards which have a SD/FF on board can handle this (PicassoIV os CV64/3D).

Maybe your best bet is Winuae; this way you get all your screens on a PC monitor and a fast machine with graphics card capabilities too. You can even use your existing harddisk. Works with internet connections and WHDLoad is no problem. There are ways to connect Amiga joysticks too.

[Flashlab]

I don't give buying advice anymore since someone bought a monitor I like and he was very disappointed. So I just gave you the options you have; TV/Monitor with TV tuner or input, another second hand 1084 or a SD/FF that gives you a VGA plug (these devices are rare and expensive) if you want to keep the 1200 like it is.

Another option would be buying a busboard with video slot capabilities and then get a video card with a SD/FF. This option is very hard to find and expensive and requires a tower too.

Mind you, with an A4000 you have the same trouble. You can't just connect a VGA monitor to it; it has the same video port the 1200 has. Adding a graphics card is a lot easier though as you'd have a video slot with Zorro connector out of the box.

The easiest way for you right now to connect a 1200 to a screen would be using a composite cable from the 1200 to a TV or monitor that has composite input.

[Flashlab]

You'd need:

- A tower for the 1200
- A busboard; yes, it plugs into the motherboard via the trapdoor connector. Accellerators are plugged in the busboard then. Some busboards allow the use big box accellerators, but in most cases you can just use 1200 versions.
- A graphics card. If you want it to display AGA (native Amiga) screens too you need either a card that has SD/FF on board (busboard has to have an active video slot for this option!) or a seperate SD/FF that plugs into the monitor switcher of the graphics card. Look on www.amiga-hardware.com to see what RTG cards have SD/FF of monitor switchers.

You don't need more. However collecting this hardware is difficult and expensive.