Switching to Amiga

[steve30]

I'm now getting a bit fed up of PCs and would like to switch to amiga. Not a complete switch, obviously, as there will still be quite a bit of stuff that I have to do on the PC.

To start with, I got a 1438 monitor, and bought an A1200 + Blizzard 1230 50Mhz from Effy. (should arrive in the next couple of days).

Over at classicamiga everyone told me that this card gives a great speed increase over the standard 68020 processor.

I now have a few questions:

How well does AmigaOS3.9 run on this card?
Would internet access be fast and usable via 2mbps broadband?
How would it compare to using a 500MHz PentiumIII with Windoze?

Also, if there's any other comments you have about how nicely this machine might run, please tell me.

Thanks
Steve

[steve30]

I know the browsers arn't very good. I've used them in WinUAE.

What would it be like running OS3.5? Might this be faster than OS3.9? Or would OS3.9 be better than 3.5?

[steve30]

I think I will eventually get a graphics card.

Would I need a tower conversion for things like graphics cards? I don't currently plan on doing that as I would like to keep it all in the desktop case.

[steve30]

Thanks for all the information.

As I said I've used the amiga browsers in WinUAE so I know how crap they are. Perhaps if I just VNCd my PC to use Mozilla.

I've heard that the Amiga's email and IRC clients are great. I've used AmIRC. Are there any better ones? Wheat are the best email programmes?

thanks :-)

[steve30]

I got my A1200 today!

Unfortunately it has a German keyboard, but that is easily replaced.

The Blizard card has 128MB Fast RAM on it! Now thats a lot. I am currently only able to run Workbench 2.04 as I don't have any later versions, but running it without the blizzard card was nice. After putting the blizzard card in, running WB2 was nice.

Now I just need an HD, CD and network card, and of course OS 3.9

[steve30]

No, The A1200 has 3.0 roms.

It didn't come with Workbench. I already had 2.04 from my A500+. I had no choice but to use this as I don't have any other versions.

I'm bidding on some 3.1 roms on ebay.

What resolutions can I get out of the RGB port? I think PAL might be abit too low for web browsing.

[steve30]

Considering that I have more or less no more money to spend on this machine, upgrading from 030 to 060 or ppc isn't an option, and neither is towering it. I also like the deskptop miggy because it takes up much less space and is much more portable.

I will tower it one day though.

[steve30]

What is a silver box adaptor?

[steve30]

I won't need that then as I have a 1438 monitor with a 23pin RGB plug.

[steve30]

Hopefully I'll be getting my roms and os soon.

I think I might do that mode where you put a slimline cd drive in the back of the A1200. That would be much better than having an external one.

What would the 68030 be like at burning CDs? I expect it might be able to at a slow speed. Also what would it be like at playing DVDs and other videos? Someone told me that video is really slow on the 030.

I thought I better ask as I don't want to get a CD-RW drive if it isn't fast enough.

[steve30]

Thanks.

I do have the Blizzard 1230-IV, but it's SCSI-less. I was going to get a buffered IDE interface and connect an HD (or possibly a compact flash card) and have the CD mounted in the back of the computer. I forgot the link to the page about this.

The SCSI options seems too expensive for me. The SCSI adaptors are expensive and so are the drives, so IDE is the best option.

I assume MP3 and CD playback would be good?

[steve30]

I've almost purchased a copy of OS3.9, some 3.1 roms, and a buffered IDE interface.

[steve30]

What if the MP3 was being played via a network e.g. the MP£ is stored on another computer but played on the amiga?

[steve30]

When I said switching to amiga, I didn't really mean making a complete switch. I just wanted a nice machine that can do stuff like play MP3s, browse internet, etc.

I'm not actually going to be using it as a PC replacement. There's no way I can afford stuff like PPCs, 060s, GFX cards etc. I'm just trying to make the most of the equipment that I can afford.

Basically, I want to use my amiga a LOT more than I do at the moment.

I think the 030 should be fine. But when I win the lottery I will definately be upgrading to 060/PPC.

[steve30]

I think I'll stick with PC for web browsing.

I really should install linux on my PC.