Back to the Future, need help to preserve unique Amiga

[Mallette]

I am going to try to keep this as short as possible.  I am a training developer for a large drilling company in charge of software development in Houston.  I got into the business as a project manager for ARCO Technology Transfer Group in the 90's where we built a interactive training and simulation system patented as SimStation.  While we developed many marvelous packages, the most successful and long lived was Production Safety Systems Training which simulated the safety systems of an offshore oil platform.  I contracted in 1996 to port this to Windows (what a can of worms) and it was still being sold and unsurpassed until just recently.  About 3 years ago I came into possession of one of the last of 60 SimStations.  It is A4000 based with video overlay, a laserdisc player, CDRom, and custom multi-channel audio.  It still booted last time I tried.

I want to preserve it...and maybe use it as there is NOTHING like Deluxe Paint in the PC world for 2D animations.  I have a still shrink wrapped copy of the last DP version on CD.  

Job one, however, is preservation.  I need to back up the over 15 year old system drive first thing and have lost all my Amiga skills and references.

Is anyone interested in helping?  Are there any surviving Amiga heads in the Houston area?

Regards, and long live REAL computers,
Dave

[Mallette]

Thanks for the quick responses and interest.  Gives me hope...

Not sure whether I still have a null modem around or not.  Are there any cards around these days to network the Amiga to Windows?  As I mentioned, I'd like to use the machine once the original system and software are backed up...upgrade the OS, etc. then be able to export to the Windoze world.  

Also, are there any OS references available?  I still have the original A2000 books, but the 4000 was significantly different...plus I've forgotten just about everything I ever knew, except that computing used to be FUN.  

[Mallette]

You guys can't realize just how far I am from anything Amiga these days.  I once spoke REXX and knew Fat Agnus personally.  I am quite lost now and a Bill Gates zombie waiting minutes for something that should happen in nanoseconds.  

I have no idea what a mediator is and had to parse awhile to remember what a zorro slot was/is.  

On the CD side, will the Ami recognize an IDE burner?  That appears to be the path of least resistance at the moment, though I do intend to dig around in my junk for a null modem.

I (a year ago or so) tried to get a SCSI HDD to be recognized (there is a SCSI card in SimStation for reasons I cannot remember) but it wouldn't show.  

Dave

[Mallette]

Amiduffer:
Thanks for the above.  I don't recall, but I think I was using a previously formated disk.  It will likely be several weeks before I can experiment.  I work 10 on, 5 off and will be going on vacation for a couple of weeks starting next week.  

I've a number of burners kicking around so perhaps one will work.  If not, they are certainly cheap enough.  

I am looking forward to this, though I suppose I will be reminded of just how far downhill we've come since the Amiga.  The next iteration of that simulation I mentioned in the opening was going to be VR.  PC still can't handle VR properly.  

Anyway to post pix on this BBS?  I've a number of inside and out pictures I could post of SimStation if anyone is interested.

Dave

[Mallette]

Motrucker:
I think the sysdrive is no more than 300mb.  Seems I tried to get another IDE drive recognized but was thwarted somehow.  I am going to keep all these ideas open until I have the time (several weeks from now) to drag out SimStation (about 75 lbs.!!!) and boot up.  I'll be able to provide a full report to you guys.  

Regards,
Dave

[Mallette]

Okies, I am parsing this and wondering if the premium edition of Amiga Forever might do the job.  Tell me if this would work:

Pull the SimStation HDD
Boot to UAE
Use Amiga Forever to image the SimStation HDD to PC HDD.
Store the original drive
Put a fresh IDE HDD on the PC
Use HD Toolbox to prepare
Restore the image to it
Reinsert in SimStation
Have some fun...

I will see if I can dig up my pix of SimStation when I get home this evening and post tomorrow.  It was (is) a pretty impressive accomplishment.  

Dave

[Mallette]

Lots of good stuff coming my way via this fine forum, but the best so far is Mr. Bill.  Expect email soon, sir.

I searched my nearly 2 terabytes of files last night and couldn't come up with my pix.  My time was limited and I'll either come up with them or make some more when we dig into this baby.  You will love it.  Marvelous piece of engineering never yet equaled in the peecee world, IMOH.  Unfortunately, I did not fully understand what Herr Gates meant when he told us "I will change the way America computes..."  

Now, to hijack my own thread, I'd like to ask you guys what is REALLY going on.  My brief survey of the remnants of the Amiga culture are rather confusing.  On one side, it appears to have dried to a mere puddle with only the turtles, gators, and other diehard left.  OTOH, Amiga, Inc. in late news seems to be poised to launch new hardware (how many times have I heard that since '96?).  They also appear to be messing in their own bed with lawsuits.  Then, MorphOS appears to be a partisan group at odds with the orthodox Amiga crowd, but with a solution that, at least on the surface, appears good and also would appear to advance the technology.

The above might be an analogy of the Middle East.  

So, my friends, of what pursuasion are you?

Dave
mrbill wrote:
I'm in Houston, and can help when you get around to working on this if needed.  Best way to reach me is mrbill@gmail.com.[/quote]

[Mallette]

Alrighty, then.  I've an offer from Bill to work on this, and an offer on an ethernet card if the work goes well and I can put it her to work.  

I'll post some pix and other info on SimStation when I can dig them up.

Thanks to all for your support!  This is a great community.

Dave

[Mallette]

Amiduffer:
I'll probably pass on a complete sob story.  I went through a bit of it in the first few years before dropping out and turning off.  I think it's been long enough for me to take what I can in the spirit of "use it for what it does best" and leave out false hopes.

I know I've given up hope on the personal computers promise for my lifetime.  Freedom from the iron boot of Microsoft is out of reach...but it will come.  

Nobody took the original Mac "1984" ad seriously, including me.  Very prescient.  Of course, the Mac turned out no better.  It could be, but Microsoft only suffers their existence to prove they are not a monopoly.  Apple knows if they did anything REALLY good they'd get squashed.

Morgan, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, and the rest were complete amateurs compared to Gates.  His monopoly is far more complete than any of theirs ever were, and he has gotten away with it.  

It's the only thing I really credit him for.  

Dave

[Mallette]

guru-666 wrote:
@mrbill
" Myself, I'm getting "back into" Amiga hardware and software because, frankly, nothing else beats it."

How's is life under that rock?

"freedom from the iron boot of Microsoft is out of reach...but it will come."

what you never heard of linux? or any of the other OS's that would exactly what you need? Better wait for that new amiga.

As to "How's life under that rock?"...it's not enough to object without offering an alternative.

As to Linux, my CanDo Amiga programmers were running it by 1996.  I still have hopes it will get somewhere, but I've seen nothing there yet that I need.  No drivers for my high end soundcards that I use to build location recorders, no DPaint for animations, just not much for me.  

Dave

[Mallette]

Well, I am certainly open minded and have a number of peecees I don't want to pay Bill to resurrect.  When I get some time I'll piddle with Linux again to see what is new since about 2 years ago when I found it fine for hacking, but not much else.

As to Shake, is it 100.00?  That would be my first question.  And really as capable for 2D as DPaint?  You'd certainly have my ears...

Point is, I have the last gen DPaint and a machine that only needs a few cobwebs shaken out to get going.  Price is right.  

I'll do a bit of research on my own.

Dave

[Mallette]

I could only use Linux for developing elements and rapid prototyping.  Delivery has to be via you-know-who.  Does it do TRUE multi-tasking now? My need for sound card drivers is hobby.  I use ESI Pro for surround sound recording and Card Deluxe for stereo.  I am a long way from coding now and mainly design logic flowcharts to really upset the coders who have to realize them...especially things the Amiga did so well and Windows only does with a gun to it's head.  

I also have little need for compositing.  Mainly 2D anims for process flow and such.  Frankly, it is difficult to imagine anything better than DPaint at that.  

I really have to go with those in the "no comparison" category.  

If Linux is providing true preemptive multitasking, single spec per file type, graphics and sound via dedicated processors like God intended, a REXX scripting language to tie all the stuff together, and all the other things we took for granted 15 years ago, I've definitely missed it.  If it has finally caught up, I still have to ask what wonders we'd have now if the clock had suddenly not been stilled.

JMHO.  

[Mallette]

OK, guru666, you're on.  It will be a while, but like I said, I am open minded and always looking for something, ANYTHING, that will show me at least a modicum of improvement over the crap I use daily.  

One more thing...does Linux use any virtual HDD?  To me, that is the SINGLE (of many) worst aspect of the Empire.  Insane. Archaic.  Something only an idiot or saboteur would do.

Dave

[Mallette]

As I promised, I've registered at ubuntu.  With vacation and the SimStation up first, it will be several weeks before I can plow in.  

When I found it had a good chance of running my audiophile usb, and possibly my ESI Pro audio, that did it.  

I am also hopeful for wireless g support.  

First project will be an emachines laptop whose Windows went south and I could not find the restore disks.  Nice widescreen laptop, but I find myself wretching at having to pay BG ONCE AGAIN for the privilige of running his bug-ridden POS (pitiful operating system).  

It will be my first new adventure since Commodore went south and I promised myself not to get hooked on anything not mainstream again.  I've been watching Linux (and other things) now for a long time and I think the time is now.  I am sure it will be frustrating, but so was soldering my first 6502 Sinclair Z-80.  Yer as young as yer OS...

Dave

Mallette wrote:
OK, guru666, you're on.  It will be a while, but like I said, I am open minded and always looking for something, ANYTHING, that will show me at least a modicum of improvement over the crap I use daily.  

One more thing...does Linux use any virtual HDD?  To me, that is the SINGLE (of many) worst aspect of the Empire.  Insane. Archaic.  Something only an idiot or saboteur would do.

Dave

[Mallette]

persia wrote:
And it requires you to have a serial port on the PC, which no laptop has and an increasing number of desktops don't have.  Legacy ports are disappearing as manufacturers find it cheaper to leave them off.

What does this refer to?