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Author Topic: Planning new A1200 purchase, any must have upgrades?  (Read 13515 times)

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Offline Cammy

Re: Planning new A1200 purchase, any must have upgrades?
« on: May 26, 2010, 10:10:52 PM »
Just as others have mentioned here, the best things to add to an A1200 are:

8MB RAM/FPU/RTC card or 020/030 accelerator with at least 8MB RAM
4GB CF card on a CF-IDE adapter formatted with Workbench 3.1 on it
PCMCIA card reader, either SD or CF (remember SD cards are limited to 2GB each as SDHC isn't supported yet, but are cheaper than CF)
PCMCIA network card, either wireless or ethernet
CD32-compatible control pad or at least a Sega MasterSystem or MegaDrive/Genesis pad (which the Amiga uses as a 2-button pad)
Subway USB card
USB Missile Launcher
USB card reader

There's not much else you really need to add after that. There are no GPU upgrades unless you buy an expensive PCI expansion bus board with a PCI graphics card, but this requires you to put the A1200 inside a tower case and relocate everything, essentially turning the A1200 into a PC. No games will use the GPU on the card, nothing will really. It'll just give more colours in Workbench and let you run RTG software which honestly runs a hundred times faster on an emulated system anyway.
A1200 030@28Mhz/2MB+32MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB/4-Way Clockport Expander/IndivisionAGA/PCMCIA NIC
A1200 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/FPU/RTC/KS3.0/IDE-CF+2GB/S-Video
CD32 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB
A600 030@30Mhz/2MB+64MB/RTC/IDE-CF+4GB/Subway USB/S-Video/PCMCIA NIC/USB Numeric Keypad+Hub+Mouse+Control Pad
A500 000@7Mhz/512kB+512kB/ROM Switcher/KS3.1+1.3/S-Video

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Offline Cammy

Re: Planning new A1200 purchase, any must have upgrades?
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2010, 10:44:57 PM »
Yeah, with RAM being so cheap these days it's not a bad idea just to get the maximum the board supports. With 32MB RAM, there is only one time it ever runs low, when I'm using my Ram Disk for buffering 24bit images I'm processing in Image Studio and I go through too many images without flushing the buffer every now and then. Of course Image Studio can use the HDD for buffering too, but I just like the speed of the Ram Disk.

Those E-Matrix cards support a maximum of 32MB, so that should be fine. I'd definitely get the 32 over the 16 that comes with it.
A1200 030@28Mhz/2MB+32MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB/4-Way Clockport Expander/IndivisionAGA/PCMCIA NIC
A1200 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/FPU/RTC/KS3.0/IDE-CF+2GB/S-Video
CD32 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB
A600 030@30Mhz/2MB+64MB/RTC/IDE-CF+4GB/Subway USB/S-Video/PCMCIA NIC/USB Numeric Keypad+Hub+Mouse+Control Pad
A500 000@7Mhz/512kB+512kB/ROM Switcher/KS3.1+1.3/S-Video

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Offline Cammy

Re: Planning new A1200 purchase, any must have upgrades?
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2010, 11:32:17 PM »
Hey, that RAD disk idea is pretty rad, if I ever upgrade to 64 or 128MB in my A1200 I'll give that a go.

I just remembered, anyone getting an accelerator must definitely get 32MB minimum if they want to play Total Chaos AGA! That's got to be one of the biggest Amiga-only games, and it's definitely worth the upgrade to give it a go.
A1200 030@28Mhz/2MB+32MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB/4-Way Clockport Expander/IndivisionAGA/PCMCIA NIC
A1200 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/FPU/RTC/KS3.0/IDE-CF+2GB/S-Video
CD32 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB
A600 030@30Mhz/2MB+64MB/RTC/IDE-CF+4GB/Subway USB/S-Video/PCMCIA NIC/USB Numeric Keypad+Hub+Mouse+Control Pad
A500 000@7Mhz/512kB+512kB/ROM Switcher/KS3.1+1.3/S-Video

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Offline Cammy

Re: Planning new A1200 purchase, any must have upgrades?
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2010, 02:24:49 AM »
Lawn darts are an awesome idea!

A1200 030@28Mhz/2MB+32MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB/4-Way Clockport Expander/IndivisionAGA/PCMCIA NIC
A1200 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/FPU/RTC/KS3.0/IDE-CF+2GB/S-Video
CD32 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB
A600 030@30Mhz/2MB+64MB/RTC/IDE-CF+4GB/Subway USB/S-Video/PCMCIA NIC/USB Numeric Keypad+Hub+Mouse+Control Pad
A500 000@7Mhz/512kB+512kB/ROM Switcher/KS3.1+1.3/S-Video

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Offline Cammy

Re: Planning new A1200 purchase, any must have upgrades?
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2010, 09:39:06 AM »
If you have a USB card in your Amiga and run the Poseidon USB stack, RocketTool is built-in to it, so all you need to do is plug it in and pick up the joystick or control pad and control it. The Amiga allows you to move the rocket launcher in all eight directions in real time, including diagonals, and you can shoot while moving. The PC software only allows you to move it in one direction at a time and doesn't support diagonal movements, so the Amiga is just way better for using these missile launchers. The only thing lacking is support for those newer ones with webcams, but a classic Amiga wouldn't handle a live video feed very well anyway.

These are the ones I use, I have one on the A1200, one on the Aros laptop and one on the Aros netbook. If you download Icaros Desktop you can use the missile launchers straight away to see how they would work on a real Amiga. http://home.exetel.com.au/amiga/CammyRocketLauncher.JPG

I uploaded a video ages ago demonstrating my A600 on a CRT TV, but at the end of the video I pick up the CD32 ontroller and fire the missile launcher attached to the A1200. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTLvrhlNdyc
A1200 030@28Mhz/2MB+32MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB/4-Way Clockport Expander/IndivisionAGA/PCMCIA NIC
A1200 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/FPU/RTC/KS3.0/IDE-CF+2GB/S-Video
CD32 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB
A600 030@30Mhz/2MB+64MB/RTC/IDE-CF+4GB/Subway USB/S-Video/PCMCIA NIC/USB Numeric Keypad+Hub+Mouse+Control Pad
A500 000@7Mhz/512kB+512kB/ROM Switcher/KS3.1+1.3/S-Video

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Offline Cammy

Re: Planning new A1200 purchase, any must have upgrades?
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2010, 10:54:45 AM »
Quote from: XDelusion;561308
You know, I love throwing lawn darts at children just as much as anyone else, but what the hell is all this Missile business? I thought you were joking, but no, they actually make USB Missile Launchers.

So what is this, an office toy to shoot your co-workers/cat with or something?


I guess if you want to build the ultimate computer, it won't be complete without missile launchers. Just like Gus' computer from Superman III - http://meatfighter.com/superman3/part4/index.html

They're great for shooting at cats and visitors. My cat found the blind spot where it can't reach him, right behind it - http://www.flickr.com/photos/24340362@N08/4463504749/

He jumps up and tries to grab the missiles if I fire them at him, and he makes that sound that me makes when he sees birds outside.
A1200 030@28Mhz/2MB+32MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB/4-Way Clockport Expander/IndivisionAGA/PCMCIA NIC
A1200 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/FPU/RTC/KS3.0/IDE-CF+2GB/S-Video
CD32 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB
A600 030@30Mhz/2MB+64MB/RTC/IDE-CF+4GB/Subway USB/S-Video/PCMCIA NIC/USB Numeric Keypad+Hub+Mouse+Control Pad
A500 000@7Mhz/512kB+512kB/ROM Switcher/KS3.1+1.3/S-Video

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Offline Cammy

Re: Planning new A1200 purchase, any must have upgrades?
« Reply #6 on: May 28, 2010, 12:19:51 AM »
Hey Archimedes is a cool name for a cat, it even reminds me a bit of Acorn computers. My cat was named Black Magic when I got him from the animal shelter, but it suits him. I used to have a stray cat that would visit from time to time, stay the night and have a meal, then leave the next morning. He was lanky, grey and old looking so I named him Gandalf.


pkupcik, those two joysticks you ordered from AmigaKit will only work with 1-button games. You really should look into getting a 2-button joystick/control pad (Sega style) or a proper CD32 pad.

The Competition Pro has four buttons that all do the same thing. It has a switch that disables two of the buttons. I can't think of anything so stupid, why can't that switch change it to 2-button mode? You need to modify these joysticks for them to be any good for a lot of Amiga games. They're more useful for Commodore64 users.

I'm glad you got the accelerator with 32MB RAM. You definitely wouldn't want 16MB if you want to try some of the more recent Amiga games, make sure you download Total Chaos in advance, ready to copy over to the Amiga and extract.

That RGB-VGA adapter will be useless unless you have an old multisync monitor. It will let you display Workbench in 640x480 on a regular VGA monitor, but you won't be able to play any games with it, you'll need to have your Amiga plugged into a TV or something for that.

The PC-Amiga adapter is only for using PC Analogue joysticks with the Amiga, which is okay but there aren't many games that support analogue controls on the Amiga. Look out for racing games that allow you to use the mouse as a control, those games should work (No Second Prize for example).

What kind of display are you planning on using with the A1200? Since you don't have an Indivision, you will need something that supports PAL/NTSC 15khz inputs like a TV or old RGB monitor, or a multisync monitor. Most LCD TVs will work, but Composite can be pretty blurry to use. If you're going to use a TV as your display, I'd recommend either using Scart (if the TV has that input) or getting a RGB-to-S-Video adapter for the Amiga which will give you a much sharper image with no dot crawl or colour bleeding. If you want to use a regular VGA monitor, you can get these litle boxes now that have three inputs (S-Video, Composite and VGA) and one VGA output. You can plug the Amiga into one of these and it will scan-double and flicker-fix the output for displaying on VGA monitors. If you use one of these, again it's better to use the S-Video than Composite, but since you have that RGB-VGA adapter you could plug this in as well as Composite, and just use the controls on the box to switch between Workbench (VGA) and games (Composite). Unfortunately if you were to use an external S-Video adapter, you couldn't also use the VGA adapter since they both plug into the RGB port, but since the PAL 640x512 screenmode runs faster than the VGA 640x480 screenmode and the external box would be fixing the flicker anyway, you'd just be better off sticking to using PAL all the time if you had an S-Video adapter. The only good thing about using a VGA screenmode is you get a smaller mouse pointer.
A1200 030@28Mhz/2MB+32MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB/4-Way Clockport Expander/IndivisionAGA/PCMCIA NIC
A1200 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/FPU/RTC/KS3.0/IDE-CF+2GB/S-Video
CD32 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB
A600 030@30Mhz/2MB+64MB/RTC/IDE-CF+4GB/Subway USB/S-Video/PCMCIA NIC/USB Numeric Keypad+Hub+Mouse+Control Pad
A500 000@7Mhz/512kB+512kB/ROM Switcher/KS3.1+1.3/S-Video

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Offline Cammy

Re: Planning new A1200 purchase, any must have upgrades?
« Reply #7 on: May 28, 2010, 01:47:51 AM »
Hey, that RGB to VGA converter box should be perfect! I'm curious to see how well it works since you should get a cleaner signal through that RGB-VGA adapter than through Composite or S-Video. Looks like you may have a winning combination there.

As for 2-button joysticks, anything that is designed for the Sega Master System or Sega Genesis/Mega Drive will work as a 2-button controller on an Amiga. You can still buy these brand new 6-button controllers (only two buttons are of any use on the Amiga though unless you modify them) and they're pretty cheap. DealExtreme have some, but you can get better ones with turbo/autofire options if you look around. I use these on several of my Amigas http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.30530

There are some pictures of some common 2-button Amiga controllers and a very short list of games that support them in one of my older posts: http://www.amiga.org/forums/showpost.php?p=559321&postcount=24

I use a QuickShot Python as my main A500 joystick, which is switchable between 1-button and 2-button mode, and has an Auto-Fire switch.
A1200 030@28Mhz/2MB+32MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB/4-Way Clockport Expander/IndivisionAGA/PCMCIA NIC
A1200 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/FPU/RTC/KS3.0/IDE-CF+2GB/S-Video
CD32 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB
A600 030@30Mhz/2MB+64MB/RTC/IDE-CF+4GB/Subway USB/S-Video/PCMCIA NIC/USB Numeric Keypad+Hub+Mouse+Control Pad
A500 000@7Mhz/512kB+512kB/ROM Switcher/KS3.1+1.3/S-Video

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Offline Cammy

Re: Planning new A1200 purchase, any must have upgrades?
« Reply #8 on: May 28, 2010, 02:46:05 AM »
If you get a Subway USB card for your A1200 you can use USB control pads and joysticks, but only with system-friendly software, so that throws out 95% of games. You can get Playstation 2 to Amiga/CD32 adapters, these are the best thing you could want, but you either have to build it yourself or bug this guy named Paul to make one for you. Here's his YouTube channel, which seems like the only place to contact him. Unfortunately my messages haven't been getting through to him for a while so I dunno if YouTube is playing up or if he blocked me.

http://www.youtube.com/user/paulwillingham4d79
A1200 030@28Mhz/2MB+32MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB/4-Way Clockport Expander/IndivisionAGA/PCMCIA NIC
A1200 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/FPU/RTC/KS3.0/IDE-CF+2GB/S-Video
CD32 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB
A600 030@30Mhz/2MB+64MB/RTC/IDE-CF+4GB/Subway USB/S-Video/PCMCIA NIC/USB Numeric Keypad+Hub+Mouse+Control Pad
A500 000@7Mhz/512kB+512kB/ROM Switcher/KS3.1+1.3/S-Video

Get AmigaOS
 

Offline Cammy

Re: Planning new A1200 purchase, any must have upgrades?
« Reply #9 on: May 28, 2010, 04:02:16 AM »
Unfortunately WHDLoad conflicts with Poseidon and won't allow you to use USB devices in WHDLoad-installed games.
A1200 030@28Mhz/2MB+32MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB/4-Way Clockport Expander/IndivisionAGA/PCMCIA NIC
A1200 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/FPU/RTC/KS3.0/IDE-CF+2GB/S-Video
CD32 020@14Mhz/2MB+8MB/RTC/KS3.1/IDE-CF+4GB
A600 030@30Mhz/2MB+64MB/RTC/IDE-CF+4GB/Subway USB/S-Video/PCMCIA NIC/USB Numeric Keypad+Hub+Mouse+Control Pad
A500 000@7Mhz/512kB+512kB/ROM Switcher/KS3.1+1.3/S-Video

Get AmigaOS