Amiga 1200 rebuild, what should I do to this machine? WHDLoad?

[Kremlar]

I've been on the lookout for an Amiga 1200 to use as my main Amiga to play games on.  My plan is to load WHDLoad (which I've never used) on it.

I finally found and "rescued" one from eBay from a local seller.  Sold as non-working, no power supply, missing the trap door cover, very yellow, etc...

Picked it up today and here's what it is:

Commmodore Amiga 1200HD (Rev 1D)
MicroBotics 1200Z Expansion Card w/4MB RAM (maybe 8MB?)
MicroBotics 12 A'Clock Clockport Card
Kickstart 3.0
Maxtor 80MB 2.5" IDE Drive

Attached are some pics.  My goal is to clean up this PC and update it to the point where it would make a great WHDLoad machine.  

Any comments/suggestions welcome, but here are my questions:

1 - My understanding is that a 1200 with fast RAM makes a great WHDLoad machine.  Sounds like I'm all set then.  Am I correct?

2 - I see this machine had a clock port clock, and the clock on the MicroBotics 1200Z was disabled.  Why is that?  Why would I not want to just use the 1200Z's clock, eliminating the clock port card?

3 - System has Kickstart 3.0.  Would it be worthwhile to upgrade to 3.1?

4 - I'm planning on sending this board to Acill to get recapped.  Anything else I should consider doing to it at the same time?  How about the "timing fixes" I often hear about?

5 - I'm thinking about the CF Card IDE interface from AmigaKit:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=24_78&products_id=883
Anything else worth considering to replace the hard drive?  Anything easier to access from the outside?

6 - Will want to get a replacement trapdoor cover.  I see some on Shapeways.  Any other suggestions to get this replaced?

7 - Any other upgrades/etc. worth doing to the 1200 that I might be missing?

Thanks in advance for any and all comments/suggestions!  Really appreciate it.

[Kremlar]

More pics.

[Kremlar]

An 030 should be perfect. Not sure about 25Mhz or so but 40 or 50Mhz should be really nice. An Indie AGA would be nice too!

Thanks!  I thought an 020 with fast RAM was sufficient for most games, am I wrong?  Any good games in particular require an 030 or higher?

I already have a display capable of displaying all the Amiga modes, so not sure what advantage an Indivision AGA would give me.

[Kremlar]

Thank for the replies guys!  I think I will clean everything up, get it recapped, and try it with the existing 020 and RAM expansion I have - then consider an accelerator if it's not sufficient.  

I think I will use the clock on the 1200Z RAM expansion and eliminate the A'Clock.  It looks like the clock chip has been removed from the 1200Z, which the manual states to do.  I assume I can just move the chip from the A'Clock right over to the 1200Z and then install a new battery.

I am a bit confused about what to do about storage.  I've never installed WHDLoad before so think I will need to be doing a lot of back and forth to get everything setup the way I want it.  For that reason I thought about going with a CompactFlash that would be accessible from the outside, like this one:
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?77919-Amiga-1200-Compact-Flash-CF-IDE-Back-Plate&highlight=amiga+1200+trapdoor
Thinking that I could setup everything on WinUAE and bring back and forth as needed.

The DOM sounds like a nice idea too and how I'd probably prefer it in the end.

I believe my RAM expansion actually has 8MB but there's a jumper limiting it to 4MB.  My understanding is that if it's at 8MB PCMCIA will not work.  Does that sound correct?  Any way around that limitation?

Thanks again guys!

[Kremlar]

@ Mike : I believe this chap is trying to do this on a budget...there's no need to buy unecessary stuff. WHDLoad runs fine on Kickstart 2.0, never mind 3.1.

I don't want to spend money unnecessarily, but I might throw in Kickstart 3.1 while I have it open and placing other orders.  Definitely don't want to waste on an accelerator if the games I'm interested in won't benefit.  And if my needs change, perhaps the Vampire 1200 will be out by then.  

7 - PCMCIA CF Adapter + CF card - easy transfers of data to your A1200.

This sounds like a good idea, especially if I don't go with an externally accessible CF.  Will check it out.

@ Kremlar - If you decide you want to use the internet a bit with IBrowse I'd recommend 8MB RAM, which unless you upgrade to a PCMCIA friendly CPU card you're stuck with 4MB or 6MB (jumper switch permitting on the RAM card) or your wireless / ethernet card won't work.

I doubt I'd do any web browsing.  This memory card has a 4MB jumper and it's set like that now, but I believe the SIMM is actually 8MB.

Thanks!

[Kremlar]

Motherboard is off to Acill to get recapped.  I asked him to check the IDE header and also to do any timing fixes that might be recommended for this board.  He also suggested removing the RF modulator which I agreed with.

While the board is bring recapped I am working on the case.  I submerged the top half in standard 3% peroxide and left it out in the sun for 4 days and these are the results.  The left half is still slightly more discolored, but not bad.  Going to work on the bottom half of the case now.

Still deciding on what upgrades to do.  Definitely going to stick with the standard 020 and RAM card I got with it for now.  Will probably go with Kickstart 3.1 for the heck of it.  I think I'd prefer an externally accessible CF card so I can easily move back and forth between the 1200 and WinUAE, but an internal DOM is tempting too.

[Kremlar]

Yes, don't let anyone talk you into buying expensive accelerators that you don't need for Whdload.


I wouldn't bother. You get absolutely ZERO benefit from that for a Whdload system. There truly is no point.

Understood... just "feels" better have the latest Kickstart for only an additional $17 or so...

[Kremlar]

...best feeling ever . I can't even explain it. When I switched to ROM 3.1 from ROM 3.0 my world completely changed. This new experience of having, new, latest ROM for my 20+ year old Amiga gave so much light into my life. I'm 100% relaxed when I don't think about mapping my ROM, that it is copied to FAST RAM during boot. No, this times are gone for ever and will never come back. All of this was possible, due to AmigaKit.com who sold me ROM 3.1 for my A1200 (with MANUAL!). Days of darkens and pain are gone. Get yourself new life, get ROM 3.1. You will not regret it, ever and you will not look back.

LOL!  I suspect a Vampire 1200 might feel better.  

You're not making fun of me are you???

:roflmao:

[Kremlar]

I would rather not mess around with the innards of my computer if it doesn't yield any benefits. Whats the point? It's like removing dust from a heat sink while there's no dust on it. It's completely pointless.
Sigh

In my case, though, the 1200 is completely disassembled already so the install is much easier.  

I ended up ordering from AmigaKit.

Kickstart 3.1:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=62

Externally Accessible CF Card:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1216

Still working on whitening the bottom portion of the cases and keys.  Should be done in the next couple of days.

[Kremlar]

Still waiting to get the motherboard back from a recap from Acill, but here are the final exterior results. I'm extremely happy with the case and the lighter color keys, but I messed up with the darker keys by leaving them in the peroxide too long. They now have an uneven bleached look to them.

That being said, I much prefer it like it is now compared to how it was! Next time I will handle the darker keys a bit more carefully. This is 4 days in a tub with about $12 worth of off-the-shelf 3% peroxide. The keys were in for longer.

[Kremlar]

Nice. I also got my case cleaned and looks much better (almost as new). Only problem I have are few keys that are still yellow. Maybe I should try to keep them longer?

Looks great!

[Kremlar]

Got my 1200 board back from Acill late last week and finally put it back together.  Installed the CF Card adapter w/backplate from Amigakit along with Kickstart 3.1 ROMs.  I used a bunch of hot glue to keep teh CF card bracket in place.  Also had to do a bit of solder work on the LED board - the floppy LED was intermittent.  Boots to floppy great!  

Although I thought the RAM expansion had 8MB RAM it does seem to be a 4MB SIMM.  If I move the jumper to 8MB the system will not boot.

I also moved the RTC chip from the clockport adapter to the RAM expansion, installed a new CR2032 battery, but have not yet tested the clock.

Now I just need to work on getting it setup to boot from the CF card I purchased.  Then I want to get WHDLoad working, which I've never done before.  If anyone has any specific pointers or walkthroughs they can point me to please do.

[Kremlar]

Looking great!! As far as your RAM goes, do you have anything in the PCMCIA slot? I seem to remember some issues if you have more than 4MB and PCMCIA in use?

No, nothing in there.  The card was originally set to 4MB but I looked at the SIMM and thought it was 8MB, thinking perhaps the previous owner used a PCMCIA card and set it to 4MB.  I think the SIMM is simply a 4MB SIMM.

[Kremlar]

Hey -

I would appreciate it, but don't kill yourself over it!

The manual says this:

If you or your dealer are purchasing a SIMM from a source
other than MicroBotics, Inc., you must be certain to get the
correct type. MBX 1200z does NOT use the common, 8-bit
SIMM as found in the Macintosh marketplace. Rather it
uses the same sort of SIMM as used in the Amiga 4000.
This is a 72-pin, 32-bit wide SIMM. MBX 1200z needs only
an 80ns SIMM in order to operate at zero wait states. You
can use a 70 or 60ns SIMM but these may cost more for no
additional benefit. The following is a list of Micron part
numbers for the correct SIMM. You can use the equivalent
parts from any good quality manufacturer.
MBX 1200z SIMM SPECIFICATION; 80ns, 72-pin %&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!8220;widebody%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!8221;
SIMM organized N-megabytes x 32 bits. For example,
Micron MT8D25632 (one megabyte); MT16D51232 (two
megabytes); MT8D132 (four megabytes); and MT16D232
(eight megabytes).

Thanks!