A2000

[Iggy]

I took a risk and purchased an A2000 on Ebay for $45.
When powered up, the floppy drive lights come on (and stay on) and there is no composite video output.
I removed the battery (which had a small amount of corrosion under it), but other then that the unit seems OK.

Is it worth digging up a HAYNIE/FISHER motherboard as a replacement?

[Iggy]

Fiddled around with it and got it to work.
It is a FISHER/HAYNIE motherboard version 4.4 with a Fat Agnus.
I just ordered the parts to upgrade it to ECS and a 3.1 rom.
Now all I need is a decent accelerator.

What type of hard drive would you guys recommend?

[Iggy]

Sometimes when someone plugs the floppy cable wrong way around the activity light will stay on, so maybe you could remove the floppy cable and see if you could boot.

Thank, that's how I got it working.
It didn't come with an A2090 or A2091 hard disk controller.
What would be the best option for adding a hard drive?

[Iggy]

Iggy, great find. I have the Mechy SCSI card reader in my A2000, and A500+  both.  They work great and makes moving files from PC to the Amiga easy.  If your PC doesn't have a reader, you can get one for $15.  I think Mechy got some more of them in.  From experience, I know they will work with the A2091.  I think the GVP controllers are best, as they recognize LUNS almost instantly, which means you can plug a CF card directly in the CF slot, and not worry with the PCMCIA adapter, but it boots just as fast.  If you use an A2091, it takes it about 30 seconds to scan the LUNS, before it boots.  You can use the PCMCIA adapter, and disable LUNS, and it boots instantly, but lose the other slots in the reader.  I use the SCSI controller on my GVP combo card, but also use one in my A500+ with a GVP A500 HD+8, which is essentially the same as the A2000 HC+8 for the A2000.  I also use one with a GVP Impact A2000-HC, which is the same, without the memory.  You don't have to worry about moving parts with this solution and can have multiple CF cards for any different OS you want to run.  They mount perfectly in one of the floppy drive slots.  Whichever route you go, good luck and have fun.  I love modifying my A2000.  My A500+ was originally an A500 Rev. 5, and I bought a + motherboard, and upgraded it.  I really enjoy doing stuff like that.  Glad you got the A2000 and everything is working.

Thanks, very useful information. Looks like a really well made system.

[Iggy]

Mechy is out of the basic unit (w/o pcmcia adapter).
I've asked for an update when he gets more.

[Iggy]

OK, so I can get a fast accelerator.
Hard drives are slow, but no slower then any other Amiga (I am definitely spoiled by the 10K 74MB WD Raptors I just put in my MorphOS system).
Except for the lack of third party PCI expansion and AGA graphics, its a really neat system (with a much more open case then an A3000).

So, most new software (like the Doom ports) seem to rely on AGA, yet AGA machines make up a small minority of the Amigas manufactured.

So, what good ECS titles would you guys recommend?