New to Amiga...some questions

[Zildjianmeister]

Hello,
 
I am new to Amiga.  Well I'm actually contemplating getting into the Amiga hobby. Have had friends years ago that had them. I am old school Apple II user so I'm much more familiar with that line.  I was hoping some of you can provide some info regarding what I should be looking for like a common setup.
 
- What model Amiga should I be looking for to play the games and such.  I saw on Amigakit they have the 1200 or should I look for a 500. Is the 1200 completely backward compatible?
 
- I contacted Amigakit and they mentioned they have PAL models as I was hoping to hook it up to a tv with composite connection.  They said they may have some NTSC models and mentioned most of the games are for PAL.  Isn't there a large selection for NTSC models? I remember my friends having pretty large game collections.
 
- Is it relatively easy to get the images and transfer them to the Amiga and then to floppy? With the apple it's pretty easy and requires a serial cable and using software to convert it to floppy. What would be required for Amiga? Is there a specific OS required that would be able to run all or most of the software?
 
Thank you all for your time.

[Zildjianmeister]

Wow...so many replies!  Thanks for the information everyone! I know exactly where to go when I finally do get an Amiga and need some assistance. Everyone is so helpful and knowledgeable here.
 
I just need to reread all the postings and let it all absorb.  When I figure out what items/package I'm going to get I'll post back with my list to make sure I got everything down correctly.  
 
The most confusing thing for me was the whole PAL/NTSC thing. I think everyone's pretty much cleared that up for me.  I was hoping to have the option to hook up the Pal 1200 to one of my old tube tv's due to space concerns.  But if the Indivision works well with lcd's that would work.  Ability to use tv would be a nice option though if the Pal version would work here in the states.  
 
@Karlos - Yes.  I tried the other brands but the Zildjians always worked well for me.  Plus I like the big Z I have on the ride cymbal. :lol:
 
Thanks again everyone!  I'll post back soon.

[Zildjianmeister]

Thanks for the responses everyone!
 
Well I looked over all the replies and digested all of it. I think.
 
I'm looking at a new(old) stock 1200 with the indivision adapter, upgrade in RAM, and IDE-CF adapter w compact flash card. Sounds a little cleaner than with a HD. Being able to load everything straight from cf card is nice. I have an extra lcd so hoping that would work but if not I can dig up a crt monitor.
 
or
 
a Minimig with the updated RAM. Would have to somehow find the kickstart roms for the minimig and probably a case that I saw online. I saw there are AGA games but soon realized they were only able to play on the 1200. But I didn't really know about AGA games until I researched so the minimig would probably be fine as well.
 
Decisions decisions......