Upgrading an A1200...

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Ishikodzume wrote:
Here is what i want to do with the Amiga:
 - Keep it inside the desktop case!

Good choice! IMO towers are not that nice :-)

 - The same stuff i mentioned above. Demo compatibility i still want, so for example, still having usage of the standard AGA video output is a must.
 - Run newer demos at a decent speed.

Buy yourself an accelerator. Used 030's and 040s can be found quite cheap around. But many wont fit with the trapdoor. I have Viper 060 from Vesalia and it fits nicely even when the trapdoor is closed.

 - Get it on my lan so i don't have to use 720k floppies to transfer files, can SSH into other boxes, etc etc.

Old 16bit pcmcia NICs are quite cheap too. Either a NE2000 compatible or a 3Com one will do (not all models tho)

 - Have a nice VGA out and decent res so i am not getting headaches with 640x512 interlaced , and possibly 24bit in D-Paint.

Get yourself an internal scandoubler. I have DCEs FlickerMagick which is a scandoubler and a flickerfixer.

The easy part is i know i need a PCMCIA NIC. If i was to get this first, would my 020 + 2mb ram be enough for the TCP/IP stack and apps like SSH/FTP/etc? This part is probably the cheapest, so it'd be nice to buy it first.

I had 4mb fast with a pcmcia nic for some time. It was ok for IRC, SSH and some very light web browsing. Propably 2mb chip is not enough.. Get the accelerator board first :-D

Then more generally, i'd need more RAM and a faster processor... the only problem with that is, the only solution for having a graphics card in a desktop A1200 i have heard of, is the BVision + Blizzard PPC combo, so i am somewhat restricted, *unless* someone knows of another graphics card solution? I mean, i know i want an 060 (or at least an 040) for a lot of demos, but i don't really want a PPC card for any reason... so if i can just get an 060 + GFX card that'd be great. If not, the cheapest Blizzard PPC card with the best 68k chip would be best, i guess.

A 060 board should be enough for you for demos etc and PPC will produce a nice amount of heat so it cannot be stuffed inside a desktop box. Most 060 boards support up to 32, 64 or 128mb RAM, which should be enough.

How sluggish does workbench (loaded down with MUI etc) get when you move into a high res with just an 060?

Not sluggish at all :-)

Eh, sorry for all the questions. I'm interested to hear what stuff other people who don't want to tower their A1200s have done...
As i said, this isn't my main machine, so it doesn't have to be blazingly fast particularly...

Fight the pow.. uh TOWER!  :-D

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One more thing, as Karlos pointed out, is the power. Original A1200 PSU is not powerful enough to juice up all your hardware. Either buy a heavyduty powersupply or hack one from old AT power, IF and only if you ha ve the skills.

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Ishikodzume wrote:
> (you want an internal for best video quality)
Ah... but then doesn't the option of using my old monitor or a TV go out the window? I want to be able to use a VGA monitor, yes... but i'd still like to use the old graphics modes too. I was thinking with the external, all i do is unplug it, and it's back to normal...

Hmm. It seems you have misunderstood something. Scandoubler makes it possible to view original graphics modes on an SVGA monitor. So you only need one monitor to get all the modes.

> Well, you need a cd-rom for OS3.9 to install
I'm assuming it doesn't actually care about the media itself, though? I mean couldn't i copy the install files to the HDD and then ask it to use them there? It seems a waste to get a CD drive and controller etc, when i'm never going to need it.

Works on OS3.5, propably 3.9 too :-)