@Jaruzel:
I bought a BlizzardPPC in 1998 and a BVision in 1999. First recommendation: Forget about buying a PPC card only, always get
both a BlizzardPPC and a graphics card.
A BVision (or a Mediator+Vodoo) is expensive, but there's a cheap alternative: Eyetech still seem to have their
single slot Zorro adaptor in stock. These were originally intended to be used with their A1200 rack cases: the graphics card practically "lies" on top of the motherboard. Such a setup might even fit into your Sun desktop case. Any cheap second hand Zorro gfx card should work with this adaptor. Of course, such a card won't have 3D accelleration and it will be slower due to the limited Zorro2 bandwidth - but it's still a vast improvement over AGA.
If I was to put a PPC into my A1200D, what improvements would I expect to see?
The overall speed of your system would still be completely dictated by the power of the 68k CPU. Another recommendation: The SCSI host on Phase5 accellerators is the best (fastest) HD controller for the A1200 (the FastATA device from Elbox is pretty fast too, but it doesn't do DMA - i.e. your CPU will have to manage IDE transfers). Try to get a BlizzPPC with onboard SCSI host, it really makes a difference.
What software actually uses the PPC, or would most of it still run on the 68k cpu ?
There are very good datatypes, movie players, and mp3 players/encoders. Many gfx and audio editing tools support the PPC. Not to forget the games (Doom, Heretic, Heretic 2, Hexen, Quake, Quake2, Descent, Descent Freespace, Shogo, WipeOut etc.).
Is it worth it? Well, getting a graphics card is
highly recommended: the high resolutions, true color display, the speed...
Getting a BlizzPPC? Buy one if you're interested in AmigaOS4 and convinced that a BPPC version will be released. Or if you regularly use 2-3 applications that need as much horse power as possible and support the PPC. Or if it is your only option to add a gfx card to your A1200.
