No obvious means of building cheap 1200T

[orb85750]

Let me know if I'm wrong, but it seems that if one wants an expandable AGA machine, the best bet is simply to buy a used A4000 rather than trying to build out from an A1200.  I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my dust-collecting A1200HD, given that it lacks low-price expandability and is incompatible with so many A500/2000 games. -Dave

[TjLaZer]

Well the first thing to do, of course, is to get a CPU card with Fast RAM, then add a IDE HD and then download and install WHDLoad games!  

[orb85750]

Total approximate cost?  Is this going to offer a significant advantage over using the old A500 system (I have 2 of those, or is it 3?)  Thanks, -Dave

TjLaZer wrote:
Well the first thing to do, of course, is to get a CPU card with Fast RAM, then add a IDE HD and then download and install WHDLoad games!  

[Trev]

Expect to spend between 300 USD and 700 USD for a 680x0 accerlerator, and certain accelerators may require modifications to your A1200 mainboard to fix timing issues. IMHO, apart from quick and easy access to your game library and perhaps game fixes, there's no real benefit to using WHDLoad over a real A500 for infrequent gameplay.

[Damion]

orb85750 wrote:
Let me know if I'm wrong, but it seems that if one wants an expandable AGA machine, the best bet is simply to buy a used A4000 rather than trying to build out from an A1200.  I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my dust-collecting A1200HD, given that it lacks low-price expandability and is incompatible with so many A500/2000 games. -Dave

For an AGA gaming platform, an A1200 with a RAM card (maybe an '030), compact flash hard drive, and perhaps an Indivision is a nice way to go. The PCMCIA slot is real handy for transferring files and cheap ethernet. As Tj said, WHDLoad will solve the compatibility problems and is much nicer than using floppies.

If you want to expand with graphics/sound cards, usb, PPC, that sort of thing, then I agree - starting with an A4000 is probably a better idea.

edit

Cost:

Indivision: $150
RAM card: $75 (maybe $250 for a basic 030 card)
Compact flash card/adapter: less than $50
WHDLoad keyfile: $20? IIRC

The advantage is you can easily play all your games from workbench, and quit back to the desktop when you're done to play another. No floppies, no frustration over finding the right degrader options to get something working, all that BS is resolved.

For the odd game of Lethal Weapon, I agree it may be worth sticking to the A500... but if you're looking for the ultimate classic amiga game jukebox, you've already got the best platform (A1200) to build on.

[bloodline]

The other option is to use your A1200 to rip all your floppies to ADF files, then you can play your games in UAE on the laptop of your choice... I have a bunch of icons on my Macbook desktop, each one boots UAE directly into an old Amiga game... One for Lemmings... Another for MegaloMania... etc... It works well for a quick gaming fix, and you'd never know the games weren't native :-)

[Khephren]

If you use WHDload, then the A1200 becomes compatable with many A500 titles, another benefit is they become hard drive instalable.

If gaming is your main concern, than you can get away without tricking your machine out with an accelerator, or indivision (as old games are generally designed for low res non interlaced screens, and the basic configuration).
 
If you want higher end gaming or decent app performance, then it's getting expensive with the price of ram/accelerator cards.


It's a real shame penny pinching commodore never put a fast ram slot on the motherboard

[Damion]

bloodline wrote:
The other option is to use your A1200 to rip all your floppies to ADF files, then you can play your games in UAE on the laptop of your choice... I have a bunch of icons on my Macbook desktop, each one boots UAE directly into an old Amiga game... One for Lemmings... Another for MegaloMania... etc... It works well for a quick gaming fix, and you'd never know the games weren't native :-)

WinUAE is definitely a good option, costs nothing, and much less hassle for occasional gaming. No real reason to expand a classic, unless you enjoy the tinkering aspect.

[RMK305]

-D-

What is it with you and the Lethal Weapon game? I have a copy of it I got in a job lot but have never tried it. Is it that good or so crap you always rave about it as a joke? Am I missing out by mot trying it or something?

[Crom00]

An A1200 in the original case is fine. The expense of building a towered A1200 setup is great. So are the quirks associated with such an endeavoer that no one every really complains about here beucase well... we're all diehards and willing to suffer to expand this old machine.

Honestly I have a rebuilt A1200 BUT PC with an emulator is so cool. The ability to get a super graphcis card, Workbecnh on USB thumbrive, and 8 meg chip ram is cool. Loading up ImageFX to play with images runs several orders of magnitude faster than an Amiga setup ever would.

That being said got an A1200 with indivision. It's all painted black though. lol! Looks nice next to the black, HP, and mac stuff.