How do I get back the amiga thing?

[Carrot007]

Hi,

I lurk, also lurked ages and ages before i registered!

So anyhow! I loved my amigas back in the day and would like to play again. (you know what i mean!)

Trouble is all amiga things seem so expensive. (I am poor!)

Any recomendations?

I have 2 a1200's in my loft, i think both are 3.0, 1 has an 040 i think but that is missing a fan (though I probably have some around that would do). Dunno if there is a keyboard for them though! (they certainly have no rf sheilding since they had 3.5 hd's in back in the day!).

Also have (i think) my old a500 (not + but not 1st a500, does that make sense!) which I swapped back in the day for a megadrive! Was a good deal. Only think wrong was the esc key was not working but i fixed that with some silver tipex (for car rear windscreen fixing). Also have an a500+ proper now that I got from some old guy doing a clearance. (don't ask, my loft is like a musuem for old computers i get given!)

Anyway, so is there a way cheaply into the current amiga thing? Or should i just play on the emulators?

I have often been tempted by amioga stuff, but have never had the money to go there! (Hey it is not cheap compared to other stuff)

Personally I left amiga as my main platform in 1997/8. Pc's had become ok, win 98se was nice and at least you could get games on it!

These dasy I am multiplatform. I have my pc, my mac, some consoles (ps3, wii, 360, and lots of retro ones) but hey, I would really like that amiga thing again!

I shall admit it. I never liked workbench (that is probably why i don't 100% get on with macs). I loved diskamaster (II). It was great and you could configiure it loads if you knew how.

Ok rant over, any advise please!

K>

[runequester]

Well, if one of those 1200's work still, you'll be pretty well off. Getting a replacement keyboard isn't so bad, and the peripherals aren't so expensive either.
 
Where in the world are you located?

[Argo]

He's in the UK!

Welcome to the AO!

[Retro_71]

Its All about what you want to do with them and what you have in way of games/disks for them. First as rune said getting a keyboard maybe http://www.amigakit.com/ , http://www.amibay.com/ or eBay.

Next if you want to play games only and you don't have any games/disks already you will either have to get a adf transfer kit from amigakit, you can leave them on the Miggy or write them back to disk using adf sender (provided you have floppies),
OR You can go and buy a license for http://www.whdload.de/ which is a great way to play even games that didn't run on the A1200 (providing of course you have a HDD inside your A1200 and its working)
OR you can simply use the A500 and play without hassle but since I don't know what games you have if any (you will still have to transfer them off the PC unto the miggy)
OR if your 040 has a SCSI connection you can try a SCSI CD drive and that way burn the disk from the PC and use them on the Miggy (that what I do)

OH yeah and P.S
WELCOME TO THE MAD HOUSE...

[Iggy]

Well, if one of those 1200's work still, you'll be pretty well off. Getting a replacement keyboard isn't so bad, and the peripherals aren't so expensive either.
 
Where in the world are you located?

Yes, definately fix the 1200 with the 040 processor. Sounds like you missing hardware isn't that significant and if you don't have a hard drive go comfact flash.

Emulation has its merits (and I'm a MorphOS user), but if I had the hardware on hand (even if it needed work) I'd refurbish it.

Heck, I passed up on a non-functional A500 on ebay that I could have had  for $.01 (because I would have had to pay candain shipping and then fix the bloody thing). till think I should have bought it.

Go for it Dude.

[Retro_71]

Iggy's right even if you have to cannibalise both to make one work one (which I hope you don't to).
What monitor have you got for them? How do you hook them up onto a screen?
What other peripherals do you have?
If you were is OZ I would set you up with a A1200 keyboard (I have one spare although its a bit yellow).
But after the keyboard you will need a HDD, maybe 3.1 Roms, and a Scan doubler (i use an Indivision AGA) so you don't have to worry about old monitors blowing up.. (which happen to my 1080 yesterday ) and ofcourse a good joystick or two.... which brings up a question you got a mouse for your miggies?

[bloodline]

He's in the UK!

Welcome to the AO!

With English like that!

[Franko]

@ Bloodline

Ach awa ye go ya big saft southern git ye, rers nuthin wrang wur ra mans spellin, ye want tae lern tae write in propur english n stoap pickin oan folk fur no takin awe hoity toity...

Any welcome to the crazy place Carrot007, we need some good lurkers round here (bloodline is probably just upset cos of your comments about the Mac, Ive got two and there both total mince so they are...

Anyway happy lurking...

PS: don't stick to emulators, ye  canny beat the real thing...

[fishy_fiz]

I guess it depends on what exactly you want to do with them. If you just want to play games then an emulator is a reasonable option. They lack a certain charm of "the real thing", but have thier own advantages (literally dozens to hundreds of times faster than the absolute best amiga you can get if running on x86 hardware (on ppc its much, much slower, more due to codepaths than raw speed of the host hardware), retargetable sound and gfx, much cheaper, ironically also more compatible, etc.). If price is a concern and you just want to tinker and play games then that's probably the way I'd go, but seeing as you already have some physical amiga gear it's not as clear cut.

[Iggy]

Franko, you usually rotate through avatars pretty quickly.
That bunny's really starting to creep me out.

[fishy_fiz]

I quite like the bunny. It's a lot less creepy than the creepy "pee time", or whatever it was girl :-) (cant for the life of me remember who's avatar that was/is though).
In fact given time I might feel inspired to make myself an avatar later today. Im not a fan of the rendered avatar's doing the rounds on AO at the moment, but if I can make a creepy cute thing to compliment Franko's bunny then maybe together we can start a revolution!! (ok, I admit, I got a bit excitable there, but dagnamit, I wanna see more creepy cute things).

[Khephren]

Anyway, so is there a way cheaply into the current amiga thing? Or should i just play on the emulators?
K>

Buy a compact flash adapter (couple of quid, +a small CF) to use on the PC, set up the emulator to use the card as a HDD. Set the emulator to as near as you can to your 040 spec. Buy WHDload (there are loads of gamepacks already compiled).

Perhaps download a pre configured workbench (might as well, seeing as you don't like it)
such as these:

http://classicwb.abime.net/
http://amigasys.ultimateamiga.co.uk/

If you really enjoy using it under emulation, you can just transfer the CF adapter to the A1200.

[Iggy]

I quite like the bunny. It's a lot less creepy than the creepy "pee time", or whatever it was girl :-) (cant for the life of me remember who's avatar that was/is though).
In fact given time I might feel inspired to make myself an avatar later today. Im not a fan of the rendered avatar's doing the rounds on AO at the moment, but if I can make a creepy cute thing to compliment Franko's bunny then maybe together we can start a revolution!! (ok, I admit, I got a bit excitable there, but dagnamit, I wanna see more creepy cute things).

Oh yeah, I forgot that one. You are absolutely right! For all time creepiness the "pee pee time" avatar wins. I've got goose pimples right now just thinking about that one (let alone seeing it).