Hello everyone. Plus my A2000 resurrection

[sparkeyjames]

This really is a nice forum. Been on quite a bit since I found the place and signed up last night. I got into computers in 1981 with a vic 20 then a C64 a C128 (sold it) then my A1000 with an 020 Ronin internal accelerator and the Dave Haynie memory mod (still have it plus a parts A1000) and my A2000 B rev 6.2. Why yes I do still  have my C64 and disk drives as well.

So I finally decided to get my old Amiga 2000 running again. It's been sitting collecting dust since late 1993 when the 1080 monitor blew up (and I still have it). The flyback transformer started making zaping noises and the picture would be in and out. The local dealers at that time wanted an out of this world price for a new Amiga monitor (almost $300) so I just tossed in the towel. This happened right around the time that C= was looking shaky and I thought I was going to be stuck with a couple of orphans (sadly yes). so I pretty much just gave up computers for 5 years or so because neither the PC  or Mac computers were up to Amiga standards at that time.

  I didn't pick up the computer habit again until I built a PC clone in 1998. Since then I must have built at least 10 or so PC systems. Been a Linux fanatic since I installed that after a bad experience with Windows 98 and too many viruses. I am however an ardent gamer. So I do keep Windows XP around for now to play games on. Can't wait for Portal 2 next week, I pre ordered it as soon as they would let me . I'm really only getting my A2000 going so I can play all my old games .  Will love playing Fairytale adventure and Dungeon Master/Chaos Strikes Back again after all these years. I will probably sell off my plethora of Amiga books (way to many to count) and programming software (lots of stuff there to).

  Anyway back to the resurrection. System has one good floppy drive and 1 dead one. 1GB Quantum fireball HD in an external enclosure hooked up to an A2091 with 2meg installed on it. A Supra ram board with 2meg installed. Amiga OS 2.04 switchable with 1.3. First thing I did was power it up with no HD connected and after 17 years collecting dust it powered right up and asked for the workbench disk in both 2.04 and 1.3. I was amazed. Most of my old floppy disks seem to be OK. Right now I have it torturing the hard drive by formatting 2 partitions at once the slow way. I always did dislike the way the 2091 disk utility for 2.04 worked. After it's done formatting I'll get to see if all my old backups to floppy are still good.

  So um what about that monitor problem well I still have that problem. I'm running the composite line into a TV card on my main PC system. Once I get the video set to the correct mode I'll at least be able to plug it into an older 19" CRT that can sync down to 30kHz. I won't be able to run any games but at least I'll have a desktop to mess with. First I have to retool an older adapter with a 15 pin vga female D-sub. I made it for using the monitor port and a 9 pin vga female D-sub for an older monitor/tv that is long gone. Money is in short supply here right now or I'd have bought an Indivision ECS to solve my monitor problem.

After I get the 2000 running right I'll probably take a stab at my highly modified A1000 020. I really hacked that poor little devil up. You don't see too many A1000's with the hand wired Dave Haynie memory mod and an internal Ronin 020 board. I did 5 of those memory mods for my friends and still have the logic chips and memory chips for one more.

That's it for now.

Jim

[runequester]

Welcome aboard!

Good to see an amiga fanatic AND a linux guy

[MaximvsPayne]

welcome back, a lot has happened since you were gone. there are even more amiga-flavours around today. maybe you want to take a closer look at amigaos4, morphos and aros (which is, by the way, open source and x86 native like linux)

enjoy the community, welcome back!

[Damiga]

Welcome home!
 
Pictures please!!! :laughing:

[wizard66]

Welcom back in AmigaLand again sparkeyjames ;-)

[4pLaY]

The first thing id do were i you would be to crank open that case, blow away the dust and check the state of the battery.

[sparkeyjames]

The first thing id do were i you would be to crank open that case, blow away the dust and check the state of the battery.

First thing I did. Come on I'm an old computer guy. Me and dust go way back.

[gertsy]

The battery...?  Removed..?
It's worse than that, it's dead Jim.!
Welcome back to the classic Amiga.  Enjoy the memories as much as the experience.

PS: My C64 works fine too.  But how slow is that 1541....

[JimS]

Welcome back Jim, from another Jim ;-)

On the monitor--- that sounds like a common failure mode of those 1080s.. They'd get bad solder joints on the flyback transformer which would crack. They'd then arc over and burn. If you feel comfortable around dangerous voltages, you can try resoldering those joints.... or hire a tv shop to do it.... might be worth a gamble. - Jim

[JC]

Always great to see an Amigan return!
Welcome back.

[sparkeyjames]

Oh and the battery is good!! Tada after 17 years it still works. Amazing.

[blanghorst]

Oh and the battery is good!! Tada after 17 years it still works. Amazing.

I'd still remove it if I were you.  Like you, I just resurrected my Amiga 2000 that had been powered on maybe once since 94 or so.  The battery had leaked and caused corrosion on the CPU socket, so I got a new board off of eBay (yes, I will repair the old one too at some point), removed its battery, and soldered on wires with a connector so I could use a standard cordless phone battery taped to the outer cage.  Works great!
 
I added a 68030 accelerator and a flickerfixer from eBay and I have it on my desk along with my C128 and some of my PC gear.   It has been great fun and now I need to decide what I am going to do next (if anything).