What should I expect to pay?

[jasenr]

Hello all. I have been itching to get back into Amiga gaming. I have a pair of Amiga 500's. One is old and yellow, the other is decent looking. However, I really want one that has a detached keyboard. I had an Amiga 1000 back in my middle school and high school years when they were new! Ready for the sad story? I sold my Amiga 1000, tons of games and desk and controllers with all my original boxes for everything back in 1991 when I couldn't afford a 1 meg upgrade to play A-10. I got $1000. I bought a single speed CD drive for a 486 with the money! It took almost all of it. $1000 to play Seventh Guest! *sigh*

Anyway, what can I expect to pay to get a CLEAN A2000,2500 or 1000?

[Matt_H]

Welcome back

The A1000 tends to be rarer and more expensive. They're also pretty limited in terms of expandability.

So given your detached-keyboard requirement, I recommend a 2000 as a good way to get back into Amiga games. It'll run pretty much all of the classics, it's cheap, and it's expandable enough to grow with you as your needs change - such as adding a hard drive, accelerator and RAM, and using WHDLoad.

(WHDLoad is a fantastic support program that allows you to run many/most floppy-only games from your hard drive. It requires a little more horsepower than when playing direct from floppies.)

For a basic, unexpanded A2000, I'd pay no more than $100. With a SCSI card and hard drive, maybe $150. If there's an accelerator installed (most likely a 68030), you're probably looking at $250 or more.

Things to be aware of when purchasing: make sure the battery hasn't leaked, and make sure it has the Kickstart version you want. Version 1.3 will be best for playing from floppies, but you'll need 2.0 or higher for WHDLoad and most other non-gaming tasks.

[jasenr]

Yeah, I was afraid that the 1000 would be too much. I am thinking it probably makes more sense to get as recent a machine as possible that would run 1.3. That pretty much means a late model A2000 I'm guessing! Thanks for the response! I was getting ready to bid too much on an A2000 on eBay. Now to find one... I guess I'll post a WTB, thanks!

[runequester]

Another vote for a 2000, given your criteria.

Are you specifically looking for floppy disk gaming, or WHDload ?


If you are really patient, you might be able to get a 2000 for 50 bucks but closer to 100 is more likely. Shipping can be a lot of course, they're heavy beasts.

It's common to find them with various upgrades, which can save you grief long term. At the very least, finding one with a bit of extra RAM can be nice. Even for just floppy disk gaming, a decent share of games benefit from having 2 megs of RAM available.

[SACC-guy]

If you're anywhere around Sacramento,CA...
Come to Amiwest2012! The SACC group will have all the items you need at lower prices
Last year, one person got a 2000 in great shape for $20.

M

[jasenr]

Well, all the games I want to play were floppy disk games I played on my A1000. I figure a plain base A2000 would do. I would rather get a nice clean A2000 with no options rather than a dirty old A2000HD with options. I wouldn't turn away a nice clean A2000HD though!

[runequester]

Well, all the games I want to play were floppy disk games I played on my A1000. I figure a plain base A2000 would do. I would rather get a nice clean A2000 with no options rather than a dirty old A2000HD with options. I wouldn't turn away a nice clean A2000HD though!

The HD is worth considering, though with a 2000, you do need to get some sort of expansion with either IDE or SCSI to make that work. Otherwise, the "minimum" for floppy games is pretty much 1.3 kick, 1 meg RAM (2 preferred) and well..thats it

Where in the world are you? Most games are in PAL format, so that'll influence what you want to get.

[ElPolloDiabl]

You can get any version of kickstart.
All you need is Relokick 1.3 Install that on boot up via floppy. I could play all the incompatible games and still have all the functionality of OS3.1
I believe you can download it for free.

I'd only suggest you wait to get a good system at a good price. When there aren't many available the price will be quite high. When there are a number of systems being offered the price would be lower. It is aging hardware so read description well (if there are problems.)

Have you considered a Minimig or FPGA arcade? New hardware and you can put them in a mini itx case.