Amiga 4000 on its way!! Now what?

[Brian]

A RFmodulator for an A500 would surtantly work on any Amiga RGB port also the A4000 one.

I didn't have enough $ for a mediator solution to my A4000 tower project but I got hold of an prometheus PCI solution for under 35$ and it should support Linux also (at least I hope so, will see when my project is done).

[Lando]

Where did you get a prometheus for $35? Do they have any left?

[iamaboringperson]

Doood!!! Get a professional A2000HD!! It's the flagship Commodore Amiga model, the A4000 is JUNK!!! It's just a TOY!!! You should also get a .... (ahh forget it) :-D

[Karlos]

Hey, leave Doomy alone! That guy cheers me up :-)

[Brian]

It was through a friend and no he don't have any more cause then I would get that one too I think just for the bragging rights of having 5 Zorro and 8 PCI slots in one machine. :-D

[Dr_Righteous]

@dandelion

As an A4000D owner here are my tips for what to do next:

1. Remove that battery NOW! Do not wait for signs of trouble, as the first sign may be the last. Find a suitable NiMH replacement. This will require solder work.

2. I'm hoping you have a monitor to go with this machine... Otherwise you won't be able to use any of the native screen resolutions without the aid of a scan/sync doubler. Unlike the A1200, the A4000 does not have composite output!

3. Take a fine brush and a can of air to all the  boards and components... Chances are you'll have a buttload of dust inside the machine.

4. Kickstart 3.1 ROMs, if they're not already installed, will likely be needed... Workbench 3.1 or 3.9 as well. Anything less is just uncivilized!  :-D

5. Be very cautious about the SIMM sockets. Check for cracks and other signs of aging. The plastic used for the sockets may break off very easilly, causing contact problems. If they do break, a little super glue on the outer edges will hold them in place. Of course you'll want to make sure you have the full 16M of RAM in place before gluing them in permanently.

6. A low-profile fan on the CPU will keep it cool in that cramped slimline case. Mine is glued on with thermal tape, but I believe (correct me if I'm wrong guys) a 486 fan fits the 68040.

7. If no other joystick is available, a Sega Genesis gamepad works without any sort of modification... Tho only the B button is available.

8. Remove the expansion slot covers for extra ventilation.

Don't worry too much about Buster, unless you intend to expand this system... And even then, only if you experience problems. I have a v9 Buster, and have yet to have any problems with it (tho the only expansion card I have is the GVP HC+8 SCSI board).

Hope this helps!

[Brian]

About the SEGA genesis pad I have one of those aswell and I'm pritty sure 2 buttons worked before I modded it. It have all the p lines in the cable so it was like christmas day for me when I opened it... now I have all 3 buttons working and startbutton modded to work as autofire. :-D

Also a SEGA mastersystem pad is stright forward and works as a 2 button Amiga pad. :-)

[PPC]

Hi there, congrats on having an A4000!

First thing i would upgrade would be your processorcard, get rid of
the 040 and get a 060 (it's soooooo much faster) and if you are lucky
enough (or just rich) get a PPC card like i did, the Cyberstorm PPC
card makes your Amiga a lot more fun and modern, second get a gfx
card, once you have one you never want to do without it, get a
cybervision ppc or a mediator+voodoo 3/4/5 (shogo really runs nice on
my voodoo 3 3000@1024*768*16 :-D )
Don't go for a cybervision 64 or CV643D, there slow and you will
create a bottleneck in your system.
Also do not forget memory, get 128
MB it will be more then enough, and let's not forget get a SCSI HD (i
bought my seagate 18 GB UW3 for 50 euro's second hand :-D ) get
yourself a networking card (ardiadne,x-surf or a cheapo PCI one if you
have mediator)  Well, you have a killer setup now and enjoy it, pc
friends still look envy at my system coz it still outpreforms there pc
on a lot of points hehehe.
and let's no forget check your buster
revision if it says rev 11 your all set!

Grz,

[tintin]

Someone said Ariadne ?
ariadne + AmiTCP/IP:-)

I'm actually selling a cybervision64 too although I would agree it's not the best solution nowadays

[Crumb]

imho using an amiga4000 as a bsd/linux box is a waste...any 486 will do that job better... and much cheaper!

I can't understand it...

[dandelion]

I know the machine will be arriving with 3.0 roms. Can I pull the 3.1 roms out of my CD32 and use those instead?

I think I shall just snip the battery out and investigate the Nicad option as you suggested. Better be safe than sorry and the clock isn't too much of an issue in the short term.

So, it should be arriving tomorrow!

Can you believe, i've never even SEEN a big box Amiga! I've never even used an Amiga or seen an Amiga with a processor speed greater than an 020! This is going to be a truly memorable day!

[Cyberus]

I share the exact same sentiments...I always dreamed of having an A4000 and I am also finally getting one.

P.S. A4000 3.1 Roms available from 'Amigetta' on ebay. Or just search for A4000 on ebay....about thirty quid

[Brian]

I know the feeling... My stepp into the Amiga world was with a new A600HD, after uppgrading with memory and external diskdrive I found the 40MB HD too small and while searching for something to help me in that department I fell over an incredible offer for an A1200 with 170MB HD, sure that would be the end of my spaceproblems I thought and I went for it! Sold my A600 and bought an external CD for it also but soon found out that 170Mb was not going to do it so saved every little penny I had for months and finaly I could afford the big step I was about to make... that day I bought a fat Amiga 200W PSU, a used Blizzard 1230 Rev3, a 2.5"->2.5"&3.5" cable and a 3.2Gb HD drive, the biggest they had and was in over 350$ but I had to have it! That was a fat jump and I lived happily with that system for a few years then I fell on good times and managed to save some money and though I better check out the bigbox Amigas and so I did and found a great deal in the paper but didn't know it at the time cause it just said "an old A4000 used in a commersial studie". Not knowing what was in store for me I thought 1100$ was a bit steep but I had the money and I was determined to at least look at a bigbox Amiga for the first time. It didn't take me long to get out the fat wallet and pay the dude the money and home I went with a A4000T, CS060 rev1, CS-SCSI, VLab Motion, CV64, 80Mb Ram, 4.2GB SCSI + 1.2GB IDE, SCSI CD and a Multisync monitor to go with the system. That was truly a sweet week, missed alot of school due to a cold *cough*cough*.

[Dr_Righteous]

@dandelion

No, the CD32 ROMs will not work. KS ROMs are chipset dependant. The A4000 requires ROMs for A4000s. There are a few machines that can share, but unfortunately the A4000 isn't one of em.

As suggested, you might find ROMs on Ebay, or failing that, many Amiga hardware resellers carry them.

[csirac_]

Yep, the A1200 ROMs will get you as far as the ESC screen and thats about it ;-)

Been there, done that. Couldn't get my A4k to boot off a HD and the expansion boards were not listed (CV64/3D, multiface III). Bugger.

- Paul

[keltic]

Crumb wrote:
imho using an amiga4000 as a bsd/linux box is a waste...any 486 will do that job better... and much cheaper!

I can't understand it...

You can't understand it?
You are using an Amiga in 2003, surely that's something most people would (not) understand  ;-)