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Offline MotoTopic starter

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Help me build a A1200 system!
« on: September 26, 2009, 03:42:06 AM »
So first off, let me introduce myself.  I purchased my first Amiga system back in 1989.  It was an Amiga 500 with a 1084S from a reseller in Fort Lauderdale, FL.  I sort of dropped out of the amiga scene around 1994 but never got rid of my A500.  There's only two things I've kept from that era.  My A500 and my 87 Scirocco 16v.  Both are still in great working shape. :-)
I still have all my original software and 68k asm programs that I wrote in those days.  

So I would really like to build a new A1200 system from AmigaKit and I wanted to get your opinion on the options that are most useful.  I never got past v1.3 ROM in my 500 so I have no experience with using HDs on the Amiga or the newer OSes.  I would really like to be able to play my old Amiga games and demos in PAL mode which my 500 was never capable of.  I also see that there are ethernet options and USB ports available.

So please, help me build my dream amiga 1200 system.

Thanks in advance!

Daniel
500, 1200, 4000T
 

Offline AmigaNow

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Re: Help me build a A1200 system!
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2009, 04:29:12 AM »
Congratulations! I too had the bug to build an A1200 system. I am replacing the Ami that had been stolen so many years ago.  :(

I can easily recommend amigakit for the EZ-Z4 tower, vesalia.de for my Amiga1200 NTSC mobo, IDEtoCF adapter for my hard drive that I got on eBay, though I think I later found one on amigakit or vesalia. As for my floppy I found an adapter from Australia http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Sales/sales.html  that when combined with a PC floppy and Amiga floppy cable it actually works like a charm. Even clicks when no disk is inserted!  :) What memories...

A good way to get the OS is to get AmigaForever. That way you can replicate the Amiga OS3.1 install disks.

Also, there are 030 accelerators available which can spped things up. I currently have a ram expansion + FPU while I save up for a speedup card.

BTW, the same australian place I purchased the ATX to Amiga adapter that I use in my tower. If you connect the case power on lead you can turn everything on. Otherwise you would have to get an adapter cable with a loop and switch the main PS on/off in the back.

You mentioned getting your Ami on the NET. I think I read somewhere that if you were using a PCMCIA card that it conflicted with memory cards over 4MB? I have one but havent had time to check if this is true. You would need Miami or Genesis, one of which is available on Amiga OS3.9 CD.

Let me know if you have any questions as I might could help as I've been there...

AmigaNow
I\'m a moonchild. Are You? http://www.iamamoonchild.net

A500 [5MB, KS 3.1+1.3, CFIDE68k], A1000 [512k], A1200T 9Mb [in progress], A1200 4Mb
eMac 1.42Ghz [1Gb, 120Gb IDE, MorphOS]
 

Offline MotoTopic starter

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Re: Help me build a A1200 system!
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2009, 03:23:27 PM »
Thanks for your reply.  Looks like a serious project getting the 1200T up and running. Congrats on all the hard work!

So I think initially, I'd like to keep the 1200 unmolested as much as possible and leave it in the original case.  So far, the parts that I want to add:

* Indivision scan-doubler so I can hook it up to an LCD panel
* internal HD
* Ethernet PCMCIA card (mainly for transfering files to a PC for archival sake)

The part I am not sure about is whether or not I need an accelerator board right off the bat.  I know the 1200 comes with a 68020 but is this enough to run the newer OS?  I'm coming from an WB1.3 so I have absolutely no idea what the newer OS has to offer.   What is the difference between 3.1 and 3.9 ?  

So, next questions:

1) Do I need an accelerator board?  
2) What OS do I run?
3) Can I easily switch back to earlier ROMs such as 1.3 on the 1200?

Thanks again!

-daniel
500, 1200, 4000T
 

Offline motrucker

Re: Help me build a A1200 system!
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2009, 03:48:10 PM »
I would use an accelerator. Even an 030 will greatly improve performance! It also makes adding extra RAM easier. Bite the bullet!
3.9 is the newest/best choice. #.5 is OK, but 3.9 is much better
I never tried accessing earlier OS on my A1200, but there are option here too.
Good luck getting this system going.
A2000 GVP 40MHz \'030, 21Mb RAM SD/FF, 2 floppies, internal CD-ROM drive, micromys v3 w/laser mouse
A1000 Microbotics Starboard II w/2Mb 1080, & external floppy (AIRdrive)
C-128 w/1571, 1750, & Final Cartridge III+
 

Offline save2600

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Re: Help me build a A1200 system!
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2009, 05:49:21 PM »
I sold my last desktop A1200 a while ago and sort of miss it. But between all my Miggy systems (A500, A1000, A2500), I think I am going to go the CD32 route for AGA games and such. Anyway, if I was to build a 1200 system today, I would most definitely towerise it. Wouldn't make sense not to because as most of us know, once you get bitten by the Amiga upgrade bug(and you will), why not take it as far as possible? IMO, if you're going to want to do more than just game with a desktop system, you're going to  want to go with a tower. Easier and cheaper to upgrade in the long run. So, my dream A1200 system, if money and rationale were no object, I'd put something together like this:

PAL A1200 mainboard
Nice hefty power supply
Tower
PowerPC accelerator w/ 060 for backward compatibility
Mediator or whatever PCI type busboard expansion
PCI USB card
USB Ethernet
VooDoo 16mb video (or whatever makes sense to put in there)
Sound Blaster Live! sound card (or whatever, blah blah blah)
IDE-Fix board with CD-R/DVD-R & 8gb+ Hard Drive
2 high density floppies
keyboard and mouse of your choice
OS3.9 & OS4.0 Classic for the PPC side

...now rationale being no object... that's one truism here. If you want to just game on your A1200, get some fast ram for sure OR get an 030 w/ ram and do the WHDLoad thing. If after you realise you've spent $1.5k+ on the system I just proposed and scratch your head later thinking you were "gypped", might as well just build yourself a SAM system, which between a nearly stock A1200 and that, you're right up there in cost comparatively.

Oh and btw: OS3.9 was pretty to look at and do some very minor tasks on an 030 equipped A1200, but OS3.1 might be the way to go if you value snappiness, speed and such. With OS3.1, you can get many plug-ins and 3rd party programs to do pretty much all the things 3.9 can, including getting larger than 4GB hard drives to work.

Good luck and let us know what you decide! I just hope that, after you end up putting all sorts of time and money into your Amiga, that you actually get some use out of it  :-)  Many of us just end up tinkering, but never really enjoying much beyond that.
« Last Edit: September 27, 2009, 09:28:58 PM by save2600 »
 

Offline MotoTopic starter

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Re: Help me build a A1200 system!
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2009, 07:05:09 PM »
Thanks for the input guys!

I ended up placing an order for a new 1200 desktop system from AmigaKit.  I am starting out with a simple system and if I am so inspired I will later build up a tower system.  This is like a new computer system for me because I only have experience with the first generation of Amigas like the 500 and 2000.  I did a lot of asm programming to the hardware back in those days.  I still have my AmigaWorld magazines talking about the newer machines such as the 3000, 600 and 1200.  I pulled them out to catch up.  It was like reading about new technology all over again.

I am also getting the 030 accelerator with 32mb and a 4GB CF drive along with the scan doubler.   I will work with OS 3.1 and 3.9 and see what they have to offer.  I also will be playing a lot of games.  I grabbed one of the newer competition pro joysticks to replace my old blue and chrome one from the early 90s.  

I look forward to getting back into this amazing machine and also great Amiga community.

Thanks for all the good advice.

-daniel
500, 1200, 4000T
 

Offline Rebel-CD32

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Re: Help me build a A1200 system!
« Reply #6 on: September 28, 2009, 11:35:25 PM »
You've chosen a good combo for your re-entry into the Amiga way of life. I've been using an A1200 030 as my main computer since the mid nineties (before that it was my A500) and absolutely love it. It's amazing how much support there still is for these computers, mainly thanks to the operating system which was so far ahead of its time it's still usable today. Many modern applications are available and still being developed, and there will be some nice games coming out over the next year and beyond too.
Amiga user forever.
 

Offline NovaCoder

Re: Help me build a A1200 system!
« Reply #7 on: September 29, 2009, 12:58:10 AM »
Quote from: Moto;524005

So I would really like to build a new A1200 system from AmigaKit and I wanted to get your opinion on the options that are most useful.  I never got past v1.3 ROM in my 500 so I have no experience with using HDs on the Amiga or the newer OSes.  I would really like to be able to play my old Amiga games and demos in PAL mode which my 500 was never capable of.  I also see that there are ethernet options and USB ports available.


Daniel


Hiya,

Yep going for an AmigaKit 1200 is a good idea (much less hassle).

First off you need to look into WHDLOAD, this allows you to play old Amiga games/demos with a simple mouse click  (no more floppy discs!).  You can play all types of Amiga software this way (A500/A600/CD32/CDTV/A1200) without touching your 3.1 ROMS.

A minimum system would include:

OS 3.1 (with 3.1 ROMS)
4/8 mb expansion card
4GB compact flash card (used as a hard drive)

If you want to use a monitor rather than a tv (better picture) then you also want AmigaKit to install an IndivisionAGA (you'll need to find a monitor than can scan at 50hz if you want to see that silky smooth scrolling).

If you want to run the later AGA games/demos then you'll need an 030 card + 32MB RAM instead of the 8mb expansion card.

I've got this kind of setup (see my signature) and it all runs fine off the standard A1200 power supply.

If you want a more advanced OS then you can ditch 3.1 and go for 3.9 (if you also have the 030) but you don't need to do this for just games and demos.

I think USB is generally a waste of time on a desktop 1200.

You can also go for a wireless or ethernet card if you want to connect to your PC (handy for copying files over).

Have fun!
« Last Edit: September 29, 2009, 01:02:57 AM by NovaCoder »
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