MontrealCL wrote:
After 2 1/2 hours of desoldering (it was the first time I ever did such a job!) I am proud to say that I have resurrected an Amiga 2000 from the dead...
Now that it's done, a newbie question. What are my upgrade paths for such a machine?
On the front cover it says "Hard Drive", but alas, there is no hard drive in the machine, how do I go about plugging in one?
Thanks,
MontrealCL
Well done.
As far as the hard drive goes, the system you've got had or may still have a C= SCSI controller. If it does, track down an older SCSI-II drive and go to town.
If it doesn't, I'd grab a Zorro-II IDE controller and just use an inexpensive IDE HD. This will also open up the option of adding an inexpensive CD-ROM (or RW, or combo DVD drive).
Next, get the 3.1 ROMs, and follow the upgrade path to 3.9 (3.5 and 3.9 were "software" upgrades only; no new ROM chips were created).
A MUST (in my opinion) is a USB card. There is SOOOOOOOO much you can add via USB (and in a pinch you can use it as a network connection) including but not limited to external hard drives, scanners, printers, mice, keyboards and on and on. The E3B Algor or Highway cards are your best bet.
Another MUST is a processor upgrade. Unfortunately, you're going to top out with a 60-80mhz 060 (and that much muscle is going to cost beaucoup $$$). Most USB solutions will require an 030/28 or better, so if you're going to go the USB route be prepared to upgrade both OS
and CPU.
Without a doubt, a graphics card is another "must have". If you can get your hands on one, the Picasso IV is supposed to be a great card - and it "auto senses" what type of Zorro slot it's in, so you're good to go with a ZII or ZIII slot.
