Are the classic Amiga Hardware and Dealers an 'Endangered Species'?

[TjLaZer]

@BoingBoss

All you are willing to trade for are very hard to find computers that are "mint in box".  You have to be realistic.  There arn't many boxed mint computers like the Amiga 3000T or Atari TT030 around, and they will not want to trade when they can eBay it for hundreds of dollars. LOL

I myself bought a very cheap Atari TT030 computer locally.  It works perfectly, but was in bad shape, dirty, yellowed and broken cosmetically.  I decided to "restore" this classic.  I then bought a NEW case and keyboard from a Atari dealer and now I have a nice MINT Atari TT030 computer, along with the rare PCM1 mouse! (ST mouse that matches the TT color) And I would not trade this for anything.  Maybe you should do the same thing.  Oh also, the Atari dealers seem to have nice boxes for Ataris too, so I might buy a TT030 and Falcon030 box, so I have a complete set for collecting.

I am willing to trade you a mint Atari Mega4 computer for your mint Amiga 1200 but you never replied to my pmails.

[Wibbly]

@FastRob

It's a good point, but the GTO of '64 had almost as much horsepower as the 2005 GTO. Not to mention that it shared a huge number of parts with a large number of other GM manufactured cars, for which parts are still readily available today.

The classic Amiga's custom chips were unique to the Amiga. They are no longer (as far as I am aware) manufactured. If the GTO needed new carburettors, you wouldn't even have to use GM manufactured carbs to get it going again.

Besides, I prefer the '65 model, although of all the GTO's the '69 I think is my favourite. 370hp as well. It's not like a 20 yr computer can outpace ANYTHING that is made today. A 35 yr old car can still poop over many of todays models.

That's not to say however, that there is no value in collecting classic Amiga hardware, but I really don't see classic Amiga's getting the same sort of treatment as old Muscle cars. But... stranger things have happened I guess. You certainly couldn't get an old classic Amiga, and throw out your modern hardware and have it do everything the modern stuff did. An old '64 GTO however, could replace your modern car, and exactly the same things your modern one did.

[Wibbly]

Oops double post, sorry. Stupid WindowsXP PRO :pissed:

[TjLaZer]

@Wibbly

The point that FastRobPlus was making is that collecting Amigas is like collecting anything else.  You can still enjoy using a 7.14MHz computer to do computing tasks like Word Proccessing, play games, etc as you can with a 3.06GHz modern PC.  The point is using the collectable as it was when it was released and enjoying it.  

It's one thing to collect a Amiga 500, and use a modern PC, and yet another thing to ONLY own a Amiga 500 and upgrade the crap out of it to be able to use it as your main PC! lol

[Holley]

Pontiacs suck anyway :-D

My place

For a car analogy my wife's Dodge-Shelby Charger is much more like an Amiga - no replacement metalwork available!  I've still tuned the hell outta it, and it's fun to ride in :-D

[Lemonty]

That's a mean looking Charger your wife has there!
Excellent.

[FastRobPlus]

>>Dodge-Shelby Charger is much more like an Amiga

Because Dodge breaks a lot so they went to Germany for engineering and quality control but they still break a lot?

I guess that's kinda similar.

I think the Dodge Polara is like an Amiga 2000.  Both are made out of more steel than is necessary, and when they crash, the whatever's inside is lost, but the hardware is unharmed.

[FastRobPlus]

Back on topic...

I think my wife wishes I was a classic Amiga hardware dealer.  I just took over her sewing table with 5 boxes of A2000 junk I found locally...

She says it's time to "purge"

[amigau]

My problem with the classic amigas is that you too often run into really weird problems that are probably the result of ancient hardware - it's true the things were built to last (especially compared to the crap put into conventional PCs of the time and even now) but even so, many are almost 15 years old or more, a LONG time for that stuff to last, to be sure.....

In my case, I spent a year futzing around with an A3000D that had a cyberstorm MKIII and cybervisionPPC card in it, that would work great for a while and then all of a sudden start to get weird checksum errors on the drive, etc. - and I wasn't even using the computer for much beyond typical internet, email and a bit of C4D... So I gave up, sold that one and moved to an A2000 060/50 with a C64/3D card, that worked great for a while, then similar problems started to show up.  So I then sold that one and moved to Amithlon, which has yet to have a problem but can't use many of the old programs because no real sound output (thus no OctaMED, one of my fave all time amiga progs) and/or other challenges I won't bore you with.....

I'm looking forward to an AmigaONE but not optimistic there will be many if any killer apps for it by the time it really ships with a 'final' OS, since it's been so long....

What I miss the most is having a truly FUN computer to use. PC's are NOT FUN - they are about as much fun as using a hair dryer or belt sander - they can usually get the job done but Gates & Co. have taken all the fun out of it by the time you get done (or even start).  That's the truly sad legacy of WinBlows, I think - removing the fun from software and computing.....

kevin orme
amiga university
www.amigau.com

[Holley]

That's a mean looking Charger your wife has there!

It's a great little car, kinda pales when I fire up the big block beastie in the background though :-D

And as for Dodges breaking, I've had a couple that racked up over 1/4 million miles without a rebuild (though they weren't sporty models).  So maybe they're even more like Amigas - seems like some of 'em just can't be killed!

I was going to say something on topic, but I can't remember what it was now ... :-?

[TheMagicM]

Holley: depends on your definition of 'big block beastie'.  

http://www.bartonekdragracing.com/webfilez/85camaro_new/launching.jpg

http://www.bartonekdragracing.com/webfilez/85camaro_new/bscap005.jpg

http://www.bartonekdragracing.com/webfilez/85camaro_new/race3f.jpg

yes..I beat both bikes...but those were the slow passes of the day

[Yogi27]

Hi Everyone!

    I love the old Amigas.  I have learned so much, just being an Amiga User all these years.  I can sit down in front of another operating system, and within a matter of a couple hours, I got it.  Nothing scares me, shell, GUI, anything.  You sit a "Windows tech" in front of another operating system, he screams, where is the wizard?

    I will never get rid of my classic machines.  As I replace them with AmigaOnes, I carefully wrapped them up (remove the battery), and put them away.  I owe them for a lot.  I am actually very fortunate to be an Amiga User, since I have gained so much, as opposed to being brought up on windows.  It's funny, I actually get impatient with other operating systems.  They are not responsive enough for me!  I find myself screaming, where is my A4000 or A1200 this XP thing is taking forever and it keeps popping up these messages (Would you like to update this now?).

    I have a point, oh yes, it is time to move on.  Amiga OS on faster hardware with more memory!  I am actually very impressed with OS 4.0 and it is running half in emulation.  MorphOS is just as responsive as well.  I am actually really excited about the finished OS 4.0.  So, time to put away the old classics and move to the new machines.


    Yogi27

[Holley]

Magic - My old Charger is definately a street only car, it only pulls high 14s on slicks (on street tyres the Wife's little one pulls mid 14s in her hands, I've never got it to go that fast :-D).  That said it's a wee bit heavier than a Camaro - the previous owner hit a VW Camper in it, destroyed the camper but the front bumper got knocked out of alignment by 1/8" (which I still havn't fixed).

Responsiveness is one thing Amiga beats most everything else at, it's certainly the single biggest advantage A1/Peg has over other new platforms!

[Wibbly]

@TjLazer

Indeed, and I get the point of collecting. But he does mention "for everyday use". Does anyone REALLY enjoy word processing on a classic Amiga? (I'm talking unexpanded with PPC and RTG cards)

I remember word processing on my Amiga. It's the last thing I'd use it for now. A few games for nostalgia purposes yes. WORD PROCESSING? Perhaps that was just a bad example you picked.

It's one thing to collect a Amiga 500, and use a modern PC, and yet another thing to ONLY own a Amiga 500 and upgrade the crap out of it to be able to use it as your main PC! lol

Yeah, again I agree, but if someone has expanded an A500 enough to use it as their main PC... I wanna see it  :-D

[TjLaZer]

Well everyday use a A500 with WB1.3 would be a little behind the times, BUT it still is pretty doeable!  A word processor like Excellence! or Final Writer is still pretty nice, even for today. (Compared to say a Atari ST or Apple II), but yes I agree, even I, the Vintage Computer Geek would not use a unexpanded Amiga for everyday use!  I personally use both a Win XP PC and a Amiga 4000 (060/66MHz, CV64/3D, 272MB Fast RAM, 20GB HD, Sony CDRW, Ethernet, 19" Gateway Monitor!)

[Holley]

There's plenty of daily useable programs, but you do need a harddisk, some memory, a graphics card, and some WB updates to make life easier.

For what I do (Amiga to comparative Windows Program):

FinalWriter = Word 97
ArtEffect 4 = Paintshop Pro 7
StarAmPlan = Excel 97
Pagestream 4 = Pagestream 4 (!)
Ibrowse = Most of IE 5

This is like having an old musclecar with the updates needed for modern daily driving (radial tyres, front sway bar, more up to date carb & intake etc).

Both an Amiga and a classic car take much more time & effort to use daily than cheaper, newer, solutions.  The A1 is kinda like a new GTO though - a bit overpriced but it works :-D