Mediator rev.1.0, any problem with that ???

[Effy]

I am interested in buying a 2nd hand Mediator. It is a rev.1.0 board. Anything wrong with that or should I go for it

[Effy]

Hope nobody will give me any bad comments, but I just bought on Ebay a Mediator 1200 with 4 pci slots + 4 pci cards for 150 euro, shipping not yet included but this will be minimum 16,50 euro if it´s lighter than 5 kg and 20,50 euro if it´s between 5 and 10 kg ... good deal or not Any comments are welcome because this is absolutely new to me ...

[Brian]

150Euro for a second hand Mediator card is a bit steep if you ask me, though I'm sure you'll be happy with what it can do for you if it's in working condition and you got the MMCD with it.

[Brian]

I need to learn to click on the link before answerring.. with MMCD, V3000, SB128 and TV card included it's a good deal it it's what you want.

[doctorq]

I have a Mediator PCI 1200 rev 1.0 myself, and I must say it's a good solution for getting GFX, ethernet, etc in an A1200.

If you check www.shop.elbox.com and find the Mediator PCI LT4 which looks just like the one you have bought, then you might get a feeling if it's a good deal or not. I think the price is reasonable considering that you get all the needed cards with it.

If I were you I would look forward to getting the stuff home

[Effy]

The slots all are filled, but can I for example remove the network card (still have got a spare pcmcia from a laptop) and insert a brandnew still in the box Voodoo5 5500 Can I use two gfx cards at the same time with the Mediator The tower that is gonna get the busboard already has got an internal scandoubler, so that would mean three pc screens ?! Can this be done or is AGA+one gfx card the maximum

[doctorq]

Yes, you can remove the network card, but why go 10 MBit when you can go 100 MBit? I have experienced that some PCMCIA ethernet cards slows down my machine.

You might be lucky to get the Voodoo5 working, but on my system I can't use my (also brandnew out of the box) Voodoo4 4500, but I can in my Mediator for my A4k.

I don't know for sure if there is anything speaking against using 2 gfx cards in Mediator, but some ENV settings are set to config memsize of the GFX card and type of Voodoo card used. Try it out with 2 GFX boards when you get it, but don't get your hopes up. Get a switch for the computer and you only need one monitor

[Effy]

The idea of removing the pci network card is only of getting one pci slot free since there are only 4 slots.
The idea of using more than one gfx card is in fact to use more than one (or more than two) monitors, and not a switchbox to use only one. I have used such a box for a long time when I had AGA+CV64/3D on my 1230 ... now I have got a little bit faster PPC card ... not top of the line but still faster than 68030  :-)

[Effy]

I remember that inserting two PCI gfx cards in a pc makes it refuse to boot. An AGP+PCI will work but not two PCI´s ... but that is PC  :lol:

[mboehmer_e3b]

Anything wrong with that or should I go for it

I'd suggest that you inform yourself about the update support given by the producer of the busboard.
As second hand user you may get support/updates or not, depending on the producer's will and choice (which may be reasonable or not). You will run into this situation even if you are still in the legal warranty period of the board, and even if you have the original invoice from the dealer selling the board to your first owner.

I just want to remark this as I did the same as you, and learned a lot from this issue.

Michael

[Effy]

Michael : did you also ´find´ a Mediator on Ebay

Most of the stuff I have comes from Ebay. Most of that stuff actually works. A very small percentage didn´t or did not completely, but that is a calculated risc that I take ...

And even if I can not get support from Elbox, there is always a superb intellectual website called Amiga.Org , not

[rayt]

@effy

I am interested in buying a 2nd hand Mediator. It is a rev.1.0 board. Anything wrong with that or should I go for it

If its one of the first boards (look at the serial number) you may have to set the memory window to 4MB to make it work correctly. Unfortunately I dont know anymore which serial numbers these early boards have (I think its also written in some readme file).
In regards of support, as this is your 2nd mediator board you are most likely already a registered mediator user so there wont be any problems with drivers ect.. at least this is what i have heard from the guy who once bought my mediator1200 at ebay..

[Effy]

Rayt : thanks dude. I do already have got a Mediator4000 D but it is still brandnew packed in the Elbox box  :-)

[Brian]

The Voodoo3 3000 is the best gfx card for the Mediator due to 1. Voodoo4/5 ain't fully supported by the drivers so you don't get all the screenmodes and 2. the bottleneck in the system prevent you from gaining the extra speed available in the "bigger cards" anyway.

I don't think it'll work with 2 gfx cards but you're welcome to try.

Also with a TVCard you should be able to reroulte Amiga gfx trough it (somehow, I don't know).

Last... 100Mbit Amiga Ethernet roxxorz. 8-)

[Effy]

Brian : "100Mbit Amiga Ethernet roxxorz." ... does that mean that I better remove the pci soundcard and use Paula instead and keep the pci networkcard