Amiga Forever, A1200 or A4000 or A1?

[neofree]

I'm thinking about getting into Amiga again...

I think I can raise $200-$600 depending on what items I sell on eBay...

I want to mainly play classic games and browse the web and use IRC, as well as run a telnetable BBS.

Should I get a real classic Amiga?  Such as A1200 or A4000, if so, which one?

Should I get an A1 motherboard?  I can probably scrape together most of the other parts.  But will I be able to play most A500 games with OS4?

Or should I just go cheap and stick with Amiga Forever but get a little better PC for it?

Thanks,

Neofree

[Gopal]

If playing classic games is what you're after,
I'd go for A1200(US) or A4000(Europa) based soly on price/compatibility.
A1 with UAE is my choice. But I'm a fanatic. And I'm too curious about the future.
A4000 served me well, but it's a gamble because of age.
A lot of stuff ends with OS3.9. But I believe more starts with OS4.
If you understand what I mean.

[Lando]

neofree wrote:
I'm thinking about getting into Amiga again...

I think I can raise $200-$600 depending on what items I sell on eBay...

I want to mainly play classic games and browse the web and use IRC, as well as run a telnetable BBS.

Should I get a real classic Amiga?  Such as A1200 or A4000, if so, which one?

Should I get an A1 motherboard?  I can probably scrape together most of the other parts.  But will I be able to play most A500 games with OS4?

Or should I just go cheap and stick with Amiga Forever but get a little better PC for it?

Thanks,

Neofree

I'd stick with UAE.

A classic Amiga isn't much good for browsing the web unless you upgrade it completely, with an accelerator and a graphics card, which in the case of an A1200 means having to buy a PPC card + BVision or a Mediator and a tower case, which all adds up to a lot of money.

$600 won't get you an A1 board (current price from software hut is $975 USD), and you can't play old games on it (except through UAE, which runs better on the PC anyway).

I would have recommended a Pegasos, but given the current state of affairs I don't think buying one would be wise.

Get a 2Ghz PC and run UAE - it's very mature now and will allow you to browse the web, irc and play your old games, and it's faster and cheaper than any of the other options.

[neofree]

Hmm.. Was thinking of getting an Amiga 4000/040 with 16-32MB RAM and a Picasso compatible display.  Wouldn't that be the equivilant of what UAE can do anyway?  Couldn't I get that for $250 or so?

Thanks,

Neofree

[neofree]

This is what I'm talking about:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4598&item=5143440662&rd=1

And man do I wish I could get this one now!  Looks pretty complete.  But gotta sell stuff first.  

[Effy]

Not bad, but better get a naked A4000/040 and pump a Prometheus pci busboard in it, one like THESE and get yourself a flashing Voodoo3 or 4 or even 5 pci card, a pci soundcard and networkcard that is supported and you will certainly be much faster than another A4000 with Picasso IV. I don´t have any pci busboard yet but from what I read it really is much faster and gives your Amiga a more professional appearance towards (...) pc users  :-)

And even if you get an A4000 with only a 3640 at 25 Mhz instead of 40 Mhz, you can have it tuned up to 30 Mhz with only changing the clock-thing and maybe add a good working fan  :-)

[adolescent]

Lando wrote:

Get a 2Ghz PC and run UAE - it's very mature now and will allow you to browse the web, irc and play your old games, and it's faster and cheaper than any of the other options.

I agree, unless you want to buy one of my systems.  Nothing beats the real thing you know.  But, it's important to specify WinUAE on the PC.  Straight UAE isn't as advanced.

[neofree]

What systems do you have for sale?  PM me