Wow! It's been a while .. Help!

[hektic]

Hello everyone!

I had an amiga 500 back in the 90's and to this day it remains my favourite machine of all time!

I'm a "PC" man these days but this is what I'd like to do:

Purchase an Amiga 1200 with HD ( non tower basic machine )
Connect it to my broadband for internet access & play some classic games.

1) Can I configure the Amiga 1200 for Internet access?
If so how easy is it and what do I need?

2) I'd like to be able to write Amiga floppies from my PC. I've heard of a Catweasel PCI card but can't seem to find one in the UK, any ideas on where I might get one? Or can I connect the amiga to a PC and transfer the ADF's onto the Amiga HD and extract / write to floppy?

Thanks for any help!

[Tahoe]

Welcome back!!!

First get yourself a nice 1200 desktop and fit it with Kickstart 3.1 (if it doesn't already have it). Big plus is some kind of accelerator, a 030 50Mhz is nice with some fastram (16MB or so).
Then get yourself a PCMCIA networkcard which is compatible with the Amiga, install OS3.9 and you're there.
Don't expect to much from Internet on the Miggy though, you can't quite compare it to IE.

Catweasel? go have a look at www.amigakit.com, UK based and they sell them (and much more nice miggy stuff!)

[hektic]

Thanks for your advice

I'm gonna have a good look on ebay!

[doctorq]

@Tahoe

Why Kickstart 3.1 and OS3.9? Miami32b runs perfectly with OS3.1 and OS3.9 doesn't give any advantages for AGA screenmodes.

@hektic

An Amiga 1200 with internal hdd and a Blizzard 1230 will suit you just nicely. The Blizzard is needed for gaining some speed and adding fast ram; you wouldn't want to transfer ADFs from PC to Amiga using a PCMCIA card without.
No need for buying a Catweasel if you are planning to get the A1200 setup mentioned and add a PCMCIA ethernet card to the setup.

[Tahoe]

doctorq wrote:
@Tahoe

Why Kickstart 3.1 and OS3.9? Miami32b runs perfectly with OS3.1 and OS3.9 doesn't give any advantages for AGA screenmodes.

@hektic

Mainly because OS3.9 has everything in it in one go (Genesis/Aweb/Mail thingy).
If you want you could also use 3.0/3.1 with miami and aweb ofcourse

[coldfish]

I did this myself a few years back.  The A1200 was a good bit of fun for a while, but as far as using it as a games machine goes, I was a bit disappointed by a couple of things:

1. The A1200 has less compatability with classic Amiga software than a modern PC running WinUAE.  You ususally have to run one of a variety of degrader boot disks first to get some games to play.  And then some still dont work right.
You can install them on the 1200's HD with WHDload but you need original disks (no cracked versions) so many d/led ADFs wont work.

2. Expanding the A1200 is a waste of time and money, if all you want to do is play games.  Most games s/ware is A500 level, so the more you upgrade your A1200 the further you shift away from the compatability sweet spot and actually reduce your options.

I upgraded to an 030/40Mhz with 68882FPU and only noticed a small increase in performance when it came to running higher spec stuff.  There are very few games that require an upgraded Amiga and those that do need something more like an 060 or better.  So youre left with limited options if you want to see what your machine can do.  Demos and a few older games that take advantage of more power.  Dont bother with a FPU either, there are very few apps that will use it.

3. Many AGA-only games aren't all that better than A500 stuff, I'd place the majority somewhere around SuperNES quality or lower.

4. Tech' has moved on, what was once an awesome and unbeleivable display of the Amiga's power, is now just kinda cool, even a bit quaint.  There's fewer genuinely impressive moments if you come from using present day tech and go back to using the Amiga.  Games wize, Id place the A1200 experience at about the level of late 16 bit tech, say something like the SNES but not as good as the Neo-Geo.

---

The A1200 -is- good for a taste of better-than-A500 Amiga use.  Once you've used an Amiga with a HD you'll never look at a vanila A500 the same way again.  Its a bit like once you get an A500 you never look back at the C64 the same way, though much less of a dramatic jump.

The trouble with the A1200 is, if your -not- going to use it for games (lets face it, has always been the Amiga's main function) then it's just like using an old 1990's computer with a limited software library.

Which, oddly enough, it is!

[hektic]

Thanks for info & advice...

I've bought an A500 & an A1200! (not received yet)

I'm not expecting "todays" performance but I'd like to get to know AMIGA once more. It really does bring back some good memories!

Can't wait!

[amigakit]

@Hektic

We can custom build your A1200 for you to your specification with upgrades such as harddrives, accelerators, and ensure it is broadband ready to go.  We supply broadband routers and internet modems too.

Just get in contact with us if you are interested.

[leirbag28]

@hectic

Actually an AGA machine is the best machine to get for games.........more games work on it that an A500. Because there are lots of good AGA games (Slam Tilt, OnEscapee, T-Zer0, Super StarDust, Bubble and Squeek, Genetic Species, DOOM, Capital Punishment and many many more)

Get SlamTilt !  thats #1 priority game....this is an Awesome pinball game.

the answer is JST and WHDload.......they are beautiful pieces of software and can be fine tuned if need be in the Tooltypes.

As far as having to find original ADF's thats not a problem...........go to Back2TheRoots.org and the games there are Free and Legal!   get the WHDload HD versions, which are ready for use.........there are floppy versions, but then you will have to put them on Floppies and load that way (Yuk)  I am super happy with my CD32/SX32 (an AGA machine)  loaded with WHDload games........so far not many problems running old games.......and trust me...I have lots.

Get WHDLoad registered and more games will function.

also, an A1200 is NOT obsolete...........I am doing Visuals tommorrow for a Rock band using my CD32 !!!! and later I am using it for a fashion show designer to model her clothes with models...........using a plain AGA Amiga with no Gfx card!

Consider the A1200 (non upgraded)Amiga as a High end Gifanim creator/ Flash Anim creator...just in a different but similar format.

if flash and gif anims are considered good.then so is the Amiga because it uses the exact same amount of colors as AnimGifs and looks like Flash.............and also you can use HAM8 wich looks great!

[coldfish]

Actually an AGA machine is the best machine to get for games

Without dedicated patching like WHDload and JST I'd disagree.
 
The alternative back when these two methods didn't exist was degrader boot disks (that only sometimes worked), or a backup A500 in the corner.

Truth is, the majority of Amiga software was written for a plain old 1Meg A500, the A1200 never had anywhere near as much software support.  The software variety, (post A1200) only deminishes from there.

In anycase, having both an A1200 and an A500 is essential if your into Amiga for games and just want to play without having to frick around with patches too much.  

Form me, my A500 and A1200 ended up taking up too much space and miagrated into storage for a well earned rest.  Eventually, I sold the lot to someone who would enjoy them more.

---

To get my Amiga-nostalgia (sounds like a disease!) fix, I have a little 1Gig HTPC I built here, dedicated to VIVO, DVDs, MP3s and Emulators that actually surpasses the experience I had with my real Amiga, and it runs all sorts of arcade greats too.

Currently, I have it wired to a 5.6" LCD-joypad, so it almost has the feel of a -handheld- Amiga/NeoGeo/Mame-box.

My next project will be nano-ITX...
...for -real- handheld fun!