Hello from New Zealand!

[InTheSand]

Hi,

While I'm not strictly a new user, I've recently emigrated from the UK to New Zealand and, since I haven't ever posted an introduction, thought I'd make a post here to say hello and to try and get an idea of the Amiga's following in NZ...

I've been an Amiga user on and off since the late eighties, going through the route of ZX Spectrum -> Atari ST -> Amiga 500, then having a break from it all for a few years before getting an A1200 in 1994 when they were being sold off cheaply at Dixons (UK consumer electronics store). After sending two A1200s back due to faults (CBM's legendary quality control!), I finally got one that worked. I still have this, and it now has a 68060, 64Mb RAM, HDD and Subway USB.

I've since bought a few more Amigas (as well as many other home computers and the necessary evils of PCs!) and now have the following with me in NZ:
- A1200 mentioned above
- A600 (with HDD and 1.5Mb RAM upgrade)
- A500 (with GVP add-on hard drive and RAM upgrade)
- A1000 (with what I think is a 1Mb RAM upgrade)


There don't seem to be any Amiga dealers here, so I guess I'll be ordering stuff from the UK or elsewhere in Europe? I have visions of horrible shipping costs!

Cheers,

 - Ali

[adz]

Greetings and a belated welcome to a.org, I think you'll find shipping from AnythingAmiga in Queensland, Australia, will be cheaper than shipping from the UK/Europe/US and there's always eBay :-)

[InTheSand]

Hi,

Thanks for the AnythingAmiga information. I've bookmarked that site for future reference.

Cheers,

 - Ali

[Castellen]

Welcome to NZ and Amiga.org :-)

There's also Compkarori in Wellington, just across from you on the other side of Cook Straight.
Graham deals in Amiga equipment.  He doesn't carry much in stock, but can get most things fairly quickly on demand.
More at http://www.compkarori.co.nz/ but it looks like his web server is down at the moment.

There's an Amiga club in Auckland:
http://www.titan.co.nz/amigaak/
They do a monthly HTML based newsletter.

I'm based in Christchurch and carry a few 2nd hand parts as well.  I also do component level motherboard repairs, battery replacements, etc.
http://amiga.serveftp.net

[InTheSand]

Hi,

Thanks for the welcome and the info!  :-)

Just been looking through your web site... The SMD soldering section was useful to read - you've helped to "de-mystify" it for me!

Cheers,

 - Ali

[Sparky]

Hello ... another Brit has seen the light and come here to NZ :-)  I've been here 2 years now and it's the best move I ever made.

Look on Trademe for all your Amiga toys ... quite a bit of stuff passes through there.

Mark

[Castellen]

Seems there is a few of us about in NZ, who would have guessed?

If anyone's passing through Christchurch and wants a *cheap* A3000, give me a yell.
Pretty standard, but fully reconditioned and running.  Had a few A3000s left over from a job last year, and that's the last of my surplus ones.
No keyboard, no monitor, 4Mb(?) fast mem, probably no hard drive and probably OS 2.x in ROM before anyone gets too excited :-P
RTC repaired and battery has been replaced of course.  CPU is 030 @25MHz.

Glad you found the SMD stuff useful.  It's hard to find much info on the net as most people seem to think it's some kind of secret science of the overlords.
Just shows what you can do with with some hot air and a little bit of technique.

[InTheSand]

Hi,

@Sparky:
I'd discovered TradeMe (eBay NZ seems a bit poor!) so I'll be checking that in future for Amiga things!

Glad you're enjoying NZ. I came out here as my girlfriend is a Kiwi - she'd been in the UK for the past 9 years and wanted to return home, so I came with her. I'm enjoying it here so far, but am currently looking for an IT job in Nelson - there don't seem to be many!

@Castellen:
I visit Christchurch from time to time (we didn't know where we'd be based, so have a PO box there with all our UK post being redirected to it!). How much (roughly) would "cheap" be for an A3000? I'd be interested - would be nice to get a "big box" Amiga to go with my desktop ones!

And as for the SMD stuff - I was one of those people who considered it a secret science!

Cheers,

 - Ali

[Castellen]

Something along the lines of NZ$50, enough to cover parts and labour costs of the reconditioning and testing.

The hardest bit might be finding a keyboard.  You could also use an A2000 one, or an A4000 one if you use a mini-DIN to 5 pin DIN adaptor.

I built a few PC keyboard to Amiga translator boxes a while ago, might still have one floating about which would do the trick.

[Darklight]

$50 NZ?  That's around about $5 AUD isn't it? :-P  :lol: Nah, that's nice, wish I was in NZ, I'd love to have a 3000.  
@ InTheSand

Anyway, I'll offer my welcome to a.org and for us now being neigbours. :pint:
Just don't keep up much hope for the NZ Cricket team  :lol:

[InTheSand]

Hi again,

@Castellen:
OK, cool! You've got yourself a buyer! Especially if you can find a PC keyboard adaptor (which I would pay extra for, of course!). Not sure when I'll next be in ChCh, but please keep an A3000 by for me.

@Darklight:
I've not been here long enough to see what the NZ cricket team's like (sport's not really my thing!) but I expect the All Blacks to hammer the Lions!

Cheers,

 - Ali

[Castellen]

If you're still keen, I've found the details from my original job sheet.
Specs are:
030 @25MHz, OS 2.05 in ROM, 2Mb chip, 4Mb fast.
Other notes say it has a hard drive which appears dead.  Floppy drive works OK, but there are mechanical problems with the front case and eject button.
Is there an A3000 which *didn't* have this problem? :-)

All my keyboard adaptors appear to have been used up, but if you can find me a PC keyboard which has a 5 pin DIN connector, I can program a micro (about $18 each) and fit it inside the keyboard to make it Amiga compatible without the need for external adaptors.
Keyboard needs to have the window$ keys, as these are remapped to become the L&R Amiga keys.  See, and everyone thinks those keys are useless :-P

[InTheSand]

Hi,

I'm still keen! Unfortunately, I don't have any 5-pin DIN keyboards (I did have, but chucked these prior to emigrating, d'oh!).

Would it work using a PS/2 keyboard and a PS/2 to DIN adaptor? Aren't the PS/2 and DIN connectors electrically the same?

Cheers,

 - Ali

[Castellen]

That would probably work, never checked it out though.

Has anyone used their A4000 keyboard in an A3000/A2000 through one of those adaptors?

[Sparky]

Glad you're enjoying NZ. I came out here as my girlfriend is a Kiwi - she'd been in the UK for the past 9 years and wanted to return home, so I came with her. I'm enjoying it here so far, but am currently looking for an IT job in Nelson - there don't seem to be many!

Nelson ?!?!  Of course there's no IT jobs there!  Get your bum up to Auckland or Wellington .. out in the sticks the sheep have no use for IT  :-)

Also look at www.seek.co.nz  Lots of jobs listed there .. ignore the ones in the UK though :-D
What do you do in IT ?  Any field you specialise in ? (apart from antique computers)