More Newbie Questions!

[pan1k]

Ok, so I posted earlier about having a mouse problem. I tried to fix it by opening the case to see what revision the A1200 was, in the process I ripped the thin ide cable. Now i'm out of luck. Can't really use my A1200 until my replacement harddrive comes in. In the meanwhile while i'm saving up for my Blizzard 1260, I have thought of some more questions.

1.) How can I increase graphics memory on the A1200?

2.) Will the Blizzard 1260 fit in the regular A1200 case or do I need a tower?

3.) What kind of resolutions can I run on the A1200? The manual doesn't seem to show anything over 800x600. I know i'm limited to 256 colors at a time, but is there a way to run at a higher resolution?

I'm going to kickback and wait for my parts to arrive. I ordered 3.1 ROMs, a new mouse,  a 4GB drive and the real ide cable for the A1200. Might take a few weeks since I ordered some parts from Germany and some from the UK.

[amigakit]

Welcome!

1.) The Chip Mem is limited at 2MB unfortunately due to the custom chip design in the A1200.

2.) The Blizzard 1260 runs quite cool as it has a 3.3v CPU - fine for a desktop if you leave the trapdoor off the A1200.  However you may need an uprated power supply if you are running with a couple of extra expansions.

3.) Using an SVGA to Amiga RGB adapter and SVGA monitor, the Amiga can access extra modes such as DBLNTSC, Multiscan, Euro72 etc.  These modes have better refresh rates as well.

[doctorq]

1) You can't. You can add a graphics card, that will free up your chip memory.

2) It will fit, but it will not be healthy for your card unless you provide some cooling for it, so a tower will be the recommended solution. It's better to use a Blizzard 1260 than a Blizzard 1240 though.

3) Yes, again with a graphics card. Then you can have resolutions up to 1600 x 1200. Without a graphics card you will be limited to around 640 x 480.

[pan1k]

Do I need a PCI expansion for a new video card?

[doctorq]

PCI would be the best option, as you can then get cheap PCI cards installed (ethernet, sound and tv cards). You can also get a Zorro busboard, but these are sometimes very picky about the cards installed and you are forced to use Zorro cards, which are more expensive than PCI cards.

The cheapest solution would be to get a Mediator PCI busboard and a Voodoo 3 3000 graphics card.

[amigakit]

You will need either Zorro slots or PCI slots depending on the graphics card.

PCI is preferable for performance and popular choices are the Mediator PCI busboards for the A1200

They can accomodate some PCI graphics cards, sound cards, TV cards and network cards.

[Marco]

Either PCI, or A Blizzard PPC accelerator, which has a port for a BVision graphics card.

But for that you'll need a tower case or maybe some liquid oxygen cooling.

I don't really see the point in towering a 1200 as you may just as well get a 4000.

[pan1k]

Ok I was looking at the mediator actually. I'm planning on getting this case:






This case has an option for the mediator or G-Rex. Plus shipping won't kill me because it's in the USA.