A2000 and others, please voyage me back to home.

[McFly]

Wonderful to see so many people still explores nostalgia of divine Amiga.

My machines were all covered for years, awaiting awakening spark from its owner.
Occasional presentation of Amiga magic to friends, but haven't used actively, more then
5 years to be exact.

Sometimes when you master something and postpone this Wis. after long period of time,
feels as if you lost it. Partially, that's how I feel now.

Those active (bless your heart) Amiga users, forgive the length and amount of questions,
consider this as initial PowerOn, back to greatest machine I ever owned,back to home.

I've opened each of my machines (A500,A2000,A1200,4000) just to clean inside and give
them best start (cleaned all contacts, verified everything is operational)

Accumulated dust in A2000's PSU, display of unseen horror, one could almost associate
dust as included elements considering its abundance

Battery on A4000 was almost in leak state, that was clear after I've removed the same,
good timing.

Everything else seems to be in order.

So A2000 remains my only intrigue at the moment :

(Amiga 2000 Assy No. 380705-01 REV. 4  Made In Germany  BSW
  FAB. 380712-01 REV.4)

Present state of battery seems to be fine.

[color=ff0000]1)[/color]
Should I change this battery anyway considering this long period?
This is the present battery and I would assume the initial one, link : http://tinyurl.com/ecxmd

[color=ff0000]2)[/color]
Is this controller any special then those regularly found in A2000?
     Link : http://tinyurl.com/fc66m
     I ask because, quote : *** Hard Disk for Amiga 2500
     Designed at Wchest USA OPC 94VO 1298M2 23-87 ***
     A2500?

[color=ff0000]3)[/color]
What are the J1 and J2 for?
     Is there some conversion from J0 present cable to regular cable found in A1200
     for me to use regular ATA HDD in A2000 like A1200?  
Or this J0 is actually a SCSI connection?

     Inside was a huge double-decker HDD, but I have no idea where I have placed
     this drive. But even if I would it I would rather place normal 3.5" HDD drive.

[color=ff0000]4)[/color]  
Card's external connector, is this also a SCSI connector?  
      Link : http://tinyurl.com/gja5b

[color=ff0000]5)[/color]
Crown of all this questions leads to my main intention.
What do I need (please be concrete) to have normal CD-ROM drive installed
     in A2000?   Naturally, HDD drive included.

[color=ff0000]6)[/color]  
Can I install CDRW by any chance instead of CD-ROM?

[color=ff0000]7)[/color]
What software would I need to install CD/CDRW and HDD?
     I have all original system FDs for A1200,4000, but for A500 and A2000,
     only thing I've got are two FDs : Amiga Workbench 1.2 and Amiga Extras 1.2
 
[color=ff0000][/color]  
What Amiga OS version in best suited for my present A2000? (1.2 rOm)
       
[color=ff0000]9)[/color]  
Should one today, for sake of more functionality upgrade ROMs to best available
      versions?  If so, what do you recommend as best ROM change/update for
      A500,A2000?   Ironically my A500 is (1.3 rOm)
      Is it possible to reprogram ROMs to latest version or this is SF for Amiga?
      Can you provide link or two where can I purchase them?
      Can  I for example, place 1.3 ROM from A500 to A2000 and A2000's 1.2 back to A500?
 
[color=ff0000]10)[/color]
Could you please give me some links were I can remind myself of how to invoke
       and initiate boots and all those hot key trick prior and after boot for A2000,A1200 and A4000?

[color=ff0000]11)[/color]
Matter of esthetics
      I would love to make Amiga stickers for my A monitors (1084.1942,1085)
      could you please give me some link with high quality Amiga logos?

Again, thank you kindly for your patience.

[Noster]

Hi,

welcome back to the Amiga users :-)

I have some answers:

1) This seems to be already a replaced battery it is not the normal one found inside of an A2000. Have a look at it from time to time and leave it inside.

2) Looks like a A2090 or A2091 controller. This is a usual A2000 controller.

3) For connecting two MFM harddisks. J0 is a SCSI-connector.

4) Yes.

5) Purchase a SCSI Cd-Rom and a SCSI harddisk. Try to obtain them via eBay, small SCSI HD's are very cheap.

6) Yes, no problem. You have to purchase a software to burn CD's like MakeCD.

7) You should purchase a Kickstart 3.1 ROM. Should be about 10,- EUR. Look at Vesalia.de or another Amiga shop.

I would prefer OS 3.1.

9) Yes you could interchange ROMs between A500 and A2000.

So far, I have to go, Noster

[Kronos]

It must be either an A2090, or A2090(A) (the A stands for autoboot), since the A2091 lacked the MFM-controller, but featured a 2MB RAM-expansion.

The A2091 is pretty much the same as an A3000s internal SCSI, so after checking wether both ROM and SCSI-chip are "recent" it wouldn't give you any problem.

The A2090 are different and very ancient kind of beast, forget about running bigger HDs on it and don't even dream about CD-ROMs.

Or in other word, you'll be better (and cheaper) of by getting a 2nd-hand IDE-controller and useing "normal" IDE-drives.

[McFly]

by Noster on 2006/8/9 9:09:25

welcome back to the Amiga users

Thank you, good to be back, back for good

3) For connecting two MFM harddisks. J0 is a SCSI-connector.

Hm, back to MFM days

If I recall well, there should be both Data and control signal required for MFM connection, but where is the Control cable for each?

5) Purchase a SCSI Cd-Rom and a SCSI harddisk. Try to obtain them via eBay, small SCSI HD's are very cheap.

That makes it even simpler for me. I have abundance of 50-pin SCSI drives around me. Same goes for SCSI Internal and external CD-ROM drives.

What troubles me here is communication.

Is there a cable from this onboard 34-pin to 2x 50-pin so that I can connect both 50-pin SCSI HDD and CDROM or CDRW to this connection?

Also, once they are connected and I'm ready to go, (I'm in the dark here) what do I need to do then. Would Workbench be sufficient for partition and formatting? That is why I've asked about boot hot-keys prior routine, don't remember any of this

Same goes for CD-ROM or CDRW, what is needed to be recognized within Amiga?  Drivers?

6) Yes, no problem. You have to purchase a software to burn CD's like MakeCD.

Allready secured that program, thanks

7) You should purchase a Kickstart 3.1 ROM. Should be about 10,- EUR. Look at Vesalia.de or another Amiga shop.

Good, consider it done.

[McFly]

by Kronos wrote :
Or in other word, you'll be better (and cheaper) of by getting a 2nd-hand IDE-controller and useing "normal" IDE-drives.

Thanks Kronos for your notes.

For now, I would rather entertain SCSI option, at least for proper DMA reasons.

[Kronos]

The A2090 doesn't have DMA (only th2 A2091 and GVP-cards provide DMA on a Zorro2-card).

[McFly]

Curses , I seem to forget the mileage/vintage of this card

I wish you never told me that
 

[Olecranon]

Do a search on Ebay for Amiga SCSI.  There are four controllers listed.  A2000 SCSI Controllers are real common on Ebay and are usually pretty cheap.

[Noster]

Hi,

sorry, I didn't know about the trouble with the A2090 just thought it lacks autoboot.

> If I recall well, there should be both Data and control signal required for MFM connection, but where is the Control cable for each?
Oh, second sorry :-) The data cables to the MFM-drives are connected to the 20 pin connectors and the address cable is a 34-pin cable with three connectors (one for the controller, two for the drives) connected to J0.
The 50-pin connector for the SCSI-bus should be somewhere near the backplate (or I'm mistaken again?).

I would also say, try to purchase another SCSI-controler via eBay. They are as cheap as IDE-controllers and have several advantages (used SCSI-drives are as cheap as IDE-drives, they are faster, you could attach upto 7 drives to one controller...).

Noster

[Lemmink]

For the SCSI card I`d either recommend an Oktagon 2008 (at least ROM-Version 6.8 with 6.12 being the latest) or an A2091 (at least ROM-Version 6.6 with 7.0 being the latest).

The GVP controllers tend to be alittle troublesome when it comes to CD-ROMs. this is mostly due to outdated ROMs.

Here two pages where you can look what is out there:

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/

http://amiga.resource.cx/

There are some dealers left all over the world where you still can purchase some new things. For the rest there is allways Ebay or other online fleamarkets.

Germany:

www.vesalia.de
www.kdh-shop.de

UK:

www.amigakit.com

US:

http://www.softhut.com/


There are probably some more but that are those that spring to mind.

[McFly]

Realistic prospect for me to actually obtain Archos Add 2000 in the next month from a guy who still owns this card. He confirmed me this. Would this one be acceptable? Is there some reason why I shouldn’t consider this, something I should now, because never heard about this card.

[Lemmink]

Read something about it here

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=1149

It is not a very common controller (I haven`t seen any of those and I have seen quite a lot) so chances are slim someone knows something about it.

I hope you don`t plan to spend more then 20 quid on it.

[TjLaZer]

Looks like it's not a standard controller,  needs special HD prep software!  I would stay away unless you want to tinker/collect it and it is cheap.  I would go with a Supra WordSync, Commodore's A2091 or GVP Series II (own all) and they work great in my A2000.  (I also have updated ROMs for all if anyone needs them)

[McFly]

I've sent this card's picture to my friend via email (away from home), the one who calls me for help when U320 becomes too much to cope in his heavily pressed system. He asked me, is everything in order with me?  Then I started laughing.

All this fear of forgetting soft side of Amiga made me completely blind.

Good old DB25 SCSI, and I ask what is this?  

But Finale of irony, be the fact that very 50-pin is nesting right next to the ext. DB25, and in all this concern about installing clouded my sight completely.  But reading other old owners comers posts, it seems that nerve verve is common.

I'm away from my machines and while leaving recently I entered this awaken Amiga passion, but since I'm away for holidays I keep calm that urge by relaxing on this forum.

At least one useful thing about Net is that you can use your home server, wherever you are. Yesterday while I logged to my machine, found the right folder and complete picture of this controller, so now you can see every part of it, and identify it with aplomb.

So could you please make a final note, what is the exact card I have here?

"A" or no "A" as Kronos kindly observed earlier, that is the question.


Link (1.3MB)   : http://tinyurl.com/k9hwl

or size friendlier :  Link (700k  )    : http://tinyurl.com/h2pz5

Those of you with similar cards, I gather this be a deliberate cripple of those 2 pins on this internal 50-pin CN2?  Or I'll need one task more to remedy that.

Would these available install disks be sufficient for the task? : http://tinyurl.com/j4n8d

by Lemmink wrote
Read something about it here
http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=1149
It is not a very common controller (I haven`t seen any of those and I have seen quite a lot) so chances are slim someone knows something about it. I hope you don't plan to spend more then 20 quid on it

Well, this person owns this card and it is mine for certain when I get back. He is friend's friend,and this is what he keeps unused. Price would be more in liquid sort of compensation and friendly conversation while at it. I was lucky  to find this, provided the card is not damaged and working.

by TjLaZer wrote Looks like it's not a standard controller, needs special HD prep software! I would stay away unless you want to tinker/collect it and it is cheap.

Just for sake of curiosity, will give a try, at least to pay respect, since this is native inhabitant of A2000 when I've found this machine.

[Tahoe]

McFly wrote:
Wonderful to see so many people still explores nostalgia of divine Amiga.

And you too now, welcome back!

[color=ff0000]1)[/color]
Should I change this battery anyway considering this long period?
This is the present battery and I would assume the initial one, link : http://tinyurl.com/ecxmd

Ah! You have an A2000A; important to remember; you have the earliest version of the Amiga 2000. This machine is mainly based on the A1000 (instead of the A500), has no Buster, has only 512K memory onboard with an optional extra 512MB in it's CPU slot.
The one thing is these machines have batteries which fortunatly do not leak

[color=ff0000]2)[/color]
Is this controller any special then those regularly found in A2000?
     Link : http://tinyurl.com/fc66m
     I ask because, quote : *** Hard Disk for Amiga 2500
     Designed at Wchest USA OPC 94VO 1298M2 23-87 ***
     A2500?

About as old as the Amiga itself; and very limited in it's capabilities.... (sorry)

[color=ff0000]3)[/color]
What are the J1 and J2 for?
     Is there some conversion from J0 present cable to regular cable found in A1200
     for me to use regular ATA HDD in A2000 like A1200?  
Or this J0 is actually a SCSI connection?

J0 is the combined MFM cable; J1 and J2 are the individual control lines. MFM supports 2 drives on one controller.

[color=ff0000]4)[/color]  
Card's external connector, is this also a SCSI connector?  
      Link : http://tinyurl.com/gja5b

Yes, but remember it is limited in it's use!

[color=ff0000]5)[/color]
Crown of all this questions leads to my main intention.
What do I need (please be concrete) to have normal CD-ROM drive installed
     in A2000?   Naturally, HDD drive included.

As mentioned by others; a real SCSI controller; like the A2091, Octagon or GVP. Or look for an Accelerator card with integrated SCSI (GVP Combo cards). However they are HIGHLY UNLIKELY to work in your A2000A!!

[color=ff0000]6)[/color]  
Can I install CDRW by any chance instead of CD-ROM?

On an A2091; yes.

[color=ff0000]7)[/color]
What software would I need to install CD/CDRW and HDD?
     I have all original system FDs for A1200,4000, but for A500 and A2000,
     only thing I've got are two FDs : Amiga Workbench 1.2 and Amiga Extras 1.2

You would need Kick 2.04 at least; I suppose.

[/quote][color=ff0000][/color]  
What Amiga OS version in best suited for my present A2000? (1.2 rOm)[/quote]

Keep it at 1.2. Why? You have an exceptional beast here; charming because of it's special place in Amiga's history, but you are bound to run in to lots of trouble trying to add anything hardware-wise. Just keep her, and love her as she is. (I do too, have an A2000A, unexpanded apart from the old hardware that came with it)

[color=ff0000]9)[/color]  
Should one today, for sake of more functionality upgrade ROMs to best available
      versions?  If so, what do you recommend as best ROM change/update for
      A500,A2000?   Ironically my A500 is (1.3 rOm)
      Is it possible to reprogram ROMs to latest version or this is SF for Amiga?
      Can you provide link or two where can I purchase them?
      Can  I for example, place 1.3 ROM from A500 to A2000 and A2000's 1.2 back to A500?

The ROMS from the A500/A600/A2000 and CDTV (apart from it's boot roms) are interchangable. The A1200, A3000 (T), A4000 (T) have machine specific ROM's.
You can still buy them at various online Amiga resources.

BTW: Here is the low-down on the A2000A by Dave Haynie; who designed the A2000B; the later revisions.
The A2000 Model A was a german design, like an A1000 in a different box. 512K CHIP and non-standard processor and video slots. Yes, The orginal A2000 was designed in Germany. It was based on an integration of the A1000 motherboard design and the example Zorro II backplane from "Schematics and Expansion Specifications", the A1000 hardware manual. It used the thin Agnus, which handled only 512K of DRAM. They added a "Genlock" slot, which was essentially just the 23-bit video signals on an internal connector, and the "MMU" slot, which was essentially just the A1000 external edge connector on an internal slot. The machine shipped with 512K of Fast RAM in this slot, though the case was slow and had some reliability problems. About 60,000 of these machines were made, so I've heard.