Newbie help required

[DavidHewit]

Hi Guys,

I'm trying to get back into Amiga computing after a few years in the Mac and PC wilderness, but I need some help as I've forgotten (nearly) everything from my youthful days of A500 & A1200 tinkering  I've just bought a A2000 (Rev 6.2 & 2.04 KickRom) with the intention of installing a few expansions and having a tinker again.  I've been busy on eBay and got the following :

Harms Proffesional 3500 (030/40, 68882, 4 Mb Ram)
SupraRam 2000 (8Mb)
DCE Cybervision 64/3D Mk-II
Budda IDE Controller
X-Surf NIC

Still want :
3.1 KickRoms
Wb 3.5 or 3.9 (I still have 3.1 somewhere!)
2 MB Megi-Chip
Scandoubler?

Now in the past I always used an Amiga monitor, so I never had the "joys" of scandoublers etc  I've also never used a RTG card so don't really understand how that works....At first I'm thinking about getting an old A520 modulator so that I can test the computer without any expansions installed.  After that whats going to be the way to connect it up to a PC monitor?  Will I need a scandoubler? If so how will it be used in conjunction with Cybervision card?

Sorry for all the stupid questions, please - be gentle ;-)

Cheers,

David

[Angus]

 

I don't know much about this, but you ought to have a look here:

amiga hardware website

And I would think a big question is do you want to be able to play games that use the graphics chipset and are not rtg, (and if not, why not??!!!!)  

If you do then you'll need to address how you display them.

Guys?

[CLS2086]

Hi,
big problems ahead !
CPU SLOT and ZII Slots have only 8 mbits space to share...
You have already 4 Mb of Ram on your CPU card and 4 mb on your CV64/3D...
Your Budda IDE and Xsurf have both 128kb buffers for theirs internal use to communicate on Zorro2...
First try without the SupraRam 2000 (8Mb)

For the following parts :
3.1 KickRoms -> OK, around $25/30
Wb 3.5 or 3.9 (I still have 3.1 somewhere!) -> 3.5 ->5 Euros on Ebay, 3.9 -> $40 in shop
2 MB Megi-Chip -> rare item ! around 50/75 Euro especially if you want the NTSC model !!

[CLS2086]

Hi again,
The MegiChip will bring you a nice boost for some games and WB, and normally the 128 kb of the buddha and Xsurf won't give you problems.
I had a close configuration but i never get any ouput on the CV64/3D... and the card was found OK and Working....
 :-o

[amigagr]

welcome aboard :-) you can find some stuff at amigakit online store.

[Brian]

You need to have the amiga connected to either an Amiga montior or a TV trough the RGB port (scart or RF-mod). Then you install the video drivers, either Picasso96 (free) or CGFX (commersial). After that you set screenmode in workbench to use the new screenmodes on the videocard.

You'll however have a bit of an issue with all none workbench software and games as they'll typicly run on the native Amiga screenmodes. There's where a scandoubler comes in handy as it allows these modes to be visible on a normal VGA monitor (easiest would be to install it and then have an external monitor switchbox where you manualy change between the modes as you already bought a videocard with no internal switching capabilities on the A2000).

with no scandoubler a dual screen scenario is needed with both a VGA monitor connected to the videocard and a native monitor/tv connected to the Amiga rgb port.

[DavidHewit]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for all the info, espcially the Amiga RGB to Scart - never heard about that before (Is the right one? RGB - Scart) I also never knew about the RAM limit, so does this mean only 8Mb can be added to a Amiga 2000?

I think first I'll grab the cable above and then run the computer in it's most basic form, and then slowly and the bits one by one.

1)  First the 3.1 Roms,
2)  Then the Buddha so I can connect a harddisk and CD-Rom drive.
3)  Then Wb 3.1 onto the HD,
4)  Next the CPU card,
5)  Then the NIC,
6)  Then RAM
7)  Finally the one I expect to have problems with....the    Cybervision card

I live in the EU so I guess I'll need a PAL MegiChip?  

Thanks again for all the advice,

David,

[SamuraiCrow]

The MegaChip board is exactly what its name implies:  a megabyte of chip RAM.  You'll need a 2MB Fatter Agnus and Super Denise to get the total of 2 megs of chip RAM to work on your system.  Since you have a PAL motherboard, the ECS chips will automatically default to PAL mode.  

The Zorro 2 memory limitation only applies to systems without a 32-bit accelerator card with RAM on board.  On an A1200, for example, you have a 68ec020 with 24-bit addressing.  You can add up to 4 megs of RAM and use PCMCIA network cards and it will work.  If you add 8 megs of RAM the PCMCIA will stop working since its addressing space has been mapped into RAM expansion.

If you get an '030 accelerator for the A1200 that supports Zorro 3 RAM addressing, you can hook up as much memory as your accelerator supports and still use the PCMCIA port since the 32-bit addressing of the accelerator card will fix the address space limitations.

Just be sure that, if you do get a 32-bit accelerator card, use 32-bit memory to get the full speed increase out of your accelerator card.  The Zorro 2 RAM expansion on your motherboard will only be 16-bit.

[DavidHewit]

Wow, you guys really know your stuff!! Thanks for the detailed explanation of the memory limitations - I've had a look about but am having trouble finding a PAL MegaChip board, I think that expansion will have to wait.

I've just order the 3.1 Roms and the SCART cable, so next week I can get going on the "resurection" of my A2000.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again for the help!