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Offline amiga_3k

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Re: Back to Amigas
« Reply #14 from previous page: November 14, 2006, 07:52:46 PM »
Sorry, lost track of this thread a little bit.

The A1200 has an internal IDE controller, the connectors of it are for direct connection to 2.5" IDE devices, the kind you'd normally find in laptops.

It is possible to connect 3.5"/5.25" IDE devices, the kind found in desktops and towers, to it as well, you'd only need an adapter cable (judging from the size of your internal Harddrive chances are you already have 3.5" harddrive and adaptercable to match).

Now, to test the CD-drive you've got, you'll have to find out if it's SCSI-flavour or IDE-flavour. The IDE ones normally are rather easy to identify due to the jumpers for selecting SL (Slave) MA (Master) or CS (CableSelect). The SCSI ones are not too dificult as they should have some jumpers for setting the SCSI adress (and sometimes it's even spelled out on the label ;-)). If it is SCSI you need access to a SCSI controller, if it is IDE you can easily hook it to a PC to check it.

If you've got a SCSI version you'd need a SCSI-controller, which are (hardly) available for PCMCIA-slots. Note that I vaguely remember that those controllers tend to get useless with certain accelerators, so if you're planning on getting an accelerator it's a nice option to no pick-up.

I'd put my money on getting an IDE CD-drive. The biggest dare would be hacking it into your A1200's case (near impossible) or do some nice DIY where you create an external IDE solution. (or you could do the same I did when I was still a student, runnning an A3000 and just route the ribbon-cable and powercable out of the case and leave the drive exposed to the environment).

Get a SAM, while you can! The new AMIGA is here!
 

Offline amiga_3k

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Re: Back to Amigas
« Reply #15 on: November 14, 2006, 07:57:54 PM »
Its been a while since I've hooked an Amiga to a PC so I can't remember the details. However, if you have a look at Aminet you'll find a few solutions to hook your Amiga to a PC using a null-modem-cable (best way is to bake one yourself or get one that's pre-manufactured specially for Amiga to PC, a null-modem-cable made for PCs can cause serious damage) and Sernet. It's slow, but effective. If you've got a legal copy of Amiga-Forever it comes with AmigaExplorer which makes it easier to browse-around on your Amiga harddrive. It also states how the fysical connection should take place.
Get a SAM, while you can! The new AMIGA is here!
 

Offline sweetfaceTopic starter

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Re: Back to Amigas
« Reply #16 on: November 14, 2006, 10:03:26 PM »
Thanks for your patience in explaining all this to me :crazy:  I've got an idea of what I want to do. I would prefer it to be IDE (less complicated) as you said.

When I open up the unit to check whats there, will I know if the HDD is SCSI in the same way like the cd drive?

I don't mind the CD drive being external, so would I be able to connect an external IDE cd drive like that?

I do want to get an accelerator (nothing too drastic) and more RAM but the thing is to find hardware upgrades that work with each other as I don't have much clue about compatabilty yet, but I'm starting to get the jist. :idea:

Actually ,my dad has a brand new IDE cd drive sitting waiting to be installed in his PC for nearly a year - I might nick for my own needs, he may not even realise it's gone :ponder:

When I look inside the unit and check out the cd drive, I'll get back on here. Any more ideas appreciated!
[color=0066CC]Crystal[/color] :-P
 

Offline aardvark

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Re: Back to Amigas
« Reply #17 on: November 14, 2006, 10:44:21 PM »
Quote
First of all when it starts up I get a message saying driver 3.2 "I can't find 4xEIDE Buffered Interface"


That interface was an add-on to give you 4 ide ports.  With that message there may at one time have been that add-n in the machine, may not be there now.  It's close to 100% sure that the hard drive in the machine is ide.  someone in one of the other threads was saying they have OS 3.9 for sale, but you need a 3.1 kickstart for any OS 3.1, 3.5 or 3.9 to work.  Try Amikit for the kickstart rom.  you can get ethernet cards for the pcmcia port and there are various add-ons for the clockport.  Any expansion card would be good, some are just ram, others have faster processors.  You didn't say where you are located, I presume The UK, as it's a PAL machine.  You don't say what kind of monitor, I assume you are using a SCART cable, but VGA adapters are available, but most VGA monitors don't sync that slow.
 

Offline sweetfaceTopic starter

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Re: Back to Amigas
« Reply #18 on: November 14, 2006, 11:32:25 PM »
I haven't had a chance to open the machine up just yet. At the moment I'm using an almost dead commodore 1084 monitor, but I've been doing some searching on net regarding lcd tv with rgb scart socket/amiga scart cable.
I'll have to take a chance as to whether that will work cos hubby won't let me bring the Amiga home from my parents house with the old monitor :madashell: I'm based in london uk so yeah it's PAL. I don't really want to shell out for scandoubler cos I can use that money for other important upgrades :-)
[color=0066CC]Crystal[/color] :-P
 

Offline aardvark

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Re: Back to Amigas
« Reply #19 on: November 14, 2006, 11:39:59 PM »
Yeah SCART is totally non-existant in North America, damn shame really.  Although now component video and HDMI connections are common on the new widescreen sets.   Hmm, wonder if you could make an Amiga component video cable easily...anyone? :-?
 

Offline amiga_3k

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Re: Back to Amigas
« Reply #20 on: November 15, 2006, 08:54:16 PM »
Mostly internal Amiga A1200 harddrives are IDE versions. For SCSI a controller is needed, but that one should also show-up in your ShowConfig result, and it didn't.

As to SCART or other ways to connect the A1200 to mothern display devices I'm in the middle of the same process, only my Amiga to hook up is the A4000T.

Best results for native Amiga signals without FlickerFixing/ScanDoubling are established using an RGB to SCART cable (not too expensive at eBay, forget building one of your own as the 23 pin RGB connectors are next to impossible to fine (AmigaKit won't agree on that I assume ;-)). Now I guess an LCD-TV with SCART connector should happily show the Amiga's RGB output. Now, there's another way of connecting the A1200, and that's using the A1200's composite connector. The image is less clear, less sharp but does a reasonable job for game-playing. Now, again, I don't know from experience what this does on an LCD-TV but it could be a way of connecting as well.

There are some boxes for sale aimed for use with Gamecubes, XBoxes and Playstations to hook them to bog-standard VGA monitors. These act as scandoublers and could be of help as well. While the image is not as crisp as from a dedicated Amiga FlickerFixer/ScanDoubler they are not over expensive.

On the A1084, I'm not sure why you're calling it 'Dying' but sometimes contact-cleaner on the connectors and [sh*t, forgot the english translation for pot-meter] ... 'resistors that change impendance depending on the position of a turning knob' improve quality dramatically. Sometimes re-soldering the connector for the RGB cable is needed.


Get a SAM, while you can! The new AMIGA is here!
 

Offline sweetfaceTopic starter

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Re: Back to Amigas
« Reply #21 on: November 15, 2006, 09:48:46 PM »
The thing with my old monitor is that the picture squishes into itself, so you can't see the display and will 'sometimes' get back to normal after pressing the power button on the front on/off 100 times. It's been doing this for years but turning knobs doesn't help. When I bring the unit home from my parents house(without the monitor), I'll probably hook it up to our big LCD in the living room temporarily. It has two RGB enabled Scart sockets, so shouldn't be a hassle.
[color=0066CC]Crystal[/color] :-P
 

Offline sweetfaceTopic starter

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Re: Back to Amigas
« Reply #22 on: November 15, 2006, 09:58:37 PM »
Quote

amiga_3k wrote:
Mostly internal Amiga A1200 harddrives are IDE versions. For SCSI a controller is needed, but that one should also show-up in your ShowConfig result, and it didn't.


I haven't had a chance to open the 1200 yet. ShowConfig did say that the HDD was SCSI. But I looked up that spec HDD Toshiba MK1403MAV and they are all IDE 2.5" laptop ones so the Amiga is confused. Can anyone shed any light on that?
[color=0066CC]Crystal[/color] :-P
 

Offline amiga_3k

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Re: Back to Amigas
« Reply #23 on: November 15, 2006, 10:17:30 PM »
Ah, that's an easy one... ;-)

For one reason or another the IDE device on A1200s and A4000s is called scsi.device. Normally if the development of the A3000 followed the route of evolution the A1200 and A4000 should have come with SCSI controllers. But as the devices for SCSI are more expensive than for IDE late in the development process of both systems the SCSI has been dropped and replaced by IDE. In a rush to get the machines on the market (or trouble on the cash-flow of Commodore) Commodore decided to not change the name of the device. So, the A1200 / A4000D IDE controller is named SCSI. :-)
Get a SAM, while you can! The new AMIGA is here!
 

Offline sweetfaceTopic starter

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Re: Back to Amigas
« Reply #24 on: November 15, 2006, 10:20:43 PM »
Thanks. I'll never have to worry about that again then :-)
[color=0066CC]Crystal[/color] :-P