finally bought an old Amiga

[ffastback]

Well the Amiga I used occasionally as a kid was a friend's.  And since getting back into Amiga stuff I've mostly played with emulation.  I've tried to find an AmigaOne a few times but no dice.  So I figured it might be fun to play with something else in the meantime.

So I have a 1200 on the way, it has 3.0 ROMs.

I've done some reading.  I was thinking of making it a tower project.  

I'm looking for some suggestions on direction for it otherwise.  A couple of questions up front to the group:

Where is the best place for 3.1 ROMs?  I was thinking amigakit.com or vesalia.de but was curious of what others would suggest.

Also is Elbox the best place for a tower case?  I saw a webpage where someone used revanchellc.com as a source instead.

I don't want an Amiga monitor, would like to use a VGA monitor, I know I need a flicker-fixer/scan-doubler.  How is that hooked up, which one is best and where is best to get it?

Thanks in advance for any opinions you guys can share!

[Vlabguy1]

Welcome!!!

I hope you stay..and enjoy your AMIGA!!  
I know I do :-)

[ravnen]

Hi, and welcome to the magical (and expencive) world of Classic Amiga

I have very good experience with AmigaKit and I can recomend them.

As for tower casing, if you want a new case I think that the Elbox D-box is the only one you can get your hands on? AmigaKit sell those too.

Scandoublers comes in two versions. Internal and external. The internals is mounted on your motherboard over some chips, while the external goes into the 23 pin rgb connector.
But they are hard to get this days.

For old games, a good tv will do as monitor.
If you towerize your amiga, you can fit it with a mediator and a Voodoo graphics card, and enjoy nice 1024x768 (or bigger) resolutions in workbench, surfing the net (like i do with mine now) etc.

It`s all about what you want, and how deep your pockets are

[guru-666]

amigakit is the best commercial amiga dealer.  he can be expensive so I would look on ebay first....and take your time... it's cheaper that way... but for the roms I would get it from amigakit as well as a copy of os3.9 with emergency disk, thats a good deal.

My opinion.... don't do a tower the 1200 looks great with that small form factor... if you need a more space for cards and such get a 4000....

[ffastback]

Thanks ravnen!

I think my goal is OS 3.9 with good resolution (1024x768 or higher) using a VGA monitor at some point.  I guess then from what you say which mediator board and video card are best and where to get them.  I think I noticed so mediators on elbox.

One thing I don't understand is this zorro port thing.

I probably need to do this in steps.  Connecting to an old small color TV day one sounds good, what do I need for that?

[Damion]

My opinion.... don't do a tower the 1200 looks great with that small form factor... if you need a more space for cards and such get a 4000....

Agreed. Obviously it depends on what you want, but a desktop A1200 with an '030, and *maybe* a scandoubler is the perfect setup for games, maybe a faster card if you're into demos.

For RTG related things, a big-box amiga or (IMO) WinUAE is the way to go.

[guru-666]

not sure I would agree that the mediator is the best solution.  I perfer the picassoIV. (same and higher resolutions)  The mediator is a hacky board that is not compatable with many amiga addons and only add minimal functions as a high cost.    I would look for a grex if you want PCI and USB stuff. (i would not go there)  I agree with -D- you should get a 4000.

[ravnen]

@ffastback

Zorro = Addoncards like you have pci cards in a pc. The "bigbox" amigas (2000,3000,4000 etc) have this zorro slots. You can also get it on your a1200 (in tower) by different means.

As the guys above her says, an a4000 amiga is mutch more flexible, and can take Picasso IV that is the best gfx card for amiga ever made (it has an internal scandoubler/ff so you dont have to use two monitors/switch etc).

But an A1200 has it`s advantage. It has the pcmcia slot (great for cheap networks card, both wireless and standard), accellerators is easier to get your hands on (my experience) and easy to towerize (with the d-box).

So since you allready have bought an a1200, there is only two options to get good resolution.

1) The mediator way.

2) Get a ppc accelerator an bvision.

Option 2 is expencive, and hard to find the parts. However if you manage to take this route you can fit it all into the standard a1200 case.


I have a d-towerized a1200, with a mediator soundcard and voodoo graphics card, and I am very satisfied with it. But then again i use my A4000 for games, since it has Picasso with scandoubler.


To answer your last question. The A1200 is ready for tv connection. You have several options. Use the RF antenna output, or an RCA cable.

[drewz21]

Use AmigaKit.com.  They are the best Amiga dealer around.  I've used them MANY times for parts.  Price is fair enough and the service is excellent.  Even shipping to the US is good.  

Oh and welcome to Amiga.org!!!

[stopthegop]

not sure I would agree that the mediator is the best solution. I perfer the picassoIV. (same and higher resolutions) The mediator is a hacky board that is not compatable with many amiga addons and only add minimal functions as a high cost. I would look for a grex if you want PCI and USB stuff. (i would not go there) I agree with -D- you should get a 4000.

Disagree.  While the mediator may not be technically the "best" of all solutions, it is by far the best available solution. Finding a Grexx is like finding a virgin in Las Vegas.  The mediator is available and currently supported making it by far the most viable solution for classic Amigas.  The mediator is definately not slow nor is it "hackish".  My only complaint with it is the documentation, which is annoyingly simplified, suggesting that setting up an A4000D into a tower with mediator is a mere 5 minute job that any 4-year old could do, comparable to changing a lightbulb.   Suffice to say, it ain't quite that easy.  Once you get the thing setup and working, however, I think it is a very reliable piece of kit.      

[ffastback]

Ok so is Elbox the only place to get a Mediator board?

And if so is there any reason (besides the slight price difference) not to go with the 6 slot version?

http://www.elbox.com/products/mediator_pci_1200_lt4.html
$223 US

http://www.elbox.com/products/mediator_pci_1200_sx.html
$256 US

[stopthegop]

The only reason I can think of to get the six slot version is if you want, say, two network cards or two USB cards and/or you want a TV tuner card in addition to a Voodoo card.  Otherwise I would think four slots is sufficient.  Sound+Video+USB+Network.