Amigas in Japan ... help!

[ami_junki]

Hello everyone, I am new here .... well kind of, was a member ages ago but couldn`t find my user name so re-registered.  Basically I am looking for some help, I moved to Japan 2 years ago and been wanting to get back into the Amiga but getting hold of them here is a nightmare.  Tried to buy an A1200 from eBay in England but shipping was crazy, so I was wondering if there are any other Amiga users in Japan who would have some info?

Thanks in advance,

Timo

[countzero]

ahh welcome to japan my friend (well, two years late I'm in japan three years myself and as you said, it's not easy to get hold of amigas here. you should check out yahoo auctions, where good items pop up from time to time. Actually there's a A1200 lot going right now with a 040 turbo, but the price of 40.000 yen might be pricey. you also need to fight someone for it.

http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d75309278

you may find 2000, 4000 toaster systems go up for sale there from time to time. 2000's usually go for 5000-10.000 yen and 4000's 30.000-40.000. And most of them are dod (battery death). somebody should teach the japanese how to take care of amigas. I was lucky though last week I scored a 2000 with PPS 040, GVP SCSI and MegaChip for 5500 yen ! And it's working ! (though it came with its front panel broke, due to stupid packing by the seller)

http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e71770108

anyway, good luck and please share your experiences, I believe there're some other gaijin amiga users here too.

CoZe

[ami_junki]

hi, thanks for sending me the info, i had looked at yahoo before but the prices were quite high but if you managed to get an A2000 for 5,000 yen that is great ... i will have to keep my eyes peeled.  hopefully will get an A1200 sent via surface mail from england next week but have to wait 3 months where in japan do you live by the way?  i live in chiba - it cool to see that there are other amiga users here, thought i was the only one hehehe.  

[jmbattle]

Konbanha,

In the four or so years that I have lived over here, I have yet to seen an Amiga. However, to be perfectly honest, it's not as if I have actively been looking...

Furthermore, none of my colleagues are even aware of the Amiga, despite the fact that some of them were around when  MIDI hardware was produced for the system!

Well, Good luck with your search - I almost feel an obligatory condescending 'ganbatte kudasai' coming on.

Cheers,
James
x

[Raffaele]

ami_junki wrote:
hopefully will get an A1200 sent via surface mail from england next week but have to wait 3 months  

Hey man... Does your A1200 coming from England?

Remember it was set to PAL TV Standard, and Japan uses NTSC standard...

As I am living in Europe I don't know if England uses 220Volts power supply while japan uses 220V too...

...Or if Japan is aligned with United States and uses 110V power standard supply as in USA...

Check this facts before using european Amiga there in Japan...


Solutions:

1) At least you must buy a transformer supply for keeping 110V in input and upgrade it in output to 220V and use Japan energy facilities.

This will allow you continuing using your european Amiga power supply, without the necessity to purchase one from Japan or United States...

2) Also interstandard TV sets are very common in Japan (either CRT [Cathode Tube] or Modern LCD ones)

Amiga viewed on LCD screen it is better and sure LCD supports interstandard TV standards..

Also LCD could have VGA input...

If your Amiga 1200 it is put in a tower and has Graphical Card too, then you could see either Amiga TV, and graphic Card outputs using just only one LCD TV set.

Sayonara...  :-D

[rednova]

Dear Friend:

I am not in Japan...but I have an idea. Get 'amiga forever' is pc emulator for amiga, it costs little and you can download all programs for amiga and play for free. You can use amiga forever until you get a real amiga.
I use amiga forever...is easy to install and lets you play all amiga games. Pls find out more about it.
Cheers!!!
Sayonara!!!

rednova
-mobilis in mobile-

[countzero]

well Rafaelle has a point. Japan uses american standarts so electricity is 110v and Tv's are NTSC. And it's impossible to find multi system Tvs except from Duty Free shops in Akihabara and the like. But the best solution is a LCD-Tv or LCD which supports 15Khzvertical-50Hz Horizontal. Last time I was in Akihabara I saw some LCD screens which supported these.

Also I recommend importing PAL amigas from Europe and 110v PSUs from america. I usually buy dead big box amigas here and put mobos imported from europe. NTSC mobos can give you headaches with some software (especially ECS-OCS systems).

by the way, in case you don't know, jmbattle is AIAB fame

Doh, I live in Chiba too At Gyotoku, near Urayasu (Disneyland).

[jmbattle]

I am proud to say that I have never been to Chiba Disneyland.

Cheers,
James
x

[countzero]

jmbattle wrote:
I am proud to say that I have never been to Chiba Disneyland.

Cheers,
James
x

why ? it's not that bad

[meega]

countzero wrote:
15Khzvertical-50Hz Horizontal

Wrong way around. :-P

[ami_junki]

Thanks James, I will keep looking for an Amiga but I must admit to it being a difficult task.

Cheers,

Timo

[ami_junki]

rednova wrote:
Dear Friend:

I am not in Japan...but I have an idea. Get 'amiga forever' is pc emulator for amiga, it costs little and you can download all programs for amiga and play for free. You can use amiga forever until you get a real amiga.
I use amiga forever...is easy to install and lets you play all amiga games. Pls find out more about it.
Cheers!!!
Sayonara!!!

rednova
-mobilis in mobile-

That sounds like a good idea unfortunately I don`t have a PC just a bloody MacBook which has been causing me all kinds of problems.  Hmmm maybe I should get a cheap pc just to run Amiga Forever for the mean time.  :roll:

[ami_junki]

countzero wrote:
well Rafaelle has a point. Japan uses american standarts so electricity is 110v and Tv's are NTSC. And it's impossible to find multi system Tvs except from Duty Free shops in Akihabara and the like. But the best solution is a LCD-Tv or LCD which supports 15Khzvertical-50Hz Horizontal. Last time I was in Akihabara I saw some LCD screens which supported these.

Also I recommend importing PAL amigas from Europe and 110v PSUs from america. I usually buy dead big box amigas here and put mobos imported from europe. NTSC mobos can give you headaches with some software (especially ECS-OCS systems).

by the way, in case you don't know, jmbattle is AIAB fame

Doh, I live in Chiba too At Gyotoku, near Urayasu (Disneyland).

Yes I was thinking of going to Akihabara to pick up a cheap LCD TV and see if I can find an American power supply or a transformer.  Makes me miss my old Amigas though, I used to have an A3000 and then an A1200 Towered with Power PC and Blizzard Video Card .... arrghh why I did I sell it?!  :-?  Well I have the A1200 shipping to Japan now and got one of the CF IDE adapters so just need to go down to Akihabara for the LCD TV and transformer.  

Thanks for the help as well, oh I live near Inagekaigan station, about 20 min away from Disney Land.

Cheers,

TImo

[SamuraiCrow]

ami_junki wrote:

rednova wrote:
Dear Friend:

I am not in Japan...but I have an idea. Get 'amiga forever' is pc emulator for amiga, it costs little and you can download all programs for amiga and play for free. You can use amiga forever until you get a real amiga.
I use amiga forever...is easy to install and lets you play all amiga games. Pls find out more about it.
Cheers!!!
Sayonara!!!

rednova
-mobilis in mobile-

That sounds like a good idea unfortunately I don`t have a PC just a bloody MacBook which has been causing me all kinds of problems.  Hmmm maybe I should get a cheap pc just to run Amiga Forever for the mean time.  :roll:

You can use EUAE on your MacBook in conjunction with the Amiga Workbench and Kickstart ROM images in the Amiga Forever package.  You may also want to look up the HiToro GUI front-end for EUAE.  The last place I saw HiToro was at the Apple.com download page but I couldn't figure out how to get it to work.  (I was using an IMac G4 at school at the time and it didn't have the latest OSX on it.)

[ami_junki]

Wickid I will have to try that out, didn`t know the MacBook could do that - still wanna get rid of it though.  Anyone wanna trade a 2ghz MacBook for a some decent Amiga hardware?

By the way bought this - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEBTOX:IT&item=120191632739&_trksid=p3984.cTODAY.m238.lVI

was it is a good price?