General A1200 Questions

[tomv1to]

Hi, I just registered with the forum as a result of discovering all of my old Amiga peripherals in the cupboard. I've decided that I'd quite like to get another A1200 to play with as I miss quite a few of the games (mainly Project X and Apidya,) and to generally play around with on the internet.
 
I stumbled across the Amigakit webshop that sell Amiga 1200's and I've just got a few nooby questions to ask. I apologise if any of my q's seem a bit stupid but I haven't used an Amiga in absoloutly years and its hard to find anything online describing the hardware in terms that a caveman would understand.
 
What is the difference between the Kickstar 3.0 and 3.1 boards?
 
Whilst I realise I would require an ethernet port to go online would it also be recommended that I picked up an accelerator card? Amigakit stock the e-matrix accelerator is that one any good? I seem to read a lot about the blizzard one being the one to look for.
 
What is the benefit of getting a scandoubler? Would including the Indivision AGA 1200 Scandoubler offer any increase in performance or functionallity or is it solely just to allow users to connect to a monitor via VGA?
 
How would I go about connecting a CD drive up to the amiga? Would I be able to use any PC drive with an IDE connection?
 
Is Amiga OS 3.1 the same thing as workbench 3.1? And which would be the best, most compatible OS for gaming on an amiga?
 
Thanks in advance for you help and again I apologise about any stupid questions.

[Damion]

What is the difference between the Kickstar 3.0 and 3.1 boards?

3.1 was the last ROM version, it enables you to use later OS revisions (3.1, 3.5, 3.9) as well as some other minor improvements and fixes.
 

Whilst I realise I would require an ethernet port to go online would it also be recommended that I picked up an accelerator card? Amigakit stock the e-matrix accelerator is that one any good? I seem to read a lot about the blizzard one being the one to look for.

The Blizzard is probably the best overall, but there are other nice reliable cards, too. The extra RAM and speed boost from any '030 card will make a *massive* performance improvement, not too mention '030 boards are still very compatible with games (aside from possibly WHDLoad and the Microbotics). You can check the specs of any card you might be interested in at the Amiga Hardware Database, or ask here.
 
That said - all you really need to enjoy classic gaming with WHDLoad is a basic RAM card.

What is the benefit of getting a scandoubler? Would including the Indivision AGA 1200 Scandoubler offer any increase in performance or functionallity or is it solely just to allow users to connect to a monitor via VGA?

The scandoubler allows you to use modern monitors. The Indivision is even programmable, so you can use LCDs, which normally don't sync to PAL/50Hz (at the expense of perfect scrolling).
 

How would I go about connecting a CD drive up to the amiga? Would I be able to use any PC drive with an IDE connection?

Technically it's no problem, just a PITA having cables hanging out of your A1200, unless you want to hack something internal.

I recommend getting an IDE-Fix Express. It speeds up the transfer rate (probably at least 2x with an '030), and gives you extra connectors. I also recommend using a IDE->Compact Flash adapter CF card for your hard drive... silent, fast, small, and low power consumption.
 

Is Amiga OS 3.1 the same thing as workbench 3.1? And which would be the best, most compatible OS for gaming on an amiga?

Yes, basically they mean the same thing. Any OS is fine for gaming IMHO, but 3.1 is the best choice for stock or mildly expanded machines. You might want to check out Classic Workbench... takes a lot of the work out of building a nice configuration yourself, at least until you feel more comfortable dabbling on your own. Easiest thing is to format and configure the CF card on your PC with WinUAE, stick it in your A1200 and away you go.

 

I apologise about any stupid questions.

Your questions aren't stupid at all! Welcome to the forum, and enjoy your new A1200.

[Tension]

Welcome to Amiga.org -- You'll never leave!!

[tomv1to]

Hi thanks for your reply.

The accelerator card is the E-Matrix 1230/40Mhz Accelerator. Is that one OK? I can't get the link that you posted above to work sorry. I quite like the idea of using tis accelerator as I would like to use new old stock where possible and can get one of these unused.

I still have my old Philips monitor from my old A600 days and I assume it still works I still have the power cables and everything for it so I suppose the Indivision AGA would be a bit of frivilous overkill.

With regards to the CD drive I may just leave that out for now and the possibly upgrade to a tower at a later date if I really wanted to go much further. However I was looking at having a HDD in the amiga as opposed to the CF cards. Would using the IDE-Fix Express Buffered IDE help the access speeds of the HDD?

If I were to look at a tower I'd also be interested in looking at the graphics cards. Do they offer any huge gains in terms of performance? Or again is it just allowing the convenience of being to plug into an LCD? Would using a GPU cause in incompatibility issues?

And which graphics card would be best to use? I see most places citing the Voodoo cards being the best but I can't actually find any of those anywhere. Are there any other cards that would be compatible with the MEDIATOR PCI 1200 TX?

Would using the Mediator conflict with using the E-Matrix 1230/40Mhz?

EDIT: Thank you tension I don't think I will I've been scrolling through the forum most of the morning!

[Moto]

Welcome back. I just went through an A120 build a few months ago so maybe I can help.  I bought a 1200 system from Amigakit and they did a wonderful job configuring it for me.  Really top notch.

I was about to buy the E-matrix 1230 card from them but at the last minute somebody had a Blizzard 1260 card so I bought that instead.  I was looking for the ultimate accelerator but it came with a price.  I did research the E-matrix card and it seemed to be a good choice.  

I wouldn't bother with a CDROM drive.  What I really found to be most valuable was the 1) Indivision AGA for hooking up to VGA monitors, 2) PCMCIA CF-Card reader to swap files between my PC and the Amiga. 3) Internal CF-card hard drive 4) Cocolino PS2 mouse adapter so I can use an optical mouse.  

Other things that I added which haven't been as useful are:  USB adapter, PCMCIA wireless ethernet (not used because doesn't support WPA encryption).  I eventually picked up a 3com Etherlink III off ebay for $1.  

I don't have any experience with RTG (retargetable graphics) cards or the mediator as I left my 1200 in the original case.    It seems a shame to tower-ize a new 1200.  Maybe you should get a 4000T instead?

Good luck with your build out!

[tomv1to]

I remember really, really wanting an Amiga 4000T years ago. It just seemed like something to upgrade to as I had an Amiga 600 at the time. I didn't know much about the hardware because I was only young but I just remember seeing them in the backs of magazines and thinking wow, its got 4000 in the title, that must be so much better than mine.
 
I think what I'll do for now is spec an Amiga 1200 with the ethernet, e-matrix card and a HDD and maybe the IDE-Fix Express Buffered IDE (would Amigakit fit this for me?) if that helps performance with the HDD any and then if I really get bitten by the bug buy some parts to try and construct my own all singing and dancing Amiga 4000 at a later date. That way I'd have a professionally built system that works and then another one that would probably be unreliable but a lot of fun to tinker with.
 
The card reader also seems like a good choice as well so I might pop one of those in. With regards to the PS2 adaptor I think I'll leave that for now. I still have my old mouse and whenever I click with it the sound sends shivers of nostalgia racing through my brain. The indivision aga as well isn't so crucial because I do have my old monitor still from when I had the Amiga 600 (complete with Ninja of the Nth Dimension, Zool sticker set stuck all over it which has now saddly begun to fade.) I have a whole host of joysticks as well, but I think only one of the Quick Joy's work. I used to love the Cheetahs but I think I went through four of those and they all broke and my parents refused to be any more.
 
I'll also leave the CD drive for now as well.

[Moto]

Sounds good!  Yes, they'll install everything and test it there.  I would getting OS3.9 and the hard disk from them so they can pre-install and configure it for you.  It will save you a lot of work initially.   You are really set on the hard disk, eh?  The solid state hard drives are the way to go!

Good luck with everything!

[tomv1to]

Is OS 3.9 compatible with all games? Initially I am mainly concerned about playing some of the older games and would OS 3.9 be the best OS for that? Or would it be better going for one of the older versions of workbench like 3.0 or 3.1?

I have the G Skill falcon SSD for my PC. Its awesome. Think it might be a bit OTT for an Amiga though.

[Everblue]

The OS you have installed on the HDD doesnt matter as games bypass the operating system. Make sure you have kickstart 3.1 and installed the latest WHDLoad, and you're good to go!

[tomv1to]

Does that include games that are installed to the HDD?

[Everblue]

Hmmmm Good question. Honestly I don't know, but i don't think you should have particular problems. Keep in mind that HD installable games are a very small %.

[dougal]

Go for a Blizzard 1230 50Mhz or similar. The Blizzard is probably the best because it has a very fast memory controller and is ultra compatible. Add 32mb to the accelerator card.

Make sure you have Kickstart 3.1 so that you can at least enjoy Workbench 3.1.

A 2.5" Laptop HD or a CF and IDE adapter with at least 4gb so that you can install your OS, WHDLOAD and games and any other applications you may want to use.

A PCMCIA CF adapter is really usefull for transferring files to and from your pc and they are cheap.

If you intend on using OS3.9 i would really recomend a Scandoubler as the older 1084 and Philips monitors do not support any decent resolutions without horrible interlace.

Also, register your copy of WHDload so that you won't have that annoying delay of the shareware version. Its cheap to register and worth it.

[dougal]

Oh and unless you want to install OS3.9 i wouldn't bother with a CD-ROM drive. The only times i ever used mine was to install OS3.9 and never again.

But if you do want to add one then your cheapest option would be to get a special IDE cable (i think amigakit stocks them and they are cheap) and you will be able to connect a cheap/free/found in the garbage PC IDE cdrom drive.

[Everblue]

You dont even need a CD-ROM drive to install OS3.9. Just copy the contents to a Compact Flash card

A CD-ROM drive is needed to play T-Zero

[pwermonger]

You can install Workbench 3.1 with Kickstart 3.0, IIRC. Issue is, you don't get the full benefits of 3.1. Remember, 3.0 released WITH the 1200/4000 and first release of anything, though this was also a continuation of Amiga OS, is not necessarily free of bugs. 3.1 was a lot more compatable with older software than 3.0 was. Not to say it was in any way fully compatable. Any game that has issues with systems faster than a 68000 has nothing to fall back on in a 1200 which comes with the 020. This was why most accelerators for the 500/2000 had an ability to be switched off and why the 3000 was looked down on by some Amiga owners though it was a MUCH better system than a 2500 with like processor and HD controller.
HOnestly, to play games you dont need more than 3.1 ROMS and workbench. You dont need 3.9 and wont be using anything it offers most of the time.
It is mentioned that the 3.1 ROM had bugfix improvements and RTG improvements over the 3.0 ROM. I dont recall what other defeciencies you have running 3.1 workbench with 3.0 ROMs but there was something.