Newbie seeks advise :)

[ck1200]

 Hi all thought I best introduce my self as I only registered on the site a few days ago J
 
Well I’ve always loved the Amiga series, but could only afford a c64 back in the early 90’s (my childhood) but now I have a a500+ and an Amiga 1200 that I really would like to start learning more about , my pc knowledge is ok , but I don’t really know allot about workbench./Amiga os.
 
So I’ m looking forward to checking the forum out fully and becoming a part of the community J.
 
 
Although I have allot of questions, I do have just a few relating to my a1200 and would be grateful if someone could shed any light on them?
 
 
 
* My 1200 does not seem to have a hard drive, can all 1200’s accept one, I’ve also been looking at cf drive’s around 8.0gb, do allot of people use these now?
 
 
*I’ve also been looking at upgrades ie: accelerator cards and ram upgrades, I notice the accelerator cards would slot in to the trap door under the 1200, is this also where a ram upgrade would be linked to? I.e. a you would either have upgraded ram or accelerator card with ram built in? (not both)
 
* And last but not least what was the last workbench or os that can be fittd to a non towerised 1200? I’m hoping os3.9 but have only seen this on cd -rom
 
 
Thanks in advance
 
Chris

[Homer]

Hi Chris,

Welcome to A.Org

1. Yes, A1200's have a header for a PATA 2.5" laptop drive, but any size above 4Gb means patches and so are harder to install. You would need the cable and the platform to fit it normally.
2. Yes, RAM card OR accelerator with RAM. 68030 with RAM works with most programs.
3. I believe OS3.9 will go on it, but I don't think there is much point unless you have a graphics card. I have OS3.5 on mine which works well.

[tokyoracer]

Hi thewre and welcome to the community, I am positive you will fit in well and besides, you have to start somewhere.

First things first, yes ANY 1200 can take a hard drive so long as it's 4GB (limited by the 3.0 ROM's or OS), you can get bigger but it will only reconize just over 4GB.

This moves me swiftly onto the OS which can fix this issue by using 3.9 or even 4.0 onwards if you have a damn good PPC setup. Any OS will work in any form of case, it's about the hardware you use not the case setup.

Finally yes the trapdoor slot is for your accelerator and yes most (if not all) Accelerators offer (usually SIMM type) RAM slots so you can upgrade the RAM too at a fairly cheap price.
My question to you is what will you be using your Amiga for? If it's games and general use (no OTT programes) then I'd get yourself a good 68030 Accelerator like mine in the 1200T (in my signature). If you are just mostly into hardcore programes and want a very fast machine then id look into 68060's or even a PPC if you can afford such a thing (which sadly I can't ).

I hope this helps you and good luck for your future in Amiga computing!

[ck1200]

Thanks very much for the Advise
 
I have been looking at the 4gb cf cards, but would eventually like an 8gb i think and yep gotta start somewhere , The 1200 i bought a few years back must have been the basic model ie: now hd, or urpgrades etc. i do still have the c64 lol, but am keen to upgrade the Amiga
 
I will mainly be using it for games music and few other prog's so will want it to have a later os pref 3.5 to start and hoping to settle on 3.9 , i've come across a few resources on the net and will keep an eye on e-bay, and look to get going after xmas
 
well i'm sure i'll have a few more Q's but will try and have a good scout around the forum first
 
Thanks Again
 
Chris

[koshman]

Hi Chris and welcome,
if you want to buy some upgrades, look at amibay.org first. You can get pretty good deals there + you're mostly buying from people who know how to take care of the HW so it is usually in VGC.

eBay is an option, but the prices there are recently V.E.R.Y. high (PPC card for $1500 WTF?!?) and you're more likely to be cheated by someone.

[pan1k]

Run 3.1. Why do you need 3.9? I run 3.1 all day and night on all of my Amigas. There are patches out there that will speed things up, but you should get an acelerator first, an 030 or 040 based with some Fast Ram will greatly speed up the machine. i'm going to get a Flash IDE module for my A1200 project. You don't need a PPC unless you want to futz with some of the raytracing or graphics packages.... a nice addition would be a Indivision so you can use any cheap monitor with your A1200.. Check AmiBay for the Accelerator!

[tokyoracer]

I will mainly be using it for games music and few other prog's so will want it to have a later os pref 3.5 to start and hoping to settle on 3.9

For compatability, Id stick to 030 accelerators in that case.

As for your OS, so long as you have 3.1 ROMs (best upgrade you can start with) I'd stick to OS 3.1 then go straight to OS 3.9. Not worth the hassle to go to 3.5 then to 3.9.

[ck1200]

Hi Chris and welcome,
if you want to buy some upgrades, look at amibay.org first. You can get pretty good deals there + you're mostly buying from people who know how to take care of the HW so it is usually in VGC.
 
eBay is an option, but the prices there are recently V.E.R.Y. high (PPC card for $1500 WTF?!?) and you're more likely to be cheated by someone.

Thanks! and will check the link out
 

Run 3.1. Why do you need 3.9? I run 3.1 all day and night on all of my Amigas. There are patches out there that will speed things up, but you should get an acelerator first, an 030 or 040 based with some Fast Ram will greatly speed up the machine. i'm going to get a Flash IDE module for my A1200 project. You don't need a PPC unless you want to futz with some of the raytracing or graphics packages.... a nice addition would be a Indivision so you can use any cheap monitor with your A1200.. Check AmiBay for the Accelerator!

Unfortunatly im only working off basic advise and things i picked up , i heard os 3.9 was the best running os and quickest so thought would work nicely with the accelerator but yes if 3.1 is ok also i will use this, and look at 3.9 as an eventual upgrade maybe
 

For compatability, Id stick to 030 accelerators in that case.
 
As for your OS, so long as you have 3.1 ROMs (best upgrade you can start with) I'd stick to OS 3.1 then go straight to OS 3.9. Not worth the hassle to go to 3.5 then to 3.9.

Thank's tokyoracer got you're title wrong in the first reply and this i'm not sure of it's been a short while since i powered up the 1200, as i mainly use the 500 for games at the min, i'm almost sure it say's 3.0 roms when requesting disk but must look
 
 
Again thanks for the good advise all

[pan1k]

If it's just games, find an 030, and indivision and WorkBench 3.1, a 4GB drive and you will be set...

[ck1200]

If it's just games, find an 030, and indivision and WorkBench 3.1, a 4GB drive and you will be set...

It will mainly be for games but hopefully a few other tasks as i get back in to the Amiga side of computing and start learning lol
 
will have a look in to some of these upgrades
 
I've never heard of indivision though but would like to link the 1200 up to a normal monitor or tft if poss
 
Chris

[Moto]

It will mainly be for games but hopefully a few other tasks as i get back in to the Amiga side of computing and start learning lol
 
will have a look in to some of these upgrades
 
I've never heard of indivision though but would like to link the 1200 up to a normal monitor or tft if poss
 
Chris

You can get the Indivision AGA from AmigaKit.com and a few other places.  It's a relatively new product so it might be tough to find it used.  I think there's other places that carry it as well depending on where your location is.

I have one for my 1200 and it works very well.  I use it with a 19" LCD and it works great.

[rednova]

Dear Friend:

I have had my amiga 1200 for over 10 years, and is still running good.
I have an 030 accelerator with 32 mb ram and a 2 gig HD, and is good enough for
everything amiga.
Actually, I mostly don't use my amiga for games, but mainly for computer animation.
I use aladdin 4d for 3d animation, and moviesetter for cartoon animation. I am learning both these programs and they are amazing for animation.
I also use amospro to program my own amiga games (find my games on aminet under -fernando bartra- ).
Yes, I do have the latest pc for use with lightwave 3d, and it is an amazing program for animation.
But I get my kicks off using my amiga to render 3d animations, using aladdin 4d. So it takes a few hours to render a drawing ? No problem, I still love it and some of the anims are of the highest quality.  The 030 is good enough to render anims...it just takes a few more hours to render.
The moviesetter is really easy to use...and you can make nice cartoons without rendering time.
Amos Pro is very easy to learn, and if you learn it you can make high quality games for amiga, akin to Valhalla.
I have no remorse about using my amiga for 3d animation...I actually love using it, even on a 030.
The 030 is decent enough to make animation. the 2 ghz PC is good for lightwave...but to me the 030 amiga is like a 'classic' machine for animation, and I intend to use it to the fullest, to make the most out of it.
For games..I just use my playstation 2, no need for amiga.
But I love using my amiga for animation.
My 2 cents...

rednova

[NovaCoder]

* My 1200 does not seem to have a hard drive, can all 1200’s accept one, I’ve also been looking at cf drive’s around 8.0gb, do allot of people use these now?

Yep an 8gb CF drive is a good size (4gb will also do).
 
 

*I’ve also been looking at upgrades ie: accelerator cards and ram upgrades, I notice the accelerator cards would slot in to the trap door under the 1200, is this also where a ram upgrade would be linked to? I.e. a you would either have upgraded ram or accelerator card with ram built in? (not both)

Yep that is correct.  If you just want to play games/demos and run OS3.1 you will mostly get away with a 4MB RAM card, otherwise you'll need either an 030 with at least 16MB or an 060 ($$$).
 

* And last but not least what was the last workbench or os that can be fittd to a non towerised 1200? I’m hoping os3.9 but have only seen this on cd -rom

Yep OS3.9 will run very well with AGA and an 030 and is a big upgrade over OS3.1.  You don't need a CDROM drive, just a PC with WinUAE and a CF reader.  You can use the PC to mount your Amiga's HD as the main HD under WinUAE and access the PC's CDROM drive....easy

[scuzzb494]

Hi

I read so many times of folk getting an Amiga and then needing to up graphics, ram, speed and drives. Remember that when the kit came out an 80MB drive would do just fine and no accelerator. You do need a minimum of 500MB of hard drive space with separate Workbench partition. 4GB is luxury for the small files you would be using and could be problematic. 2.1 would be fine. A Blizzard Turbo with SCSI if you could get one and 32MB RAM would eat everything. You need a graphics card with OS3.9 and CD drive so I would stay in the plastic and use 3.1 generally. With external SCSI you can add any SCSI box for extra hard drives, CD Drive and ZIP drive. Also you should try to get a high density floppy drive for the PC disks. Next up get an ethernet PCMCIA card and get on broadband. I use a Microvitec multisync 17" monitor. Difficult to get. Otherwise hunt out a scandoubler/flickerfixer. They fit in the case. Don`t forget to upgrade the ROM with 3.1.

Loads of stuff on my website under HELP with buying an A1200. Classic machine and great for learning script writing for programs. Look out for books on Ebay and get plenty of old Amiga magazines.

The Amiga is truly magical. I have all of em.. modelwise. Well nearly. Still love my A1200.

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

[NovaCoder]

Hi

You need a graphics card with OS3.9 and CD drive so I would stay in the plastic and use 3.1 generally.

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Nope, you don't need either to run OS3.9