What should i buy as my christmas present?

[koshman]

Well, Mediator isn't cheap (not surprising for a piece of classic Amiga hardware ), but if you consider that you can get, let's say, Voodoo3, PCI ethernet card, Terratec 128i practically for free and then think how much you would pay for Cybervision/Picasso IV, XSurf, Tocatta, all of which are arguably worse than their PCI counterparts, all of a sudden it doesn't seem that expensive. And you can also buy Prometheus for ~€110...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your Christmas present whatever it will be

[alexh]

6. Something else

Get your 1240 upgraded to an 80MHz 1260. If it is an Apollo get a second SIMM socket too. Will cost far less than $300 and it will make it fly. Plus it opens a world of 68060 only games & demos.

Get the SCSI module for your 1240 and an SCSI->IDE adapter ($30) this will unload the CPU for disk activity and make it a whole heap faster.

If you don't already use SFS switch to it or buy PFS3 either one will make hard disk access MUCH faster than standard FFS.

[recidivist]

First question is are you wanting to use only Amiga?What do you want from computer?

 $300 will buy new PC with Win 7 as smerf says;his options make sense economically even if his posts comes across as anti-Amiga.And the PC will let you run a very nice Amiga Forever emulation.
 
 If you want lots of free programs that will let you do nearly everything then Linux on PC is very good;Linux is still available for older Mac PPC so a Mac G4  would allow you to run  Linux,Mac OS and soon? MorphOS .

 If you want modern Amiga hardware then SAM IS the official Amiga solution despite the rather high price.

 If you want classic Amiga WITH improvements then Mediator etc is your path.

[recidivist]

I forgot to note than one can also run Virtual PC on a Mac G4 and thus run other OS  from DOS to Windows XP pro.So one machine could be MacOS/Windows/Linux/MorphOS.

[tokyoracer]

6. Something else

Get your 1240 upgraded to an 80MHz 1260. If it is an Apollo get a second SIMM socket too. Will cost far less than $300 and it will make it fly. Plus it opens a world of 68060 only games & demos.

Get the SCSI module for your 1240 and an SCSI->IDE adapter ($30) this will unload the CPU for disk activity and make it a whole heap faster.

If you don't already use SFS switch to it or buy PFS3 either one will make hard disk access MUCH faster than standard FFS.

I second that, or better sell your 040 and put it towards a top flyte 68060 card.

[Gulliver]

My 040 cannot be easily upgraded, or at least that is what i think:
It is a Macrosystem Falcon 1240 wich originally had a 25mhz 040, that i upgraded to a 40mhz one and changed the oscillator accordingly.
It is supposedly an upgradeable board to a 68060 50mhz, but i never saw anyone upgrading one, nor even have instructions on how to do it

By the way i have it running at 41.5mhz with 64MB of FastRam!

[Homer]

If you have any money left after the pressie buying, can you buy some happy pills for smerf :roflmao:

[alexh]

My 040 cannot be easily upgraded It is a Macrosystem Falcon 1240

You never found out how to upgrade it?

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showpost.php?p=515291&postcount=9

By the way i have it running at 41.5mhz

Pales into insignificance next to even a 50MHz 060!

[cv643d]

I suggest get a next-gen Amiga to find out if it is something you like. Cheapest option is an AROS machine, believe me, I have tried them all, AROS is maturing very fast and already looks just like 4.1.

AROS lacks community feeling IMHO (its going to grow, so in a way, be here early and become famous then) so I can be sure I know you would like MOS or 4.1 instead, I suggest go for MOS, it is much cheaper option with better hardware than 4.1 IMHO, but 4.1 is blessed with a somewhat constant stream of apps which is more clear and easier to approach if you are not into these kind of stuff.

If you really, really feel like you can not live without MOS after at least a year of constant usage I would suggest you to try out 4.1 too (do not listen to the silly camps, or me for that matter lol), then make up your mind which one is best.

Dont make the misstake of blowing 1000 dollars on a next-gen Amiga becoming your high-end paperweight before you know if the passion is there, and even if the passion is there lack of leadership from the leadership of the new Amiga can be a frustrating experience.

Do not sell your 68k Amiga. Next-gen Amiga is only a compliment to them, not a replacement.

[TheMagicM]

#2 and never look back.

[smerf]

It really depends on what you are interested in doing with a computer?

1st thing to do is "ignore smerf", he constantly spouts the only good Amiga is an emulated one with Linux, or Windows running underneath it on new PC hardware that will be out of date before you can get it home and will probably break down within the first year or two.  Unless you choose his suggestion to run Linux, you will be asked to upgrade the Windows OS every couple of years or so, with the promise that this version has fixed all the past problems and that it will make your life wonderful because you can now do what most competent computer users could already do a few years ago already, if they only took the time to learn how to do it. (now before you come on here and laugh at my "out of date before you can get it home" remark compared to how out of date any Amiga is, they are obviously two completely different things.  One is supposed to be modern and up to date and the other is either a retro-classic antique computer system, or the "Next Gen" versions are a tiny, almost non-existent niche hobby system that can in no way shape or form compare to any modern PC, or Mac system.  So, now on to your list.

1) Mediator for A1200 - if you currently enjoy your A1200 and want to expand it so you can use cheap Ethernet cards, a better graphics card, a sound card and maybe a TV tuner card, then the Mediator might be a good choice, though not a cheap choice (nothing in the World of Amiga purchasing is a bargain, nor has it been for a very long time, although I personally think getting a used G4 MacMini at a good price and purchasing MorphOS2.4 license is very close to being a bargain compared to the rest of the Amiga market).

2) MorphOS2.4 on a G4 MacMini - I have a 1.5GHz G4 MacMini with a licensed copy of MorphOS2.4 running on it and have to tell you that it is the closest thing to feeling the same excitement I felt when I bought my first used A1000 in 1987.  It still needs more apps and games (needs more developers and users), but it is really very usable for many things now and the OWB browser is rather good and pretty fast on my G4 MacMini.  It runs most Classic Amiga software very well if it does not bang the hardware, and it can run EUAE for those programs and games that do bang the hardware.  I can easily recommend this option without any reservations.

3) Buy a used G4 PowerMac and wait for MorphOS2.x to support it - I can't fault this choice for most of the same reasons for #2 above, but I don't see too much advantage for the wait, unless you can get such a PowerMac for a lot less than you can find the G4 MacMini.  It has been confirmed that MorphOS2.4 runs very well even on the slower models of the G4 MacMini and even with multiple screens open, the lower 32mb graphics card models do not seem to have any problems running out of VRAM, but this may not be the case if you want to run every screen in 24bit and you have a very large LCD and are using 1920x1080 resolution.  I do not know, as I have the 64mb VRAM model, but I can say that running at that 1920x1080 on my 23 inch Acer LCD, or 1600x1050 on my 20 inch Dell LCD, I have had no issues with low VRAM at any time with many screens open at the same time.  That being said, having the option to use a 128mb VRAM 9000, or 9250 graphics card in a G4 PowerMac is an attractive option to have for the future, so I have already started keeping an eye peeled for a REALLY LOW price for a G4 PowerMac and will probably get one some day, unless the MorphOS Development Team announces that they have decided to support the G5 PowerMac models before I find a free, or very low priced G4 PowerMac model to buy (they have already said that this will probably never happen, so don't take me wishing for it as any indication that it ever will happen).

4) $40 upgrade to PC for AROS - I can't really say anything one way or the other about this choice, as I am not up to speed on anything to do with AROS, or it's Sister ICAROS.  I have never run either of them, though I have downloaded the ICAROS iso and plan to take a look at it in the near future.  This is your lowest cost option and many would say the smartest choice from a monetary point of view.  I can't disagree with that logic.  The OS is free and the hardware is lower than any of the other options.

5) Sell your existing Classic Amiga collection to purchase a SAM440 system - Like you, this is the least attractive option to me, but there are many others that love their SAM440 systems and would disagree with both of us very vigorously.  I am hopeful that AmigaOS4.x will prosper and continue to improve over time, as although I would rather have all AmigaOS4.x, MorphOS2.x and AROS users and developers back together working on and for one common OS, instead of having our small community split into even smaller sub-communities, it just isn't going to happen (not in my life time anyway).  So, with this being a fact of life, I actually see the competition between the three different OSes as a good thing, as it drives each group to try to out do each of the others, because programmers (at least most of the ones in our small community) are prideful ego driven ba$tards who want to show that they are better than their counterparts in the opposing OS development teams.  I can't wait until I have learned more about programming so I can become just like them,  :roflmao:but I am getting off topic.  Unless you are hung up on having the "Official" Amiga trademark attached to your OS, I think that AmigaOS4.x and MorphOS2.x are very similar in what they can do at this point in time.  The MorphOS2.x benchmarks have been shown to be faster than AmigaOS4.x on the same hardware and to give MorphOS2.4 an even bigger edge in terms of speed, the architecture of the G4 MacMini has been shown to be almost twice as fast as a similarly clocked G4 Pegasos2 machine.  This coupled with the low price that you can find G4 MacMini's for makes the choice between an AmigaOS4.1 SAM440 system and a G4 MacMini MorphOS2.4 system a very easy decision to make, but your mileage may vary and I know that many AmigaOS4.1 SAM440 users are very happy with their decision and I don't fault them for their happiness in that choice.

6)Other - PC's are very cheap now and if you can't afford the space for two systems, or you can't afford to waste money on having two different kinds of systems, doing as smerf said and getting a new PC, or even an almost new PC and putting AmigaForever/AmiKit/AmigaSys/WinUAE/Linux & EUAE on it is a valid option.

As I started this long post with, it really depends on what you want to do with it.  There are still some things that a Classic Amiga is best for, if you still enjoy that retro world and running all those thousands of apps and games on something you can only get that old feeling you once had from again.  I guess Amiga mod music is one thing that having a Classic Amiga is still good, if not best for.  Hope you got some help from my long reply, or at least some entertainment value.

HI,

@amigadave,

yak, yak, yak , yak, yak

smerf

[smerf]

What should i buy as my christmas present?

The thing is that i have 300 USD burning a hole in my pocket, and are in the fate of becoming my Christmas gift.
So basically i am having some problems on deciding where should that money be spent. I have narrowed down the  choices to:

1-Buy a mediator for my 040 Amiga 1200
2-Buy a mac mini (Maybe install Morphos)
3-Buy a Power Mac G4 (Double mirrored drive) (and maybe install Morphos for it when available)
4-Spend only 40 USD in expansions to make my old PC AROS capable
5-Sell my Amiga+accelerator+miggy stuff to buy a SAM (This option is the most underrated by me)
6-Something else




What would you do?

Hi,

WOW!

Did I get some strong answers, whew, put me on the hit list.

Anyhow,

@Gulliver,

I am currently building an Amiga 1200 Tower,

I started buy buying an Amiga 1200 and a Blizzard ppc board off of a person at a yard sale. He said he had never heard of an Amiga computer and could not get anything to run on it since it didn't have a cdrom. He originally got it off his dad when his dad passed away and really didn't have time to check it out. I took a look at it and told him it was missing the bottom trap door and asked him if he had it, he said no, I then told him that without the trap door, the value of the A1200 really dropped since most collectors wanted a whole Amiga and that the value really dropped because of a missing trap door. He then sold it to me for $5.00 just to get rid of it. So I took it home and began planning my tower. Now did I cheat this guy, not really since there where about 500 people before me who really didn't know what the Amiga was and wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

Now my plan is:

1. Buy a Lyra keyboard adapter to use PC keyboards on my tower.  Thank you red for the purchase.

2. Look for a new idefix product so I can run a CF drive and a cdrom. R U listening RED, Amigakit has one, but I am waiting for a better price from you.

3. In a couple of months buy a Bvision board. (Have to save don't you know).

4. Buy a wifi for the Amiga.

5. Buy a USB card.

Now I also looked at the mediator, but I don't know if Plan A above, or the mediator would be better.

OK there is my plan.  I am sort of going with the Bvision because I hear it is a good match with the Blizzard card, which is a 250mhz, with an 040/40 processor.

And no I don't talk with a nasal accent. I just do a lot of good redneck barginning which I learned down the South don't ya know, in good old Florida, now I am stuck in yankee land, where they are all crooks, the only thing worse than a yankee is a Canadian, they further up North don't ya know.

smerf

[smerf]

Hi,

@tokyoracer,

" Amiga fan based webste and basically say everything Amiga related is s**t"

Never said that,

What I said was that the Amiga was dead and software is no longer being developed for it, and in a round about way said that you would be better off buying a new PC and putting WinUAE from Amiga Forever on it, then if you want upgrade AF with Amikit. By looking at his post and him saying that he had only $300 to spend I believe that this would be the best way to go for now. I own an Amiga 4000, A500, CD32, A3000, and a A1000.  I own over 3000 Amiga games and 2000 misc programs (Art packages, word processors, desktop pub, spreadsheets etc.) for my Amiga's, and still look at ebay and purchase programs that I see that I don't have.

Do I think Amiga is sh**t, no, it is just dead, thanks to our fearless leader Bill M. the Amiga has no leadership, no developement in either hardware or software. The software hurts the most because without it no computer or gaming device can exist for long.  Bill M. says he is a software developer, where?

smerf

PS forgot my newest member an A1200 with a Blizzard PPC board.  Read my one post and weep.

[amigadave]

@smerf,

Good reply to my post, :lol:  you have PMail.

[smerf]

Hi,
@ cv643d,

Hey I tried AROS several times,

I can't get it to install on any of my computers, I downloaded the instructions, read them followed them step by step and still failed. It seems I am missing something in hard disk tool box. I case you are wondering I own several Amiga's and several PC's . AROS has to make installation easier or else people give up on it and go in other directions, I chose Linux and have been using it for the past 10 years, or since the original Red Hat came out, I purchased it way back when.

So, How the heck did you get AROS to install on your hard drive?

smerf

[smerf]

Hi,

@Amigadave,

Never said how long ago or how I got my PPC card or A1200. This is just one of those projects that is still in work

smerf