New A1200 to purchase - Recommendations

[darkage]

Hi All,

Well after lurking on Amibay for a few months seems like I bagged myself a Blizzard 030 IV.

I have spare FPU's and maybe some 72pin simms in my garage I got heaps of them in a corner.

So since I got an accelerator on the way,  the time is right for me to purchase a New-Old Stock A1200 from AmigaKit.    

I always wanted a A1200 ever since I first saw one when I was smaller, so hey cant beat new boxed A1200.

Just wonder what else I should purchase since I will be shipping to Australia so due to expensive postage would like to purchase everything I need.

Is it worth getting the subway USB controller?  I already have a Brand New Amiga mouse that I have hardly used.  hmm for flash drives etc.  I would imagine probably taking out the CF hdd replacement and updating it from my windows machine.    So how practical is USB on a 1200?

It it worth getting Indivision ECS for my A500.  I do have 2x workig 1084S monitors, but can see the appeal of saving on desk space with LCD.  Actually I would prefer to get Indivision AGA but that depends on another production run and since shipping so far why not for ECS.

Is it worth getting a FastATA Adapter?  Is there really any benefit from performance increase here?  I dont think their would be much difference from stock standard?

I think that covers the major hardware upgrades for the A1200.    Anything else thats worth purchasing, then let me know!

Thanks all!

[chusete]

Hi,

I have a subway in my A1200. Works well and it's very useful. I have an external CDROM connected to the USB and a card reader.

My problem is with whdload: With poseidon active many games do not work.
I'm copying the games from the cd to the hd, then turn off poseidon and play...

[DyLucke]

I have one of these Subway USB devices and i have to say it works way too slow on my 030 /50... Don't know if there's something wrong.

I got much better results using a CF-PCMCIA adapter, or SD-PCMCIA adapter.

For USB mice there's a guy on ebay selling USB adapters time by time for an affordable price,
better price than a cocolino adapter.

[ChaosLord]

Ger yerself a couple of PS/2 mouse adapters.  That way you can use fast, accurate, cheap, durable lasermice available at every store.

[NovaCoder]

Hi All,

Well after lurking on Amibay for a few months seems like I bagged myself a Blizzard 030 IV.

I have spare FPU's and maybe some 72pin simms in my garage I got heaps of them in a corner.

So since I got an accelerator on the way,  the time is right for me to purchase a New-Old Stock A1200 from AmigaKit.    

I always wanted a A1200 ever since I first saw one when I was smaller, so hey cant beat new boxed A1200.

Just wonder what else I should purchase since I will be shipping to Australia so due to expensive postage would like to purchase everything I need.

Is it worth getting the subway USB controller?  I already have a Brand New Amiga mouse that I have hardly used.  hmm for flash drives etc.  I would imagine probably taking out the CF hdd replacement and updating it from my windows machine.    So how practical is USB on a 1200?

It it worth getting Indivision ECS for my A500.  I do have 2x workig 1084S monitors, but can see the appeal of saving on desk space with LCD.  Actually I would prefer to get Indivision AGA but that depends on another production run and since shipping so far why not for ECS.

Is it worth getting a FastATA Adapter?  Is there really any benefit from performance increase here?  I dont think their would be much difference from stock standard?

I think that covers the major hardware upgrades for the A1200.    Anything else thats worth purchasing, then let me know!

Thanks all!

First off, congrats on your purchase

I'd say no to both the USB and the FastATA, not worth the hassle.

Basically a 1200, 030 with 16mb+ RAM & IndivisionAGA is a great little machine and capable of playing most games and running most software (including OS 3.9.

[rkauer]

I concur with NovaCoder: Subway and FastATA are for heavy users, not for gamers.

 Your best choice is the Indy, a Compact Flash PCMCIA reader (or a SD/5-in-1 memory card PCMCIA reader) and maybe a Surf Squirrel with the companion SCSI CD-ROM for CD32 games (remember to grab a CD32 joypad or equivalent!).

 Hours/days/months/years of fun!:D

[Gulliver]

My recomendations go against a subway (which is unbeareably slow) and not compatible with both games in general and some tcp-ip stack.
I would buy either a wifi or ethernet pcmcia card and conect it to your PC/Mac home desktop. In this way you will get fast transfers from one to the other with minimum trouble, avoiding removable parts (CF or SD cards).
Dont go for the FastATA adapter, it is really meant for high end systems, not for a gaming rig. It will eat nearly all your precious cpu cycles.
In my opinion, unless you are into the souped up A500 experience, which involves expensively upgrading your A500 system to the extreme, and running serious applications, I find there are plenty 16bit scandoublers much cheaper than the Indivision ECS.
For your Amiga 1200 there are cheaper scandoubling solutions, not so full feature though, but then there is no Indivision 1200 on sale.

So I would buy a PCMCIA ethernet or wifi (whichever suits you most)
and buy another scandoubling solution (70 USD if you know where to dig)

[dougal]

I agree here.

A very nice A1200 setup is:

- 68030 Accelerator card (Blizzard 1230IV is your best choice) - U dont even need an FPU
- 16Mb - 32Mb Ram
- Internal IDE hard drive or Compact Flash hard drive connect to the standard IDE
- PCMCIA compact flash reader. Easiest option Amiga-PC/PC-Amiga transfers.
- A decent Scandoubler/Flickerfixer (Indivision AGA1200 or DCE Scan/Flicker Magic
- WHDload and make sure you register it to get the full benefits.

With that setup you can even run OS3.9 comfortably, easily transfer your stuff to and from the PC/Mac and run practically all the games you want from WHDload.

Personally i wouldnt bother with the Subway USB. I have never had one and from what we seem to hear it has compatibility problems with WHDload, its slow, its expensive and i don't think many devices are supported by it.

[darkage]

I get the picture now.  Fast ATA interfaces steal CPU cycles, so its best to stick with SCSI addon for accelerator and add on SCSI <-> IDE adapter.

Subway USB, limited use.  Probably really useful for USB mice and external USB storage which isnt really required.

I guess people dont really get into Fast ATA interfaces unless they have say an 060. or is it still intensive on CPU still.

Whats classified as High End in Amiga terms?  I would think a A1200 with 030 would be starting to wander into that direction.  Or is that area only reversed for 040/060 equipped machines more namely A1200 or A4000 with video etc add on cards.

Im mainly getting this machine for the Workbench experience on updated hardware compared to my A500's   Also whdload is a nice touch.

[dougal]

I get the picture now.  Fast ATA interfaces steal CPU cycles, so its best to stick with SCSI addon for accelerator and add on SCSI <-> IDE adapter

Or you could use the A1200's own built in IDE controller if you are not fussed. Its not that bad.

Subway USB, limited use.  Probably really useful for USB mice and external USB storage which isnt really required.

And to make things worse, USB mice will only work in Workbench. Forget using them in games etc..

Whats classified as High End in Amiga terms?  I would think a A1200 with 030 would be starting to wander into that direction.  Or is that area only reversed for 040/060 equipped machines more namely A1200 or A4000 with video etc add on cards.

An A1200 with an 030 accelerator is a good start and will be very comfortable for general use and OS3.9. High end would be at least a 68040 or better an 060 and an RTG graphics card.

Im mainly getting this machine for the Workbench experience on updated hardware compared to my A500's   Also whdload is a nice touch.

Exactly, the A1200 with the accelerator and OS3.5 or OS3.9 is enough to keep you happy for quite a while

[ChaosLord]

Every USB mouse I have ever bought came with a free USB->PS/2 adaptor in the package.  So it is dead easy to use any USB mouse on any Amiga with any of the PS/2 mouse adaptors for the Amiga. :rtfm:

There is no need to buy a USB card to use an Amiga mouse.  By using a normal mouse adaptor any USB mouse is 100% compatible with all Amiga games.  Have fun!

[AndyLandy]

The critical upgrades for an A1200, as I see it would be:
Cocolino or equivalent mouse adapter.
4GB CF-IDE adapter.

Those, with your Blizz will make a pretty awesome A1200 rig. The only other thing you might conceivably want is a CD drive. You can either mod a slimline laptop drive into your A1200 and connect it to the IDE interface, or seek out a Squirrel SCSI and a SCSI drive.