HEY GUYS! Help a brother out!

[Methuselas]

Okay, come January, which is only a month or so away, I've decided to forego buying a MUCH needed car and get an A1 board (shows where my priorites are  ;-)  I FULLY embrace my 'Geek-dom' status.) Now, I am only getting the motherboard, 'cos this will be a labor of love piece project. (You know, buy one piece at a time, until it's built.)

Okay, I'd LIKE to get the ram with the board, since Eyetech claim that the A1 uses specific ram types, but I can get ram dirt cheap here in my home town from a wonderful shop.

I'm assuming that I would be ordering the board from Software Hut, since I don't know who exactly is selling amiga boards here in the US. So, here are my questions.

1) 69$ for an upgrade to 512MBs of ram is a bit expensive to me. Can anyone TELL me what kind of ram they're using, so I can just BUY the ram outright, at cost prices? Question 2 explains why.

2) The G3 version is almost 100$ cheaper than the G4 version. Other than increased number, I have NO idea what that means, other than some GAY and RETARDED video clip I had to watch a few years ago, explaining how much better the G4 was over the X86. If I get the G4, I wouldn't buy ram from the aforementioned company, since I could get a 512 stick for WAY under 69$. Now, if there's really NO difference between the G3 or G4, I may as well buy the G3 and then get the ram to come with it.

3) It comes with onboard audio and ethernet. What about video card?? I'm a GeForce man, it's all I've used the past few years, so ATI is gibberish to me. What's the best card, for the best price? Basically, I want to use my tax return to get the Mobo and then get ram, video card and case with my play 'paycheck'. I hope to have it built within a month of the Motherboards arrival. I have a VENERABLE AGP Voodoo3 that I *THINK* is compatible with the A1, but I want  *POWER OVERWLEMING*!!!!!!

4) What other companies here stateside are selling the A1? I've had TWO experiences with softhut. One, which was YEARS ago on my old MKII Catweasel, was WONDERFUL. The other, which was a stock a1200 in 2000, was nothing short of a nightmare. It took me over a month and a half and a personal email to Bill to get them to send me a replacement Install and WB3.1 disks.

5) Has anyone had any problems with the Debain Linux install? I plan on using it soley until OS4 arrives, but no next to NOTHING about PPC Linux. ( I've only used Red Hat and Mandrake.)


I'd appreciate any and ALL advice you can give me.


TIA!  :-D

Madin

[mikeymike]

The best piece of advice I can give to start with is to subscribe to the amigaone @ yahoo list.

RAM has been a thorny issue seemingly, the official advice is to buy registered, branded RAM, but reports have been variable about unbranded, unregistered RAM working fine and branded registered RAM not working.  Again, see first paragraph :-)

Whatever you do, get the XE model, G3 or G4.  Then you can upgrade the CPU (to a G4 if you want).  Performancewise, a G4 will be signifcantly faster than a G3 though.  Don't think about either possibly beating a relatively recent x86 chip though, it'll only depress you.

Much as I hate myself for saying this, as I'm an "nvidia man" too, get an ATi card.  The 7000 seems to be the one of choice, but particular brands are a definite question to ask on the list about.

Forefront technologies AFAIK has a good reputation.  Other people will be able to give better advice in this department than me though.

Lots of people have had problems with the Debian install.  Again, see list.

[Seehund]

Why rush out and buy hardware before you "need" it and before you can use it the way you plan? (Presuming you're buying it to run AmigaOS.)

I'd recommend buying your Teron once AmigaOS4 is actually released.

Prices always go DOWN over time, not up, and nobody knows if the currently sold Terons also will be discontinued, with new models and configurations available, before AOS4 is released. Same thing with the other hardware you mentioned.

Your car, OTOH, is apparently "MUCH needed"...

[The_Editor]

Because if he buys the A1 MoBo now then he qualifies for the xmas beta release of Os4 ..

If you only intend to use ONE stick of ram ... You shouldn't have a problem.   I used an old 128mb stick I had lying around without problem...  If its you start using more than 1 module the problems could arrise.

[JetRacer]

The_Editor have a good point; don't mix SDRAM modules and you won't have problems.

1. There's absolutely _no reason_ whatsoever to use 512MB in combination with AOS4. It (AOS4) will probably not grab more than 10% after boot (unlike WinDoze 75%).

Win: 512=128
AOS: 512=500 (disclaimer: rough estimation)

:-)

2. In some specific cases the G4 (running G4 comiled code) is extremely fast. And I don't mean "just" twice as fast. In all other cases G4=G3. So the G4 is not overall faster, which makes it very difficult to attach a figure to it. The G4 should also have a faster FSB (allowing G4>G3), but don't quote me on that; it's not certain the mobo will allow use of the faster FSB speed.

3.Search Tom's Hardware (www.tomshardware.com) for performance comparizing, check with dealers which models are actually usable with AOS4.

5. Hahahahahahahahahaharrgh! ...Muhahahahaha! _cramps_ arggh! Gasp! Hahahaha!

Google laughing filter:

Linux is only to be installed with help from experienced users. Any first-use attemts to install is futile. Unless you're booting from a cd-image that is. Especially when we're talking installing applications when using PPC hardware since you most probably will have to compile the sources yourself.

[amigamad]

Mine seems to work ok with my cheap stick of 256 meg chip.

Because if he buys the A1 MoBo now then he qualifies for the xmas beta release of Os4 ..

And you get the complete os 4 for free when it comes out. :-)

[Dan]

amigamad wrote:
Mine seems to work ok with my cheap stick of 256 meg chip.

Because if he buys the A1 MoBo now then he qualifies for the xmas beta release of Os4 ..

And you get the complete os 4 for free when it comes out. :-)

For free???
There is no such thing as free lunch ( unless you are visiting relatives).
The cost of  OS4 is included in the price!
You never got Workbench for free neither.

[redrumloa]

Advice? Get a Pegasos and with the money you save get the car :-D

[The_Editor]

And end up cursing yourself for not getting Os4 (what you really wanted)  :-D

[NeRP]

#1: The type of ram can vary.  It seems that the tolerance to ram gets tighter the bigger size of stick you use.

IE: almost any 128 seems to work, whereas only specific 512 modules work.

So your answer to #1 can vary depending on how much ram you plan to use.

#2  I personally own a G4 version, but I am told that when you compare a G3 and G4 together, the G3 is actually faster at the same mhz - UNLESS you use the G4's Altivec.  When the G4 uses Altivec there is a very marked speed increase.

#3  I would personally just use the voodoo3 right now.  You already have it, and then your next video card buy can be to something that has great support in AmigaOS, not to mention the fact that video cards have a habit of plummeting in price.  There is absolutely no point in buying something now when there are no games out to use the power of the thing anyway.... not to mention possible support/driver issues of the latest greatest video card.

I have used an AGP voodoo3 2000 and a PCI voodoo3 3000 in my A1 running OS4, so it's already supported.  I really think that's your best bet now... use the voodoo now and wait.

#4  If you're weary of buying from softhut, look on Amiga.com for other AmigaOne dealers.  I bought mine from livewiresystems.com, and have got great service from them....

#5  Debian comes with a quickstart guide, and the CDs you need to install it.  The installation is simple, and you'd have it done in an hour.  It's the fun *after* that point that is trying ;-)

And finally....  if you're interested in running AmigaOS 4.x, the mention of "Pegasos" has zero credibility.  Pegasos is very unlikely to ever have AmigaOS running on it legally.

[Wolfe]

And finally....  if you're interested in running AmigaOS 4.x, the mention of "Pegasos" has zero credibility.  Pegasos is very unlikely to ever have AmigaOS running on it legally.

A real shame since the quality of the Pegasos seems to be a better piece of hardware.  Not to mention that the Amiga OS needs as many users as it can get.  This will hurt the Amiga community if true. :-?

[Monoxyde]

Wolfe wrote:
A real shame since the quality of the Pegasos seems to be a better piece of hardware.  Not to mention that the Amiga OS needs as many users as it can get.  This will hurt the Amiga community if true. :-?

Let's not be too gloomy about it. Both the Friedens and BB have mentioned the possibility. So unless something ugly has happened behind the scenes lately, I think there's a good chance we'll see OS4 on the peggy in the future.

I've decided to buy the AOne since it'll be the first new system to run OS4, and also because of my good experience with Eyetech in the past.

I'll also most likely get a peggy when/if OS4 is released for it, and donate it to my bro (which is still a student, the poor sucker ;-)
Heck, if I like it I might even keep the board for myself...

[NeRP]

"A real shame since the quality of the Pegasos seems to be a better piece of hardware."

I would *really* like to know where you got that impression from.

There are pros and cons to either, I would say, but to say that the Pegasos is "better" is hardly true.  When you buy either machine you are going to be giving up some features, and gaining others.

Note that I'm not saying the AmigaOne is better either, since I've got better things to do than start a flamewar.

[Methuselas]

Thanks guys!

I DO plan on getting a peg, but I wanna wait until PegII is out. The more computers I have in my house, the better and more nerdy I feel.

I was planning on getting 2 512 sticks. I usually get Kingston, 'cos they're most reliable in my experience. The more ram, the merrier.

I checked out Forefront and they have the Mobo 100$ cheaper than Softhut. I guess I'll do some shopping around to see how it goes. I've still got a month or so, before I can make my purchase.

Thanks again, all.

[Wolfe]

" I would *really* like to know where you got that impression from. "

Having inspected both boards up close, the Pegasos appeared to have been manufactured at a higher quality standard.

" There are pros and cons to either, I would say, but to say that the Pegasos is "better" is hardly true."

True, in part.  But the setup between the two was easier out of the box with the Pegasos.  Fewer compatability issues found first hand.

The real difference will be OS 4 being available on the AmigaOne and possibly not on the Pegasos.

No flamewar required.

I want a Micro A1 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !   :-D  :-D  :-D