New to Amiga. Advice needed

[DarkXavier]

Hi
After being amazed by the Amiga after watching youtube videos. I thought it would be a good idea to get myself an Amiga 1200.

This is what I purchased.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270695318477&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

It eventually arrived today. Slight yellowing on some of the keys, but apart from that pretty tidy.

Hasn't come with any workbench disks, only games. Have I paid to much for it? Are the original system disks easy to come by?

Sorry if I sound stupid. Just a complete noob when it comes to this system.

[Amiga_Nut]

Welcome to the club

If you want to just play games then you don't really need them. They are easy to find on the internet but as PCs can't write Amiga floppy disks it's a bit of a pain to turn them into real disks.

I am sure a helpful person will offer to supply you with a copy of what originally came with the machine in 1992-5 etc ie the 5 Workbench 3.0 disks. You are entitled to one set of Workbench 3 disks with each A1200 for those crying 'piracy' here.

[Khephren]

Hi DarkXavier, welcome to the boards!

If you have any funds, get yourself an IDE to compact flash adapter, with a decent sized CF card. Probably only cost £10-20.

You can then set up the compact flash as an Amiga hard drive from a PC running the WinUae emulator, and put the operating system on that way, along with a load of games.

Many Amiga games are HardDrive installable. Those that aren't can often be installed buy purchasing the WHDload package. I'd do a lot of that via  a PC/Mac as well.

Hope you have fun on your Amiga journey!

[brianb]

Nice buy...   Not sure the specs on it, but here is my 2 cents...   It's a fun system to upgrade/hack around with...

- Find yourself some workbench 3.0 disks
- If it doesn't have one, I'd suggest installing a Hard Drive or Compact Flash drive.  I went with a 2GB CF card and a IDE to CF card adapter.  It's fast and makes no noise, and being solid state hopefully less prone to failure.   Using floppies, unless your big into the nostalgia, is slow, cumbersome, and have a high failure rate.
-   Check out WHDLoad...  It allows you to quickly run games from your hard drive, even if they were never designed for HD installation.   It takes all the hassle out of running most games.  Even with the original floppies at my disposal I download and use the WHDLoad versions instead because of the convenience.   http://www.whdload.de/         Game packs are available on the internet but I won't post links here as it might be frowned upon.
- If you can find one and have the money pick up an Indivision AGA board.  Just pop this card into your 1200 and you have a standard VGA port that is compatible with all modern monitors.    
- At least try to find a memory expansion board for your trap door slot.   They are fairly inexpensive.  Or better yet pickup a memory expansion and accelerator board.  Like the Blizzard 1230 Mk-IV.   Gives you additional memory slots and the more powerful 68030 50MHz cpu.

[Franko]

Hi
After being amazed by the Amiga after watching youtube videos. I thought it would be a good idea to get myself an Amiga 1200.

This is what I purchased.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270695318477&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

It eventually arrived today. Slight yellowing on some of the keys, but apart from that pretty tidy.

Hasn't come with any workbench disks, only games. Have I paid to much for it? Are the original system disks easy to come by?

Sorry if I sound stupid. Just a complete noob when it comes to this system.

Dang, I was bidding on that one too...  (is it working OK)

It was the yellowed keys that made me drop out, but it's good to know it's went to someone who will appreciate it and not one of them buggers that buys and resells them at twice the price...

The disks could easily have been obtained until yesterday from around these parts, but because of some certain whingers here that's no longer the case...

You never know some kind generous soul round here might just help you out for free...

[DarkXavier]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I have fitted an 4gb CF card and a Blizzard 1230 IV with 64mb ram. Makes a big difference! Been enjoying playing classic games like Agony and Carrier Command.

[runequester]

Congratulations!

Always fun to see new people get into the amiga.

[the_leander]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I have fitted an 4gb CF card and a Blizzard 1230 IV with 64mb ram. Makes a big difference! Been enjoying playing classic games like Agony and Carrier Command.

Nice setup!

[runequester]

oh, as far as the price, 60 pounds seems perfectly reasonable for a basic 1200

[JC]

Welcome aboard.