Have Amiga but no disks

[joska]

Hi,

I recently rescued a nice little Amiga 600 from a dumpster It cleaned up very nicely and I would really like to play some games on it. I used to have an Amiga 500 for a while in the late 80's, but went back to the Atari ST as the 500 without HD was a real pain...

I have been an Atari guy ever since and has forgotten almost everything about the Amiga. I still remember the superior games though.

The 600 is completely original with no HD (but a cradle) and 1Mb RAM. I don't have any disks for it, and I understand that I can't create one on a PC either. It has the 37.299 kickstart so I need to upgrade before I can use a HD.

1. What is the recommended kickstart for games? Is the 37.300 the right one?
2. I want to run games from a CF-card on the IDE-bus. Do I need more RAM?
3. Can I find complete HD-images with Workbench somewhere?

Thanks

[Tenacious]

The 37.350 rom will allow larger HDs.  You can install KS 3.1 roms as well.

More ram is usually a plus.  You can add another 1 MB (for the maximum of 2 MB of Chip ram) and clock port to the trap door in the bottom.  There are newer trap door options, check out AmigaKit.  Without an accelerator, fast ram (upto 4 Megs) can be added to the PCMCIA slot.

I'm not aware of any legally free HD images with Workbench.  Best to find the original floppies (to match your chosen KS rom, Workbench2.1, or 3.1, etc) on eBay or similar.

[joska]

OK, this was a frustrating experience but I'm (almost) there now. I used WinUAE to set up a CF-card, and got a Kickstart 37.300 ROM to replace the 299-ROM.

1. It was a bit difficult to get hold of WB 2.x. I finally found a set but the install-disk was corrupted. Piratebay then helped me to find images of 2.1, but also with a corrupt install-disk... Due to this I was unable to install Workbench the proper way.
2. I downloaded some freeware (?) HD-formatter from aminet, this tool (which I can't remember the name of) formatted the card in no time and started to install Workbench from the corrupted install-disk...
3. I manually copied the Workbench-floppy to the now-booting CF-card. I must say that Workbench 2 is not a very good desktop...
4. Downloaded tracktool and some games and copied to the CF-card.
5. Connected the CF-card to the Amiga for the first time. It booted and I could write ADF-files to floppy with no further problems

My biggest problem right now is that the mouse sucks. I have to build myself an optical Amiga mouse, and also a SCART cable for my TV. The 600's composite signal is pretty bad.

Next step: Upgrade to 2Mb chip-RAM and test WHDload.

[runequester]

You can get adapters to use a PS2 mouse, as a lot of the old amiga mice are in pretty bad condition.

[joska]

You can get adapters to use a PS2 mouse, as a lot of the old amiga mice are in pretty bad condition.

I know, I've made one myself for my Falcon and Firebee However, I prefer to convert a "real" mouse to optical instead of using a boring PS/2 mouse.

[runequester]

ahh, good luck!

[nyteschayde]

Another option that may make more sense if gaming is your real goal, is to get one of these: http://torlus.com/floppy/

This would plug into your floppy controller (replacing the floppy itself) and allow you to use SD cards to boot ADFs directly from the SD. No more floppies. No wasted space. No hard drive needed.

Since you would be booting into the games themselves, you may also not even need more RAM since most ECS games that I'm aware of don't need more than 1MB of RAM

Just a thought.

[joska]

Another option that may make more sense if gaming is your real goal, is to get one of these: http://torlus.com/floppy/

This would plug into your floppy controller (replacing the floppy itself) and allow you to use SD cards to boot ADFs directly from the SD. No more floppies. No wasted space. No hard drive needed.

Yes, I have considered this. Maybe I'll buy one if I end up using the Amiga.

[darkage]

Yes, I have considered this. Maybe I'll buy one if I end up using the Amiga.

If you have a soft spot for retro classic games and would love to revisit your childhood then you definitely will buy one (:

[kedawa]

I actually like using floppies on my A500.

I'd like to set up a floppy emulator in an external enclosure, like the A1011, just to have a means of getting stuff from my PC to my A500 and vice versa.
Ideally, I'd like a device that connects directly to the floppy port and emulates DF1, DF2, and DF3 simultaneously, but I've never seen one, and I'm not sure if I could build it myself.

[Paulie85]

Hi,

I recently rescued a nice little Amiga 600 from a dumpster

Thanks

I was out walking once when I spotted an Atari ST in  a dumpster.
I pissed on it and then kept walking.

[bloodline]

I was out walking once when I spotted an Atari ST in  a dumpster.
I kept walking.

I picked it up

[pyrre]

I know, I've made one myself for my Falcon and Firebee However, I prefer to convert a "real" mouse to optical instead of using a boring PS/2 mouse.

Sorry to bulge in to this tread....
But how the he.. do you convert original amiga mouse to optical?
I've been wanting to that for a very long time.