Amiga 2000 Technical Question

[Darrin]

This is the SCSI controller I have

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=1247

That's not the one I was thinking about.  That should be OK.

You're going to have a nice machine when you've finished.  

[bbond007]

I got the Amiga and Coleco systems for $150 total

i bet the CPU card alone is worth twice that on ebay...

congrats on a nice system!

[motrucker]

I don't think there is a 3.0 ROM for the A2000 (same as the A500) so just go for the 3.1. The 3.1 kills a few bugs that 3.0 had anyway - it's a better setup by far.
I have an A2000 with very similar specs, except that it runs OS 3.5 and larger hard drives. I use that for graphics work, DTP, and of course the occasional game.
BTW - do not loose that dongle in the joystick port. It may be needed for software already on your hard drive!

[mrnukem]

I don't think there is a 3.0 ROM for the A2000 (same as the A500) so just go for the 3.1. The 3.1 kills a few bugs that 3.0 had anyway - it's a better setup by far.
I have an A2000 with very similar specs, except that it runs OS 3.5 and larger hard drives. I use that for graphics work, DTP, and of course the occasional game.
BTW - do not loose that dongle in the joystick port. It may be needed for software already on your hard drive!

If I boot to the hard drive then use the WB 3.1 disk sets to upgrade will it over write the current version of work bench and leave the hard drive mounting sequence intact? I am afraid of accidently messing up the SCSI drivers for the hard drive when doing the upgrade.

[scuzzb494]

Sounds like the anti-piracy dongle that came with RoboCop3 to me.

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/car_0108/car120781.jpg

[scuzzb494]

If I boot to the hard drive then use the WB 3.1 disk sets to upgrade will it over write the current version of work bench and leave the hard drive mounting sequence intact? I am afraid of accidently messing up the SCSI drivers for the hard drive when doing the upgrade.

Personally I wouldn't upgrade. The computer is a classic machine and really the less you do to it the less likely you are to break stuff. The kit is getting real old now. Dunno if anyone mentioned the battery. Just hope you have checked and made sure its not leaking. I don't think you showed a picture of the front of the machine... Doesn't look like this does it ?

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/a_scuzz_jan05/a_scuzz_jan05_36.jpg

Just that I have the Quantum drive in mine...

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/car_0807/car_3108_002.jpg

Great thing about the Amiga is that you can simply copy the whole of your Workbench to another part of the hard drive and then if you upgrade and don't like it just copy it back.

http://www.gregdonner.org/workbench/wb_204.html

Can you verify that Workbench version by the way ?

The trick with older computers, if you do want the computer to survive is not to try too hard to make it into something it isn't. No upgrade really will give you the jump that makes you think it's getting more modern. The hardware just isn't up to it. So before you start fiddling and then bust something I would reflect on the classic nature of what you have and preserve and look after it. Well done.

[motrucker]

If I boot to the hard drive then use the WB 3.1 disk sets to upgrade will it over write the current version of work bench and leave the hard drive mounting sequence intact? I am afraid of accidently messing up the SCSI drivers for the hard drive when doing the upgrade.

Upgrading to 3.1 will not mess up your SCSI setup, or anything else. It will only replace the old workbench with the newer 3.1. Actually you will start by booting from the 3.1 floppy disk "Install" first, than just follow the prompts. It's a snap.
The only difference installing 3.5 is that you must already have a CD-ROM drive setup. I don't like 3.9, because it eats so darned much RAM.

[mrnukem]

Upgrading to 3.1 will not mess up your SCSI setup, or anything else. It will only replace the old workbench with the newer 3.1. Actually you will start by booting from the 3.1 floppy disk "Install" first, than just follow the prompts. It's a snap.
The only difference installing 3.5 is that you must already have a CD-ROM drive setup. I don't like 3.9, because it eats so darned much RAM.

I tried to upgrade to 3.1 with the Workbench 6 disk set and when I used the install to HD option it said I needed Kickstart 3.0 and would not let me upgrade, after that only option is to exit. Strange thing is I can boot to a 3.1 floppy and it seems to work just fine, even sees my HD still so for now just going to leave the OS alone and if something requires 3.1 I will boot using floppy and keep the 3.1 boot disk in my external floppy drive.

[mrnukem]

Personally I wouldn't upgrade. The computer is a classic machine and really the less you do to it the less likely you are to break stuff. The kit is getting real old now. Dunno if anyone mentioned the battery. Just hope you have checked and made sure its not leaking. I don't think you showed a picture of the front of the machine... Doesn't look like this does it ?

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/a_scuzz_jan05/a_scuzz_jan05_36.jpg

The case is the same but the name plate says Amiga 2000 and above that is a plastic Supradrive name plate that I assume the previous owner put on when they installed the Supra controller. When I had it open I checked for battery corrosion and it was clean, shot some canned air in it and in the power supply fan to clean it out too.

Just that I have the Quantum drive in mine...

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/car_0807/car_3108_002.jpg

Great thing about the Amiga is that you can simply copy the whole of your Workbench to another part of the hard drive and then if you upgrade and don't like it just copy it back.

http://www.gregdonner.org/workbench/wb_204.html

I backed up the HD partitions as an .HDF file via Amiga Explorer so have a back up of them on my PC.

Can you verify that Workbench version by the way ?


The trick with older computers, if you do want the computer to survive is not to try too hard to make it into something it isn't. No upgrade really will give you the jump that makes you think it's getting more modern. The hardware just isn't up to it. So before you start fiddling and then bust something I would reflect on the classic nature of what you have and preserve and look after it. Well done.

I just use the older computers for games and let demos run on them, not trying to do anything outlandish on the Amgia. I do admit to using my TRS-80 Color Computer 3 to play online MUD games via a serial cable and a serial to telnet bridge program on my PC...

I have a sizeable collection of vintage computers and do try to preserve them but I also do have 2 or 3 set up for use at all times and cycle them every few months. Right now Its the Amiga, Commodore 64 with uIEC SD card and Atari 130 XE with a SIO to RS232 interface for using disk images right off PC

Thanks for the info!

[motrucker]

What I told you will work fine - IF - you have the 3.1 ROM installed. None of that will mess up you setup however. Good luck
Go ahead and upgrade! 3.1 will make it much more user friendly setup, and it will still play games, and serious applications. Any old games that don't want to run on 3.1, just run Degrader and they will work.

[scuzzb494]

What I told you will work fine - IF - you have the 3.1 ROM installed. None of that will mess up you setup however. Good luck
Go ahead and upgrade! 3.1 will make it much more user friendly setup, and it will still play games, and serious applications. Any old games that don't want to run on 3.1, just run Degrader and they will work.

Still easier and quicker to just get an A1200 to do that. Harder to get an Amiga 2000 with a classic set-up. Not exactly the original but certainly closer to the purity of the 2000 era than the 3.1. I wouldn't swap out a 2000 for an OS that meant I had to ever degrade it, whether hardware or software. Leave it commando and save the classic computer for a future generation so they can enjoy what it was to use an A2000 with the OS as is. There really are way more convenient Amigas that can run 3.1.

I guess I am just sensitive to any prospect of breaking these beloved machines given that I have recovered way too many in my time from folk that had great ambition but gave up and detroyed the computer as a consequence. I am not suggesting any failure by the current owner I am just encouraging the guy with the classic car not rip out dashboard cus a more modern one looks better. It really is very hard to gets things back the way they were.

Everyone to their own I guess.

[smerf]

Hi,

Supra made a lot of scsi boards for different Amiga's, I had a supra scsi controller board in my Amiga 1000 and it was a top of the line scsi board. They ususally gave a little sticker that you put on the outside of the case so other Amiga users that looked at your unit knew that you were running a supra board inside your machine. By the way very nice A2000. If you have two drives in there you have room enough for four more drives on that supra board, remember on a scsi controller drive 7 is the board itself.

smerf