Hello

[dr.mushroom]

Hey, everyone. I've never posted an introduction on a forum before, but  this time, I thought it might be fun, and perhaps a bit necessary. ; )  So here it goes.

I guess you could say I'm sort of a "Joe  Everyman." I was born in 1990. My first computer was a Packard Bell  running Windows 95, and up until a couple of years ago, I had never even  heard of Commodore or the Amiga. Moreover, until I began  learning about vintage computers, I never thought about things like DOS,  BASIC, operating systems, GUIs, or anything else that actually makes a computer.

So  how did I get here? Well, I've always had an interest in computers.  Growing up in the 90s, I can remember a time when computers were "cool."  Typically I remember seeing hip, skateboarding teenagers in dark rooms  with half-a-dozen monitors, furiously typing random lines and somehow  hacking mainframes or the like. It was always something that intrigued  me, but I never understood just exactly what the hell was going on. The  only thing my computer did was play solitaire. lol

Ultimately,  though, it was my love of video games that introduced me to Commodore,  Amiga, and vintage computers in general. Growing up, I had everything  from NES to PS2, but several years ago I started actively collecting  again, and it wasn't too long after surfing the net I stumbled upon the  Commodore 64. Something that apparently had quite a significant impact,  on the market and also people's lives, but I was totally unaware of.

About  a year later, I came across one in a thrift store and my journey into  this realm began. Since then, pretty much the way it's worked is: I come  across something I've read a little about, I buy it, and then I spend  days trying to figure it out. Currently, I have several different  machines, but it's the Amigas which seem to really peak my interest.

Basically  all of the above combined is why I'm here. I have quite a bit of  interest in the Amiga, but practically 0 experience with it, and I'm  hoping this is the place to learn. I've registered to a couple of other  sites, but the members there haven't been as helpful as I had hoped.

Most of my posts will be help-related. I apologize for any/all ignorance, and I thank you all, in advance.

[lassie]

Hey, everyone. I've never posted an introduction on a forum before, but  this time, I thought it might be fun, and perhaps a bit necessary. ; )  So here it goes.

I guess you could say I'm sort of a "Joe  Everyman." I was born in 1990. My first computer was a Packard Bell  running Windows 95, and up until a couple of years ago, I had never even  heard of Commodore or the Amiga. Moreover, until I began  learning about vintage computers, I never thought about things like DOS,  BASIC, operating systems, GUIs, or anything else that actually makes a computer.

So  how did I get here? Well, I've always had an interest in computers.  Growing up in the 90s, I can remember I time when computers were "cool."  Typically I remember seeing hip, skateboarding teenagers in dark rooms  with half-a-dozen monitors, furiously typing random lines and somehow  hacking mainframes or the like. It was always something that intrigued  me, but I never understood just exactly what the hell was going on. The  only thing my computer did was play solitaire. lol

Ultimately,  though, it was my love of video games that introduced me to Commodore,  Amiga, and vintage computers in general. Growing up, I had everything  from NES to PS2, but several years ago I started actively collecting  again, and it wasn't too long after surfing the net I stumbled upon the  Commodore 64. Something that apparently had quite a significant impact,  on the market and also people's lives, but I was totally unaware of.

About  a year later, I came across one in a thrift store and my journey into  this realm began. Since then, pretty much the way it's worked is: I come  across something I've read a little about, I buy it, and then I spend  days trying to figure it out. Currently, I have several different  machines, but it's the Amigas which seem to really peak my interest.

Basically  all of the above combined is why I'm here. I have quite a bit of  interest in the Amiga, but practically 0 experience with it, and I'm  hoping this is the place to learn. I've registered to a couple of other  sites, but the members there haven't been as helpful as I had hoped.

Most of my posts will be help-related. I apologize for any/all ignorance, and I thank you all, in advance.

Welcome here it always nice to here from someone who shares the same interese as myself. What computers/Consoles do you own now?

[dr.mushroom]

Thanks for the welcome, lassie.

For consoles I have the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii, Master System, Genesis, PS1, and PS2. Plus a few variants and duplicates.

For computers I have the C64 (and 64C), A1000 (just got for free a couple of days ago!), A1200, and a TI-99 with no software. Plus a few random, more "modern" ('94 - '99) machines that I've picked up at yard sales and what-not for storage and experimenting with Linux.

[Kesa]

Seeing you are new here i will give you some invaluable advice: Keep away from Darrin - he has the worst body odour in existence!  :insane:

[amiman99]

Welcome to the forum.
As you can see in my signature, I have almost all of Amigas in my collection, and countless of game systems. I have been Amiga user since 1990, back then PC sound and graphics was a joke, when I saw Space Ace running on A500 in Electronic Boutique, I was hooked.
Your A1200 will be perfect for your Amiga gaming needs, simple to transfer files between PC and Amiga. The A1000 is great for your floppy game fix.

Any questions just ask.

[CritAnime]

Which amiga do you own Dr? There are lots of great games for the amiga.

[rvo_nl]

Hi and welcome! Some personal advice, if you came to the Amiga for its games, get an Amiga 1200, add a harddrive, a copy of WHDLoad, an indivision and perhaps an accelerator board. You'll be able to play 99,5% of all games and can always upgrade to PPC to get to the remaining 0,5%

If you are interested in obscure operating systems, you are spoiled for choice on this platform.. Personally I would stick with the same machine and install AmigaOS3.9. Again you can later upgrade to PPC and run OS4.1 classic. But there are quite some alternatives, too. I hope you are ready to get confused and dive into it. The outcome is probably going to be good!

As for the Commodore64, look into the awesome Chameleon64 expansion. It turns your machine into the ultimate 8-bit machine.

[lassie]

Thanks for the welcome, lassie.

For consoles I have the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii, Master System, Genesis, PS1, and PS2. Plus a few variants and duplicates.

For computers I have the C64 (and 64C), A1000 (just got for free a couple of days ago!), A1200, and a TI-99 with no software. Plus a few random, more "modern" ('94 - '99) machines that I've picked up at yard sales and what-not for storage and experimenting with Linux.

Then we have some of the same machines I think i am a lot like you, i also had purchased many Computers i did not know about, and then tried my way with them. Here are my collection so far

Amiga 4000 030 18 mb ram, 16 giga hard disk
Amiga 2000 030 9 mb ram, 1 giga hard disk
Amiga 2000 68000 5 mb ram, 500 mb hard disk
Amiga 2000 68000 9 mb ram, 1 giga hard disk
Amiga 1200 Apollo 1230 34 mb ram 16 giga hard disk and 4 gig CF.
Amiga 600 4 mb ram, 4 giga hard disk
Amiga 600 1 mb ram, 60 mb hard disk
Amiga 500 1 mb ram
Amiga cd32
Commodore 64
Commodore 64c
Commodore 128
Commodore 128D
Atari st
Nintendo Nes
Super Nintendo
Nintendo 64
Sega master system 1 and 2
Sega mega drive 1 and 2
Sega mega cd
Sega 32x
Sega Saturn
Atari Jaguar
Playstation 1 and 2 and 3
Xbox
Philips Cdi
And some old pc

[som99]

Welcome dr.mushroom, I hope your experience with the Amiga will be great.
We will do our best to help you when you got questions

I see you have an A1200, tell us what you have for it and what you have done with it and what you expect from it

[k4lmp]

Welcome to the site!  I am kinda like you with Amigas, I did start my computing with a C64, but couldn't afford an Amiga in the day.  Now I have 2, and have owned them for less than a year.  I have did so many upgrades to my A2000.  This is something I enjoy doing, trying to change things and make them work.  I have learned so much here on this site.  People are so willing to help, it is great!  I wish I'd had an Amiga back years ago, and now, having been messing around with computers since the early 80's, I see how far ahead of its time the Amiga was.  Now, my job requires setting up servers, and PCs, and I use several OSs including Linux, MAC, Apple, Commodore, Amiga, etc.  I still am amazed at what the Amiga could do, and it is so sad, that corporate 'crap' caused its downfall.  Anyway, welcome to the site, and the amazing Amiga world!

[runequester]

Welcome aboard! Hope your stay is a good one

[ChuckT]

I guess you could say I'm sort of a "Joe  Everyman." I was born in 1990. My first computer was a Packard Bell  running Windows 95, and up until a couple of years ago, I had never even  heard of Commodore or the Amiga. Moreover, until I began  learning about vintage computers, I never thought about things like DOS,  BASIC, operating systems, GUIs, or anything else that actually makes a computer.

My first computer was a Commodore 64 I got for Christmas.  It opened up a whole new world for me and at the same time, computers haven't measured up for me since the days of Commodore.

Some of the lessons I've learned is that computers become obsolete by the newest and best thing.  They become obsolete in two or three years.

If you want to explore the C-64, there are a lot of manuals online:

http://www.commodore.ca/manuals/default.htm

There are a lot of free magazines here:

http://www.commodore.ca/gallery/magazines/compute/compute-magazine-1-43.htm

You can also get Compute and Compute's Gazette on CD from Ebay if it is too much trouble to download them all.

You can also download Vice if you want to run Commodore programs on your PC.

[Iggy]

Then we have some of the same machines I think i am a lot like you, i also had purchased many Computers i did not know about, and then tried my way with them. Here are my collection so far
 
Amiga 4000 030 18 mb ram, 16 giga hard disk
Amiga 2000 030 9 mb ram, 1 giga hard disk
Amiga 2000 68000 5 mb ram, 500 mb hard disk
Amiga 2000 68000 9 mb ram, 1 giga hard disk
Amiga 1200 Apollo 1230 34 mb ram 16 giga hard disk and 4 gig CF.
Amiga 600 4 mb ram, 4 giga hard disk
Amiga 600 1 mb ram, 60 mb hard disk
Amiga 500 1 mb ram
Amiga cd32
Commodore 64
Commodore 64c
Commodore 128
Commodore 128D
Atari st
Nintendo Nes
Super Nintendo
Nintendo 64
Sega master system 1 and 2
Sega mega drive 1 and 2
Sega mega cd
Sega 32x
Sega Saturn
Atari Jaguar
Playstation 1 and 2 and 3
Xbox
Philips Cdi
And some old pc

Can I come and live at your house?

[lassie]

Can I come and live at your house?

[dr.mushroom]

This kind of warm welcome is exactly why I decided to invest my time in amiga.org. : )

Welcome dr.mushroom, I hope your experience with the Amiga will be great.
We will do our best to help you when you got questions

I see you have an A1200, tell us what you have for it and what you have done with it and what you expect from it

With  the exception of a keyboard replacement, the machine is stock. I bought  it with a good bit of software - about 50/50 games and productivity,  plus about an equal amount of blank floppies (awesome), and the boxed  "Desktop Dynamite" package.

Actually most of my time with the  A1200 has been spent just trying to find a proper display. I'm in the  US, and my machine is PAL (luckily I was able to come across this  locally, so I avoided the shipping cost). At the time, all I had was a  1702, and a pair of 1902As, and I made the mistake of not considering  the difference between digital and analog RGB, or the difference in  connectors. (I wasn't kidding when I said this is new to me. lol) So  because I didn't have an analog RGB monitor, I really couldn't get any  of the games to run.

I decided NOT to use eBay because shipping  was a pretty consistent $50, and I'm sorry.. but no thank you. My  alternative was to post a wanted ad for "Commodore 1084 or Similar," and  within about 6 weeks, someone offered me their entire A1000 setup,  "Free to a good home." This included, but was not limited to, a boxed  1080. So, now that I have a proper display, I can start experimenting.

I'm  not really sure what I plan to do to it in the future. I'd like to  get an accelerator, but just because I have a game that generates  landscapes, and it takes a while. lol Honestly, I'm not even sure what's  possible.

Really I expect to just have fun trying to understand  it. Being a curious type of person, I get a lot of satisfaction from  figuring things out - and learning something foreign is a great way to  understand what(ever) happens to be taken for granted.

And, of  course, I like the look on my friend's faces when they say they stayed up all night playing Xbox, and I say, "I stayed up all night  trying to learn command-line interface." ; )