Resurrecting an Amiga 3000

[mcostanza]

I have an Amiga 3000 030/50 maxed out with RAM. I want to update it as much as possible which includes installing OS 3.9 and getting it on the Internet. I already have the 3.0 ROM's installed and working. Below are the individual projects that I would like to accomplish. Recommendations would be appreciated.

SCSI to IDE bridge (A3000). Any recommendations on cards that are proven to work?

IDE CF drive. Should be a no-brainier. Attach to the SCSI to IDE bridge.

IDE CD Rom drive - Device #2 attached to the SCSI to IDE bridge

Network Card - Zorro based network cards to ridiculously priced. Any alternatives for an A3000?

Display Card - I'm on the fence with this one. My previous experience with a 3rd party display card and Picasso 96 was mixed. Some Workbench programs ran fine in higher resolutions. Programs that ran at native Amiga display modes did not promote correctly. I figure I will just stick with the classic Amiga display modes. Or maybe the Indivision display enhancer?

That's it for now. Comments on the existing projects above or additional projects for the A3000 to consider?

Thanks!

[Kernel]

I use  a DENEB USB card and a NetGear 10/100 usb dongle with mine.  It's an older model before they shrunk down to the size of a USB stick, but I believe there are a few others that will work also.

I'd really like to find a wireless USB stick that will work with the USB stack but from what I have heard thus far, the newer chips they use are not supported... plus I suppose we'd need a WiFi prefs tool as well so I guess it makes sense.

[mcostanza]

Good info. What version of the Amiga OS are you using with the USB Controller and the NetGear Ethernet dongle for compatibility?  3.1/3.5/3.9 ?

Regards,

[matt3k]

Hi,

I went a different direction instead of CF, I would recommend you go with SATA SSD.  For 50 bucks you get 50 gigs with autotrim.  IMHO a much better value than CF.  I went with the Acard 2000 SUP SATA to SCSI Bridge, new on ebay they go for about $200.  You will not see any speed real speed difference on the 3000 scsi ,but it works without issues and I have great luck with them.

SCSI CD's are dirt cheap, plug it into the external scsi and be done with it.  

For a nic, you can buy a new X-Surf 100 for just over $100.  I would go that route.  For the same money you can get a Ariandne 1 (Not the II).  For LAN use and going to the very few websites that work well on a classic, it will give the best results.  Going cheaper will, imho, will just give frustration.  

A Decent video card (Cybervision 64, Picasso IV, or Retina BLT Z3) make a HUGE performance difference on the Amiga.  You will not regret buying one.  The lower end cards work, but are much slower than the three I mentioned. Did you use newmode with your old video card?  If the program doesn't work well with RTG, just let it go to the chipset.  If you go with a CV64, Cybergraphx is a better choice.  CGX is also more friendly with Amiga screens and uses less memory.  

My approach to the Amiga is buy the right stuff and enjoy the speed...  

Good luck!

I have an Amiga 3000 030/50 maxed out with RAM. I want to update it as much as possible which includes installing OS 3.9 and getting it on the Internet. I already have the 3.0 ROM's installed and working. Below are the individual projects that I would like to accomplish. Recommendations would be appreciated.

SCSI to IDE bridge (A3000). Any recommendations on cards that are proven to work?

IDE CF drive. Should be a no-brainier. Attach to the SCSI to IDE bridge.

IDE CD Rom drive - Device #2 attached to the SCSI to IDE bridge

Network Card - Zorro based network cards to ridiculously priced. Any alternatives for an A3000?

Display Card - I'm on the fence with this one. My previous experience with a 3rd party display card and Picasso 96 was mixed. Some Workbench programs ran fine in higher resolutions. Programs that ran at native Amiga display modes did not promote correctly. I figure I will just stick with the classic Amiga display modes. Or maybe the Indivision display enhancer?

That's it for now. Comments on the existing projects above or additional projects for the A3000 to consider?

Thanks!

[Kernel]

Good info. What version of the Amiga OS are you using with the USB Controller and the NetGear Ethernet dongle for compatibility?  3.1/3.5/3.9 ?

Regards,

Running OS3.1 - but I do intend to run OS 3.5 and OS 3.9 at some point in a multi-boot fashion.

[Matt_H]

Something to be aware of: SCSI to IDE converters aren't per bus, they're per device. So you'd need two of them: one for the hard drive and one for the CD drive. And they're expensive. Probably cheaper/easier to grab an old external SCSI CD drive. You can't mount the CD drive internally anyway.

As for the video card, it sounds like you want an RTG card with passthrough capabilities - i.e., it shows graphics card modes and then automatically switches to an Amiga native mode if you switch to that type of screen. The Picasso II, Picasso IV, Cybervision 64, GVP Spectrum, and a few other cards can do this. The Cybervision64/3D cannot, unless you have the additional scandoubler module (and I'm not sure it fits in the 3000's video slot).

The Indivision will give you the option of some higher resolutions, but I don't think it's as fast as a dedicated RTG card. I think you also need to change a capacitor on the motherboard to get it to fit. And it won't allow you to run software that specifically requires CyberGFX or Picasso96.

[Kernel]

Well, looks like my DENEB was faulty after all... after repair it seems to be working fine now.  What to do...