A1200 minimum upgrade recommendations

[TheMagicM]

Finally after a LONG time, I have acquired an A1200.  No HD, no floppy, no PSU.  I have a few A500 PSU's.   I want to use an LCD monitor with it.   I'll use it to play games mostly and to tinker around with stuff.  No browsing the web but I do want to access my NAS to copy whatever software I've downloaded over the years if I choose to use the games/apps.  

What do you guys recommend?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

A CF hard drive, Indivision, and one of the ACA accelerators. 3.1 + BetterWB or 3.9, if you want a more modern experience.

Edit: Oh, and I guess you'll need a PCMCIA network card, if you want to access your NAS.

[TheMagicM]

A CF hard drive, Indivision, and one of the ACA accelerators. 3.1 + BetterWB or 3.9, if you want a more modern experience.

Edit: Oh, and I guess you'll need a PCMCIA network card, if you want to access your NAS.

I looked at the Indivision..looks like I'll need to somehow mount my CF hard drive somewhere since it'll run into the CF.  The indivision cable goes to the far right of the A1200 in the empty "bay/slot" cover area.  

Where do people usually put the HD when they use the Indivision?

[golem]

Check out kippers thingy here http://www.kipper2k.com/cfadapters.html
It tucks you CF card out the way with no need for cable or insulation.
I love mine.

[TheMagicM]

Check out kippers thingy here http://www.kipper2k.com/cfadapters.html
It tucks you CF card out the way with no need for cable or insulation.
I love mine.

Does it interfere with the Indivision?

[golem]

I have an Indivision Mk II and the internal CF adaptor. They don't interfere with one another as the CF adaptor sits on top of the PCMCIA port. You can still use a NIC in your PCMCIA port as it fits in underneath the CF adaptor. Both lovely bits of kit. I mainly use my Indivsion for Workbench Productivity stuff and the HighGfx mode I love.

[digiflip]

maybe just scart lead and gotek floppy emulator if on budget

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

If you really want to do it right you'll want these things:

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

You could also do it this way (see attached sketch in this post):

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showpost.php?p=803043&postcount=15

[clebin]

Does it interfere with the Indivision?

Kipper2k is busy with Vampire orders at the moment so could take a while. A regular CF adapter is fine with the Indivision though. It just rests on top (do a Google image search and you'll see). Obviously make sure the back of the CF adapter is shielded in some way so it doesn't short anything - some people stick plastic to the back, others have it in a plastic bag. Some adapters are sold with a plastic backing already - AmigaKit's do I think. Note that I don't have the metal shield in my A1200 - can't remember if that's a requirement but the shield is pointless anyway.

[Linde]

I used to have a 030 accelerator and enjoyed that a lot before I sold it.

Right now I have an 8 mb fast RAM expansion, a CF card with an IDE adapter, a SD card PCMCIA adapter and a 3c589 network card, and it definitely gets me by. I can move files from a more modern computer using the SD card adapter or download directly from aminet and so on using the network card. The extra RAM is more than enough for me in most cases but I admittedly mostly play whdload patched games and use Protracker with the thing.

I have the network card directly connected to a Raspberry Pi to be able to use the wireless network, and on the Pi I also run a gopher server that I use for file sharing.

The "minimum" is only a matter of what you want to do with the thing, but I'd still recommend the RAM expansion as it gets you quite far, and I don't really miss the accelerator that much. Maybe it's useful if you are into old flight simulators or the type of games that run slower on a stock machine. As for LCD monitors, I have a cheap kitchen TV with RGB scart input that I use some times, but in the end I still prefer the 1084S.

[Zardoz]

I am using a SD SDHC SDXC MMC memory card on IDE 2.5 Inches 44Pin Plug Adapter and not a CF card. it's smaller and you can flip it over so it does not get in the AGA MK2cr way.

here is the adapter.

http://www.amazon.com/Optimal-Shop-Digital-Adapter-Converter/dp/B00DGNYXQ0

I use it like this guy. you can see how it flipped over in the upper left corner of the system.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efLRef4lU_Q

[krashan]

I am using a SD SDHC SDXC MMC memory card on IDE 2.5 Inches 44Pin Plug Adapter

Yes, SD cards are more reliable, also easier to handle (my laptop has built-in SD reader). As for putting them inside my A1200 I do it this way:

http://krashan.ppa.pl/articles/hardware/img/ka47_view1_576.jpg

Or even this way (you can see Indivision AGA on this photo as well):

http://krashan.ppa.pl/articles/hardware/img/ka60_view1_576.jpg

[Gulliver]

I would totally forget of CF adapter and just go from an IDE 44 pins to SD adapter. As SD cards are easier to find, to interchange with other devices, and are a lot cheaper. Just buy a long 44 pin flat cable and fix the adapter´s position where the floppy would have been, with the card´s socket pointing towards the floppy insertion hole. In this way you dont need to make holes in your case.

On the LCD side, I would probably buy from Kipper2k his Svideo adapter and if your LCD supports Svideo input you are done. If not just make an additional purchase of those abundantly cheap Svideo to VGA adapters, you can find in places like ebay and just connect them together.

On the software side, I would run a modified version of BetterWB:
-Add C:setpatch and LIBS:workbench.library from AmigaOS 3.9
-Edit the startup-sequence and remove the first 3 lines which reference icon.library
-Run Prefs/IconSet and select GlowIcons
-Replace Tools/DW and DWEdit with Dopus 4.16
-Also use and replace c:env-handler with the one from Aminet
-And if you have the time and will you could probably replace many system components with their 68020 version counterparts for further speed benefits.

BTW, I currently have a similarly specced Amiga 1200 that is getting that same treatment, once I find the time.

[duga]

Fast RAM.