Amiga 1200 rebuild, what should I do to this machine? WHDLoad?

[Kremlar]

I've been on the lookout for an Amiga 1200 to use as my main Amiga to play games on.  My plan is to load WHDLoad (which I've never used) on it.

I finally found and "rescued" one from eBay from a local seller.  Sold as non-working, no power supply, missing the trap door cover, very yellow, etc...

Picked it up today and here's what it is:

Commmodore Amiga 1200HD (Rev 1D)
MicroBotics 1200Z Expansion Card w/4MB RAM (maybe 8MB?)
MicroBotics 12 A'Clock Clockport Card
Kickstart 3.0
Maxtor 80MB 2.5" IDE Drive

Attached are some pics.  My goal is to clean up this PC and update it to the point where it would make a great WHDLoad machine.  

Any comments/suggestions welcome, but here are my questions:

1 - My understanding is that a 1200 with fast RAM makes a great WHDLoad machine.  Sounds like I'm all set then.  Am I correct?

2 - I see this machine had a clock port clock, and the clock on the MicroBotics 1200Z was disabled.  Why is that?  Why would I not want to just use the 1200Z's clock, eliminating the clock port card?

3 - System has Kickstart 3.0.  Would it be worthwhile to upgrade to 3.1?

4 - I'm planning on sending this board to Acill to get recapped.  Anything else I should consider doing to it at the same time?  How about the "timing fixes" I often hear about?

5 - I'm thinking about the CF Card IDE interface from AmigaKit:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=24_78&products_id=883
Anything else worth considering to replace the hard drive?  Anything easier to access from the outside?

6 - Will want to get a replacement trapdoor cover.  I see some on Shapeways.  Any other suggestions to get this replaced?

7 - Any other upgrades/etc. worth doing to the 1200 that I might be missing?

Thanks in advance for any and all comments/suggestions!  Really appreciate it.

[Kremlar]

More pics.

[QuikSanz]

An 030 should be perfect. Not sure about 25Mhz or so but 40 or 50Mhz should be really nice. An Indie AGA would be nice too!

[Kremlar]

An 030 should be perfect. Not sure about 25Mhz or so but 40 or 50Mhz should be really nice. An Indie AGA would be nice too!

Thanks!  I thought an 020 with fast RAM was sufficient for most games, am I wrong?  Any good games in particular require an 030 or higher?

I already have a display capable of displaying all the Amiga modes, so not sure what advantage an Indivision AGA would give me.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I would use either a fast '020 board (like Jens') or an '030, personally, and at least 4MB of fast ram. 3.1 ROM's fix a lot of bugs in the 3.0 ones and make working with ACA accelerators specifically a lot easier. And c'mon, they can be bought new for under $20 bucks.

Indivision will allow you to use almost any modern monitor, TV, or projector with your system. Of course some people don't care about these things.

WHDLoad makes running almost any old game like... Well, like it should have been in the first place. Double-click on the icon to start the game, then press the 'quit' key to return to Workbench when you're done. Personally I would never use anything else.

Also ditch the hard drive and get a CF. Kipper2k makes a 90-degree adapter that allows you to access the CF from outside the case.

[QuikSanz]

030 works better for some games adding a bit of smoothness and a bit better control, especially on simulator type stuff. Also WHDLoad can make use of it, OS3.1 plays well with it.

[jltursan]

5 - I'm thinking about the CF Card IDE interface from AmigaKit:
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...roducts_id=883
Anything else worth considering to replace the hard drive?  Anything easier to access from the outside?

Also ditch the hard drive and get a CF. Kipper2k makes a 90-degree  adapter that allows you to access the CF from outside the case.

I'd say, but get a 8GB cheap DOM instead a cable+CF adapter+CF or purchasing specific pieces of hardware. Transfer software from the outside using a simple PCMCIA SD/CF adapter.

[paul1981]

1 - You're correct, an A1200 with some Fast RAM (4MB or more) will make a perfectly adequate WHDLoad machine. If you use a games launcher such as Tinylauncher early in the startup-sequence to save RAM, you can have the machine boot straight into Tinylauncher. I did this on one of my machines years ago  - but holding down the left mouse button upon booting skips Tinylauncher and loads Workbench - best of both worlds. Another machine I have with an 030 loads Tinylauncher after Workbench has booted (goes straight to Tinylauncher screen not Workbench) but when I quit it the Workbench is there ready to use. My serious machine boots into Workbench and I use iGame instead.

2 - They probably bought the clock port clock before the Fast RAM card.

3 - No, upgrading to 3.1 is a waste of time and money for your WHDLoad machine. If down the line you find yourself wanting a more powerful Amiga, then you can upgrade your RAM card with a CPU card and softkick 3.1.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

3 - No, upgrading to 3.1 is a waste of time and money for you WHDLoad machine. If down the line you find yourself wanting a more powerful Amiga, then you can upgrade your RAM card with a CPU card and softkick 3.1.

OMG. Every single time this subject comes up you chime in with your hatred for 3.1. Softkickicking wastes precious RAM, and 3.1 ROM's cost less than $20 bucks. They contain many bugfixes over 3.0 and are required if the user wants to update, e.g., to 3.9.

Why do you hate 3.1 so much? SMDH  :p

[Kremlar]

Thank for the replies guys!  I think I will clean everything up, get it recapped, and try it with the existing 020 and RAM expansion I have - then consider an accelerator if it's not sufficient.  

I think I will use the clock on the 1200Z RAM expansion and eliminate the A'Clock.  It looks like the clock chip has been removed from the 1200Z, which the manual states to do.  I assume I can just move the chip from the A'Clock right over to the 1200Z and then install a new battery.

I am a bit confused about what to do about storage.  I've never installed WHDLoad before so think I will need to be doing a lot of back and forth to get everything setup the way I want it.  For that reason I thought about going with a CompactFlash that would be accessible from the outside, like this one:
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?77919-Amiga-1200-Compact-Flash-CF-IDE-Back-Plate&highlight=amiga+1200+trapdoor
Thinking that I could setup everything on WinUAE and bring back and forth as needed.

The DOM sounds like a nice idea too and how I'd probably prefer it in the end.

I believe my RAM expansion actually has 8MB but there's a jumper limiting it to 4MB.  My understanding is that if it's at 8MB PCMCIA will not work.  Does that sound correct?  Any way around that limitation?

Thanks again guys!

[BooBoo1200]

obviously 030+ makes no difference to 99% to WHDload games more games like Doom, for WHDoad extra Ram helps infact theres ways of running WHDload Slave's on 2mb machines now but still beta - and you might find upgrading to kick 3.1 introduces a bug where over 4mb you cant use the pcmcia slot and OS3.5+ can be run on kick 3.0 with software patching. try google if you need more info.

[paul1981]

Almost forgot:

7 - PCMCIA CF Adapter + CF card - easy transfers of data to your A1200.

@ Mike : I believe this chap is trying to do this on a budget...there's no need to buy unecessary stuff. WHDLoad runs fine on Kickstart 2.0, never mind 3.1.

@ Kremlar - If you decide you want to use the internet a bit with IBrowse I'd recommend 8MB RAM, which unless you upgrade to a PCMCIA friendly CPU card you're stuck with 4MB or 6MB (jumper switch permitting on the RAM card) or your wireless / ethernet card won't work.

[Kremlar]

@ Mike : I believe this chap is trying to do this on a budget...there's no need to buy unecessary stuff. WHDLoad runs fine on Kickstart 2.0, never mind 3.1.

I don't want to spend money unnecessarily, but I might throw in Kickstart 3.1 while I have it open and placing other orders.  Definitely don't want to waste on an accelerator if the games I'm interested in won't benefit.  And if my needs change, perhaps the Vampire 1200 will be out by then.  

7 - PCMCIA CF Adapter + CF card - easy transfers of data to your A1200.

This sounds like a good idea, especially if I don't go with an externally accessible CF.  Will check it out.

@ Kremlar - If you decide you want to use the internet a bit with IBrowse I'd recommend 8MB RAM, which unless you upgrade to a PCMCIA friendly CPU card you're stuck with 4MB or 6MB (jumper switch permitting on the RAM card) or your wireless / ethernet card won't work.

I doubt I'd do any web browsing.  This memory card has a 4MB jumper and it's set like that now, but I believe the SIMM is actually 8MB.

Thanks!

[paul1981]

4 - Regarding timing fixes, refer to this page here:

http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/amiga_hacks/A1200_Mobo_fix/a1200_mobo_fix.html

[kreciu]

You need more then 4MB for Amiga... maybe for AmigaOS3.1 only and MagicWB will be fine, but if you want 3.9... 8 MB is "reasonable" minimum.