A1200..."overdriven"

[Homo-AGA]

Hi all, quite recently I bought an Amiga 1200 from ebay, and I have a few questions concerning some major hardware issues.

1. I will be requiring as much necessary info about how to get the Apollo chip(and if worth of buying), ajnd any other additional hardware. What will I be needing in general to make an A1200 working.

2. Can Linux (Suse 7.3) be utillised as an OS for such an Amiga. I have heard that Linux doesn't have any extravagant requirements.

3. What about OS? Will I be able to run some programms/games from the good old Amiga days (workbench3.0 etc)

4. What about graphic expansion? Does a modified amiga 1200 accept any old PCMCIA graphic cards?

5. Internet access: What are the limitations for such a machine? I 've heard that since PCMCIA card is what an Ethernet 10/100 is then it will be no problem to use it for internet access.

Guys, I know that these questions far from few, but drop a line or two. It will be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[lorddef]

1. I think you mean an accelerator by "Apollo", yes an accelerator is really required if you are serious.

2. Some m68k linux distros are available, I've never tries them, and I think there is a ppc debian distro, maybe others.

3. Yes

4. PCMCIA; No, but you can add a graphic board eiter through a zorro/pci busboard or through a ppc accelerator.

5. Yes, there are PCMCIA ethernet cards that work with the amiga, look for cnet.device and 3com/3c589.device on aminet.net.  Amiga browsers are a little outdated but you can get by easily.

Others can expand on this, I just can't be arsed now, I thought I could when I started, but I can't :-)

[cgutjahr]

1. I will be requiring as much necessary info about how to get the Apollo chip(and if worth of buying), ajnd any other additional hardware. What will I be needing in general to make an A1200 working.

An "Apollo" is an expansion card (an accellerator, i.e. a new, faster CPU), not a chip. It fits into the "trapdoor slot" at the bottom of your A1200. Another accellerator would be the "Blizzard" (which is generally considered to be the best A1200-accellerator).

For more information regarding A1200-accellerators visit the Big Book of Amiga Hardware and check the "A1200 accellerators" section.

Accellerators usually include memory slots (so you can add more (and faster!) memory to your Amiga), most of them also have a HD-controller (which is (at least in case of the Blizzard) way better than the original HD controller on your A1200's motherboard).

Check EBay for used A1200 accellerator cards, dealers do not have them in stock anymore.

2. Can Linux (Suse 7.3) be utillised as an OS for such an Amiga. I have heard that Linux doesn't have any extravagant requirements.

Linux won't run on a stock A1200. If you add an accellerator, you will be able to run Linux-m68k - but only in "text mode", as the "graphics mode" will be way to slow on your A1200. Suse 7.3 is not available for 68k (AFAIK), only some more obscure distributions.

You can however add a "BlizzardPPC" accellerator to your A1200, which contains a PPC CPU (in addition to a standard, "Amiga compatible" CPU). But this option is *expensive*. You'll also need a graphics card (even more expensive), otherwise it won't be fun.

3. What about OS? Will I be able to run some programms/games from the good old Amiga days (workbench3.0 etc)

Programms: Yes, most of them. You can even add a harddisk to your A1200, which makes this a much more entertaining experience.

Games: Yes, but there will be compatability issues, as most games were written for an A500. You can get around this by using WHDLoad (works only with original games), searching for cracked versions that were made compatible with the A1200 ("AGA-Fix") or using various tools to "degrade" your A1200 (i.e. make it behave like an A500).

4. What about graphic expansion? Does a modified amiga 1200 accept any old PCMCIA graphic cards?

No. PCMCIA cards that will work in your A1200 are (apart from some Amiga specific cards): NIC + CompactFlash adaptors.

Adding a graphics card to your A1200 is possible, but expensive and you need to move your A1200 into a tower case. If you're still interested, I can give a more detailed answer.

5. Internet access: What are the limitations for such a machine? I 've heard that since PCMCIA card is what an Ethernet 10/100 is then it will be no problem to use it for internet access.

Internet access is no problem, but you will need more RAM and a faster CPU. I'd recommend at least a Blizzard 1230. Without a graphics card, browsing the web is no fun, other things work fine though.

[Homo-AGA]

Concerning my issue,

I'd like to thank you both for your feedback. As far as the "towering" of the amiga, yes, I will be requiring some more help. When you say expensive around how many quid would that be? (if we are talking about hundreds, then oops...better stick with my celeron ). Do I have to replace any interface adapters or something, or are we talking about a whole new system with just the AGA chipset on board?

I don't know people, I don't know where to start from, perhaps it would be better to just write a url link where I will be able to find something.   :-?

So after all, the only thing that matters after taking care of the Accelerator card is the graphic card interface.

PS: I spoke with someone today, and he advised me that it would be better to save my money for A1, propably because of the outdated AGA chipset. But I just would like to get this baby working (if the money is worth for doing this).

And finally:

I saw some screenshots on the OS series of operating systems available for customised Amigas, and looks something between the Linux GUI and workbench 3.1/2/0. Can someone actually buy an OS (say 3.9) or is it in a freeware status?

Thanks for your patience (and tolerance)

 :-)

[cgutjahr]

Homo-AGA wrote:
As far as the "towering" of the amiga, yes, I will be requiring some more help. When you say expensive around how many quid would that be? (if we are talking about hundreds, then oops...better stick with my celeron ). Do I have to replace any interface adapters or something, or are we talking about a whole new system with just the AGA chipset on board?

"Towering" an Amiga 1200 makes sense if you:

- need more space for drives (2nd HD, CD-ROM)
- need a graphics card
- want to add a bus board

You either need to buy a special tower (made for an A1200) or modify an existing tower (might require case modifications and you need to know how to handle a soldering iron).

Example for a special "A1200 compatible" tower (don't know if it's any good, just an example):

Mirage 1200 from Elbox

This tower costs 150 EUR, other towers will cost pretty much the same. I don't know how expensive they are on the second-hand market, just have a look at eBay (though people do not sell empty towers that often, most of the time they sell more or less complete systems).

A good bus board which adds PCI slots to your Amiga:

Mediator 1200 SX (240 EUR)
Mediator 1200 Lite (140 EUR)

With a "Mediator" busboard, you can use standard (i.e. cheap) gfx/sound/nic cards from the PC world.

Now, you'll still need an accellerator. I guess such a (second-hand) purchase will set you back another 100-200 EUR (depending on the model you buy).

So after all, the only thing that matters after taking care of the Accelerator card is the graphic card interface.

That's the problem - Adding a gfx card is very expensive. If you just want more memory, a faster CPU, a NIC to network your Amiga and an internal HD, you can pretty much cover all your needs for about 100 EUR. But an Amiga equipped like that is way to slow by todays standards and offers only very low and slow resolutions with very few colors (640x480, 64-128 colors, more colors make the machine unusable).

It's fine for "retro needs" (playing old games, having fun with old applications like Protracker or DPaint), but that's about it.

PS: I spoke with someone today, and he advised me that it would be better to save my money for A1, propably because of the outdated AGA chipset. But I just would like to get this baby working (if the money is worth for doing this).

If you want a computer suitable for today's tasks (web browsing, CD burning MP3 encoding, whatever), an A1 is the better choice. It won't run old games though (ony through UAE), so you might want to keep your A1200 for that.

I saw some screenshots on the OS series of operating systems available for customised Amigas, and looks something between the Linux GUI and workbench 3.1/2/0. Can someone actually buy an OS (say 3.9) or is it in a freeware status?

I don't completely understand that paragraph. You can buy OS3.9, it's still a commercial product (note that it requires more RAM and a faster CPU than you have).

If you're talking about the screenshots avalailable at os.amiga.com, these are taken from the upcoming OS4, which requires a PPC CPU-Addon (<-expensive) or an AmigaOne.

Thanks for your patience (and tolerance)

You're welcome.

[Homo-AGA]

Vielen Dank!

Think I will get my hands on it OR on my older amiga 600 and give it a try. And as far as soldering irons is concerned, yes, it is my area alright

There is a site www.amiga600.de, where these guys really did some nice work. And seems like the task is not that easy.

Actually the only reason I want to go for expansions and all of that is because of the fact that I study electronics and would like to study older MIPS and 60' series microprocessors. And perhaps (why not) have an alternative computer (other than the new Celeron, 2.0 GHz) which could do some work using a bit less "sophisticated" OS and system but more focused in specific tasks. And to be frank, I have come to the conclusion that there is no reason for someone to stick to the "standardised" instead of standard products Microsoft or Apple offer. It's all silicon, at the end of the day, and to be frank I think that Microsoft is beginning to have a downfall, because of the fact that they focuse too much in "encrypted"/multi-layered (useless) platforms that in essense lose in quality because of their approach to massive market...blah blah blah..got carried away...

I hope you understand a bit more of my initiative.