Help a newbie with info regarding a new Amiga 1200

Chukka · Groupie in Training Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 41

Hi,

I went from a C64 and Amstrad user to a PC user back in the day. I have always been jealous of the people that lived through the Amiga days and played all those awesome games back then.

I really want to purchase my first Amiga. All my friends always praise the legendary A500 but I think the playing around with the floppy disks would be too much for me now.

So I'm thinking A1200. I assume that is the one to get, mostly for gaming purposes?

So what do I need to purchase alongside the A1200 for a machine capable of running all the WHDLoad games etc.?

Accelelators, HDs, etc? What would you recommend for a fully "pimped out" Amiga 1200? It doesn't need to be the most expensive piece of machinery but I don't mind spending some cash,

Thanks in advance.

MIK UK · Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 7:30 am Post subject:

Accelerator, no more than an 030 when it comes to the back log of 100's & 100's of classic commercial games. An 030 in my view is the ultimate games machine inside an A1200.

You don't need an accelerator either, but you will always need some extra memory when using a CF drive so again that will come on a board. 8meg is plenty, but nothing less if you can help it.

CF Card HD for Amiga. This is the new version of the classic harddrive these machines used. Maximum 4gig, a classic style A1200 can not read hard drives over 4gig.

Some means of getting stuff over from PC to Amiga. Some people us a PCMCIA card, you can also link the machines via a serial cable and software. Personally I use a 100meg zipdrive or just burn a CD on PC, but both of these later options are something not easy to get running today.

That's all you need really hardware wise.

Have a look at Amigakit for all this stuff to get an idea: http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com
_________________
A1200T, Apollo 1260, 32MB RAM, 3.1 ROMS, 4GB HD, Z4 Board, Picasso II, IOBlix (Serial/Parallel), Squirrel SCSI, 2X CD, IDE 100MB Zip Drive, OS - DOpus Magellan II. Plus an A500+ Yum.

Chukka · Groupie in Training Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 41

Thanks a lot for your help MIK UK. I have been actually checking out the amigakit site. It is pretty easy to get an Amiga from there because you can choose the options such as the 4gb CF HD.

So in addition to the HD, I only need the accelerator, and something to transfer data with from the PC to Amiga? How hard or easy would it be to transfer date through WLAN, if I get the WLAN card also?

And by the way, just because I'm curious, what is all that stuff in your A1200?

"A1200T, Apollo 1260, 32MB RAM, 3.1 ROMS, 4GB HD, Z4 Board, Picasso II, IOBlix (Serial/Parallel), Squirrel SCSI, 2X CD, IDE 100MB Zip Drive, OS - DOpus Magellan II. Plus an A500+ Yum."

Would any of that stuff be useful to me?

Chukka · Groupie in Training Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 41

I'm also wondering which workbench to use? One of the classic ones or one of the newer ones?

MIK UK · Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 4:49 pm Post subject:

Workbench 3 which comes with the A1200 will be fine. Anything above this will require 3.1 roms and I think there are later version than that but WB3.0 is fine.

Again you don't need an accelerator as such, but if Amigakit still have the new 030's they were selling not so long ago then that might be useful.

My knowledge of networking a PC & Amiga is ZERO. Sorry.
Not sure what Amigakit has but...
If I had too with a stock A1200 I would go for a Compact Flash PCMCIA transfer card, these can be found on ebay, search: Amiga pcmcia

and then also look for a PCMCIA to USB adpator for the PC to read the card.

Hopefully some other users can point you in the right direction what would be best for networking.

Only thing with PCMCIA is that you have to be very, very careful not to bend the pins inside the A1200 putting the card in every time. The pins bend really easy.

My A1200 is in a tower and has a Z4 Board, meaning I can use a Picasso II Graphics card, this allows me you use VGA screen modes and also allows me to use the A1200 AGA sceen modes so the best of both worlds - requires a multi-sync monitor which I have. I am using the PCMCIA for the CD drive aka Squirrel SCSI. I have a 4gig IDE harddrive and I also run an IDE Zipdrive. My accelerator is an 060/50 and runs at 40mips.
DOpus Magellan II is a replacement for Workbench. In fact it runs over the top of workbench along side with it and just makes the computer so much easier to use. It's a file management program, but like Windows you can set all file types to use all sorts of programs just by clicking on them. Not required at all, more of a hardore thing and as a new comer not something you want to be looking at right now...

In short my Amiga can not be replaced or put another way you would have a hard time trying to make it today and would cost you the earth. Worth anything from £1000 upwards just for the machine and that's being generous. What I have is something you could of built 15 years ago which was what I did. It's over the top basically and not something you would want to do today just to play games. Wink

_________________
A1200T, Apollo 1260, 32MB RAM, 3.1 ROMS, 4GB HD, Z4 Board, Picasso II, IOBlix (Serial/Parallel), Squirrel SCSI, 2X CD, IDE 100MB Zip Drive, OS - DOpus Magellan II. Plus an A500+ Yum.

Chukka · Groupie in Training Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 41

Thanks for the info again. Much appreciated.

Unfortunately Amigakit doesn't seem to have any A1200's nor accelerators in stock. Sad

So I guess I'll have to search Ebay etc for everything.

So I would need:

1) A1200
2) Accelerator 030 or above.
3) 4gb CF and the IDE connector

And that's it? This will play almost all Amiga games from the 90s? But AGA games won't work with this, right?

And do I need anything extra to connect the A1200 to a TV or monitor via AV cable? Because I'd rather not use a RF cable.

MIK UK · Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 6:27 pm Post subject:

Keep an eye on ebay and if your lucky it may even come with a memory board and a few other things...

You don't need an accelerator Exclamation

That's a bonus and up to you if you want to upgrade it that far.

On the link below is an 8meg memory board, a little extra speed but will still allow you to play all the classic games including AGA A1200 games. You just need a little extra ram with whdload for some games because once Workbench is loaded your end up with less than the standard 2meg chip ram.

whdload supports AGA games as well. In short whdload is used to get many of the old games to run that never would on an A1200 also. AGA games go without saying, they will work.

Something like this:
Amiga 1200 A1209 memory card 8 meg on board * max 8 mb*

Check ebay for an RGB Scart Lead. Will plug into any TV with a scart socket to display the picture.
_________________
A1200T, Apollo 1260, 32MB RAM, 3.1 ROMS, 4GB HD, Z4 Board, Picasso II, IOBlix (Serial/Parallel), Squirrel SCSI, 2X CD, IDE 100MB Zip Drive, OS - DOpus Magellan II. Plus an A500+ Yum.

Acid · Amiga Junkie Joined: 02 Nov 2010 Age: 36 Posts: 402

MIK UK · Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 6:33 pm Post subject:

Chukka · Groupie in Training Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 41

Thanks again. Smile

OK, so an accelerator is not needed but optional. The accelerators come with the extra memory so if I happened to find one, I wouldn't need to add more memory in addition to the accelerator? But you are saying that the stock A1200 with extra memory is enough to run all WHDLoad games properly, including the AGA games?

Chukka · Groupie in Training Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 41

68030 ACCELERATOR - 1230 MK2 WITH A 32MB SIMM

Would that be an OK accelerator? Does the 68030 mean it is a 030 accelerator like you mentioned?

motrucker · Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 7:47 pm Post subject:

The 4 Gb "limit" only holds true IF you keep using the old file system. In other words, it is VERY easy to upgrade to over 4Gb. I use a 20Gb hard drive on my A2000! my old A1200 had a 120Gb drive.
Also, I am not a fan of 3.0 OS. Granted it will work, but remember that at least half of the A1200 Commodore sold had 3.1 OS installed in them.
To the original poster - please be careful buying on ebay. Buy from a seller with 100% feedback (NO LESS!) and make sure the listing says quite plainly that the system works. That way you are protected by ebay and Paypal just in case it doesn't work. (you can get your money back - all of it!)
Enjoy your Amiga....
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2000HD w/2.04
A2000 w/3.1 - '030
A1000 2.5Mb
C-128

Chukka · Groupie in Training Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 41

motrucker · Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2013 7:55 pm Post subject:

Actually if you depend on just the OS it would have to be 3.5. However you can upgrade by just using the newer filesystem. It is one of the files within the workbench. I will have dig up the file version number, but it boils down to being the 64 bit file system.
I will dig it up and post it for you - It may take a day, but keep an eye out for it.
_________________
____________________________________
2000HD w/2.04
A2000 w/3.1 - '030
A1000 2.5Mb
C-128

Chukka · Groupie in Training Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 41