Returning to Amiga after 25 years ...

[hedders]

Having last used an Amiga in 1990, I have finally taken the plunge and bought an A1200 on eBay. It should arrive in the next couple of days and I am embarrassingly excited for such an old man.

I've also bought a CF card IDE adapter, an RGB SCART cable and a PCMCIA CF reader. The machine comes with a 4MB fast RAM expansion and a Zipstick, and my WHDLoad key arrived the other day, so I should be all set.

I've followed Fitzsteve's excellent tutorial video to prep the CF card using my PC and install ClassicWB on it.

Now, just need the machine to arrive!

Is there anything else I need to know? Be gentle, I'm reasonably computer-savvy but it's been a long time since I last used an Amiga...

[Nosferax]

I'm in the exact same situation...

The only thing I did more than you is that I've ordered an ACA1233 accelerator and an Indivision scandoubler (we don't have Scart in Canada). I also did buy one of those Gotek floppy emulator but I have yet to be able to make it work. In any case I'll just transfer file via CF card and write some floppies (I have about 30 box of new floppies laying around).

My A1200 is stock, so the 128mb ram on the accelerator will be welcome.

I don't use ClassicWB though... I prefer using stock 3.1WB for that classic non-bloated experience.

[kipper2k]

Welcome Hedders. Nosferax, do you need help with gotek, i may be able to help you

[eXeler0]

Hedders, you got a mouse, a joystick.. stuff like that?
And if you wanna run WB in something that resembles high res you still a flicker fixer to get a flicker free experience on a "modern" flat screen monitor.
Indivision is nice but quite expensive. A more cost effective solution is to buy a GBS 8200 device. About €30 on ebay. Then you need a RGB connector in the Amiga then solder some wires to the gbs8200 input.. voila.. flicker free (but not perfect) output on regular vga monitor..
Like this
[ Show youtube player ]

[Nosferax]

Originally Posted by kipper2k

Welcome Hedders. Nosferax, do you need help with gotek, i may be able to help you

I keep getting the "H - C" code with nothing happening. I'm going to try a new USB key tonight and I'll let you know how it goes. Presently, with the key they gave me, I get the menu but any ADF I select nothing happens and I get H - C on the display.

[hedders]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

Hedders, you got a mouse, a joystick.. stuff like that?
And if you wanna run WB in something that resembles high res you still a flicker fixer ...

Mouse and joystick are sorted, thanks.

I will probably want a scan-doubler eventually, but I figure I'll walk before I run.

Good to see there's still such an active community!

[hedders]

Originally Posted by Nosferax

I'm in the exact same situation...

The only thing I did more than you is that I've ordered an ACA1233 accelerator.

I'm curious about them, but I've read that there are some gnarly power requirements which require hacking an ATX supply, well beyond my crappy soldering skills! Would be curious to hear how you get on.

Originally Posted by Nosferax

I don't use ClassicWB though... I prefer using stock 3.1WB for that classic non-bloated experience.

Might still go that route. Went with ClassicWB on the basis of Fitzsteve's video, plus it's kind of a "ready to go" environment to get me started. I figure rolling my own Workbench is "phase 2".

[amigakit.com]

Welcome!

[Retrofan]

@hedders you better get an accelerator, no matter what you will be running.

Amigakit has to have a new one and you'll be supporting one of the few available shops. They have also a good contact support to ask for whatever you want if you register.

[Nosferax]

Originally Posted by hedders

I'm curious about them, but I've read that there are some gnarly power requirements which require hacking an ATX supply, well beyond my crappy soldering skills! Would be curious to hear how you get on.



Might still go that route. Went with ClassicWB on the basis of Fitzsteve's video, plus it's kind of a "ready to go" environment to get me started. I figure rolling my own Workbench is "phase 2".

Not really all that difficult. I just bought an ATX socket on ebay so I don't need to fiddle with the psu per say. All I have to do is to take the amiga psu cable from my old a500 psu and connect that to the ATX socket corresponding pins. I've mount it up on a small board. I've got 4 more connectors on order, let me know if you need one. I can make it with a screw in connection so all you've to do is to attach your own cable. As a bonus you can use the molex to power other stuff

I use an ATX psu with removable molex connection so I only plug them if I need them. It's more tidy that way. Since I'm also into woodworking I made a cherry wood enclosure for the psu! Nothing says retro computing like wood grain!

[mjnurney]

You don't have to run an ACA accelerator on an ATX psu , most people here in europe don't but what we do use is an older A500 PSU as this has more amps , the 1200 PSU is pretty lightweight as is the 600 PSU.

ian steadman does nice ATX pcbs that are easy to fit.

http://www.ianstedman.co.uk

[hedders]

Originally Posted by mjnurney

You don't have to run an ACA accelerator on an ATX psu , most people here in europe don't but what we do use is an older A500 PSU as this has more amps

Interesting! That sounds more my metier. My attempts at soldering/wiring tend to result in disaster. Do you know of a good source for A500 PSUs?

[mjnurney]

Ebay Uk has lots of them , PSUs turn up all the time.

mike.

[mjnurney]

here is one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-A500...item487dfbeb04

[hedders]

@mjnurney Thanks!

So, the machine has arrived and works well. Quite yellowed, more so than the photos suggested, but all seems to be in good order and my 6 year old daughter was absolutely entranced by Xenon 2!

Now that I know it basically works, next steps are to open it up and check over the board.

... and assuming that's OK, start looking into some Retrobrite!

[mjnurney]

good stuff,

have a good look at the caps (silver tiny battery type looking things) they have two legs and are surface mounted and hopefully not leaking i.e discoloured on the legs.

mike.

[hedders]

Originally Posted by mjnurney

hopefully not leaking i.e discoloured on the legs.

Cheers. I'm hoping to have some time to open it up this weekend. If the caps have leaked, I understand Amigakit do a clean/replace service - presumably they do a good job?

[mjnurney]

I've not had repair work done by Amigakit so i cannot comment on that, there supply & delivery service of new parts is superb in my opinion, so i don't see why it would not be anything but good.

mike.