I want to hear from Vampire owners

ProfPlum · 28 July 2019, 16:00

I recently got my Amiga 2000 up in running (haven't touched it in 25? years).
In another message thread (could have been Amibay), I was mentioning is there any point in getting anything other than a Vampire accelerator.

As I am really considering getting one (or the upcoming v4) I want to hear from those that bought one.

How's your experience? Can the Amiga be used as any other computer for every day tasks - surfing web, watching Youtube, gmail, facebook, playing mp3s, watching videos, accessing my nas/network, netflix, etc ...

Signman · 28 July 2019, 16:32

Except for playing mp3s, NO.

lord of time · 28 July 2019, 17:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Signman

Except for playing mp3s, NO.

Wrong - it makes your Amiga into a very capable machine... web browsing. email, high resolution workbench via RTG, Fast IDE implementation, 128megs of extra ram allowing lots of 3d games via RTG and superfast CPU to make progaming, editing, art, music all very nice to do on a real Amiga! I highly recomment a Vampire!

Steffest · 28 July 2019, 18:28

No, not by a long shot.
I have 2 vampire machines and I love them but even a super fast Classic Amiga is not suited for modern daily tasks.
The main part missing is a modern web browser.
No YouTube, no Netflix,
Gmail and Facebook somewhat if you use the "lite" versions of the site. (But still very very slow)
Accessing Nas/network. Yes
Playing MP3: Yes
Playing video: if you convert your video files to MPEG2 : yes. (But that's not very practical)

AMIGASYSTEM · 28 July 2019, 18:51

Like Browser the two versions of NetSurf Browser allow you to browse many sites, NetSurf by Arti allows on OS3 also to see Youtube Videos in MPG and MP4, I have never had a confirmation that these can also be done on Vampire:

OS3: NetSurf Play Video Youtube

OS3: NetSurf Play MP3 On-Line Amigaremix.com

Steffest · 28 July 2019, 18:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMIGASYSTEM

NetSurf by Arti allows on OS3 also to see Youtube Videos in MPG and MP4

Isn't that some emulation trick?
I never got that working on a real Amiga.

Sinphaltimus · 28 July 2019, 19:56

I got a V5002+. It really gave new life to my A500. All the onboard ports of my A500 are available with the exception of the left side expansion port and my GVP controller. Some have had success on that port with other HDD controllers but Mine is a known compatibility issue due to the way DMA is used. I went from essentially an ECS A500 (68000 with 1MB chip ram and a 40MB SCSI HDD to an A500 ECS with FPU, 128MB ram, RTG over digital Video via an HDMI port, Ethernet, IDE (with adaptors for 320GB SATA HDD in removable bay), and 68080. My standard rear ports are all working fine. Just ordered a Midi Adaptor. Works with OctaMed SoundStudio. Have the serial port to USB adaptor with wireless KB and standard PS2 USB mouse. Able to use most programs without issue (PAL modes are an issue for me right now because my A500 is NTSC and I don't have a scan doubler or anything of the sort). Also have a GoTek as DF0: And two external floppies (DF1: and 2). Also, SD card slot mountable.

The price of the Vampire Plus all the add-ons I got made this a worthwhile purchase for me. I can also use the Vampire MAProm feature to use just about any ROM version for compatibility and proper operating speed of much older programs. For instance, Using a standard 3.1 rom image and turtle mode I am able to boot off floppy and use fantavision at normal speeds with access to my HDD partitions. I haven't needed to load up 2.x or 1.x roms but the ability is there.

Had my Vampire since the V2+ launched (was on the first available list for interest.)

I also put everything in an ATX tower for less of a footprint and to fit the external floppies internal to the tower along with the removable HDD bay and mounting of the SD-card reader. I can't afford the flat real estate on my desk/bench but I can afford to go vertical and with a broken A500 case, it only made sense to go full swing. Also did the ATX PSU mod and have been running on that since day 1.

The only complaint I had/have are the CPU socket pins. i have bent and broke several during my initial build but solder and sockets helped me do the repair myself.

With a new core coming (3.0) that is supposed to do AGA and all audio/video via the HDMI connection (allegedly removing FPU), I had more capabilities to look forward to. The flashing of the Vampire is pretty straight forward so if I want to revert to the FPU (current firmware) I can at any time. And go back for the aga all video out HDMI solution as well. Which has Paula enhanced in the firmware.

As for web browsing on it. Do-able but painful. All the reasons mentioned above although I never tried Netsurf. I put it on my To-do list. ethernet isn't blazing flast either but good enough for easy file transfer via NAS and PC.

Occasionally will play games on it but that's more of an emulation activity. I use OctaMed and EA's music program which I can't recall the name right now (Brain farting). I like playing with fractal generators and some 3D stuff. Also enjoy using fantavision again.

I do want a V4, I hope it's not sold out come November because that's about when I'll be ready to buy one. That will be a long term project slowly building it up. Would love to get 4 IDE devices on it if not just two. for a CD-rom drive. For the time being, mounting ISOs is doing ok for me me but the transfer speeds to get them on the Amiga HDD is rough.

Ultimately, I'll use it for old school multimedia production as a hobby. I don't see myself using it to replace any modern PC anytime soon, even for some basic tasks. It is what it is, you love Amiga for what it is, and I do love my V500 setup.

That's my personal answer without trying to convince anyone of anything.

AMIGASYSTEM · 28 July 2019, 19:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steffest

Isn't that some emulation trick?
I never got that working on a real Amiga.

What tricks, in the meantime, you have to have a well-configured Amiga system, AmigaOS does not do tricks, thanks to NetSurf the video is downloaded into RAM in MP4 format and then FFPlay performs it, the same for MP3, the MP3 file is downloaded into RAM and a Player (you can set the MP3 Player you like), in my case I used TKPlayer performs it.

As mentioned above I used WinUAE, I do not know the compatibility of the Vampire with FFPlay, the only Multimedia Player for Amiga OS3.
No Vampire user ever answered me when I asked if it works NetSurf + FFPlay so i can't make sure it works.

Play Link TV Video MP4 HQ:

Download File Video MP4 end Play

Quote:

Playing video: if you convert your video files to MPEG2 : yes. (But that's not very practical)

No, on OS3 all the most popular video formats such as: AVI, FLV, MP4, M4V, MOV, MKV, DiVX, XiVID, MPG, FLI, ASF but also audio files WMA, M4A, MP3, and much more

[ Show youtube player ]

bwldrbst · 29 July 2019, 06:43

I have a Vampire in my A1000 and love it. I've primarily been using it for OS-friendly C programming and playing with WB and RTG friendly software.

I don't use it much for games as the 512K chip ram is too limiting and I have other machines better suited to that. I'm looking forward to Core 3 with its AGA implementation but I'm note desperate for it.

It's insanely powerful for an Amiga but is still nowhere near the capabilities of any recent PC. Neither the hardware or OS are up to running a modern web browser.

It's great if you've always wanted an 060+RTG machine but could never justify price - this is the cheapest way to achieve such a machine. However it is still just a hobby machine and even the upcoming V4 isn't going to replace a modern computer.

Steffest · 29 July 2019, 07:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMIGASYSTEM

What tricks, AmigaOS does not do tricks, thanks to NetSurf the video is downloaded into RAM in MP4 format and then FFPlay performs it. I do not know the compatibility of the Vampire with FFPlay, the only Multimedia Player for Amiga OS3.
No Vampire user ever answered me when I asked if it works NetSurf + FFPlay so i can't make sure it works.

I guess I then mean the "trick" of the extra CPU speed, network speed and ram in emulation?
Even a vampire is not fast enough by a long shot to decode MP4 etc in real time.
The vampire OS (coffin) has RIVA onboard - an MPEG player which performs really well but then the network speed is the bottle neck to stream large files.

Looking towards the future I have no doubt there will be "expansion cards" for Amiga that are basically an entire embedded system like a Pi or something to offload things like web-browsing and video decoding, but for now with the vampire: no.

grond · 29 July 2019, 08:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProfPlum

How's your experience? Can the Amiga be used as any other computer for every day tasks - surfing web, watching Youtube, gmail, facebook, playing mp3s, watching videos, accessing my nas/network, netflix, etc ...

No, the Amiga is lacking too much software to begin with. Of your list a Vampire Amiga can do:

surf html-only web sites
watch Youtube by using videoconversion sites
play mp3s
watch videos in mpeg1 format
access your local network using samba

However, of any Amiga, it can do these things best.

daxb · 29 July 2019, 12:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by grond

However, of any Amiga, it can do these things best.

This statement is false as you know.

AMIGASYSTEM · 29 July 2019, 13:06

Daxb quota

If we talk about power yes the Vampire is the most powerful Amiga, but if it does not work FFPlay, the standard Amiga can do much more mel field Video and Audio.

Of course it should be specified that the most powerful Amiga at the moment is only the emulation WinUAE, FS-UAE etc..

grond · 29 July 2019, 13:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by daxb

This statement is false as you know.

Is it?

AMIGASYSTEM · 29 July 2019, 13:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steffest

I guess I then mean the "trick" of the extra CPU speed, network speed and ram in emulation?

The Vampire is a new hardware and should not have had these problems indeed in my opinion should have given much more than an Emulator

Quote:

Even a vampire is not fast enough by a long shot to decode MP4 etc in real time.

It is not an encoding problem, or a slow network problem, but it is an OS and software problem if supported, use AfA-OS if supported by Vampire and you will see MP4 videos from the network.

Quote:

The vampire OS (coffin) has RIVA onboard - an MPEG player which performs really well but then the network speed is the bottle neck to stream large files.

The MPG1 is an old format that is no longer used, on the net it is difficult to find this format, to fossilize on RIVA does not make any sense.

Steffest · 29 July 2019, 17:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMIGASYSTEM

No Vampire user ever answered me when I asked if it works NetSurf + FFPlay so i can't make sure it works.

Ok - tested on a real Vampire, Netsurf + FFPlay
I used a small "normal" video you find on Youtube (4 minutes, 480x360 resolution)
Playing directly from YouTube does not seem to work although I'm not 100% sure why - the page just seem to lock-up and nothing happens (I waited for about 10 minutes)

However - using one of those "Youtube download" sites does work.
After download, ffPlay plays the .mp4 with about 4 frames a second.
it plays the .3gp with about 8 frames per second. (rough guestimation, I could shoot a video if there's interest)

Actually that's much better then I expected.
Still not very useful of course, but I guess you can classify that as "technically, it works"

Signman · 29 July 2019, 20:01

Some of you are not addressing the OP correctly.
No vamped Amiga is going to replace andy current or even older pc for all the tasks he asked.
Just because you can marginally view some websites, play some video or listen to music, it is no where near a decent solution for those tasks.
But you will have fun breathing some new life into your Amiga.

Steffest · 29 July 2019, 20:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Signman

Some of you are not addressing the OP correctly.

True, that was already addressed in the first answer: a clear "No" (except for playing MP3)

But Amiga users are usually people who like to push the boundaries, right?
We are just exploring the path of "No. but if you are really really really determined and have lots of time, you can get pretty far"

croupier · 29 July 2019, 21:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sinphaltimus

Have the serial port to USB adaptor with wireless KB and standard PS2 USB mouse.

Hi, sorry to steal the thread....what type of adaptor are you talking here?

AMIGASYSTEM · 29 July 2019, 21:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steffest

Playing directly from YouTube does not seem to work although I'm not 100% sure why - the page just seem to lock-up and nothing happens (I waited for about 10 minutes)

What version of WGet are you using? did you set MP4 in your NetSurf settings?
To me with WinUAE to see a video from Youtube takes only a few seconds!

Quote:

Still not very useful of course, but I guess you can classify that as "technically, it works"

FFPlay can be run by Icon from GUI or associated with video files, it can also show videos in both Window and Full Screen and you can see any known format such as MP4, MPG2, AVI, DivX, XiVID and many other formats.

28 July 2019, 16:00	#1
ProfPlum Registered User Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: Montreal, Canada Posts: 153	I want to hear from Vampire owners I recently got my Amiga 2000 up in running (haven't touched it in 25? years). In another message thread (could have been Amibay), I was mentioning is there any point in getting anything other than a Vampire accelerator. As I am really considering getting one (or the upcoming v4) I want to hear from those that bought one. How's your experience? Can the Amiga be used as any other computer for every day tasks - surfing web, watching Youtube, gmail, facebook, playing mp3s, watching videos, accessing my nas/network, netflix, etc ...

28 July 2019, 19:56	#7
Sinphaltimus Registered User Join Date: Aug 2016 Location: Cresco, PA, USA Age: 53 Posts: 1,126	I got a V5002+. It really gave new life to my A500. All the onboard ports of my A500 are available with the exception of the left side expansion port and my GVP controller. Some have had success on that port with other HDD controllers but Mine is a known compatibility issue due to the way DMA is used. I went from essentially an ECS A500 (68000 with 1MB chip ram and a 40MB SCSI HDD to an A500 ECS with FPU, 128MB ram, RTG over digital Video via an HDMI port, Ethernet, IDE (with adaptors for 320GB SATA HDD in removable bay), and 68080. My standard rear ports are all working fine. Just ordered a Midi Adaptor. Works with OctaMed SoundStudio. Have the serial port to USB adaptor with wireless KB and standard PS2 USB mouse. Able to use most programs without issue (PAL modes are an issue for me right now because my A500 is NTSC and I don't have a scan doubler or anything of the sort). Also have a GoTek as DF0: And two external floppies (DF1: and 2). Also, SD card slot mountable. The price of the Vampire Plus all the add-ons I got made this a worthwhile purchase for me. I can also use the Vampire MAProm feature to use just about any ROM version for compatibility and proper operating speed of much older programs. For instance, Using a standard 3.1 rom image and turtle mode I am able to boot off floppy and use fantavision at normal speeds with access to my HDD partitions. I haven't needed to load up 2.x or 1.x roms but the ability is there. Had my Vampire since the V2+ launched (was on the first available list for interest.) I also put everything in an ATX tower for less of a footprint and to fit the external floppies internal to the tower along with the removable HDD bay and mounting of the SD-card reader. I can't afford the flat real estate on my desk/bench but I can afford to go vertical and with a broken A500 case, it only made sense to go full swing. Also did the ATX PSU mod and have been running on that since day 1. The only complaint I had/have are the CPU socket pins. i have bent and broke several during my initial build but solder and sockets helped me do the repair myself. With a new core coming (3.0) that is supposed to do AGA and all audio/video via the HDMI connection (allegedly removing FPU), I had more capabilities to look forward to. The flashing of the Vampire is pretty straight forward so if I want to revert to the FPU (current firmware) I can at any time. And go back for the aga all video out HDMI solution as well. Which has Paula enhanced in the firmware. As for web browsing on it. Do-able but painful. All the reasons mentioned above although I never tried Netsurf. I put it on my To-do list. ethernet isn't blazing flast either but good enough for easy file transfer via NAS and PC. Occasionally will play games on it but that's more of an emulation activity. I use OctaMed and EA's music program which I can't recall the name right now (Brain farting). I like playing with fractal generators and some 3D stuff. Also enjoy using fantavision again. I do want a V4, I hope it's not sold out come November because that's about when I'll be ready to buy one. That will be a long term project slowly building it up. Would love to get 4 IDE devices on it if not just two. for a CD-rom drive. For the time being, mounting ISOs is doing ok for me me but the transfer speeds to get them on the Amiga HDD is rough. Ultimately, I'll use it for old school multimedia production as a hobby. I don't see myself using it to replace any modern PC anytime soon, even for some basic tasks. It is what it is, you love Amiga for what it is, and I do love my V500 setup. That's my personal answer without trying to convince anyone of anything. Last edited by Sinphaltimus; 28 July 2019 at 20:02. Reason: Fixed found typos.

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28 July 2019, 16:32	#2
Signman Registered User Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Michigan Posts: 384	Except for playing mp3s, NO.

28 July 2019, 18:28	#4
Steffest Registered User Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: Antwerp / Belgium Posts: 189	No, not by a long shot. I have 2 vampire machines and I love them but even a super fast Classic Amiga is not suited for modern daily tasks. The main part missing is a modern web browser. No YouTube, no Netflix, Gmail and Facebook somewhat if you use the "lite" versions of the site. (But still very very slow) Accessing Nas/network. Yes Playing MP3: Yes Playing video: if you convert your video files to MPEG2 : yes. (But that's not very practical)

28 July 2019, 18:51	#5
AMIGASYSTEM Registered User Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Brindisi (Italy) Age: 70 Posts: 8,248	Like Browser the two versions of NetSurf Browser allow you to browse many sites, NetSurf by Arti allows on OS3 also to see Youtube Videos in MPG and MP4, I have never had a confirmation that these can also be done on Vampire: OS3: NetSurf Play Video Youtube OS3: NetSurf Play MP3 On-Line Amigaremix.com

29 July 2019, 06:43	#9
bwldrbst Registered User Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 73	I have a Vampire in my A1000 and love it. I've primarily been using it for OS-friendly C programming and playing with WB and RTG friendly software. I don't use it much for games as the 512K chip ram is too limiting and I have other machines better suited to that. I'm looking forward to Core 3 with its AGA implementation but I'm note desperate for it. It's insanely powerful for an Amiga but is still nowhere near the capabilities of any recent PC. Neither the hardware or OS are up to running a modern web browser. It's great if you've always wanted an 060+RTG machine but could never justify price - this is the cheapest way to achieve such a machine. However it is still just a hobby machine and even the upcoming V4 isn't going to replace a modern computer.

29 July 2019, 13:06	#13
AMIGASYSTEM Registered User Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Brindisi (Italy) Age: 70 Posts: 8,248	Daxb quota If we talk about power yes the Vampire is the most powerful Amiga, but if it does not work FFPlay, the standard Amiga can do much more mel field Video and Audio. Of course it should be specified that the most powerful Amiga at the moment is only the emulation WinUAE, FS-UAE etc..

29 July 2019, 20:01	#17
Signman Registered User Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Michigan Posts: 384	Some of you are not addressing the OP correctly. No vamped Amiga is going to replace andy current or even older pc for all the tasks he asked. Just because you can marginally view some websites, play some video or listen to music, it is no where near a decent solution for those tasks. But you will have fun breathing some new life into your Amiga.

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