Amiga Users in Bristol / Bath Area?

roberthazelby · 30 September 2010, 14:36

Afternoon all,

I've just started tinkering around on my A1200 Tower, after a few years of neglecting the poor thing.

I'm in the process of getting back up to speed, remembering the intricacies of the OS etc, and then hope to start trying to expand the Miggy a bit.

Anyway, I just wondered if there were any Amiga users based in the Bristol/Bath area who still use their machine, have expanded their Amiga(s) beyond the initial specs, and who may be interested in meeting up once in a while to swap tips, knowledge etc.

I'm a member of SWAG (South West Amiga Group), but that sees very little activity these days.

Just thought it would be fun to meet up with any local Amiga users who fancy expanding/tinkering with their machines, and swapping tips/tricks.

Anyone?

Mequa · 30 September 2010, 18:49

I'm in the Bristol area. I have 2 original A1200s with HD expansions (one as a spare), still in working condition (though in need of replacement power supply, the A1200 one cuts out intermittently).
I did order a RAM board which turned out to be defective, so for now I'm stuck with a mammoth 2MB Chip Ram on the 'real thing'...

I mostly use WinUAE for my Amiga needs. My HP Pavilion laptop runs it pretty flawlessly, while even my Atom-based Acer Aspire One netbook can run many AGA games full-speed on the go (as well as other platforms), and even Amiga Quake and AB3D2 are playable! This is useful for saving wear and tear on old hardware too.

I have an old 40" back-projector TV, which works with both my HP laptop and real A1200 in both PAL and NTSC modes. Always a useful addition...

Galahad/FLT · 30 September 2010, 20:46

I'm in Bath

Zetr0 · 30 September 2010, 21:01

ermm....

Mr Galahad.... sir.....

I think you left this behind....

*teehehehee*

Zetr0 · 30 September 2010, 21:02

@roberthazelby

A new miggy member signed up from the bristol area recently - under the name of SkippyAR

seems a nice fellow =)

bonkers · 01 October 2010, 07:33

Xeron lives in Weston-Super-Mare. He's the guy behind among other stuff Hivelytracker.

roberthazelby · 01 October 2010, 09:40

Wow. Great to see a nice number of South West based Amiga users.

I've currently got a new 1200 motherboard on order, as the caps on mine seem to have died, meaning my sound is distorted and my right mouse button doesn't work.

Once I've got that installed, I'm going to replace the Xbox hard drive I have in there for a 4gig compact flash, and am also considering getting a PCMCIA network card. (I keep reading about issues with the PCMCIA port. I've got a 68030 card @ 50mhz and 32 megs of fast RAM. Will I encounter issues?)

@Mequa - You say that your WinUAE runs pretty flawlessly. I really must see this. I find that Amiga emulation is 'almost' there, but it's the smooth scrolling of the Amiga that it just can't get right.

I've found that you can have the emulation in 50hz, at the right speed, but with slightly 'chuggy' scrolling, or in 60hz, with smooth scrolling, but everything moves too darned fast.

Rob

TCD · 01 October 2010, 09:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by roberthazelby

I've found that you can have the emulation in 50hz, at the right speed, but with slightly 'chuggy' scrolling, or in 60hz, with smooth scrolling, but everything moves too darned fast.

It's not the emulation, but your monitor (or how you've configured it). Really

Jimbo · 01 October 2010, 09:59

Either way you can't beat the real thing.

Its like sex and cyber sex.

(never tried cyber sex btw)

Mequa · 01 October 2010, 10:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by roberthazelby

@Mequa - You say that your WinUAE runs pretty flawlessly. I really must see this. I find that Amiga emulation is 'almost' there, but it's the smooth scrolling of the Amiga that it just can't get right.

I've found that you can have the emulation in 50hz, at the right speed, but with slightly 'chuggy' scrolling, or in 60hz, with smooth scrolling, but everything moves too darned fast.

This is a problem with PAL-based games which sync at 50Hz. Many PC monitors can only run at 60Hz, however UAE can speed up PAL Amiga games to sync to 60Hz - only this will speed everything up, and increase the sound pitch. This also requires a reasonably fast PC (Atom and Celeron can struggle here).

To play PAL games with smooth scrolling at the original speed, you'll need to hook up your PC to a 50Hz-capable monitor or TV (I use S-Video output on an old 40" back-projection SD TV, which is adequate for retrogaming), and adjust your display options (usually under your video card manufacturer's control panel) to select PAL/50Hz output for that screen. Make sure you've disabled cloned displays. WinUAE should then be able to sync to 50Hz on that display.

I find 60Hz adequate for most Amiga games though, and tend to enjoy the speed boost.
More dramatic speed boosts can be achieved by disabling Vsync and manually changing the speed in the config file from 60Hz to 120Hz. [ Show youtube player ] in turbo mode.

Galahad/FLT · 01 October 2010, 11:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mequa

This is a problem with PAL-based games which sync at 50Hz. Many PC monitors can only run at 60Hz, however UAE can speed up PAL Amiga games to sync to 60Hz - only this will speed everything up, and increase the sound pitch. This also requires a reasonably fast PC (Atom and Celeron can struggle here).

To play PAL games with smooth scrolling at the original speed, you'll need to hook up your PC to a 50Hz-capable monitor or TV (I use S-Video output on an old 40" back-projection SD TV, which is adequate for retrogaming), and adjust your display options (usually under your video card manufacturer's control panel) to select PAL/50Hz output for that screen. Make sure you've disabled cloned displays. WinUAE should then be able to sync to 50Hz on that display.

I find 60Hz adequate for most Amiga games though, and tend to enjoy the speed boost.
More dramatic speed boosts can be achieved by disabling Vsync and manually changing the speed in the config file from 60Hz to 120Hz. [ Show youtube player ] in turbo mode.

I created a Turbo version of Stunt Car Racer for AGA and I have to say, it was as quick looking and smooth as the setup you had in that video.

Mequa · 01 October 2010, 18:44

Just to add that my video was the original version, with no hacks other than emulation settings.

I would like to try your speed patch, do you have a URL? I'll see if I can get it any smoother at double speed (if my PC can handle it).

Galahad/FLT · 01 October 2010, 20:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mequa

Just to add that my video was the original version, with no hacks other than emulation settings.

I would like to try your speed patch, do you have a URL? I'll see if I can get it any smoother at double speed (if my PC can handle it).

Think its this one: http://www.planetemu.net/index.php?s...rom&id=1079067

30 September 2010, 14:36	#1
roberthazelby Amiga user since 1990 Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Bristol, England Age: 48 Posts: 364	Amiga Users in Bristol / Bath Area? Afternoon all, I've just started tinkering around on my A1200 Tower, after a few years of neglecting the poor thing. I'm in the process of getting back up to speed, remembering the intricacies of the OS etc, and then hope to start trying to expand the Miggy a bit. Anyway, I just wondered if there were any Amiga users based in the Bristol/Bath area who still use their machine, have expanded their Amiga(s) beyond the initial specs, and who may be interested in meeting up once in a while to swap tips, knowledge etc. I'm a member of SWAG (South West Amiga Group), but that sees very little activity these days. Just thought it would be fun to meet up with any local Amiga users who fancy expanding/tinkering with their machines, and swapping tips/tricks. Anyone?

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30 September 2010, 18:49	#2
Mequa Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: UK Posts: 497	I'm in the Bristol area. I have 2 original A1200s with HD expansions (one as a spare), still in working condition (though in need of replacement power supply, the A1200 one cuts out intermittently). I did order a RAM board which turned out to be defective, so for now I'm stuck with a mammoth 2MB Chip Ram on the 'real thing'... I mostly use WinUAE for my Amiga needs. My HP Pavilion laptop runs it pretty flawlessly, while even my Atom-based Acer Aspire One netbook can run many AGA games full-speed on the go (as well as other platforms), and even Amiga Quake and AB3D2 are playable! This is useful for saving wear and tear on old hardware too. I have an old 40" back-projector TV, which works with both my HP laptop and real A1200 in both PAL and NTSC modes. Always a useful addition...

30 September 2010, 20:46	#3
Galahad/FLT Going nowhere Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: United Kingdom Age: 50 Posts: 8,986	I'm in Bath

30 September 2010, 21:01	#4
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	ermm.... Mr Galahad.... sir..... I think you left this behind.... teehehehee

30 September 2010, 21:02	#5
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	@roberthazelby A new miggy member signed up from the bristol area recently - under the name of SkippyAR seems a nice fellow =)

01 October 2010, 07:33	#6
bonkers Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Berkeley, USA Posts: 15	Xeron lives in Weston-Super-Mare. He's the guy behind among other stuff Hivelytracker.

01 October 2010, 09:40	#7
roberthazelby Amiga user since 1990 Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Bristol, England Age: 48 Posts: 364	Wow. Great to see a nice number of South West based Amiga users. I've currently got a new 1200 motherboard on order, as the caps on mine seem to have died, meaning my sound is distorted and my right mouse button doesn't work. Once I've got that installed, I'm going to replace the Xbox hard drive I have in there for a 4gig compact flash, and am also considering getting a PCMCIA network card. (I keep reading about issues with the PCMCIA port. I've got a 68030 card @ 50mhz and 32 megs of fast RAM. Will I encounter issues?) @Mequa - You say that your WinUAE runs pretty flawlessly. I really must see this. I find that Amiga emulation is 'almost' there, but it's the smooth scrolling of the Amiga that it just can't get right. I've found that you can have the emulation in 50hz, at the right speed, but with slightly 'chuggy' scrolling, or in 60hz, with smooth scrolling, but everything moves too darned fast. Rob

01 October 2010, 09:59	#9
Jimbo Registered User Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Colchester Essex Age: 44 Posts: 822	Either way you can't beat the real thing. Its like sex and cyber sex. (never tried cyber sex btw)

01 October 2010, 18:44	#12
Mequa Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: UK Posts: 497	Just to add that my video was the original version, with no hacks other than emulation settings. I would like to try your speed patch, do you have a URL? I'll see if I can get it any smoother at double speed (if my PC can handle it).

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