Tips for a new A1200 owner

[Clym5]

I just made the biggest cock-up, I have 2 HDD's in my PC. One is a Hitachi Travelstar 90GB 2.5"
The HDD I'm setting up for my Amiga is also a Hitachi Travelstar 2.5" 40GB.

I WAS WRITING ALL THE WORKBENCH FILES TO THE 90GB INTERNAL HDD FROM MY PC!

That's why the Amiga didn't load Workbench when I put the 40GB HDD in it!

I've made some partitions (ON THE PROPER HDD) and I'm formatting them with the Amiga now. I'll post back by tomorrow with the results!

I'm such a idiot!

[demolition]

This is the reason I triple check every time I format or partition a disk. I have 5 HDDs in my PC and usually 1-2 USB keys as well as 1-2 memory cards, so a lot of drives..

[Clym5]

Man! These partitions take their time to format!

I've just been playing Skate or Die on my C64, Whee!

[demolition]

Did you do a full format again?

When I create partitions, it usually just takes seconds to finish..

[Clym5]

I read somewhere that after making partitions with HDToolBox, you should format them, using the "Format Disk" option under "Icons" In Workbench. And if I don't format them, Workbench complains that the partitions are not DOS Disks, and the names of the partitions are all scrambled at the end of them without the format.

[Clym5]

Okay! The (right) HDD is running on the Amiga! I'm listening to dna-dream, by 4mat at the moment.

I'm just waiting on my PCMCIA CF reader and my CF card to come in the mail!

It looks like the only reason I had problems is because I was formatting and partitioning the wrong HDD!

EDIT: Does anyone know where I could get a RAM expansion for my A1200? WHDload won't run any games or demos, it can't allocate ShadowMem.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Clym5

I read somewhere that after making partitions with HDToolBox, you should format them, using the "Format Disk" option under "Icons" In Workbench. And if I don't format them, Workbench complains that the partitions are not DOS Disks, and the names of the partitions are all scrambled at the end of them without the format.

Correct, but you can set a 'quick' option there which will make it finish in seconds.
And before you get too far, I'd really recommend using something other than FFS as a filesystem. This would mean a repartition and reformat, but it's worth it. You gain both speed and stability. I've had FFS destroy a few of my files a couple of times.

Here's one guide:
http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=831346&postcount=14

And use PFS3-AIO instead, then there's just one filesystem to choose from which will automatically select the best on the current system.
http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/pfs3aio

[Clym5]

Okay then, I'll do that.

Thanks for the tip!

[Clym5]

Rarrgh! I've got another problem, whenever I make the partitions and change them to PFS3, on reboot, they don't appear on the workbench screen! But I can see the HDD in HDToolBox.

EDIT: FINALLY! I've got the 3 partitions to show up in Workbench! The PFS ones.

Just in case anyone else comes looking for a solution to the same problem, I used this tutorial: [ Show youtube player ]

Now to put WB on them and try it in the Amiga!

[Clym5]

Woo! I've got it all up and running on the Amiga 1200!

Does anyone know where I can buy a RAM expansion for the 1200? I'm even having trouble playing some MODs with only 2mb!

[demolition]

The cheapest ACA1220 is €90 for a 16.67MHz version and 128MB memory. With the ACA1232 you get a faster CPU (33MHz 030), but then it's €145.

Amigakit
Vesalia

You could maybe also find a used old accelerator on Amibay, but they are usually not much cheaper.

[Clym5]

Damn, that's a pit pricey for me. I've got no way of earning any money at the moment - I'll just trawl the local auction sites, sometimes stuff like this comes up. Anyway, I've got Cannon Fodder 1, 2 and Nuclear War, that should keep me happy for awhile.

Is it not possible to get an 8mb upgrade?

[demolition]

The smallest I can think of that I see often in Amibay is an Mtec board with 4MB fast ram and an FPU.
Take a look at this post:
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=16681
They're a bit cheaper than the ACA1220, however not enough so I would probably still choose the ACA as it has much more memory (which is also faster 32 bit memory), as well as having the maprom functionality. And it comes with a warranty.

If a pure 4MB upgrade was in the €30 range, it might be worth it, but I doubt you'll find one at that price.
An alternative could be a 4MB SRAM card, however they are also quite expensive and even slower (they will actually slow down your A1200 a bit).

[Clym5]

I heard that you could buy a PCMCIA card that had built-in RAM and I think it was about 8 to 16mb. Or is that the SRAM card?

No chance I could build a RAM expansion? I've got quite a bit of experience with soldering and programming, but not much hardware knowledge!

[demolition]

The PCMCIA RAM card is indeed the SRAM card. You can find those in 2MB and 4MB versions.

It should be possible to build your own fast ram card for the A1200 like it can be done for the A600 (look at the ones Kipper2k is selling), however you'd probably need to use the expansion connector as it's not possible to piggy-back off the 020 CPU. Apart from the memory chips it would probably require a CPLD for the logic. If you're only going to build one, I think it very quickly become a lot more expensive than just buying a normal expansion. You'd have to build several to divide the costs of PCB production etc.

[Clym5]

Huh, I'll look into building one, but I don't think it'll go anywhere.

Demolition, what would you suggest, a 4mb SRAM card or a 4mb Fast Ram board?

I just don't have the money to burn on things like the ACA1220, I don't even have a job! I still haven't figured out why _some_ people like to be unemployed.

[demolition]

The 4MB SRAM cards are quite expensive. I think maybe €60. For that price you could get a fast RAM expansion which I would prefer as it's faster. Also you don't have to remove it when you need to transfer files.

And no, it's not fun being unemployed. One thing is the money issue, another is the 'being at home' part which may be fun in the beginning, but it usually doesn't stay that way. Luckily I have a good job at the moment. In these times though, nobody can be sure how it will look in their future.

Keep a lookout in Amibay for some cheap expansions, they might pop up from time to time, and you could get lucky to find just the one you're looking for.
But remember that being into Amigas can often end up as an expensive hobby, particularly if you want to use them for a bit more than we did 20 years ago.

[zipper]

As a SRAM card will slow down your A1200 but a 4MB board will make it 2x faster do you need to think twice?

[Clym5]

Okay, I'll get a Fast Ram board. I've got a PCMCIA CF reader and a 1gb CF coming soon too.

And if I'm on a budget, is the 4mb board more MB's for the money compared to the 8mb one? (Does that make any sense?)

[demolition]

Depends on the price of the two boards. :-)