Which Amiga system for me?

Nostromo · 02 November 2009, 19:22

Hi there,

I miss the Amiga and would like to play some games again on the real thing (emulation does not cut it for me). I am pondering what solutions there are for me, and I came out with these.... any suggestions/comments will be appreciated!

Amiga 500
Already got one of these, but I am missing a mouse and an RGB/Scart cable. I guess its the 'simplest' way to get into A500 gaming but I was not looking forward to using floppies again.
PRO: I'm nearly there
CON: Floppy drives, non-AGA games, can take quite a bit of deskspace

Amiga 1200
I could buy one of these babies, and be setup for AGA games as well, AND get rid of floppy drives by loading games from WHDLoad. Unfortunately to be any useful it needs an accelerator with RAM which is beyond my budget
PRO: Can be bought brand new, not too expensive and plays AGA titles
CON: Becomes expensive once you add RAM/Accelerator, otherwise you are stuck with floppies

Minimig
These thing is so small.... and I can get it brand new, unfortunately not cheap and thats WITHOUT a case.
PRO: No floppies, now with HDD emulation (at least I think so), 4 megs RAM option
CON: Anything but cheap, it does not work with all games, after all its emulation, no AGA games

Clone-A
Whats the word on this, I haven't heard about it for ages now?!

Thanks a lot guys for any usual suggestions/help you may give

TCD · 02 November 2009, 19:23

A1200

Graham Humphrey · 02 November 2009, 19:26

I second TCD's suggestion. Long term the 1200's a better bet. Even if you can't afford all the hardware right now you might be able to later on. Just a stock 1200 will let you play AGA games too.

Jope · 02 November 2009, 20:24

The A1200 is probably the best all around retro gaming Amiga these days.

amiman99 · 02 November 2009, 20:49

I have / had almost all Amigas in my short life and the one that got most use is A1200, it is expended to 68030 w/64MB Ram and modded with internal CDROM drive and 4GB Microdrive. It is an Awesome machine. I think if you start with basic one, add a good size HD or Flash card, you will have a good start. Buy yourself a PCMCIA-CF adapter and drivers from Aminet, and you will be good to go transferring files from PC to Amiga.
Hope you can find cheap one, good luck.

alexh · 02 November 2009, 20:51

If you keep your eyes open you can get an 8Mbyte RAM card for under £20

cosmicfrog · 02 November 2009, 21:25

me for the A1200 as well, though if you can get a A4000 030 for round £100-£150 might be a better option, even beter if its an 040 but then compatability is abit iffy so I`ve herd for games

rkauer · 03 November 2009, 01:42

A1200 for just one-Amiga-fits-all-my-needs.

RAM expansions (and 020 accelerators) are not so expensive and give a new life for WHDLoad retr0lycious. Don't go for OS3.5/3.9 with this, of course!

A small CF (4Gb or less) with adaptor and another PCMCIA card reader (can be SD for even cheaper option) for transfering archives is all you need.

Original mouse, kempston-style joystick and just the power cable hooked to any ATX PSU you can grab and ready to fun you are.

Kitty · 03 November 2009, 02:12

Quote:

it does not work with all games, after all its emulation

Technically its not an emulator, others would argue otherwise ..

amicrawler · 03 November 2009, 07:19

a3000 is all so a good computer

amicrawler · 03 November 2009, 07:21

pro very fast and robus
con zip memory very very hard to get to fill up all the banks
but other wise a very good computer and fast unless you need a4000

Nostromo · 03 November 2009, 07:45

Hi there,

Thanks a lot for your feedback... so it seems that the A1200 is the most popular choice. Will I be able to run WHDLoad with no extra RAM in it? Its weird how someone made a new run of RAM expansion boards for the A600 but not for the much popular A1200.

Graham Humphrey · 03 November 2009, 07:56

You can run WHDLoad but with no extra RAM you'll find it difficult to run bigger games.

However most games will still run from floppy anyway, if you don't have any expansions, which obviously isn't ideal but running some from HD and some from floppy will probably keep you going until you can get hold of a RAM card or an accelerator from somewhere.

alexh · 03 November 2009, 08:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by everblue

Its weird how someone made a new run of RAM expansion boards for the A600 but not for the much popular A1200.

Not really. No-one knew how many A1200 RAM cards and accelerators had been sold and what the percentage of vanilla A1200's there were. For all the hardware developers knew there was only a handful of users wanting a RAM card.

There were no A600 RAM cards and almost no accelerators giving any such upgrade an instant 100% market share.

Nostromo · 03 November 2009, 11:10

After a lot of pondering it seems that a Minimig with ARM upgrade is the best solution for me, sure it does not come cheap, it costs as much as a brand new A1200 from Amigakit, but:

1. It has 4 Megs of Ram
2. It runs at 28mhz
3. It has an inbuilt scandoubler
4. Its tiny
5. It runs WHDLoad/HDD

I do not have space where to setup another desktop, and this one would sit snugly under my TV setup. Also, while not all games run yet, around 90-95% do (it seems) so thats more than enough. A disadvantage would be that it would still need a nice case.

Feel free to try to dissuade me

alexh · 03 November 2009, 11:12

This is a big turn-around. Cannot afford a second hand A1200 (£30) + RAM card (£30) but now you can afford a MiniMig?

The v1.1 PCB was underpowered and overpriced when it was released and is even more so now.

There are other FPGA boards soon to be released with enhanced PCB's.

Recommendation is to wait a while if an FPGA Amiga is your choice.

I have a MiniMig and the 90-95% compatibility quoted is too high. Lots and lots of titles work but have glitches.

MiniMig
Pros : Scandoubler, SD media, form factor.
Cons : Price, compatibility, no AGA, no 020+, poor expansion capabilities, no support for OS3.9

Retro-Nerd · 03 November 2009, 11:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexh

I have a MiniMig and the 90-95% compatibility quoted is too high. Lots and lots of titles work but have glitches.

And that's a really good point.

Nostromo · 03 November 2009, 11:28

I see, in this case I will try and find a cheap RAM Board for A1200 first... then proceed from there. Thanks for help \o/

coze · 03 November 2009, 13:32

another option is the DE1 minimig. This is a minimig port running on Altera's DE1 development board by Tobias Gunther. With the last core update, it has the same functionality of a Minimig upgraded with the Yaqube ARM controller. (HDF + 4 floppy support, 2 mb chip, 1.5 mb slow ram). DE1 has 8 mb SDRAM on board, so a Fast RAM upgrade with just software update is possible. Tobias says 68000 turbo mode is possible too. At 150$ It costs much less than a ARM upgraded minimig, the only disadvantage is you have to build a small adapter board to use joysticks and mouse (keyboard is available through onboard ps2 connector.).

btw, there are other projects using DE1 too, like ZET. And I believe there must be a C64 core somewhere too ...

As a nice side effect you get a chance to play with a FPGA development board and get your hands dirty with verilog & VHDL.

PS : I have plans to make a small PCB run for this adapter board in near future.

BrooksterMax · 03 November 2009, 14:01

You can upwards and downwards with the A1200 in terms of upgrading and disabling things to play as much of the amiga sofware range as possible. Its probably the more flexible platform for you.

I went for the A1200 as my primary platform recently adding a 4mb ram card to the stock unit, its very good for gaming

02 November 2009, 19:22	#1
Nostromo Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: The World! Posts: 454	Which Amiga system for me? Hi there, I miss the Amiga and would like to play some games again on the real thing (emulation does not cut it for me). I am pondering what solutions there are for me, and I came out with these.... any suggestions/comments will be appreciated! Amiga 500 Already got one of these, but I am missing a mouse and an RGB/Scart cable. I guess its the 'simplest' way to get into A500 gaming but I was not looking forward to using floppies again. PRO: I'm nearly there CON: Floppy drives, non-AGA games, can take quite a bit of deskspace Amiga 1200 I could buy one of these babies, and be setup for AGA games as well, AND get rid of floppy drives by loading games from WHDLoad. Unfortunately to be any useful it needs an accelerator with RAM which is beyond my budget PRO: Can be bought brand new, not too expensive and plays AGA titles CON: Becomes expensive once you add RAM/Accelerator, otherwise you are stuck with floppies Minimig These thing is so small.... and I can get it brand new, unfortunately not cheap and thats WITHOUT a case. PRO: No floppies, now with HDD emulation (at least I think so), 4 megs RAM option CON: Anything but cheap, it does not work with all games, after all its emulation, no AGA games Clone-A Whats the word on this, I haven't heard about it for ages now?! Thanks a lot guys for any usual suggestions/help you may give

03 November 2009, 11:12	#16
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,337	This is a big turn-around. Cannot afford a second hand A1200 (£30) + RAM card (£30) but now you can afford a MiniMig? The v1.1 PCB was underpowered and overpriced when it was released and is even more so now. There are other FPGA boards soon to be released with enhanced PCB's. Recommendation is to wait a while if an FPGA Amiga is your choice. I have a MiniMig and the 90-95% compatibility quoted is too high. Lots and lots of titles work but have glitches. MiniMig Pros : Scandoubler, SD media, form factor. Cons : Price, compatibility, no AGA, no 020+, poor expansion capabilities, no support for OS3.9 Last edited by alexh; 03 November 2009 at 11:17.

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02 November 2009, 19:23	#2
TCD HOL/FTP busy bee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Germany Age: 46 Posts: 31,525	A1200

02 November 2009, 19:26	#3
Graham Humphrey Moderator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK Age: 37 Posts: 11,167	I second TCD's suggestion. Long term the 1200's a better bet. Even if you can't afford all the hardware right now you might be able to later on. Just a stock 1200 will let you play AGA games too.

02 November 2009, 20:24	#4
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	The A1200 is probably the best all around retro gaming Amiga these days.

02 November 2009, 20:49	#5
amiman99 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: San Antonio, TX USA Age: 50 Posts: 1,184	I have / had almost all Amigas in my short life and the one that got most use is A1200, it is expended to 68030 w/64MB Ram and modded with internal CDROM drive and 4GB Microdrive. It is an Awesome machine. I think if you start with basic one, add a good size HD or Flash card, you will have a good start. Buy yourself a PCMCIA-CF adapter and drivers from Aminet, and you will be good to go transferring files from PC to Amiga. Hope you can find cheap one, good luck.

02 November 2009, 20:51	#6
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,337	If you keep your eyes open you can get an 8Mbyte RAM card for under £20

02 November 2009, 21:25	#7
cosmicfrog The 1 who ribbits Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: leek, Staffs, UK Age: 56 Posts: 3,557	me for the A1200 as well, though if you can get a A4000 030 for round £100-£150 might be a better option, even beter if its an 040 but then compatability is abit iffy so I`ve herd for games

03 November 2009, 01:42	#8
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	A1200 for just one-Amiga-fits-all-my-needs. RAM expansions (and 020 accelerators) are not so expensive and give a new life for WHDLoad retr0lycious. Don't go for OS3.5/3.9 with this, of course! A small CF (4Gb or less) with adaptor and another PCMCIA card reader (can be SD for even cheaper option) for transfering archives is all you need. Original mouse, kempston-style joystick and just the power cable hooked to any ATX PSU you can grab and ready to fun you are.

03 November 2009, 07:19	#10
amicrawler Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: some where in the world Posts: 50	a3000 is all so a good computer

03 November 2009, 07:21	#11
amicrawler Registered User Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: some where in the world Posts: 50	pro very fast and robus con zip memory very very hard to get to fill up all the banks but other wise a very good computer and fast unless you need a4000

03 November 2009, 07:45	#12
Nostromo Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: The World! Posts: 454	Hi there, Thanks a lot for your feedback... so it seems that the A1200 is the most popular choice. Will I be able to run WHDLoad with no extra RAM in it? Its weird how someone made a new run of RAM expansion boards for the A600 but not for the much popular A1200.

03 November 2009, 07:56	#13
Graham Humphrey Moderator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK Age: 37 Posts: 11,167	You can run WHDLoad but with no extra RAM you'll find it difficult to run bigger games. However most games will still run from floppy anyway, if you don't have any expansions, which obviously isn't ideal but running some from HD and some from floppy will probably keep you going until you can get hold of a RAM card or an accelerator from somewhere.

03 November 2009, 11:10	#15
Nostromo Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: The World! Posts: 454	After a lot of pondering it seems that a Minimig with ARM upgrade is the best solution for me, sure it does not come cheap, it costs as much as a brand new A1200 from Amigakit, but: 1. It has 4 Megs of Ram 2. It runs at 28mhz 3. It has an inbuilt scandoubler 4. Its tiny 5. It runs WHDLoad/HDD I do not have space where to setup another desktop, and this one would sit snugly under my TV setup. Also, while not all games run yet, around 90-95% do (it seems) so thats more than enough. A disadvantage would be that it would still need a nice case. Feel free to try to dissuade me

03 November 2009, 11:28	#18
Nostromo Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: The World! Posts: 454	I see, in this case I will try and find a cheap RAM Board for A1200 first... then proceed from there. Thanks for help \o/

03 November 2009, 13:32	#19
coze hastala vista winny vista Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: mt fuji Age: 46 Posts: 1,335	another option is the DE1 minimig. This is a minimig port running on Altera's DE1 development board by Tobias Gunther. With the last core update, it has the same functionality of a Minimig upgraded with the Yaqube ARM controller. (HDF + 4 floppy support, 2 mb chip, 1.5 mb slow ram). DE1 has 8 mb SDRAM on board, so a Fast RAM upgrade with just software update is possible. Tobias says 68000 turbo mode is possible too. At 150$ It costs much less than a ARM upgraded minimig, the only disadvantage is you have to build a small adapter board to use joysticks and mouse (keyboard is available through onboard ps2 connector.). btw, there are other projects using DE1 too, like ZET. And I believe there must be a C64 core somewhere too ... As a nice side effect you get a chance to play with a FPGA development board and get your hands dirty with verilog & VHDL. PS : I have plans to make a small PCB run for this adapter board in near future.

03 November 2009, 14:01	#20
BrooksterMax Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Norfolk UK Age: 43 Posts: 433	You can upwards and downwards with the A1200 in terms of upgrading and disabling things to play as much of the amiga sofware range as possible. Its probably the more flexible platform for you. I went for the A1200 as my primary platform recently adding a 4mb ram card to the stock unit, its very good for gaming

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