Entar the Amiigggaaaaa draggonn...!!!!

I am looking to upgrade my AMIGA 2000 into hyper graphics anilation machine to replace my desktop. It is one the "vintage" computers I plan to use round the clock.

I was told the first thing I need to do is upgrade the battery slot. It looks like the battery was leaking, but the system still boots. I was even able to load a game.

Gunship ( it has that funny tiled background ).

So far the Amiga appear to show in black and white on my television threw.
There is one of those genlocks on it. It has two Hard drives inside. One I am guessing was used for Memory, since it is attached to e board.

I was able to load a couple of the programs on to it, however I am unable to checkout the specs.

I am looking to install a 3d graphics accellerator on What looks like an ISA board. I have seen these boards before on another computer I have.

If everything works out I plan to have the following running.

Amiga Paint programs
Amiga 3d programs
Fakk 2
Do some matrix...the other kind.

..........................................
I know the A2000 is no 1200 or 4000 but, and I say but. It is like having the A500 ( the original ) with room for improvement. Meaning you get the best of both worlds....of course this is my only Amiga at the moment.

I also have a regualr X86( intel ) board I am going to look into upgrading as a three way loading device. I was thinking of installing.

Amiga 4.0 ( the newest one )
Apple OS version 9
Windows 2000... or a Windows.

I am a self-proclaimed artist. However my love for videogames makes me kind of a techi. I do not like 3d games anymore....as before. I also dislike photoshop.

So far in terms of consumer freindly ness the Amiga OS is the best thing. Even the hardware support seems fair, then most recent machines.

[asm1]

Hi Rugal, welcome to EAB.

Now the stuff you might not want to hear.....

I'm no expert on the A2000 but I beleive it is unrealistic of you to expect to be able to "replace your desktop" completely. Most of us here run a "modern" machine of some sort, be it PC or mac to do "everyday" stuff, and have an Amiga as a companion to it.

Yes it is a good idea to remove the battery. The "two hard drives" are exactly that... hard drives, one of which sounds like it has failed or is not working for some reason. Virtual Memory (or using a hard disk for "RAM") isn't available on the Amiga as far as I am aware.

I'm not sure about compatibility/drivers regarding ISA 3d cards - You might be able to get away with an ATI MAch 32/64, but "... in ISA times "3d" acceleration as we know it today did not exist.

http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/a2000.html


Of course you can Add to the A2000 but as a "basic spec" machine it will struggle to do what you want.

Couple of questions:

What spec is your x86 Machine ? is it a windows box or a Mac ?
What is your Budget ? (you will have to spend quite a bit to get the 2000 up to scratch, we are talking possible 060/PowerPC (PPC) upgrades with a PCI expansion board.... which won't be cheap, and even then you may still be disappointed by performance)

Its a nice idea but not one I can recommend....

Yes Amiga 0S 4.0 is nice, but to run it on a "classic" amiga like a 2000, you will need Power PC Hardware, which as I have said is not cheap.

Versions beyond 4.0 (i.e. 4.1) require newer hardware such as the SAM system here
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...roducts_id=887
For which commercial software is limited.

Unfortunately neither 4.0 or 4.1 are compatible with previous software released for "Classic Amigas".... the "Newest" classic OS is 3.9 and that won't run on a standard A2000, you'll have to expand it.

If you really want OS 4.0 or 4.1 you will have to spend SERIOUS money, either expanding your A2000 (to the point where it doesn't seem worth it for OS 4.0 which is PPC only). Or for one of the dedicated systems like the one I mentioned above... which also has its limitations.

"Hardware support" is very much on a "Do-it-yourself" level as "Amiga" the company/brand/entity doesn't really exist in the same way as it once did. Granted there seems to be enough to keep the old machines going, but to even think that it is on a level with recent machines is sadly misguded.

sorry

Andrew

[cosmicfrog]

hi RugalSizzler and welcome to EAB

now any chance of some photos of the inside of that A2000 plz

as from memory to have Hardrives they will be attached to an expansion card
you might even find it has a video toaster inside but without more details its hard to say

any ways you`ve found the best place to come and find some answers and have some fun aswell

[Kitty]

Welcome to EAB RugalSizzler, the best Amiga Forum on the Intrawebs!

[8bitbubsy]

Welcome on-board, RugalSizzler! Enjoy your stay, but don't be alarmed of any eventual craziness or weird acting.

AmigaOS 4.x and MacOS are both PPC-based, and will not run natively on an x86. Nonetheless, emulating is possible, but rather slow.

As for the A2000: The motherboard is the bottle-neck, sorry...
You can of course put a fast accelerator in it with its own fastmem, but the bridge from it to the ISA slots is horribly slow. As well as ISA in itself...

The best go, even tho' you so much wanted the A2000, is still an A1200 or A4000. An updated A1200 in a tower with PPC, Mediator 1200 PCI with: Voodoo3 PCI, Sound Blaster 128, generic ethernet card, USB 2.0 PCI card -- FastATA MKIII, kickstart 3.1 and PCKey will be a beast able to run AmigaOS 4.x But it will cost you a huge amount of $$$, that's just how it is in the Amiga world...

Good luck!

[Bamiga2002]

Welcome GunSlinger!
I also liked the A2000 (got one free!) but after a lightning storm it was sorta not-working-ok (yellow display, hangups etc.) so later i bought an A1200 and expanded it!

[asm1]

I think I scared him away