Best Possible Amiga

[Djay]

some limits..
no higher than ks3.1
commercially available hardware
no real limit to budget
must be able to run original floppy games

[Jope]

Thanks to your last limit: A500, ks1.3, 512/512 switchable to 1MB chip.

[NovaCoder]

FPGA Arcade (in about 12 months time)

[cosmicfrog]

AmigaOne X1000

[alexh]

I'm with Jope, perhaps with an IDE68k internal hard drive & RAM upgrade.

Originally Posted by CosmicFrog

AmigaOne X1000

Not an Amiga in any shape or form other than name. Plus it is as yet vapourware. Cannot run original floppy games. Has to be excluded.

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

FPGA Arcade (in about 12 months time)

Cannot run original floppy disks so it has to be excluded.

Not to mention the FPGA-Arcade cores are going to be full of bugs compared to original hardware for the foreseeable future.

[Zetr0]

Originally Posted by Jope

Thanks to your last limit: A500, ks1.3, 512/512 switchable to 1MB chip.

cannot fault that - it would be nigh 100% compatbile with all but AGA games


requiring that kinda compatability I would only add a GVP A500HD+8 - thus giving you a SCSI2 harddisk + 8mb fast so you could have a workbench / whdload - unless you upgrade the cpu (possibly breaking the compatability) you wont have an escape key (you would have to reboot) because the CPU doens't have a VBR register.


However, its a kinda toss-up, for perhaps the best WHDLoad machine a 16/32mb 030@40Mhz+ equipped A1200 would be the best machine, highly compatible and the ability to play AGA games and with the CPU cache's turned off most older games will run via floppy -

Another bonus is that the A1200 has native IDE so HDD's are inexpensive and easy to configure with WinUAE first.


looking at prices

1MB CHIP A500 (switchable 512 chip / 1mb chip)
GVP A500HD+8 (this has a switch to turn off the adapter fast and drive)
4GB SCSI Disk

between £40 - £90 pending condition and cost of side car + SCSI drive / SCA adapter


Looking at the way (to include AGA games)

A1200 2MB CHIP
Apollo 030@40mhz 16MB Fast RAM
4GB IDE 2.5" Disk / CF Card

between £90 - £160 - pending condition



I would say you eill need to add between £20 - £30 for a PS2 mouse adapter for any machine, the Amiga mouse is ugh.... at best 250 - 300 dpi and its reports are so slow!!! get shot of it and put it up high for nostalgia purposes and get a cocolino or other PS2/USB Mouse to Amiga adapter.

[Philophus]

I'd still go A1200/060 with oodles of ram and RTG.

[fitzsteve]

The best Amiga is a collection Amiga's, one for all occasions

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by alexh

Not to mention the FPGA-Arcade cores are going to be full of bugs compared to original hardware for the foreseeable future.

Weren't the originals also full of bugs

Also, don't rule out the floppy option....catweasel is a possible (that's why I added the 12 months )

[Paul_s]

I'd go for the A500 option. Cheap, reliable girl who will potter on for years more

I prefer the 500 over the 1200.. maybe because it's the first model I had back then.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

Weren't the originals also full of bugs

But the programs were written for those bugs. Take them out or not implement them correctly means games which don't look right.

[desiv]

Originally Posted by alexh

Cannot run original floppy disks so it has to be excluded.

Actually, they've mentioned floppy interfaces on the FPGA Arcade web page, so I suppose it will be possible..

Originally Posted by alexh

Not to mention the FPGA-Arcade cores are going to be full of bugs compared to original hardware for the foreseeable future.

Well, bugs are a given, but it remains to be seen whether or not they will be as good/bad compatibility wise as trying to run A500 games on an A1200. ;-)

I am a bit surprised no one mentioned a towerized decked out A1200 or an expanded A4000?

Of course, he said "commercially available", which is tricky. Does he mean still in production?

Also, technically, he said:

must be able to run original floppy games

But, he didn't say it must be able to run said floppy games FROM the floppy drive? I mean, an ADF is a floppy game in a file...

desiv

[Djay]

the machine needs to be able to read/write 880k formatted DS/DD disks

the hardware addons do not need to be in production right now (that would be difficult), but they must of been "for sale" at some point (no modded hardware or circuit boards hanging out the back)

towers are fine, indeed A4000T is all good

basically it has to remain true to the retro "Amiga" and run retro games/applications

rom switcher is fine too

[Paul_s]

Hmmm, actually I'm going to go with an early rev 4.x B2000. Cheaper to upgrade with the added Zorro ports etc....

[alexh]

Originally Posted by desiv

But, he didn't say it must be able to run said floppy games FROM the floppy drive? I mean, an ADF is a floppy game in a file...

He said "Original" and I thought that meant physical original disks. Plus ADF's are not original.

[fitzsteve]

I was trying to build the 'perfect' compact Amiga with my A600 project, didn't work out 100% but I got close

A600+ Apollo 630, 32mb Ram, 3.1 rom + 1.3 rom on a switch, so great for a nice fast Workbench and WHDLoad, except for AGA games but no 68k fallback means the rom switch is useless as I inteneded to use it in 1.3/68k mode for my old FDD collection, shame the Apollo didn't have a jumper to disable or I could have made a switch...

Steve.