Building me a new Amiga

[StarEye]

Okay, so the power supply went bust on my E/Box tower, so I need to get an Amiga going again. I'm thinking that Amiga was a bit needlessly powerful for my use - I really didn't have any use for the Voodoo 3 or soundcard. So I'm considering just scrapping the whole mediator thing, and go for a simple setup, since I'm basically just going to use it for games.

However, I want to keep it connected to the internet.

My idea is to use a desktop Amiga, no VGA monitor or any of that needless crap. Just connect via RGB. But I need internet and a CD/DVD-R. I have a Blizzard 1230 and a Blizzard 1260, and I'm not entirely sure which is best to use for this Amiga. Obviously, the 1260 was better on the towered version. I already have a desktop amiga 1200, but I think I'm switching the motherboard since RGB doesn't properly work (not at all, actually - black screen only). There's also a 6gb HD in that one, and I don't think I need any more than that.

But what OS? I them all, including 3.9, but since it's a desktop model, I'm not sure if there's any reason to go with that.

I'm considering the PCMCIA Wireless Network card, so I can connect to the internet easily. But are all cards of this type compatible? Or do I have to get a specific Amiga card, and find the drivers on the internet? I also have a Squirrel SCSI PCMCIA and a 2X CD-ROM, but I'd love to change that into a CD/DVD-R if possible. Not the highest priority, though.

So, anyone have any tips what I should get? What's an ideal setup for gaming purpose (mobility is a must), internet and cd/dvd-r? Should I just get most of these components from Amigakit.com?

(edit: this post got a little messy, sorry. I'm really just thinking out loud - if that's possible in writing:P)

[alexh]

Surely you could finance any new Amiga with the "leftovers" from your old one?

If games is what you love all you need is an A1200 + 1230 accelerator + internal IDE drive (or 44-pin IDE->CF adapter + 8Gbyte CF) + PCMCIA->CF adapter + 4Gig CF card + PC USB CF card reader.

Why do you need internet? Waste of time with Amiga anyhow.

Why do you need cd/dvd-r? A CF card with PCMCIA CF adapter gives a great way of transferring files from PC/Mac to Amiga and with 4Gig CF cards being so cheap, they are similar capacity or bigger than any CD/DVD-R (single layer).

[DDNI]

OS3.1 with classicwb from bloodwych.
Buy all you can from amigakit, for amiga specific hardware you cant go wrong! . Be aware though that can occasionally be more expensive for standard non amiga specific things (cables etc)

Aminet access is worth the hassle of slow amiga internet....

[StarEye]

I want internet for quick access, so I don't have to use my PC as a stop-gap for grabbing software or uploading potential CAPS dumps. Of course, it depends on the price.

But still, the CF option sounds tempting. Is this good place to start then? http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...a50e3d2beb2e0e

I must admit, I'm a bit old-fashioned, haven't been keeping up with expansions and stuff like that for the Amiga for years. I guess CF is standard now.

[Angus]

Have a look at 3c589 on Aminet by Neil Cafferkey. You can get one of those pcmcia network cards on Ebay (check the compatibility list). OS3.9 is quite good in that it included Genesis, which works well with the card.

Probably best compatibility wise for games is the 030 but I have very few problems with an 060. 040 is a different story I gather. Not sure about your CD/DVD drive, but you could get one of those cars that fits on the back of an IDE drive and effectively turns it into SCSI as far as your Amiga is concerned. again, Ebay maybe.

Personally, I`d stay with the tower and Mediator and run a TV card for games, its what I do. Ignore Alex`s remark about the internet being a waste of time on the Amiga, he's probably just getting cross trying to complete Lionheart or something. ;-)

Best of luck.

[Zetr0]

*Zetr0 Ponders

hmmmmmmmm

Normmaly i would say that Alexh is right on the nail, and IF you were buying that then thata exactly what i would do myself! but you know this really is a tough one.... with the kit that you have and what you want for it i would plumb for the following.

A1200 with the following

• Blizzy 060 +128MB Ram
• Blizzy SCSI external +128MB Ram
  Handy for those external SCSI devices

that would be the base now, the following purchase

• SubWay USB
  yam on a 10mbit LAN device and you have internet, wont be quick but will be there
• 4x IDE device
  oh yes no a1200 should be without one
• SFF DVDRW (laptop style)
  now you can ignore the rest if you want it internal mod
  • External USB Optical Drive enclosure
  • 2x IDE to SATA converters
  • 1x 2 port External Sata Backplane
  • 1x 4 meter external Sata Cable
  
  yep gonna hack the external USB box so to take a sata connector to an ide device ... of course this is assuming
  
  a) you dont want to pay the price of an external SATA enclosure or rom
  b) device to <IDE to Sata> then to <SATA to IDE> to device actually works
  
  (i have ordered a couple of these from fleabay for some fun )
  

for a hard disk, i would plumb for an 8GB CF card or larger micro 2.5" SCSI drive, OR you could get an Acard SCSI to IDE converter (off load the ide cpu load ) and lump onto that an 8 or 16GB CF type 2 card! that would be sweet!
and easy to make internal too

Finally i would consider Scan doubling / Flicker Fixing.

you could plumb for an internal version, or an external version OR for around £35 from eBay you can get a Scan doubler flicker fixer unit that also has vga pass through audio mixing and 99 channel RF receiver with Picture in Picture action

admitedly without modification the device has a composite input, but if you dont mind a little hackery with your a1200 you can output a far better SVideo signal to it

personally when i get time i will pop open mine and see if there are any solder points for RGB internally, that would be nice.

[alexh]

Heh, we'll agree to disagree Zetro. I still love ya though ;-)

1260 and you're entering whdload incompatibility world. Not to mention 5x the price.
You'll never need 256Mbytes of RAM. Not to mention it doesnt fit in a desktop A1200 does it?

USB is a waste of money. You probably wont want anymore storage than you CF cards can offer you. If you have to have internet access you can get PCMCIA ethernet for 1/100th the price!
Internal / external DVD drives are a waste of money and effort, you wont need anymore storage. I've not used optical discs on the Amiga/PC (except for burning discs for other people) for YEARS.
4x IDE? WTF for? (EDIT: Oh I see for the DVD drive you dont need)
You could buy an great 15KHz monitor or an LCDTV for the price of a scandoubler.

[Zetr0]

@Alexh

for 95% i totally agree

but its when we get to the details and leave the love behind that could be a difference

but yeah.... for a WHDLoad Gaming Machine.... blizzy 030 with 64/128mb ram and 4/8gb cf ide with a 4gb pcmcia cf/sdhc -> pcmcia adapter

if IF IFFFF you must have internet, then yeah... 10mbit wireless network pcmcia is perfectly perfect.


BuuuUUut since you have an 060...... and i cannot help but LOVE modding.... i just had to mention it

[Merlin]

I have to admit I am on Zetr0's side regarding optical drives in Amigas. When you are sorting through loads of ADF's for a particular one, CDs are easier to work with than transferring files to CF cards.

Also, you don't need the PC to be on to transfer files because the one you want isn't on the CF card.

If CDs are so bad, why were CD drives made for the Amiga?

Merlin

[StarEye]

As I said, I already have these components to choose from (for a desktop model):

A1200 (3.1 ROM)
Blizzard 1260/50
Blizzard 1230-IV
6gb 2,5" harddrive (already in my other desktop amiga - which I'm likely to strip to get a working RGB)
SquirrelSCSI PCMCIA
External SCSI CD-ROM*
A great flat-tubed Sony CRT
32mb fast-ram

I will probably use the HDD either way, and using a CF for easy transferring seems like a good idea. I may be willing to sacrifice internet access if it's a quick and easy to transfer large amounts of data. And I assume it is.

I'm having issues with seeing why 64 or 128mb ram will be necessary, though? I thought 32mb should be more than enough for pretty much anything, unless you want to preload games such as BASS CD32?

All in all, alexh's suggestion sounds relatively cheap and keeps it simple and clean. Just what I want, really. I'm tired of relying on a VGA monitor to use my Amiga, and I want to go back to the roots a bit. I think that even OS3.1 may be enough, but we'll see. I want it to boot up super-fast, just like in the old days. The towered amiga took much longer to boot, simply because of the extra equipment and a more demanding OS.

*I opened up the external case, and noticed that it simply acted as a box for an internal scsi cd-rom. This implies that I can just get myself another internal scsi cd-rom, and put that one in instead. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Zetr0]

@StarEye

indeed, you should be able to plug anything SCSI into it, although you may need an adapter and or Terminator depending

the Blizzy 060's run much cooler than an 030 and provide a serious ummmph should you need an app or two, although it might have one or two issues on a rare basis, if you are keeping to a desk top then i would definitely plumb for the cooler chip

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Merlin

CDs are easier to work with than transferring files to CF cards.

10 CD's are easier than 1 CF card?

I bet you could get every file you'll ever need on one 8Gig CF card! Add to that another connected to the IDE interface (or a hard drive if you like noise)

Originally Posted by Merlin

If CDs are so bad, why were CD drives made for the Amiga?

Optical discs cost only a few pence each to manufacture. They offered a medium with which people could sell large volumes of data to the public cheaply. That doesnt apply here.

[StarEye]

On the other hand, I have a couple of CD based games - like Napalm and OnEscapee. I think those would benefit greatly from a CD-drive .