newbie what's this question

Hi there. I'm a newbie to the Amiga scene due to being bought an upgraded 1200 by my wife who decided I should relive my youth. So I bought one of those cf cards and when installing it found this inside. Anybody got any ideas what it is exactly. Cheers.

[fgh]

Not sure about the model but it's a 42mHz 68030 with 32MB RAM.
A great A1200 setup, your wife did well!

My wife done well? If she knew that I'd be forever doing the dishes? Is there any way to actually find out who makes the card? There's no writing on the front or back. Also, how much is a 32mb card as that might make her a bit happier about spending money on what she says is a "20year old computer." Yeh, it's old but so am I lol.

[Tiago]

Yes looks like a 68030 with 32MB Ram.
Yes you wife did a nice job. The "normal" A1200 has 2MB and has a lower CPU (020) this one is a 030.
That card has more memory and an extra CPU that gives you more power.
With that, you are able to play any game from an HD.
Search for "Whdload"

[ajk]

You can go through this list here and see if you find a match. Some kind of Apollo I suppose.

[ElectroBlaster]

It really looks like an Apollo 1230 Mk-III according to the BBOAH!

Never seen a red one before.

The mach chip for SCSI is present but no SCSI header. Also looks like no FPU and no second simm slot.

These can be added I assume, would be a good upgrade path

You wife certainly did well on this

My wife would turn around and tell me to sod off if I wanted more amiga's lol.

[McTrinsic]

At amiga.resource.cx you can look for manufacturer-id and expansion number (advanced search).

Cheers,
McT

[alenppc]

Originally Posted by wasntme

...due to being bought an upgraded 1200 by my wife...

Never let her go

[Phreaker]

Originally Posted by alenppc

Never let her go

Hey I'd almost be prepared to do a wife swap permanately hahahaha

Thanks for all the help guys. Couple of things though which are below

Originally Posted by Tiago

The "normal" A1200 has 2MB and has a lower CPU (020) this one is a 030.
That card has more memory and an extra CPU that gives you more power.
With that, you are able to play any game from an HD.
Search for "Whdload"

Does the extra 10 on the CPU mean it's not a stock a1200 or is this due to the upgraded card?

AJK - I've been through the list and I'd agree about the apollos.

Originally Posted by ElectroBlaster

It really looks like an Apollo 1230 Mk-III according to the BBOAH!

Never seen a red one before.

The mach chip for SCSI is present but no SCSI header. Also looks like no FPU and no second simm slot.

These can be added I assume, would be a good upgrade path

You wife certainly did well on this

My wife would turn around and tell me to sod off if I wanted more amiga's lol.

Wonder if the red one is a limited edition one off and is worth billions
I'm interested in the upgrade bit, can you elaborate more on what you mentioned please, because I'm grateful for your help, I will share my ability to get my wife to buy me things. It's called doing the dishes and agreeing with everything she says lol.

Mctrinsic - I've searched by number and it is verifying the apollo but still no red ones. I can almost feel those billions.
Allenpc - I don't intend to let her go but cannon fodder may cause a divorce. I actually caught her singing "don't you worry, kill him with your gun, he'll be lying in his uniform".
Phreaker - glad you didn't say amiga swap. I'd be mortified
Now I'm off to study whdload a bit more.

[ajk]

@wasntme

The A1200 has a Motorola 68020 processor on the motherboard as standard. The faster 68030 on the Apollo replaces it. The '020 is still physically present on the motherboard, of course, but it's not being used while the accelerator is installed.

Accelerator cards often came with a range of extra options, like a SCSI interface for a hard drive, one or two memory slots, and perhaps a FPU (maths co-processor, used by a few games but mainly "serious" software). Cheaper models of the otherwise same accelerator lacked one or more of the extra bits.

[fgh]

You can remove the CPU card, then the machine will be 'stock' again
But might as well leave it there, as the 68030 is the sweet spot between speed and compatibility for running amiga games from Workbench with WHDLoad.
68040 and 68060 cards are faster but more expensive and slightly less compatible. For gaming, there is no need to upgrade further.

The 68020 on the motherboard is 14mHz, and your 68030 is 42mHz.
If you look at the Sysinfo screenshot you will notice the speed of your amiga is 6.48 times that of a stock A1200.
(Just adding fast ram usually doubles it, then the faster CPU triples that again.)

Now head over to ftp://ftp:any@grandis.nu/Commodore_Amiga/WHDLoad_Packs/ and download those games and demos..
And while you're at it you should register WHDLoad at whdload.de as well.

In the UK/EU, a 68030 CPU board would probably sell for around €100, and the A1200 around €80, roughly.

If you have a closer look at the CPU card it will certainly have some text identifying the make and model..

[ElectroBlaster]

Honestly I have never seen a red Apollo card! Every single one I have had, always Green lol.

I had a red 8mb Zydec thing years ago.

Anyway I would say enjoy the Amiga as it is until you are ready to start maxing it out!

I will assume this Apollo was sold at the cheaper-end. I am judging by the blank spaces for bits to soldered on. The full version would have had all these bits as normal as others have pointed out.

There is one thing I noticed... not sure if this is right or not but can somebody please clarify the cpu speed:

MC68030FE16B

http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/68030/...8030FE16B.html

If this is correct! Then the cpu is overclocked? (Typical ACT/Apollo tricks)

[Hewitson]

Welcome back to Amiga! That's a nice machine, all you need now is a nice big CRT to play it on

[roy bates]

yeah its a apollo 1230 mk3

it can take 64mb of ram.

it has no scsi on board.

the cpu is a 16mhz unit overclocked,but some cpu's were marked lower than normal sometimes to fill orders i think,you would have to check the mask set.

I don't think a CRT would look as good hung on the wall so wifey is just going to have to get used to me playing it on my 55" LCD TV. Anyway, I'm happy with the advice you guys have offered, I'll consider upgrading further at a later date but one last question please. What's a mask set and how do you check that?

[ajk]

The second line printed on the CPU. Have a look at this list here and particularly 04D66C.

[ElectroBlaster]

@Roy

Am I correct in thinking SCSI is actually there because of the Mach chip being in place already?

Just the connector header has not been soldered on... or did these Apollo's need an additional card like the Blizzards and Vipers?

[Hewitson]

They require a SCSI module:

http://www.bboah.com/index.php?actio...234&artlang=en

These poorly designed controllers don't use DMA and from what I've heard they're incompatible with a large amount of drives. I wouldn't waste my time with them.

[roy bates]

Originally Posted by ElectroBlaster

@Roy

Am I correct in thinking SCSI is actually there because of the Mach chip being in place already?

Just the connector header has not been soldered on... or did these Apollo's need an additional card like the Blizzards and Vipers?

as hewitson said,the scsi for these was the same for the 1240 and 1260(a separate board you soldered on),not very good at all.
you had to solder it on,the holes for the board are behind the first simm slot in the picture.
the machs you can see in the board are not for scsi.