Why do you accelerate your Amiga?

[vroom6sri]

I added an aca230/56 because I had always wanted a beefed up a1200 back in the day but couldn't afford it. I was in awe of what the Amiga could do when accelerated and I enjoy playing my favourite games from yesteryear that do benefit from the upgrade like Birds of Prey and Doom. I love seeing what my machine can achieve with this midrange upgrade.

[watsonfmly]

There are lots. New hardware coming out all the time.

ACA-*
Kiper2k
Etc

And there are also new games, demos, and apps also.

[demolition]

I'd second the opinion that it is fun to try out all the hardware that were out of reach back in the 80's/90's.

Brings this comic to mind, taken to extremes:

[jPV]

Originally Posted by Kola

Just wondering why.

As far as I know all of the games are made and they all are wrote for the habitat of a specific computer, say A1200.

So by making your A1200 how ever many times faster what does it do? I understand coding a PC up as the newer software requires greater hardware.

Scuse if this is a dumb Q. I just don't get it.

I've mainly been upgrading my Amiga because I've been using it as a main daily computer (till 2004). All apps were much nicer to use when there was more speed and you could use higher resolutions. For example rendering, mp3 playing, videos, networking/websurfing etc require pretty much from Amiga level CPUs.

Another big reason for me was (and is) the demoscene. In mid 90s demos pushed what they got from 030/50 and since late 90s most demos have practically required 060 processor.

And as Amiga was my main computer, I of course wanted to check all the latest games too. There were many classics made in late 90s for accelerated Amigas. Of course majority of the available games were for stock Amigas, but that doesn't mean that there weren't games requiring more too.

[Predseda]

Originally Posted by Kola

Id rather just not play the 5% of games that are enhanced by accelerating and save myself £200. £200 to speed up three games to me is nuts. But each to there own.

It is NOT about the money. Okay - you save some 100s GBP by playing old games on modern PC under WinUAE. But WHAT you save money for? Some people are glad to save money to invest them to their vintage computers. It is just hobby, money is not important, the feeling is important. It is the same with old cars: they are slow, they are not fuel efficient, but they are fun to drive. So I have a veteran car and invest money to it, beside my boring daily use car.

[Dunny]

I find that the vast majority of games are actually written for the original 7MHz OCS machine and so the A1200 was actually, to all intents and purposes, an accelerated Amiga. At least, it felt that way for me when I first played Carrier Command on the 1200 - much smoother and far more fun to play.

I ended up buying a Blizzard 1230/IV with 2MB FastRAM expansion because of games like Gloom and Alien Breed. The added speed and RAM was also handy for general Workbench use - it was a lot better for it.

D.

[Kola]

Hi guys at work. Will reply in full later.

@ watsonfmly - QUOTE Koala, yes todays PCs can do amazing things. So much so, I am not shocked or giddy at what they can do.

Now get a 20 year old computer to do something amazing...... that is cool. UNQUOTE


^^^^^^^ This I can really relate to. This is the exact reason why I have foregone my mac book pro and returned to old 80s and 90s methods to write music.

Its just boring writing on an infinite everything and rising modern day system. So whilst my take is music as opposed games or graphics, your point strikes a chord (pun intended) with my heart.

Reply to the rest of you later

[fitzsteve]

This is actually quite an interesting thread, because everyone uses their system differently.

For me I wanted to try more then just WHDLoad Games, I mean I enjoyed my original 8mb Ram card and playing Games but with the excellent Workbench packs on offer, especially Classic Workbench I saw that there was a lot more I could do with my A1200 then just Gaming.

First upgrade was a 1230 and I'd highly recommend this to anyone wanting to take the next step, it opened a lot of doors for me. The speed boost with 3D Games was noticeable, Workbench really flies and you have access now to some interesting Emulators such as ShapeShifter (yes you can run it on an 020 but it's not much fun)

Again you can use some 8 bit Emulators with just an 020/8mb but they greatly benefit from an 030.

Next step are the 040/060 cards but moreso RTG Graphics as this brings a big boost to Workbench, I chose RTG as my next upgrade path even before an 060 because I wanted a high colour larger working area, with my Mediator/Voodoo setup (required Towering my A1200) Workbench was a real dream to use.

I've been down the 060/PPC path too, you can build a fantastic system but you start to realise that in fact you are just trying to do stuff with your Amiga that a cheap PC or WinUAE can do better.

If I look at all my Amiga setups I've owned then I would pick out two fav's that would be an A1200 with Blizzard 1230, all you need for Gaming and a bit more! And then my A4000 with 040/RTG (WarpEngine/CV643D/Toccatta) This for me is almost the perfect big box setup, it would be nice to have 060 in there again but the 040 @40mhz is fast enough for most things I emulate and I like that this Amiga is classic Zorro only.

There's lots you can do with a system like this, working with Music & Graphics, Emulation (ShapeShifter flies on RTG), Demos, CD Games that use the sound card and RTG and of course it can still do WHDLoad stuff!

Anyway, that's why I accelerate!

[Mrs Beanbag]

Originally Posted by demolition

I'd second the opinion that it is fun to try out all the hardware that were out of reach back in the 80's/90's.

Brings this comic to mind, taken to extremes:

Haha, i never saw that comic but i've been saying that myself for years.

Although personally i don't even play these 3d games on PC or XBox so playing them on Amiga would just be for the sake of it.

This hits closer the mark for me:

[edd_jedi]

It's a fair question. You're right, an 020 A1200 will run 99% of original games, in some cases better than an accelerated Amiga will due to compatibility. However as others have mentioned there are a few good reasons to upgrade:

1) Workbench speed - opening Windows with lots of folders (eg games, demos), redrawing the Workbench etc, much faster.
2) If you have a high-res monitor, you can run WB 3.5 or ClassicWB at a decent speed. The original WB 3.1 or lower look great at 320 x 240, but look terrible at anything higher due to the strange half-height icons, scroll bars etc.
3) I use my Amiga to run retro games from other systems like Scumm, Doom ports, Shapeshifter etc. Why you ask when a modern computer will emulate them better? The same reason I use a real Amiga instead of WinUAE - it's not just about the software, you need hardware that complements it. 90s games look good on low-res CRT 4:3 monitors, they look crap on super-high res wide screen modern LCD monitors.

[ajk]

@edd_jedi

Workbench usually runs at 640x256, so you have double-height (or half-width) icons as standard

[Lobotomika]

For me, 030/50 is the limit. I owned 040 and PPC and it's safe to say nothing past 030/50 has the authencity of an oldschool amiga.

I accelerate my amiga (to 030/50 obviously) because I like a faster +16 color desktop and a DOPUS 4.X that lists my massive amount of WHDLoad folders in a reasonable period of time. Then I simply prefer OCS versions of old games over ugly AGA abominations.

[Kola]

Hello everyone.

I originally was going to reply to everyone, but my dinner hour isn't long enough ha. Seems a thread of interest I have started and thats great.

I must say Whatsonfmly's post was an eye opener for me.

Koala, yes todays PCs can do amazing things. So much so, I am not shocked or giddy at what they can do.

Now get a 20 year old computer to do something amazing...... that is cool.

I can soooo apply this to music. In the 90s I used to work and save hard doing double shifts just so save up for a synth and such. The ownership of the finished music studio was unquantifiable. And then the fact many amazing then skint musician such as the undiscovered Aphex Twin would write an amazing album on the minimalist of kit that he'd scrimped and scraped for.

Fast for ward to 2014. Loan mama laptop, get a cracked version of a software studio. Job done.

And the result? Billions of tunes released every second so much so the true value of music has plummeted to the stage it is these days where not only can you not sell it you cannot get even pay people to listen to it.

This is the whole reason I have dusted my 1200 off.

If anyone is interested my studio now is:-

Amiga 1200 - Octamed - Technosound sampler.
Roland TB303 and MKS50
Yamaha TX802

Mixers and effects and so on. Never before has my studio been so basic, yet never in decades have I have so much fun!!


So, I now totally get why you all accelerate your Amiga's. Its not for me, but I totally understand.

[daxb]

I think you need at least some fastram. How do you sample? Direct with Octamed? Do you have a sample library on your A1200?

[Kola]

Hello Daxb

I dont yet. haha. Fitzsteve is very kindly helping me with a few things to breath life into the old beast and I'm waiting on delivery of an LCD TV and such. All via help from forum members such as yourself, Steve, Jedi and many others. Great!

How I used to do it so what I'm ultimately aiming for is simply my 1200 and my technosound sampler.

Theres tons of sample disks online as you will know so often I can be lazy and just use them as is.

I also have an Akai S1000 sampler. Now, this thing in 1988 cost around £2500! I think a semi detached house cost 10 grand back then so to say it was way out of my league back then is an understatement.

Between the two I get a good combo of 8 and 16 bit, or thats the plan anyhow.

Im also toying with the idea of using my Atari STE (bet thats a swear word on here) and syncing cubase up with octamed. Big shame Cubase never ever made it to the Amiga. Mind I did have Music X back in the day. I may give that a whirl and ditch the Atari. I like my set up small.

Sorry, I'm probably rambling a bit. I can talk classic kit all day. Hence me totally getting the accelerator thing you all suffer from

[daxb]

At the end it depends on how comfortable you want it. You will experience using your A1200 and tools if your system is enough or you need more power. The oldskool way still works (load from floppy) but if you once used HD/CF and accelrated you might don`t want go back ever.

[pandy71]

Because we can (nowadays thanks to technology progress finally it is possible).
Side to this it is nice experience to check older technology with new capabilities.
And finally Amiga deserve for this!

[Kola]

Daxb Yes I do have a CF card installed. Sorry I wasn't meaning that when I referred to acceleration.

I don't think ill ever be in the environment to experience an accelerated Amiga. I don't know anyone who has an amiga unless online such as yourself, and these people don't live anywhere near myself. So, if I never experience it ill never miss it.

Its expensive to do also. Not like its a tenner or whatever.

Back in the day my A500 I had previous to my 1200 rocked my world. Its amazing as humans how that then becomes standard and we simply want more and more.

Its like VHS then DVD then Blu Ray. etc etc Back when DVDs came out I thought they were amazing. Now people turn there nose up at them. Yet at one point they offered a fantastic amount of entertainment.

This is where I am at. I want to get back to where it all started for me. The Amiga. But Im not needing one on Steroids. Ill be in nostalgia heaven and hopefully productive again within music and that's enough for me.

[Michael Sykes]

Once you did some cool music with your minimal setup it would be kind to share it here on EAB.

[lurch]

I purchased one to be able to play 060 game ports. SCUMMVM + DOTT + Sam and Max + 060@80MHz amazing :-)