G'day from Australia

Afternoon all,
/stands up.
My name is Jason, and I'm a vintage computer collector.
It's been 2 days since my last purchase.

So a recent project at work (a University) has me pulling together all kinds of vintage computer and science equipment as a display/semi-museum that somehow I've ended up curator of.
I've always had an interest in vintage computers and gaming with my personal collection containing a Dick Smith System 80 (aka PMC-80/81 or Video Genie), a VIC-20, and a Commodore 64. And as of last week, an Amiga 500.
I never actually had an Amiga as a kid, and was always a bit jealous with my 286 and EGA graphics. So I'm pretty new to all of this.
However (given I watch WAY too much YouTube) channels such as Nostalgia Nerd, Retro Man Cave, and Modern Vintage Gamer has been a wealth of information.
And it was actually MVG who pointed me in this forums direction. He recently posted a video about the Terrible Fire TF530 and said that being open source, no one manufacturers them - however people do make and sell them both here an on a group on Facebook.

I'm already in the process of installing an external Gotek drive. Just waiting on an external chasis to turn up, but the boot selector is already built and tested.

So here I am. Initially on the hunt for a TF530, but mainly trying to learn as much as I can on this system that I never had.

[dalek]

Yay more Aussies

TF530 is a cool project - there is a full thread on this board about them. If you want a built one though, try Amibay. Building them yourself is very challenging - you need good soldering skill and a microscope etc. Check the Terrible Fire Accelerators thread - http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=85380, his youtube channel and github for more info.

Welcome to Amiga It's a slippery slope to an empty wallet, but a gotek and a bunch of ADFs is a great lot of fun with no more investment needed.

[AmigaBoy]

I'll direct you to the Australian Amiga Users group here on EAB.

We may not do anything there, but dangit we need more people to join and not do anything with us!

[Marchie]

Didn't know there was an Australina Amiga users group on this site...cool.

And welcome Lurch_AU!

[DamienD]

Welcome to EAB Lurch_AU

Originally Posted by AmigaBoy

We may not do anything there, but dangit we need more people to join and not do anything with us!

...so we can take over the world. Mwah hahahahaha

[Marchie]

I'll go in for a slice of world domination...

Can we force all countries to use Australian power plugs?

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by Marchie

Can we force all countries to use Australian power plugs?

ROFL

...I've been trying to convert the UK for 18 years now but for some strange reason they just won't adopt the change

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by DamienD

ROFL

...I've been trying to convert the UK for 18 years now but for some strange reason they just won't adopt the change

I hated the plugs in England, Dad always used to wrap cigarette foil around the fuses in them when they blew lol

[B14ck W01f]

Greetings! Proud owner of an Amiga 500 and Amiga 1200.

[seb132]

Greetings from a Frenchy based in QLD and in Australia since nearly 10 years. Lots of Amigas with me...

[sean_sk]

Originally Posted by Lurch_AU

I've always had an interest in vintage computers and gaming with my personal collection containing a Dick Smith System 80 (aka PMC-80/81 or Video Genie), a VIC-20, and a Commodore 64. And as of last week, an Amiga 500.

Oh man, I remember the Dick Smith System 80! That was technically the first computer I had ever used. (Sheen TVG-406 Pong console and Atari 2600 before that.) I loved that machine! I remember playing Frogger a lot on it. Then got a VIC-20 not long after that.

Originally Posted by Lurch_AU

I never actually had an Amiga as a kid, and was always a bit jealous with my 286 and EGA graphics.

Same. I had a couple of mates who had their own A500's which I used a lot. I was so jealous! I couldn't ever afford one even when I was working. The thing that got me was they treated their machines like crap!! If I had ever bought one at the time I would have treated it like gold. Now I have an A1200 and A600, both in pristine condition and they don't! Revenge!!

Originally Posted by sean_skroht

Oh man, I remember the Dick Smith System 80! That was technically the first computer I had ever used. (Sheen TVG-406 Pong console and Atari 2600 before that.) I loved that machine! I remember playing Frogger a lot on it. Then got a VIC-20 not long after that.

The System 80 is currently on its way back from Ian Mavric in Melb having been repaired.
He even posted a video for me
[ Show youtube player ]
Incidentally, my System 80 is completely boxed. With matching (boxed) DS monitor, the rare expansion unit (S-100) and even a DS branded (boxed) printer.

Funnily, my Father actually bought me a VIC-20 for my birthday one year. However being a TRS-80 user, he had a quick poke at it, declared it rubbish, took it back and got me my own Trash-80!

Same. I had a couple of mates who had their own A500's which I used a lot. I was so jealous! I couldn't ever afford one even when I was working. The thing that got me was they treated their machines like crap!! If I had ever bought one at the time I would have treated it like gold. Now I have an A1200 and A600, both in pristine condition and they don't! Revenge!!

I got my Amiga working today with an External Gotek, which is fantastic. But still emulating a FDD - Man its slow! We get so used to the speed of modern storage, floppy is almost painful (although authentic).
The A600 is so tempting (should i find one at the right price) for no other reason than its internal IDE controller. A hacked KS 1.3 ROM and a CF-IDE card would be sweet.

Originally Posted by dalek

Yay more Aussies

TF530 is a cool project - there is a full thread on this board about them. If you want a built one though, try Amibay. Building them yourself is very challenging - you need good soldering skill and a microscope etc. Check the Terrible Fire Accelerators thread - http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=85380, his youtube channel and github for more info.

Welcome to Amiga It's a slippery slope to an empty wallet, but a gotek and a bunch of ADFs is a great lot of fun with no more investment needed.

Thanks mate.
Yeah I got it all running today and I'm now wondering what the TF would give me that the Gotek + ADF's dont, especially given the price.
Speed I guess, as the Gotek is still only emulating a (slooooow) FDD.

In saying that, is there a huge ECS/AGA chipset game library I'm missing out on?

[seb132]

I’ll have a collection of 10x A600 coming sometime in mid 2018 from my parents home in France... I might spare one.

Legend

[sean_sk]

Originally Posted by Lurch_AU

The System 80 is currently on its way back from Ian Mavric in Melb having been repaired.
He even posted a video for me
[ Show youtube player ]
Incidentally, my System 80 is completely boxed. With matching (boxed) DS monitor, the rare expansion unit (S-100) and even a DS branded (boxed) printer.

That is super cool! It looks like it's in really good condition, very jealous! But boy, does that bring back memories! I'd be keen to see a video of it in operation.

Originally Posted by Lurch_AU

Funnily, my Father actually bought me a VIC-20 for my birthday one year. However being a TRS-80 user, he had a quick poke at it, declared it rubbish, took it back and got me my own Trash-80!

Yeah my old man worked at Dick Smiths at the time so we got that stuff at staff prices. I was 12 at about the time we got the VIC-20 so I wasn't terribly fussy at that age.

Originally Posted by Lurch_AU

I got my Amiga working today with an External Gotek, which is fantastic. But still emulating a FDD - Man its slow! We get so used to the speed of modern storage, floppy is almost painful (although authentic).

Yep that's fair enough. I love using floppies on my Mig's, they're so cool! Same way I love playing vinyl LP's on my hi-fi. But I know I'm pretty much alone in my opinion of them.

Originally Posted by seb132

I’ll have a collection of 10x A600 coming sometime in mid 2018 from my parents home in France... I might spare one.

Wow! Dare I ask how you got 10 A600's?

[seb132]

Originally Posted by sean_skroht

Wow! Dare I ask how you got 10 A600's?

Long story short I wanted a boxed A600 (French keyboard) and a mate on a French Amiga forum told me about this guy who had few and who sold one to him for 60€. It was a 2 hour drive from my mums home in France so I contacted him and went to see him on my holidays.
The guy was a former teacher in a video course and was using Amigas 600 for his students in the 2000 years.
We spent the afternoon together and I decided to buy all his machines (all boxed). I’d say condition were average, with some in decent condition, a nice one with HD,etc.
I recapped all mobos and removed RF modulators. Still need to clean them and rebuild them... a bit of work I want to do here now that I’m totally settled in a large home.

Originally Posted by seb132

Long story short I wanted a boxed A600 (French keyboard) and a mate on a French Amiga forum told me about this guy who had few and who sold one to him for 60€. It was a 2 hour drive from my mums home in France so I contacted him and went to see him on my holidays.
The guy was a former teacher in a video course and was using Amigas 600 for his students in the 2000 years.
We spent the afternoon together and I decided to buy all his machines (all boxed). I’d say condition were average, with some in decent condition, a nice one with HD,etc.
I recapped all mobos and removed RF modulators. Still need to clean them and rebuild them... a bit of work I want to do here now that I’m totally settled in a large home.

Make sure you send me a PM when they arrive

[voyager_1701e]

Originally Posted by seb132

Long story short I wanted a boxed A600 (French keyboard) and a mate on a French Amiga forum told me about this guy who had few and who sold one to him for 60€. It was a 2 hour drive from my mums home in France so I contacted him and went to see him on my holidays.
The guy was a former teacher in a video course and was using Amigas 600 for his students in the 2000 years.
We spent the afternoon together and I decided to buy all his machines (all boxed). I’d say condition were average, with some in decent condition, a nice one with HD,etc.
I recapped all mobos and removed RF modulators. Still need to clean them and rebuild them... a bit of work I want to do here now that I’m totally settled in a large home.

...Stands up after Jason....

Hi All, I'm Ashley and its been 30 minutes since my last Amiga purchase (an A3660 board from Chucky).....

And for no logical reason I'm jealous of 10 x A600!

[seb132]

Lol,it’s a lot of work, guys. For some reasons I thought they were in better conditions when I saw them but since then I stepped back a little. There are 2 or 3 really orange cases that are not nice at all, let alone being sure that the machines are working. Will need thorough testing... glad à German friend did all recaps of the mobos.
I will part with maybe one or 2 machines but remember they are AZERTY keyboards (French) so maybe not ideal for everyone... I might have few QUERTY keyboards to swap though. Will see. I’ll definitely open a thread about them.

[seb132]

Hello Ash. If you’re near Newcastle in NSW we might have had a deal or 2 together in the past...