Starting on an Amiga

Hey guys. My name is Dawson , and Im 14. I was recently offered 2 Amiga systems, but I was only able to pick one. There was an A500, and an A2000. I was planning to hook it up to a nice VGA monitor, and get a HxC floppy emulator. Now, here's the list of snags I ran into:
1. Can I run DOOM on either of them?
2.Which one has the easier floppy emulator installation? ( No soldering? )
3. Is it easy to install Amiga OS 4?
4. Which one runs SimCity 2000?
5. Is it easy to extract files to the hard drive?
As you can see, I like to play games.
So if you guys could help me...
That would be great!
Thanks a bunch!
-Thumpback

[TCD]

1) Yes, A1200... slowly
3) No (without a PPC accelerator you can't)
4) The A1200
5) Depends, in general: no, but there is: http://whdload.de/

[T_hairy_bootson]

Is it an A2000 or A1200?

It's the A2000, the one with the external keyboard.
The thing is, I don't wanna buy a new Amiga. I'm actually broke, I'm trading my friend for an Atari ST computer ( which I think is a good deal ).
I just watched a video about installing OS 3.9 (link: [ Show youtube player ])
but it doesnt look a whole lot like this: (link: [ Show youtube player ], at 21:46)
, maybe he just configured some things. I dont have either systems yet, but the 2000 looks as so I can install a disk drive in it?

[s2325]

A1200 have also space to install hard drive. 2000 may seem bigger = more advanced but you can not play AGA games.

[Amiga1992]

Forget about OS3.9 and all that complex stuff. You just need a basic 3.x install and a game loader and you are good to go. (Also, OS4 is for PPC Amigas. Forget the most about this version)

If your choice is between an A500 and an A2000, get the A2000, because it has more expansion capabilities than the A500. I agree: you shouldn't buy an Amiga, and a 1200, although more easily expandable because of availability of stuff, is not necessary. Let's remember AGA games are a very small percentage of the Amiga games catalogue and, if I was you, I'd forget about Doom or Sim City 2000 (both games you can run perfectly on your PC using DOSBox)


In any case, I applaud your interest for this old shit at your age . Would love to hear what interests you about these dinosaurs of computing...
Let me tell you you are in for a bit of masochism, but after you learn to set things right, the gratification is high.

[jimbob]

Yeah Akira is right. If you are only interested in Doom and Simcity2000, then Amiga isn't the way to go. The Amiga has a lot to offer though so I absolutely don't want to put you off getting into the machine. Just that these particular games came right at the end of the Amigas commercial lifetime and were not a good match for it. There is huge catalogue of games much better suited to the strengths of the Amiga.

Likewise forget about OS4 and 3.9. 3.1 is the OS to go for. You may need to buy a new ROM chip for this-
http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...roducts_id=157

Do you have SCART in Gotham City? Using an VGA monitor with an Amiga requires a slightly pricey but excellent upgrade but if you are in Europe, the best option is to use a SCART input on a TV with a cheap adaptor cable from the Amigas RGB output.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by jimbob

Do you have SCART in Gotham City?

Cracked me up
Personally, I choose a SCART TV with RGB on SCART over a scandoubler any time. I have a Scando/Flifi on my a1200 and I never use it because I just don't have a VGA monitor all the time, but there's always a SCART RGB capable TV around here.

I just want to say, Thanks alot for this info, guys. I really appreciate it!

@Jimbob No, no SCART here. Can I get a SCART to VGA adapter? All I really want is a color display, that doesnt glow in the dark. (It creeps me out.) Or maybe I can get an RGB cable for the Amiga, then plug that into an RGB to HDMI adapter, then plug THAT into my computer monitor, I guess?

@Arika: Alright, I'll probably go for the A2000. I saw one guy install a CD drive and a new board with some stuff, then he installed OS3.5... I think.

So with the A2000, Can I still use an SD card to transfer the guts of a .adf file to the hard drive? (or maybe a build-in flash card or something)
The only thing I plan on doing with one, is painting , making music, browsing the internet, and playing games.

On the other hand, the case on the A2000 is a bit scuffed and scratched. Can I get like, a new case for it, maybe in...RED?

[demolition]

Most monitors will not be able to display the RGB signal from the Amiga. If SCART is not an option, I'd suggest an Indivision ECS, which plugs into the Denise socket and will work with either the 500 or the 2000. It will give you a good looking VGA output which can be hooked up to any monitor.

For OS3.5, you really want a decent accelerator board, i.e. an 030 or 040, which I'm guessing is not cheap for an A2000 (don't know that model well).

[TCD]

Originally Posted by thumpBack

The thing is, I don't wanna buy a new Amiga. I'm actually broke, I'm trading my friend for an Atari ST computer ( which I think is a good deal ).

Doesn't match with:

Originally Posted by demolition

...I'd suggest an Indivision ECS...

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by thumpBack

The only thing I plan on doing with one, is painting , making music, browsing the internet, and playing games.

Uhm, forget about the internet. There's no reason to do that.

[tribe]

Any RGB monitor will do with the right cable. If your monitor has an RGB-SCART port then, sure, use that. But there's nothing magical about the SCART connector and you should be warned that not all SCART ports support RGB. (For example, on TV's with multiple SCART ports often only one of them supports RGB).

An RGB to VGA or HDMI converter box will work. Quality will depend on the quality of the box... Some of them may also add noticeable lag which is a problem especially for fast action games.

But a really easy (and cheap) way to get a picture out of an A500 or A2000 that's good enough for most people for gaming purposes is to use the composite video port. All you need is a standard RCA cable and you will be able to connect it to pretty much any TV set. Then get an expensive scandoubler or a quality RGB monitor/converter later on if you get more serious about your Amigaing...

[demolition]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Doesn't match with:

Overlooked that part.

Then forget everything about OS3.5. You need some semi-expensive upgrades before a 500 or 2000 will be able to run that. IDE controller, memory, accelerator and possibly scandoubler unless you want a blurry black/white picture which is what you'll get from the composite output.

I think the cheapest way to get to run OS3.5 is an A1200 with a cheap accelerator.
Edit: Or get your high end Amiga OS kick through WinUAE and use the 500/2000 for pure disk gaming. Then you won't have to buy any extra stuff.

Ok, so here's what I've collected so far:
-The A2000 model is better than the A500
-If I were to buy an Amiga, it would be the A1200

Then I got really confused.

[tribe]

Originally Posted by thumpBack

Ok, so here's what I've collected so far:
-The A2000 model is better than the A500

Yes. But they are very similar. The A2000 has more memory by default but most A500's will have extra memory installed anyway so... pretty much the same hardware.

The biggest difference is that the A500 is "a computer in a keyboard":

and the A2000 has a separate keyboard and a computer case:


Since you asked about the disk emulators... If you get the more expensive disk emulator with the panel (this), it will be easier to install into the A2000. (It's the same size as the disk drive you can see in the picture above, and there is even an empty slot for it next to the disk drive). The other kind (this) can be installed into the A500 easily too as you can see in the demonstration video here:
[ Show youtube player ]

Neither will require soldering as far as I know. Just connect the data and power cables that go from the motherboard to the disk drive to the emulator instead of the old drive (you can see the cables here).

Ok, so with that out of the way, the A2000 is my choice. Can I install say... AmigaOS 3.5 with the floppy emulator?
I know this is a long ways away, but I'll probably ask for one of those cased floppy emu's for Christmas anyways. I have also been looking up promotional videos and stuff, with paint deluxe V, photon paint, some trackers, all that good stuff.

[Amiga1992]

Why do you want OS 3.5?
You need a hard drive for that anyway. And if you have a hard drive, a floppy emulator is kinda pointless.

[tesla]

Ok, all you Europeans

We don' have scart here, and to be honest, I had never heard of Scart until I heard of it here.

[tribe]

Originally Posted by thumpBack

Ok, so with that out of the way, the A2000 is my choice. Can I install say... AmigaOS 3.5 with the floppy emulator?

No you need a CD-ROM drive to install OS3.5.

The requirements for OS3.5 are:

Basic system requirements:
CD-ROM drive
Hard drive
68020 or higher processor
Amiga 3.1 ROMs (version 40.xx)
4 MB Fast RAM

Mid-range performance
68030 or higher processor
8 MB Fast RAM
Graphics accelerator and/or scandoubler
Modem

Optimum Specification 68060 processor with PowerPC accelerator card
16-bit sound card
32 MB Fast RAM
I/O Accelerator

A standard A2000 meets none of those (not even the basic system requirements). Getting an A2000 to that level of performance is possible but will be very expensive, especially the processor upgrades. Search on eBay for Amiga 2000 accelerators and you'll see that prices start at like $500. The reason people suggested buying the A1200 to you is that accelerators for it are much cheaper (but still nowhere near cheap).

I have also been looking up promotional videos and stuff, with paint deluxe V, photon paint, some trackers, all that good stuff.

Well the good news is that you won't need a high end Amiga or recent OS to run any of that good stuff. The old hardware and old OSes is what they were made for! Most will run directly off a floppy (or floppy emulator).