Getting back into Amiga - What way to go?

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by daxb

Some days ago I've read that new ACA cards (030 55MHz) are in "production", but I would ask Individual Computers.

Holy S**T

Fantastic!!

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by Solo Kazuki

Indeed, all line of ACA12xx accelerators is planned. They are available to preorder already.

Havinf just been on the website I started to drool!!! But now I do not know which one to pre-order!

I think the ACA1233n-55 is to expensive for me.

However I'm thinking about the ACA1233n-40EC or ACA1233n-40. What is an MMU and why would I need one/not need one?

Actually cannot believe these are available on pre order!

***Having just read about MMU I don't think I will require one for my Amiga uses.***

[Daedalus]

The MMU is a useful tool if you're a developer, and certain other niche software can use it (e.g. Shapeshifter graphics drivers). You'd also need it if you wanted to run Linux or *BSD, but the vast majority of people will have little use for one.

[rabidgerry]

Do you think that the ACA1233n-40EC could handle Adoom or one of the doom ports? Or would I need the 55mhz version?

[Solo Kazuki]

Check Yourself and decide if it's enough

[ Show youtube player ]

Remember that some tearings are YT fault. It's 030@40MHz with MMU but it gives rather nothing.

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by Solo Kazuki

Check Yourself and decide if it's enough

[ Show youtube player ]

Remember that some tearings are YT fault. It's 030@40MHz with MMU but it gives rather nothing.

Amazing! I could live with that performance. I notice in the video the guy says he made a mistake and said the 030 was running at 50Mhz. But in the comments he corrects himself and states

Damn fault... right ACA 1233/40 MHz.... sorry for mistake!

So I will take his word for it.

Ok well I will save a few ££££'s and leave the MMU version and just pre-order myself a ACA1233n-40EC.

According to the blurb on Individuals webpage, the newer ACA12xxn cards will be faster than the older ones, so that could mean perhaps a little bit more performance of those same games using the new cards.

That Heretic game looked quite good, but a little slower than Doom I have to say. Couldn't make up my mind about Hexen. The fist graphic looks like a re-draw of the Doom fist once you run out of ammo. Looks ok but again less smooth than what Doom Attack looked in that video.


Finally got my A1200 today. I will inspect properly tomorrow. Bought a copy of Gloom also on ebay over a week ago to test it out and no sign of it!!! I will get onto the seller. Also got my rom 3.1 and cap kit.

Thanks Solo Kazuki, Daedalus and everyone else for helping out!

[Solo Kazuki]

Hexen is more complex than Doom or Heretic. That's why it works with worst speed.

You have choice of three characters with different stats and weapons. Fist is only for fighter, others have mace or wand as first weapon.

[rabidgerry]

So it has taken a while to actually get the bloody Amiga from the seller, since posted it by courier who didn't deliver on Saturdays and therefore I was not home on attempted delivery from them on a Monday meaning I had to wait until I could pick up the machine at another date. BUT! Tonight I got it out of the box and tried it out.

All appears to be working well. Keys all seem ok. It has the old yellowing just. But realistically it's in good shape. Seems to be missing a panel where I intend to install Amikits A1200 Compact Flash CF IDE Back Plate Adapter. So no big issue.

I noticed whilst on the lights seem to flicker and go a bit crazy from time to time. I will have to monitor this. It didn't seem to affect the computer whilst it was on and I was playing game. I bought "Gloom" on original floppy disk and it loaded perfectly in conjunction with the extra disk drive that came with the purchase. My thoughts on running ordinary Gloom on a stock A1200, way quicker than I imagined. Just quite chunky. But I enjoyed playing the same.

One other thing, the video display from the comp video output, seemed a little weird. Some lines seems fuzzy and not smooth like the rest of the display. I do not know if this is the cable being sh:t or the internals having degraded. I may have to do something about it in the future as it was no where near as good a display as say using FS-UAE emulator.

Also...……………...I preordered my ACA1233n-40EC!!!! So the show is on the road!!! Might change the roms over from 3.0 to 3.1 this week to start me off.

[d4rk3lf]

Congrats on purchase on both A1200 and ACA1233n!

What I don't get, is why do you want to run (so bad) a Doom first day you start your A1200? With just a CF card, there are so many games that you can play and test (even 3D games), and learn (remind yourself) of Workbench experience, and million other stuff to do.
In some way, it's even better to test stock A1200 with 3D games, before getting accelerator, so you can compare result, and see what speed you get.

But anyway, you will definitely wait some time for accelerator, so you can just do the above I said.

Have fun, and share with us your impressions!

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by d4rk3lf

Congrats on purchase on both A1200 and ACA1233n!

What I don't get, is why do you want to run (so bad) a Doom first day you start your A1200? With just a CF card, there are so many games that you can play and test (even 3D games), and learn (remind yourself) of Workbench experience, and million other stuff to do.
In some way, it's even better to test stock A1200 with 3D games, before getting accelerator, so you can compare result, and see what speed you get.

But anyway, you will definitely wait some time for accelerator, so you can just do the above I said.

Have fun, and share with us your impressions!

about the Doom thing. I do want to run it but it's not the be all and all. It may seem that way, partly because I see it as a bit of a benchmark . That if I can get an A1200 system capable of running a Doom port then I know I've got quite an enhanced machine. I also like the game, but I want to play it on an Amiga. It's too easy to get for a PC

Currently I am trying to find out what the hell I'm supposed to do to get a CF card up and running. I am mega confused. Initially I was going to buy a pre loaded CF card. But I decided to buy a CF card myself (16gb) and build it all from scratch. I am confused at what OS and workbench I should choose and many other things. My card hasn't arrived yet so still time to figure it out. I have winuae on my PC already so I know formatting begins there but not much else.

Also I have no other games to test with my Amiga other than Gloom. And I have also ordered a GBS8220 board to allow me to connect the RGB out to a proper monitor. Still sorting out the d-sub23 pin connector though but I have ideas. Last but not least I got a CF to PCMCIA card adapter so when I finally sort out the CF card hard disk I can use it through the PCMCIA slot as opposed to buying the IDE CF adapter from Amigakit. I figured since I have an accelerator on the way, my PCMCIA will not be compromised (like it would with a 8mb fastram card). Is this the correct way of thinking?

[crazyc]

You cant use the pcmcia slot to boot from. You will still need the ide cf adapter.
The pcmcia is option is only useful for file transfer between pc and amiga.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[rabidgerry]

Dammit!

Ok well the Amigakit isn't too expensive and my Amiga currently doesn't have a compartment door so I would want that plugged up with something so I guess my CF hard drive mounted there would still be a good option.

The PCMCIA adapter will still be useful I guess.

[crazyc]

I ended up doing most file transfers via ethernet via the pcmcia in the end.

If you are going to use one of those gb8220 devices, I am sure I saw an add on that apparently improves them, although I have no experience of either.
I will try and post the link when I am not on my phone.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

EDIT : Link here: http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php...s-amp-Adapters

See this item :GBS-Control Clip-on Adapter for GBS 8200 (8220, HD-VC9900) Boards *NEW

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by crazyc

I ended up doing most file transfers via ethernet via the pcmcia in the end.

If you are going to use one of those gb8220 devices, I am sure I saw an add on that apparently improves them, although I have no experience of either.
I will try and post the link when I am not on my phone.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

EDIT : Link here: http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php...s-amp-Adapters

See this item :GBS-Control Clip-on Adapter for GBS 8200 (8220, HD-VC9900) Boards *NEW

Interesting about the add on I wonder is it the same as the modification I already know? So if you shield the traces on the back of the board that come from the ram this improves it greatly and reduces a lot of noise. This is an easy mod and something I have a lot of experience with (I've shielded a lot of guitars using the same copper tape.)

Thanks for the link

**EDIT** aHHHH I see the link is for a firmware upgrade!! Awesome stuff. I shall have to look into this, thank you man!

[crazyc]

Just remember I have no experience of the device or the upgrade, just thought I would mention it.

Currently both my a1200s are in bits as I am towering one of them. Am gradually rebuilding the one in the tower now which is not going quite according to plan. But when does it ever....

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by crazyc

Just remember I have no experience of the device or the upgrade, just thought I would mention it.

Currently both my a1200s are in bits as I am towering one of them. Am gradually rebuilding the one in the tower now which is not going quite according to plan. But when does it ever....

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

No mate thank you, that's something I'd welcome knowing about so thanks for the tip. Seems like it might be a good upgrade for what I think already seems like a good and super cheap up scaler.

[d4rk3lf]

Originally Posted by rabidgerry

Currently I am trying to find out what the hell I'm supposed to do to get a CF card up and running. I am mega confused.

Well, with Aca 500+ that I have, it's extremely simple, because workbench install is in the rom, and can be installed directly on my A500.

You need to use winuae to install workbench on your cf card, and here is probably good tutorial about it:
[ Show youtube player ]

And here is one more:
[ Show youtube player ]

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by d4rk3lf

Well, with Aca 500+ that I have, it's extremely simple, because workbench install is in the rom, and can be installed directly on my A500.

You need to use winuae to install workbench on your cf card, and here is probably good tutorial about it:
[ Show youtube player ]

And here is one more:
[ Show youtube player ]

I dunno where the hell my CF card is but it's sure taking it's time. This means it must be coming from China despite me thinking it was coming from UK. So let's just hope the thing is compatible.

To start off with I decided to try setup one myself using a MicroSD that I had lying around. Now this isn't actually for use, I just figured I could practice using it in winuae. So far I managed to create a hard file and install workbench 3.1.4 on it. Now I am at the stage where I do the same thing but onto the MicroSD. It's this tutorial

[ Show youtube player ]

So far so good. He does a few things I don't need like install 060 libraries but I just skip those parts.

It has been fun using Workbench. Back when I was a kid I didn't know a god dam thing about stuff like this, I just used the Amiga for games. So now I'm older I think Workbench seems to be a nice and intuitive OS. I like how it works.

Also ordered my CF IDE Adapter and backplate kit from Amiga kit. Looks fairly within my range of capabilities. Perhaps might be tricky laying IDE cable under the disk drive but I think I can handle it.

Been playing Alien Breed also in FSUAE, man I wish I had that game when I was a kid. Never played it until a few weeks ago. Great game. Going to try work my way through each one

Say using WHD load, can I save game states?

EDIT: @d4rk3lf the first tutorial you posted I watched some off it before. They second one however I have not seen before so thanks for posting the link. I will also give this a watch.

[Shatterhand]

Originally Posted by rabidgerry

Say using WHD load, can I save game states?

I remember seeing a couple of games that added this feature on WHDLoad. But usually the answer is no.

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by Shatterhand

I remember seeing a couple of games that added this feature on WHDLoad. But usually the answer is no.

Then I'm going to have to get better at playing them then!!! I didn't complete many games as a kid without cheats. Save states was a lesser evil to use in emulation.