Which Amiga would you recommend to people to buy?

[desiv]

Originally Posted by ImmortalA1000

By the time I had my own house it was all PC ISPs only.

There shouldn't be any PC only ISPs...
An ISP should have been just a dialup with SLIP/SLIRP or PPP...
And the Amiga can support both.
True, by the time the Internet was REALLY taking off, most people were using PCs, but you could have connected your Amiga.
Yeah, it would have been great for FTP and... er... telnet and... er.. more FTP. ;-)

[Bruce Abbott]

Originally Posted by desiv

There shouldn't be any PC only ISPs...
An ISP should have been just a dialup with SLIP/SLIRP or PPP...
And the Amiga can support both.
True, by the time the Internet was REALLY taking off, most people were using PCs, but you could have connected your Amiga.

Some free ISPs shun Mac service

Jan. 2, 2002

PC-only free ISP services together count far more subscribers than 1stUp's combined total. Juno in August reported it had signed more than 10 million customers to its free service, while NetZero says it has roughly 5 million subscribers. In August, Spinway said it had surpassed 4 million customers.

In many ways, the free ISP slight is justified.

Macintosh computers represent about 5 percent of the overall computer market, according to various estimates.

As a result, the hardware has notoriously cost more than other personal computers, and software for Macs generally is limited. Popular programs often are released first for Windows PCs and are made available for Macs later. Other applications simply are never offered for the Mac...

Likewise, Juno, which offers both for-pay and free ISP services, does not support Macintosh. "We do not have either DOS or Macintosh versions of the software (and do not currently plan to develop such versions)," reads a message on Juno's Web site.

Spinway, which has partnerships with Kmart's Bluelight.com, Yahoo, Costco and others, only supports Windows-based PCs, though the company is seeking beta testers for future releases for Macintosh, Linux and BeOS-powered computers.

I don't know whether you could get onto those 'free' ISP services with just SLIP/SLIRP or PPP, but you certainly wouldn't get any support.

[desiv]

Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott

Some free ISPs shun Mac service

I don't know whether you could get onto those 'free' ISP services with just SLIP/SLIRP or PPP, but you certainly wouldn't get any support.

Ha! I forgot about those, and I even used NetZero for a while.
Yeah, those didn't last...

[alexh]

There were PC only ISPs in UK in the late 90s. The reason being you needed a Windows based app to complete authentication AFTER dial-up. For me it was the UK 0800 (free calls) ISP RedAnt which worked with PC but not Amiga.

I just used to share internet connection with the Amiga over ethernet to the PC.

[TCD]

Interesting video about the topic:

REALITY CHECK: Buying an Amiga computer today. [ Show youtube player ]

[ImmortalA1000]

Originally Posted by desiv

There shouldn't be any PC only ISPs...
An ISP should have been just a dialup with SLIP/SLIRP or PPP...
And the Amiga can support both.
True, by the time the Internet was REALLY taking off, most people were using PCs, but you could have connected your Amiga.
Yeah, it would have been great for FTP and... er... telnet and... er.. more FTP. ;-)

I meant supplied with the Windows XP PC I bought in 2002. Sold my Pentium 133 in 1996 before values went down to nothing as I had finished my degree course. Never bought another PC as I had a company laptop for my job. It came with some ISP packages.

I can't remember exactly when iBrowse was released for Amiga, you can bet Steve Jobs was annoyed he didn't think of that name for his browser. It's not just ISP support, it's really all the software as a bundle that was on coverdisks/CDs on just about every PC. The first iMac was 1998, but that's really the sort of thing that could have saved Commodore if they lasted 3 more years, an Internet bundle with modem and a full suite of software and ISP subscription for a limited time in the box ready to rock and roll iMac style.

If you ever had the internet not working for a few days you realise PCs are quite boring when there is no internet, certainly the HTTP browser based
internet interest/use pushed sales of 'home PCs' greatly. By 2000 it was unthinkable not to have the internet with a PC at home.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by ImmortalA1000

By 2000 it was unthinkable not to have the internet with a PC at home.

Got dial-up internet in 1996 and found it pretty boring except for downloading Doom and Quake maps. By 1998 I cancelled that contract and got a DSL connection in 2004. Having a PC without internet in those 6 years was fine.

[Megalomaniac]

Originally Posted by ImmortalA1000

I meant supplied with the Windows XP PC I bought in 2002. Sold my Pentium 133 in 1996 before values went down to nothing as I had finished my degree course. Never bought another PC as I had a company laptop for my job. It came with some ISP packages.

I can't remember exactly when iBrowse was released for Amiga, you can bet Steve Jobs was annoyed he didn't think of that name for his browser. It's not just ISP support, it's really all the software as a bundle that was on coverdisks/CDs on just about every PC. The first iMac was 1998, but that's really the sort of thing that could have saved Commodore if they lasted 3 more years, an Internet bundle with modem and a full suite of software and ISP subscription for a limited time in the box ready to rock and roll iMac style.

If you ever had the internet not working for a few days you realise PCs are quite boring when there is no internet, certainly the HTTP browser based
internet interest/use pushed sales of 'home PCs' greatly. By 2000 it was unthinkable not to have the internet with a PC at home.

Escom did try an internet-ready bundle with the Amiga Surfer pack in mid-1996, but they folded pretty soon after that.

I got my PC online in late 1997 and it definitely felt like the world opening up, with content for what I was into and the ease of downloading game demos etc. Downloading music came pretty soon after that, though I never got into online gaming. So much of what I used was PC-specific, even then, that I was glad to have the same system as (almost) everyone else. I spent nearly a month without internet some years later and definitely missed it badly, though I'd be lying if I said my PC wasn't on just as much as usual.

[Daedalus]

I don't recall any PC-only ISPs in Ireland around that time, but that's not to say they didn't exist. I was on dialup until around 2004 or 2005 IIRC, and my Amiga was the gateway machine that shared the connection to my other machines on the LAN. I switched between most of the main providers at the time and never had any issues with my setup, though the one I used most was one that was a flat fee provided the calls didn't go over an hour. A little ARexx scripting meant I could suspend the connection and redial after 59 minutes, letting me run it for days without additional charges.

To be fair, a PC then was about as boring as any other computer without internet access, i.e., it was entirely down to whatever games or software you had installed.

[Anubis]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

To be fair, a PC then was about as boring as any other computer without internet access, i.e., it was entirely down to whatever games or software you had installed.

Not for me... Since I got MOO, MOM, X-Com, Settler 1 and 2 and Civilization 2, PC never was boring... (with or without internet)

Oh, I did have DOS and Win3.11 version of Civilization and Colonization as well... (So called 'The Explorer' bundle )

How did we move from Amiga recommendations to internet access??

Back to OP - how much money do you plan to spend on this little 'hobby' of yours?

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by TCD

Got dial-up internet in 1996 and found it pretty boring except for downloading Doom and Quake maps. By 1998 I cancelled that contract and got a DSL connection in 2004. Having a PC without internet in those 6 years was fine.

I think I got it around 1998, the first time I even learned that the internet existed was at school a year earlier. I spent what little time I had on it downloading code and tutorials And patches. So many game patches. What a treasure trove.

[BigD]

@Thread

Depends what they want it for!

1) WHDLOAD games in retro environment/Workbench - A1200 with IDE2CF Card Adapter & fastram.

2) Just games no faff - THEA500 Mini

3) Music DJing with mixable MODS - 2No. A600s with Hoffman's setup/software as it's the same Paula chip stupid so buy the small ones!

4) Stupid speed like the Amiga should have been at the Millenium - A1200 with PiStorm32 and preferably a CM4 plus adapter plus breakout board because we missed out on CyberStorm Cards so let's pimp our 'Miggies to the max!

[grelbfarlk]

There were a couple PC-only internet services-sort of. The ones included in Windows XP worked fine with an Amiga. America Online, I used in Shapeshifter in about 94-95. Earthlink was PPP, I connected directly to that with my Amiga.

The free ones like Netzero or Bluelight included an application to show you ads over your terribly limited bandwidth, they were oversubscribed and terribly slow.

Amiga browsers were and are always well behind. Amiga specific sites usually worked fine, like if you wanted to download from Aminet.

[Megalomaniac]

Originally Posted by BigD

@Thread

Depends what they want it for!

1) WHDLOAD games in retro environment/Workbench - A1200 with IDE2CF Card Adapter & fastram.

2) Just games no faff - THEA500 Mini

3) Music DJing with mixable MODS - 2No. A600s with Hoffman's setup/software as it's the same Paula chip stupid so buy the small ones!

4) Stupid speed like the Amiga should have been at the Millenium - A1200 with PiStorm32 and preferably a CM4 plus adapter plus breakout board because we missed out on CyberStorm Cards so let's pimp our 'Miggies to the max!

I'd broadly agree with this, although an A500 with 512k upgrade is probably better for playing originals from the disks, if that's what you're determined to do.

[BigD]

But the floppies are dying to bit rot!!!!!

I did another round of ADF ripping a couple of weeks ago and a key saved game disk was nearly beyond salvage! Luckily I think I have all my CD32 Disksaver saves backed up! I just wish that I'd used that great program for my Cannon Fodder CD32 playthrough! I played the whole thing in fear that virtually ANY other CD32 save would overwrite the stupidly small NV-Memory that the CD32 had for saves!

[Retro1234]

Just curious because this is long before I had internet. PPP point to point protocol just makes me think of leased lines. But I guess people are talking about dial up? You use it to connect to your ISP etc?

[desiv]

Originally Posted by BigD

But the floppies are dying to bit rot!!!!!

Yeah, but I still happily use floppies for my even older Apple // machines.
Still very rarely have floppy issues.
And I did manage to score a box of 200 sealed DSDD floppies for my Amiga and other machines that use that format.

Most of my Amiga floppies are still fine...

Not saying they are rock solid and we should all back up everything to floppies! ;-) Just that they have been more reliable that even I thought they would be... ;-)

[desiv]

Originally Posted by Retro1234

Just curious because this is long before I had internet. PPP point to point protocol just makes me think of leased lines. But I guess people are talking about dial up? You use it to connect to your ISP etc?

Yep, PPP is just the protocol used to help validate a connection and to facilitate handing out an IP address. It's just a layer two connecting protocol basically.

Mostly, I think it is still used for DSL where that is still used..

[TCD]

Originally Posted by desiv

Yeah, but I still happily use floppies for my even older Apple // machines.
Still very rarely have floppy issues.

You are very lucky then! Most of the floppies I had back when gave up about a decade ago.

I'd say go with A500 + 512k expansion, but treat yourself to a GOTEK drive when all you want is gaming

[Retro1234]

Originally Posted by desiv

Yep, PPP is just the protocol used to help validate a connection and to facilitate handing out an IP address. It's just a layer two connecting protocol basically.

Mostly, I think it is still used for DSL where that is still used..

Ok thanks for the reply. What were some other protocols used for dial up and did the end user notice any difference?

Sorry going off topic just PPP made me think of an old lecturer talking about it and his teaching was horrendous, I just kind of skipped it.