A1200 - Should it stay or should it go??

[Kola]

Still got my cherished amiga 1200.

Have got to ask though since discovering winUAE that fits onto my laptop or even PSP is it worth keeping my massive a1200 set up complete with even massiver TV etc. my winUAE system is many times more powerful than my A1200.

I would never sell my A1200 but it needs a new HD now and im wondering if I should just put it to bed in the loft and use winUAE instead.

I know this is my choice but wondering what other Amiga headz do?

[prowler]

A real Amiga (especially one that you've already got) is always handy to keep for making disk images from real floppies and hard disks.

This is always more reliable on a platform where the disk format is fully supported.

[onkelarie]

hm, tough call. Winuae is already coming close to perfect emulation.. However, you'd still ,miss out on that nostalgic feeling that only the real deal can provide...

[Kola]

Great points raised by both of you.

I think space saving, ultra fast load times and not having to pay for the new harddrive will win over nostalgia though. Then again, id be very sad to put my a1200 away

[DamienD]

Here's a similar thread that have some good points:

... Emulation vs the Real Thing

[FOL]

Should it go, thats evil.

IT SHOULD STAY FOREVER, . I would rather cut off my arm than get rid of my miggy 1200.

[Thorham]

Originally Posted by FOL

Should it go, thats evil.

IT SHOULD STAY FOREVER, . I would rather cut off my arm than get rid of my miggy 1200.

You got that right

Nothing beats programming in assembler on an A1200 with '030. You get to see exactly how fast your code is, while under WinUae just about every thing is fast.

If it's about nostalgic feelings, just go for WinUae, if nostalgia has nothing to do with it, then invest time in your exeisting machine.

[alphonsus]

Originally Posted by prowler

A real Amiga (especially one that you've already got) is always handy to keep for making disk images from real floppies and hard disks.

This is always more reliable on a platform where the disk format is fully supported.

^
what he said

[klx300r]

Originally Posted by Kola

Still got my cherished amiga 1200.
..?

i guess you answered your question right there mate keep your cherished 1200 and put a nice CF card as your my dh0 and give her some TLC and enjoy quiet and fun computing for years to come..at least thats what I did

I would say keep it mate and get yourself a CF card and an individision - I was using emulation until my miggy arrived from the england now I rather use the real thing than emulation.

[kriz]

Agree ami_junkie! A CF cost only some USD... Indivison so you can use a nice screen...

[NovaCoder]

Yep I agree

A1200 + CF + IndivisionAGA = fun

[blade002]

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

Yep I agree

A1200 + CF + IndivisionAGA = fun

I second what Novacoder is saying here, especially after seeing what a difference the Indivision can make! Not just that, but there are still times where i have people come over and ask what the hell that thing is in the loungeroom, so i fire it up to those in the technical computing world know and then have them asking more questions as they ponder how a computer from that year could do so much. And it gives it that true Amiga and Retro feel

When you have WinUAE, its sitting on a PC so thats what i see the Amiga as and so do others when you run Amiga software on it, it just looks like you are using a PC and not an Amiga. All these points are most likely irrelevant to you and rightly so, but for me, it MUST be the real deal, because you know exactly what you have got and what you have got is real piece technological history that SHOULD be used and not stowed away.

So in a nutshell -:

A1200 030, 16/32meg Ram, CD Drive, Nice HD, WHDLoad for virtually instantly loading games ( and virtually ALL of them ), Indivision/Scandoubler, 17 inch CRT/LCD PC Monitor and you are ALL SET !!!...

WinUAE -: Is what you use when there are no Amiga's left or no longer working!, until that time comes, locking your Amiga away is pure blasphemy!..

BTW - What is CF ?? is that to run a CD Drive from the PCMCIA Slot ???

[TCD]

Originally Posted by blade002

BTW - What is CF ?? is that to run a CD Drive from the PCMCIA Slot ???

CF = Compact Flash (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompactFlash). Maybe you should ask Santa about such an adapter for your Miggy mate

[Kola]

Rushing off to uni so please excuse quick reply. Thanks to everyone who has.

Like the thought of the classic set up suggested but......

@ Blade - The scandoubler is £105 then the second hand LCD is £50 (ish)

@ ami junkie - The CF is around £30.


You fellas talk about spending £200+ like its nothing. Is it only the north east of England that is facing a recession here?

[blade002]

Originally Posted by Kola

@ Blade - The scandoubler is £105 then the second hand LCD is £50 (ish)

You fellas talk about spending £200+ like its nothing. Is it only the north east of England that is facing a recession here?

Yeah i know its all VERY expensive, but you never stated initially if you had some spare cash you would like to blow or not, so i was hoping for the best for ya! I actually don't have an Indivision myself, but i do have an external Scan Doubler which although is not in the same league as the Indivision, but it gives excellent results with the standard Amiga resolutions ( interlace..etc ).

But you don't need to go the route of the Scan Doubler, you could just pick up a 1084 Monitor off ebay or maybe one of the guys here have one for sale? I only invested in the Scan Doubler because my original Amiga Monitor died

On the Accelerator Card side of things, i already had an 030 that i bought back in 1996 plus the CD setup ( well i "did" buy an IDE Buffered Interface recently ) .. But anyway, the point i am trying to make is that i know exactly where you are coming from when it comes to the looming or already current recession, because we are feeling the pinch over here in Australia too and i was just lucky enough to upgrade my miggy years ago, and right now just like you, i am not exactly what you would call a rich man either so there is no way i am spending like its nothing because i don't have anything to spend

If you can, just chuck some extra ram in your Amiga, chuck in the smallest capacity HD you can find ( preferably brand new ), see if you can get hold of an old CD Drive you are not using no more, try and grab a hold of an IDE Buffered Interface device and an old Monitor ( or continue to use your TV ), install Classic Workbench by "Bloodwych" and then Install WHDLoad and away you go!

Not sure what it will cost you, but it will be a hell of a lot less than what i initially said

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

CF = Compact Flash (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompactFlash). Maybe you should ask Santa about such an adapter for your Miggy mate

Thanx Mr Druid, you da man!!!

[cane]

Originally Posted by Kola

@ ami junkie - The CF is around £30.

The adapter is less than £2 and you can find 1Gb CF card for around £7. Off course it cost's more if you want bigger CF card. But it is awesome replacement for HDD.

[Thorham]

Originally Posted by blade002

chuck in the smallest capacity HD you can find ( preferably brand new )

The smallest brand new hds today, are still going to be 80 gigs, and they're not going to be much less then 50 euros (98 AUD, 65 USD, 44 GBP). In fact, for that money, you'll probably get at least 160 gigs. There's really no need to try and find small drives anymore these days. And never buy a second hand hd. You never know how long it's been used, and being mechanical, they wear out.

[mingle]

Hi Kola,

I agree with the others... I ditched my Amiga 1200 a couple of years ago and only tinkered with WinUAE since then, but recently I regretted selling it, so I got myself an A1200 with Blizzard 030/50MHz 882, 32MB RAM, SCSI and am currently looking at an Indivision and CF HDD...

Having a real Amiga to use is so much more fun...

Make no mistake though, WinUAE with something like AmiSYS installed will run rings around any non-PPC Amiga, but it's just not the same...

It's hard to nail-down why, but I guess it's got a lot to do with nostalgia and remembering the good times when Amiga was a really stand-out machine...

Cheers,

Mike.

[DH]

Originally Posted by Kola

Is it only the north east of England that is facing a recession here?

You come from the NE of England. Which town mate!

I may be closer to you than you think

Back on topic: Keep your miggy mate! There's no emu on any machine that can give you the same feel as the real thing. Don't shove it up in the loft, it's too cold up there for it to survive, keep it nice and warm and like everyone else has said, fit a CF card and get it back up and running.

Keep the Miggy alive no matter what the expense