How do you 'Amiga'

[SuperFuryAnimal]

Decided to get some form of Amiga back in my life, loved my A1200 back in the 90's and have decided to replace it.


Now nostalgia worries me as i know it wont be the same as i had back in the 90's, Amiga has changed and moved a long way forward since then.


Dont really want real hardware, haven't got the space and don't want to commit the money to it (Can see it getting out of hand quickly).


So what do we think is the best non hardware route back into the world of amiga?? Don't mind a little financial input but not spending a fortune.

[chip]

Easy answer for me

I use WinUAE since 2002 and Amiga experience for me is better than in the past

[stevelord]

WinUAE or vAmiga is probably best if you're worried about space and have a PC or Mac already. The Raspberry Pi is quite popular with some people and has the advantage of being usable for other things (just swap SD cards out if you don't feel like running stuff on the same Pi). The MiSTer is a pretty good way to do most computers and consoles of the era in one go.

Honestly it depends on what you want to do. I do a ton of things I never thought possible most days with my A4000 but it's jacked up to the gills. WinUAE is just as good, if not better for some things (anything CPU intensive like LightWave renders, funky 3D games etc). I'd start with WinUAE or Pimiga (the distro, not Pistorm) and go from there.

[gimbal]

If you don't want real hardware, WinUAE is all you need.

To wet your whistle, check out the Amiga Show.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-2...O7lyt8pcPcbdnQ

[kriz]

For the software way: Just get winuae and search for kick.rom 1.3 + 3.1 then you are set

[chrisgreen]

Been trying for years to get by with Amiga emulation (Amiga Forever). It works very well, but the experience just isn’t right for me.

To be frank, it’s soulless and functional - not fun (not a specific criticism of Amiga Forever or the emulator it’s wrapped around, more of emulation generally). Similar issues with using a Raspberry Pi. Though PiMiga is seriously good, it doesn’t feel quite like using an Amiga should (but a million miles better than any other Amiga emulation build I’ve used). So, I bought original hardware again (an A1200) and a Vampire V4 Standalone. Which surprisingly DOES feel more like an Amiga and definitely has a bit of a personality. Mainly because it’s as temperamental as original hardware.

[gimbal]

True enough, but if I get a real Amiga now it won't feel like it should either. Because I won't be sitting in the attic of my parent's house playing games together with my brother and endlessly leafing through my entire collection of Amiga Action magazines trying to decide what games I want to get next.

[Anubis]

Originally Posted by chrisgreen

Been trying for years to get by with Amiga emulation (Amiga Forever). It works very well, but the experience just isn’t right for me.

To be frank, it’s soulless and functional - not fun (not a specific criticism of Amiga Forever or the emulator it’s wrapped around, more of emulation generally). Similar issues with using a Raspberry Pi. Though PiMiga is seriously good, it doesn’t feel quite like using an Amiga should (but a million miles better than any other Amiga emulation build I’ve used). So, I bought original hardware again (an A1200) and a Vampire V4 Standalone. Which surprisingly DOES feel more like an Amiga and definitely has a bit of a personality. Mainly because it’s as temperamental as original hardware.

What is right for you??

PiMiga - while setup is comprehensive amiga collection, it just has that feeling that everything is hold with clear tape together and if you really push system - be prepared for often Guru Meditation screens.

WinUAE will do / emulate everything and you can setup an Amiga that used to cost huge amount of money for hardware (in past, but also today), and you can get into specific installs - for example last couple weeks while preparing OS 1.3 HD installation for MiSTer, I had to set up A590 just the way I used to have it back in the day - use RDB HD, set them up and install 1.3 OS. However, to make it work on MiSTer - I had to patch Kick 1.3 rom with IDE interface from 3.1 ROM, as MiSTer emulates only IDE interface.

It would be much simpler just to use directory on windows to emulate Amiga 500 with HD, but this actually ended up being very close to real thing, emulating correct hardware and software.

FS-UAE will probably be sufficient for many users - I use it with LaunchBox on my main gaming computer - but there are some things that you have to manually change in order to work the way you want - for example setup CUSTOM=1 in tool type for slave in WHDLoad. Only custom setup will allow you to do this.

RPi400 is great if you have room and will to deal with little bit of linux. MiSTer is also great, but no support for IPFs, no acceleration *yet* and support just basic hardware makes it less versatile.

I emulated Amiga on almost anything I could get my hands on - including nVidia shield, PS Vita, RG350, Amazon Fire...

[Daedalus]

Several different ways. Generally, my AmigaOS 4.1 machine is my go-to for my Amiga activities, including developing for OS 3 / 68k. When I want to do some hardware-specific stuff, I'll use either my A1200 tower with '060, Mediator, Voodoo 3 and all the trimmings, or one of a couple of other A1200s and A500s I have for testing. CPUs in them include '000, '020, '030 and '060. Beyond that, if I'm doing some custom chip-banging software, or some other dev stuff or testing, I'll use WinUAE on Windows. If I'm on the move I'll use WinUAE on Linux on my laptop, or occasionally my MorphOS iBook G4.

[nikosidis]

The biggest letdown to me using Amiga, C64 or Spectrum is when there is no CRT connected to it.
I tried connecting Win-UAE to a CRT with very mixed results. One thing with Win-UAE is that it can not switch resolutions in real time. It will be around 1 sec. black screen, delay.
On the real thing this is never a problem.
Emulation does not sound like the real thing. At least SID is very difficult to emulate.
If you are into the demo scene emulation is a very mixed bag with a lot of problems.
Most games will run well but without CRT, not so.

[redblade]

WinUAE for M$ Windows based machines, FS-UAE for Linux based machine (I still have to try it on NetBSD) NovaCoda has some FPGA hardware based equipment that he does development on.

[trixster]

All hardware. I never use emulation for anything except MAME for a few arcade games.

[aeberbach]

I also prefer real hardware, A1200. But if you're going to be looking through lots of stuff Pimiga or similar is good. Then when you want to spend some time with something, real hardware.

[fitzsteve]

Sorry I kinda misread.

If you have a PC WinUAE can do everything, if you want an authentic feel get a USB Competition Pro joystick

[XPD]

I mainly use WinUAE, but also have Amiga Forever and recently obtained a real A500 with 1084S screen..... not fired up the A500 yet, as I'm wanting to get into the RAM expansion to check/replace the battery - I need to get a soldering iron first...... damn C= for soldering the enclosures on some of the A501's

[fxgogo]

Definite first stop is to buy Amiga Forever to get the ROMs legally and all the install disks come with it as well. You can use the emulation front end to get used to Amiga if you like, but the real fun is messing with WinUAE and FSUAE.

A pi400 is a great modern way to have a separate system that has a similar form factor to your old machines.

Then, if you are using a flat panel monitor, you have option of CRT emulation which some like.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by nikosidis

I tried connecting Win-UAE to a CRT with very mixed results. One thing with Win-UAE is that it can not switch resolutions in real time. It will be around 1 sec. black screen, delay.
On the real thing this is never a problem.

In fairness, this is probably due to your monitor and not WinUAE. Switching resolutions on real Amiga hardware with a more recent CRT than a 1084 or similar will also result in a black screen for a second or two as the monitor adjusts to the new input.

[Total Eclipse]

I bought a MiST back in 2015, and since then it's become my replacement for using real hardware. It's not just my Amiga, but my ST, Spectrum and Atari XE. Plus a whole lot of computers that I never got a chance to own before.

I still keep some original hardware, but whereas previously I owned 3 1200's and a 500+, I now keep just an accelerated A1200 for when I want to play on original hardware. I have my original ST too, but haven't touched it in a few years. FPGA works just fine for me.

[chip]

Good point

It's the possibility to emulate different platforms (even not owned in the past) that makes the difference

Do you think it would be possible with the real hardware to reach more than 15 different systems between old consoles and computers ?

[gimbal]

"Is it possible" is never the right question to ask when it comes to computing. "Does it makes sense" comes closer.