Amiga hardware basic questions

I played my fair share of games on my mate's A2000 back in the early nineties, but my involvement in Amigas since then has been nil. I have recently become interested in vintage hardware, and more particularly in hooking vintage hardware up to the web.

I've managed to get AmiKit running on my MacBook Pro via E-UAE and Hi-Toro, and although all the web browsers seem pretty out of date I have managed to surf the web and chat to a few friends on MSN via SabreMSN.

What I'd like to do next is get some classic Amiga hardware and get it online in some way, shape or form.

I've done a bit of research and it looks like the A1200 is my best bet. My questions are:

How much should I pay for a tidy A1200 with a hdd?

Do I need the PPC accelerator boards which some A1200s seem to have?

What is fast RAM and is it related to the above boards?

Can the A1200 take a custom graphics card and if so which one is best?

What OS/version should I run for best performance / stability? Will 4.1 run on an A1200 with a PowerPC accelerator board?

I'm interested in getting this machine to interact with modern machines over the web. I know you can get a wireless card for the A1200. What I'd like to be able to do is send data to the Amiga to do simple tasks like print out a page with a custom message. I'm okay at server side and client side programming for the web (principally ActionScript 3.0 and PHP) - are there any languages on the Amiga I could learn to use for fairly simple tasks?

Sorry for all the questions - any hints and tips would be greatly appreciated...

[alexh]

Originally Posted by mrming

How much should I pay for a tidy A1200 with a hdd?

Get one without a HDD and fit your own. (Perhaps even use a CF card instead!) You should expect to pay £15-20 for a slightly yellowed one. Look out for KS versions. Try to get one with KS3.1 if you can (but don't pay too much extra)

Originally Posted by mrming

Do I need the PPC accelerator boards which some A1200s seem to have?

Nope but a RAM upgrade is advisable. Perhaps even an 030 accelerator.

Originally Posted by mrming

What is fast RAM and is it related to the above boards?

Fast RAM is RAM exclusively for the CPU. A1200's do not come with any fast RAM and you must install some in the Trap Door expansion slot. Either using a RAM card or an Accelerator card. The PPC is one type (most expensive) accelerator. Expect to pay £200+ for a Blizzard PPC/040

Originally Posted by mrming

Can the A1200 take a custom graphics card and if so which one is best?

Not without extra hardware. Plus you need a tower case. You are looking at hundreds of pounds to add a gfx card to an A1200! If you have a PPC accelerator you can add a BVision Permedia 2 gfx card (£80 on top of PPC card). Or you can buy a Mediator PCI bus board (£140) and use one of several PCI gfx cards. The best being a Voodoo 3. But you will need an accelerator + RAM to use a Mediator effectively, perhaps £75-90 for a Blizzard 1230 MKIV with 32Mbytes RAM

Originally Posted by mrming

What OS/version should I run for best performance / stability?

OS3.9 + patches

Originally Posted by mrming

Will 4.1 run on an A1200 with a PowerPC accelerator board?

AFAIK OS4.1 is for SAM only but OS4.0 will run on A1200 with PPC no problem. But I cannot recommend it.

Originally Posted by mrming

I'm interested in getting this machine to interact with modern machines over the web.

What for?

Originally Posted by mrming

I know you can get a wireless card for the A1200.

Only ones with a PRISM2 chipset work.

Originally Posted by mrming

What I'd like to be able to do is send data to the Amiga to do simple tasks like print out a page with a custom message.

How sad

Originally Posted by mrming

I'm okay at server side and client side programming for the web (principally ActionScript 3.0 and PHP) - are there any languages on the Amiga I could learn to use for fairly simple tasks?

Which can interact with the TCP/IP stack.... dunno C/C++?

Thanks alexh - this is really helpful. Time to get on eBay and check out some A1200s!

[Smiley]

Be sure to check out Amibay for an A1200 and whatever else you need. Ebay prices can be ridiculous sometimes.

http://amibay.com/