Couple of beginner questions

[Laika]

I recently got my A1200 back out of storage and I'm thinking of using it for a music project. I was wondering if my hardware setup is sufficient for what I have in mind.

It's a bog-standard Amiga 1200 with a CF to IDE adapter and a 4 gig CF card stuck in. I also have this expansion in it, without the FPU but with a 4 MB RAM stick in it. It supports 8 MB, but then it conflicts with the PCMCIA slot, and I want to use that for a network card.

I want to use this machine for a music project - which will involve ProTracker, sampling audio (if I find a cheap sampler) and BlitzBasic (because I want to write a simple player for the whole project that will boot off a floppy). So, here's my questions:

I'm probably worrying for nothing, but is 4 MB of memory enough for my needs?

If so, is there an up-to-date list of PCMCIA network cards that work with the Amiga?

Also, is there a decent guide on how to use AmigaOS? I really haven't used it much, even back in the day - I mostly stuck to games back then - but since I'm going to do actual work on the machine, it would be nice to know how to back up my files at the very least. I have the Amiga Forever package and I spent an hour or two playing with the OS, but some things aren't very obvious to someone who comes from modern OSes - for example, files I create in ProTracker don't show up in drawers until I specifically tell it to show all files, installing software seems to be done with a different method for each program and you can't open mod files in ProTracker by double clicking on them.

[daxb]

For Protracker and sampling your system is fine. For BlizBasic I don't know but guess that its fine too. For the list: http://www.g-mb.de/pcmcia_e.html About Amiga OS there isn't much to know. It's simple. For file managing stuff use a file manager like DOpus or one that fits your need. I wouldn't recommend to use Workbench. For backup you can simple copy or use a tool like http://aminet.net/package/disk/bakup/BackUp If you are still interested in WB then read Amiga OS 3.1 Workbench and DOS books. For a quick reference there is a Amiga OS wiki based on OS 4 that is mostly valid for 3.1 too.

[Anubis]

I would suggest use ClassicWB Light for your setup. It has built in DOpus and few thigns you might find interesting and it is setup to save as much of chip ram as possible.

http://classicwb.abime.net

[Daedalus]

Depending on what you're actually doing, plain Workbench is likely enough. Granted, I'm using Workbench 3.9 which has a lot of usability improvements over 3.0/3.1, but I only rarely crack open DOpus.

4MB should be plenty for what you're doing. Blitz will take a couple of MB for the fill environment (and you should use the full setup from the Blitz CD if you can, rather than the default setup from floppy), but that still leaves enough to work with for a project that's aimed at stock machines.

As daxb said, the AmigaOS Wiki is mainly for OS4 users, but is based on the OS 3 manuals (and even retains OS 3 screenshots in places), so is a very good guide for general use of the system. It includes Workbench file handling information, a good reference for using the Shell, and a good overview of the general paradigms and concepts involved in its use, which will take a little getting used to if you're only familiar with other platforms.