It sounds like the A1200 is the way to go. I had both an A500 and A2000. They were okay, but a little hard to expand. The A2000 was also rather large.

I think it depends on what you want. If you want compatibility, then the Amiga 2000 with a harddrive . And if you want a more bling bling thing going on, then go for the 1200. But hey that is just my opinion.

It definitely depends what you want to do with it. If you're just looking to play some old Amiga games, all you need is an A500, a 15khz-compatible monitor, and preferably a second floppy drive. Maybe a RAM upgrade and hard drive controller if you wanna get fancy (both of which can be done fairly cheaply and easily), but it's not completely necessary.

I've never personally seen anything about the A1200 that would come anywhere close to justifying the stupid prices they sell for. Maybe the market over in Europe and Australia is different, but in the US, an A1200 tends to go for 5-10x what an A500 does.

COrrect me if im wrong but i remember reading somewhere the a1200 was better if you wanted to interface with SD cards.

Edit: I guess i meant CF card 🤣.

I own a 500 and a 1200, until recently I had several 1000's as well and I know some people locally who have 600's and 4000's.

The 1200 is probably the ideal machine to get started on. They are relatively common (as far as amiga's go anyway) and some companies like Individual Computers still make parts for them. For example, http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/p … roducts_id=1113
With WHDLOAD and the various game and scene demo packs available for it, there is no shortage of software to run on it.

The A1200 also has a PCMCIA slot with CF card readers, wired and wireless network available for it. This is handy to get software on it via FTP or similar, but actually browsing the web is pretty futile.

Remember that Amiga floppies are not compatible with PC floppies. You can read PC floppies on an Amiga but you need software to do it. So if you bought an amiga 500 or 1000 with no floppies, you won't be able to use it as these models have no IDE or SCSI.

The big box models (2000, 3000, 4000) are not ideal for amiga beginners. They are more expensive and the Zorro cards to put in them are relatively rare. Plus, the keyboards are not compatible with PC keyboards, and even between models they had differenct connectors. eg the 1000 had an RJ11 connector, the 2000 had a 5 pin DIN connector, 3000/4000 had a PS/2 style mini-DIN connector.

For joysticks, any 9 pin Sega or Atari joystick/gamepad will work with the Amiga. You will need a 9 pin Amiga mouse. I advise against hot plugging the joysticks/mouse when the power is on as I've heard of people with dead ports from doing this.

Also remember that these machines use 15KHz analog video signal which is not compatible with VGA, EGA or CGA in the PC world. Apparently there are some modern LCD monitors that will sync down to 15KHz but I've tried a few Dell, BenQ and Acer monitors without luck. If you can find an old MultiSync style monitor these will sometimes work (again, I had an NEC Mutlisync V500 VGA CRT and it wouldn't work). Ideally you'll want a Commodore monitor.
There is a cheap/nasty GBS-8220 on ebay that supposedly scandoubles the Amiga signal into VGA but I've heard mixed results about it. Apparently it doesn't work right with PAL video modes and since Europe was a big region for Amiga games and demo writers, most Amiga software is PAL.

I run an ACA1230 accelerator in mine. I have a 4GB CF card, with ClassicWB installed on it, and the KG WHDLOAD pack. I mainly just watch scene demos on it more than play games to be honest.
Some of the best demos require an 040 or 060 accelerator which go for several hundred dollars usually.
There is also a mac emulator available for your Amiga if you have a fast enough processor (it was pretty painful on my 030).

DonutKing wrote:

Also remember that these machines use 15KHz analog video signal which is not compatible with VGA, EGA or CGA in the PC world.

Although going the opposite direction, many Amiga monitors support TTL RGBI, so can be used on CGA computers.

If you want ultimate compatibility just get an A500 with 1MB RAM. It makes much more sense though to get an A1200 though and install more RAM (4 or 8 MB expansion), as well as a Hard Drive or CF card (SD cards will also work). Then, using WHDLoad you can run every game from your Drive and not mess with Disk Swapping and long loading times!

To be honest I was thinking the same thing. I was always a PC advocate when I was at school, even though Amiga 500's at the time were all the rage with their awesome graphics and arcade ports.

I didn't want another monitor, and was having a look around and saw this:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/390501099529

Do these things work?

The best amiga is what we call in spanish "amiga con derecho a roce"

It means "a friend who will also let you touch her"

😀

Leolo wrote:

The best amiga is what we call in spanish "amiga con derecho a roce"

It means "a friend who will also let you touch her"

😀

True 😜

Leolo wrote:

The best amiga is what we call in spanish "amiga con derecho a roce"

Does it come up often in ebay/amibay/craigslist?

Ooops nvm 😀

Anyway, I know nothing about Amigas but I enjoy this guy's Amiga photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blakespot/3729019151/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blakespot/8161154475/

especially those window-lit Amiga 1000 portraits, they always give my eyes an almost orgasm.

dacow wrote:

To be honest I was thinking the same thing. I was always a PC advocate when I was at school, even though Amiga 500's at the time […]
Show full quote

To be honest I was thinking the same thing. I was always a PC advocate when I was at school, even though Amiga 500's at the time were all the rage with their awesome graphics and arcade ports.

I didn't want another monitor, and was having a look around and saw this:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/390501099529

Do these things work?

Actually they work rather well. Though it is usually better to get a scan doubler (also called a flicker fixer,) instead. Most of those have VGA output as well. They were made primarily for the 2000 & 4000 (3000 had one built in,) but there was an external model that worked on the 500/600 (maybe the 1200 as well,) and small internal one for those models as well. That last could be a real pain for the uninitiated to install. FYI - the scan doubler converted the interlaced output into progressive (got rid of the eye straining flicker.)

Remember that Amiga floppies are not compatible with PC floppies. You can read PC floppies on an Amiga but you need software to do it. So if you bought an amiga 500 or 1000 with no floppies, you won't be able to use it as these models have no IDE or SCSI.

Amiga floppies are MFM, but a weird hax0r version of it that's not readable by PC controllers. 720k disks can be found on Ebay pretty easily, although you can also use 1.44MB ones (though some claim they're not as reliable as real 720k media)

For joysticks, any 9 pin Sega or Atari joystick/gamepad will work with the Amiga. You will need a 9 pin Amiga mouse. I advise against hot plugging the joysticks/mouse when the power is on as I've heard of people with dead ports from doing this.

Look out here. Sega gamepads are not quite electrically the same as Atari sticks. I don't know about the Amiga, but on 8-bit Commodores they were said to be able to damage the I/O chips.

The big box models (2000, 3000, 4000) are not ideal for amiga beginners. They are more expensive and the Zorro cards to put in them are relatively rare.

In addition to which most Amiga software doesn't support them anyway.

Also remember that these machines use 15KHz analog video signal which is not compatible with VGA, EGA or CGA in the PC world.

In fact the only difference between the Amiga and VGA is the scan frequency and a line doubler is sufficient to get it to work on VGA monitors.

and since Europe was a big region for Amiga games and demo writers, most Amiga software is PAL.

This is kind of the same problem with the Commodore 64. A large portion of its games and demos are PAL. If in doubt, test it on an emulator first. Games made by American devs like Sierra, LucasArts, and Microprose are safe and will work on NTSC.

but actually browsing the web is pretty futile

It's like most 80s machines in that it pretty much can only do text-based stuff like FTPs and Usenet.

kao wrote:

In addition to which most Amiga software doesn't support them anyway. […]
Show full quote

The big box models (2000, 3000, 4000) are not ideal for amiga beginners. They are more expensive and the Zorro cards to put in them are relatively rare.

In addition to which most Amiga software doesn't support them anyway.

and since Europe was a big region for Amiga games and demo writers, most Amiga software is PAL.

This is kind of the same problem with the Commodore 64. A large portion of its games and demos are PAL. If in doubt, test it on an emulator first.

Actually, the 4000 & 1200 are almost identical from the view of software. And the only lack of software support for the 2000/3000 is either it's designed for the 1200/4000 (mainly AGA graphics,) or it's very old and you need an older 500. I have a 2000 and it litteraly runs everything I have (that isn't AGA Graphics, which is the advanced graphics that the 4000/1200 came with, sort of like moving from EGA to VGA for the PC literate.) The one exception is Archon, which will not run on an kickstart after 1.2 (took advantage of "bugs" in the KS from what I understand,) and also fails if you have extra RAM installed. I've heard of other games that do that as well, but that is the only one I personally have. And for that I use a system degrader software. Boot up normally, insert Archon disk, run the degrader selecting KS 1.2 no extra ram CPU 68000 etc... Click go, and the sytem reboots, boots to my Archon disk and runs just great.

A note about NTSC & PAL with amiga. The 2000 & 4000 at least (those are the 2 I have, also have a 500 but haven't unpacked it in years,) can be set to either NTSC or PAL with a simple jumper selection. Also, they can be changed via software without issue. I've played many PAL games on my systems without issue. In most cases, if you boot to a game, the game will automatically set your system as PAL, when they don't (or if the game can be installed - 50/50 for booter/installer at rough guess,) then you either set the system as PAL manually (a friend installed a switch for the jumper on his,) use advanced KS features (hold both mouse butons during boot IIRC,) use system degrader software (don't degrade, just set PAL mode,) or in KS 2+ select it in "Monitors" I believe.

Amiga floppies are MFM, but a weird hax0r version of it that's not readable by PC controllers. 720k disks can be found on Ebay pretty easily, although you can also use 1.44MB ones (though some claim they're not as reliable as real 720k media)

I've successfully used 1.44MB drives with tape over the notch in the corner, formatted as 720kb, to get stuff on to my Amiga using DOS2DOS.
But yes, they do seem somewhat unreliable after a few uses.
In any case, you can't boot from disks formatted this way.

Look out here. Sega gamepads are not quite electrically the same as Atari sticks. I don't know about the Amiga, but on 8-bit Commodores they were said to be able to damage the I/O chips.

Haven't heard that before. I've been using my Sega master system and mega drive gamepads on my Amigas without issue for a while. Haven't tried an Atari stick myself but I know of others who have.
Maybe its some dodgy third party sticks that cause trouble?

've successfully used 1.44MB drives with tape over the notch in the corner, formatted as 720kb, to get stuff on to my Amiga using DOS2DOS.
But yes, they do seem somewhat unreliable after a few uses.

1.44MB disks in general have bad reliability

Haven't heard that before. I've been using my Sega master system and mega drive gamepads on my Amigas without issue for a while.

The problems were related to Commodore 64s because the buttons on Sega pads push all the lines on the CIA low and since they weren't designed to operate this way, it stresses the chip. The Start button on the Genesis was also known to damage C64s by sending a -5V signal into the CIA. However, Amigas might be different.

FeedingDragon wrote:

Actually they work rather well. Though it is usually better to get a scan doubler (also called a flicker fixer,) instead. Most of those have VGA output as well.

Is there any particular models or websites that sell these flickerfixers? I doubt I'll be in any rush because I'd probably end up fighting with Badmofo over Amiga's on ebay so I'll just wait till he gets his because he's so nice 😀

dacow wrote:

FeedingDragon wrote:

Actually they work rather well. Though it is usually better to get a scan doubler (also called a flicker fixer,) instead. Most of those have VGA output as well.

Is there any particular models or websites that sell these flickerfixers? I doubt I'll be in any rush because I'd probably end up fighting with Badmofo over Amiga's on ebay so I'll just wait till he gets his because he's so nice 😀

I've seen them on Software Hut, but the price is probably more than you might expect. I found mine on eBay for considerably less. Mainly search for "flicker fixer" or "scan doubler." Also some of the Picasso graphics cards for the Amiga came with a built on flicker fixer. The one I have is the Picasso IV, but be carfull, I've seen people selling those with the flicker fixer portion removed (it was detactable so it could work with different Amiga versions.)

dacow wrote:

FeedingDragon wrote:

Actually they work rather well. Though it is usually better to get a scan doubler (also called a flicker fixer,) instead. Most of those have VGA output as well.

Is there any particular models or websites that sell these flickerfixers? I doubt I'll be in any rush because I'd probably end up fighting with Badmofo over Amiga's on ebay so I'll just wait till he gets his because he's so nice 😀

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amiga-Flickerfixer-Sc … =item2ec331868b

I wonder how difficult it would be to adapt these to use with other vintage computers?