New Amiga Add-Ons

SkydivinGirl

Retro Girl
Joined
Dec 16, 2008
Posts
7,069
Country
USA
Region
Raleigh, NC
Now that I have an Amiga 4000 on the way, I was wondering what types of hardware or software are available to modernize the system a bit. I read about a board that would let me use newer/larger IDE devices on the system but it is a bit pricey.

My main concern is compatibility with new monitors. I know the 4000 was able to connect to VGA monitors but VGA monitors were unable to drop down to some of the modes that were common for games. Does anyone have any ideas on this? Otherwise, I may end up having to find an old Commodore CRT.

I have also never seen Amiga OS 3.9 since it was not out when I was still using Amiga for my full-time computer. Is it worth getting?

I'd appreciate any answers to these questions as well as suggestions to improve my Amiga.

Thanks!

Heather
 
Re: New Amiga Add-Ons

Hi Heather

For the IDE interface you could use a 4-way interface which would allow you to access both primary & secondary IDE channels. Although the A4000/A12000 IDE is PIO 0 & pretty slow by todays standards you have to put into perspective that the files being transferred are also smaller in comparison to a PC. It's worth waiting until your A4000 arrives, who knows there might be an interface already fitted. If not you can of course still run a single HD & IDE CD ROM with the std interface.
If the A4000 is fitted with Kickstart 3.1 ROMS then you will indeed be able to use WB 3.1 or OS3.5 / 3.9
OS 3.9 with final updates (boing bags 1 &2) also patch the system ROM & drivers to allow you to use larger hard disks as well as all the other benefits that OS3.9 carries with it.

Individual computers will be making an A4000 version of their indivision AGA scandoubler / flicker fixer which would certainly solve your display concerns.

Have you considered the US Voltage difference & how you are going to run the A4000 on 240V in the UK, you will also have to set an internal jumper to set the system to PAL / 50Hz Mode too.

More than happy to help if you have further questions ??

Best Wishes

TC :)
 
Re: New Amiga Add-Ons

Thanks for the wonderful reply! I am actually in the United States so I won't need to worry about the 240V/PAL issues. The A4000 that I'm getting only has the 3.0 ROMs but I have seen where I can purchase the 3.1 ROMs if I choose to go with OS 3.9. I'll have to read up on it to see if it is worth it.

I guess I may be jumping the gun a bit in regards to upgrading a system I don't even have in my hands yet but I'm super excited. I recently purchased a cartridge for my C64 that breathed new life into the old system and it's great that people are still making hardware to improve the Amiga as well.

I would definitely be interested in the Indivision device if it will fix the monitor issues. Again, I need to actually get the system to determine if it will actually be an issue.

One of the items I've seen for the A1200 is a device that uses a CompactFlash card as the hard drive. I thought that was a great way to add a good capacity drive to the system. Please, keep your ideas coming!

Heather
 
Re: New Amiga Add-Ons

Heather oops that will teach me not to read your location :LOL:

The IDE to CF adapters are a great idea more so if you use WinUAE on your PC to setup your perfect A4000 environment, then put your CF card into your PC Card reader Partition & mount it as a HD within WinUAE & you can build the system up on your CF card, then when ready simply plug it into your A4000. Keeping & restoring backups this way is also very easy as well as file transfer.
(BTW you can plug a HD into a spare IDE port or USB-IDE caddy & use that too with WinUAE)

The Downside of the CF / IDE adapter is that they very rarely allow a 2nd device on the same bus so if you wanted to use a CD ROM too you would defnitely need a 4-way interface.

OK some serious suggestions for you here as I think you will probably get WinUAE installed & running in preparation for your A4000.

Have a look at one of our favourite forums, The English Amiga Board (google EAB),
Check out WHDLoad (a must have & well worth registering)
And Bloodwych's Excellent Classic Workbench packages. (for WB 3.1 & WB 3.9), I personally recomend both packages, It is an excellent pre-prepared WB environment & I use it on all my Amiga's (& WinUAE) as do many of my colleagues here.

The Indivision when it comes out will be perfect for you I use one on my hot-rodded A1200 & the quality is superb, it de-interlaces as well as upscans to allow the use of TFT Screens, There is even a HighGFX package which allows you to setup resolutions of 800x600 & 1024x768 too.

Of course with a Zorro III equipped A4000 you could go down the RTG Graphics card route which will give you greater versatility, I would perhaps look at a Picasso IV which also has an onboard scandoubler for the native amiga modes to function with a VGA monitor.

Good luck with the project, It's always exciting when new Miggy kit is on the way.

Best Wishes
TC :mrgreen:
 
Re: New Amiga Add-Ons

Again, thanks for all the great information! I have been to the EAB web site in the past (it's in my bookmarks) but I haven't joined the community yet. I'll do that soon.

I can see how the CF adapters would be limiting but it is a great way to have a solid-state drive in your Amiga. For the smaller Amigas, such as the 1200, it would probably help with the heat and noise of a rotating HD. Still, very neat stuff.

I think I have purchased every release of Amiga Forever since they started making it. I have mostly used WinUAE for playing games but I want to do a little more now. I have legal ROM images so I can play with pretty much any version of software I like. Of course, I don't have OS 3.9 and would have to buy that.

The other sites and packages you mentioned look great as well. I can't wait to try out the Bloodwych Workbench. I have used the Amiga in a Box Workbench with WinUAE in the past but I don't believe that is updated any more.

Thanks again!

Heather
 
Re: New Amiga Add-Ons

TheCorfiot said:
The Downside of the CF / IDE adapter is that they very rarely allow a 2nd device on the same bus so if you wanted to use a CD ROM too you would defnitely need a 4-way interface.

@TC

My cheap Hong Kong Backplate CF/IDE adaptor works a treat if it's on the same cable as my HD. It won't play if it's on the same cable as my CD drive though. This is using the IDEFIX hardware but the IDEFIX software won't run :roll:

Dave G 8)
 
Back
Top Bottom