Erm, where is my money going?

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ubermick

ubermick

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Ah, bollix, here we go again.

I started getting nostalgic for my old Amiga from when I was a lad (and all this was fields). Had nothing special, just an A500 with an external floppy and the 512k RAM upgrade.

So I downloaded WinUAE, and installed it on an old PC I had lying around. Did the job nicely.

But JUST because I wanted to use a bloody Zipstick like I used to, I started thinking about buying an old Amiga. (Even though I could have gotten a USB Competition Pro for the PC, which is more or less the same).

So I search for used Miggys, and find this place. Used A500s for about £xx? Toppus jobbus.

And now my wife hates you all.

Of course I couldn't get an A500. Not when people wax poetic about the A1200. Fair enough, A1200 it is.

Of course, I'll want a nice hard drive in there. So I need to order a compact flash card and IDE adapted.

Oh wait, that compact flash card is too small. Let's order a few more. As well as various IDE adapters from Hong Kong, to allow me to use SD cards, TWO CF cards, and more.

Hang on a minute, if I want to run WHDLoad, I need to get an accelerator as well. Oop, better snag one of those.

Wait a sec... what's this I'm reading? Won't work with any monitor other than a dozen or so ones from the era? Ah crap. So I'll need a flicker fixer? Right, I'll order one of those as well. And I'll need an enclosure for that, of course, can't just have the board sitting there.

Crap, flicker fixer looks awful on my LCD monitor, seems I need an older CRT. Better jump online and look for one.

Oh wait, I need ROMs and a key for WHDLoad... better pay for a copy of Amiga Forever, and my WHDLoad license...

And so on, and so forth. From the initial "Darling, mind if I spend a few bucks on getting an old computer for myself? Promise it won't be more than $100" I suddenly find the credit card statement saying I've spent pushing $700 on various bits and bobs.

And NOW I'm getting annoyed at my flicker fixer (just the wee GBS-8220) at not working on the nice 18" LCD monitor, so am pondering an Indy Mk II. And of course, my Apollo accelerator is just an 030, so maybe I should look at a nice 040?

WHEN WILL I STOP SPENDING MONEY ON THIS?!?! :p
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ah yes. The endless money pit/hoarding/addiction of Vintage computing. I know it well.

Some tips: Don't jump on the first thing avail for sale and pace yourself a little. You can set a limit on stuff and try to save money. You can use Craigslist to look for cheap/free stuff. Some stuff you have to buy, some stuff you can be smarter on. No need to spend $50 on an A500. You can get used stuff on here or eBay or get newly released products that are coming out now... (a newly released 030 card for $150 vs $400 for a vintage one)

I got a few free A2000's, A500 and an A3000 recently! I also got a A4000 and A1200 for free/$20 respectively. ;)

Being single also helps. Or having a wonderful understanding wife. ;)
 
But the thing is, I only (really) want an Amiga to play the games I used to love as a teenager. And the setup I have now does that PERFECTLY. Actually, the emulator on the PC I ALREADY HAD did that perfectly! And STILL I keep sniffing around the hardware for sale in here, as well as scanning Craigslist, and eyeing the aforementioned Indivision AGA.

Oh, and a SCSI kit. Even though I ABSOLUTELY don't need one. Because 3.1 with ClassicWB and WHDLoad does EVERYTHING I want. But hey, when I was 17 I REALLY wanted a CD ROM drive, so why not get one now?!?

And why - WHY - even though I already have an A1200, am I looking at an ebay auction for another A1200 mobo, as well as an A500+, neither of which I need like a hole in the head!! (And if I DO buy one of them, of COURSE I'll need to max THEM out as well!)

Bloody hell, next thing you know, I'll be growing my hair into a pony tail and buying a Miata.
 
ubermick said:
..But hey, when I was 17 I REALLY wanted a..., so why not get one now?!?
Click to expand...

That there sums it up perfectly for most of us here. Most of us were young when we originally had these systems and could only look on in envy at all the expensive shiny things available for our machines.

Fast forward 20+ years and suddenly we all have jobs and some disposable income, plus an urge to relive the golden era of retro gaming. We can find everything we could only wish for back in the day available secondhand, or even better discovering people are still making new stuff for the systems too.

It is an addiction. The ability to own everything we once could only dream about.
 
:D:D

this is soooo much like it felt for me :lol:

I think we should start Amiga Anonymous !!

Any takers on the northwest here ???

Lets say Northern Oregon and Southern Washington to start with

there are a couple of Commodore clubs but they are mostly C64 and I just love the Amiga more....:shhh:
 
Lol, this sums up all the wifes in the world (and a few husbands, too). :lol:

My dream (when I started with the Amiga) was a nice A2000. All I could have was an A500 with 512k in the trapdoor.

Then the A1200, later with RAM expansion, then accelerators, then colour monitor, HD upgrades until I could quit using power pack...

Nowadays I simply have too much Amiga models at home, but at least wife quit moaning about it.:blased:

Time to save for a Zipstick, then send my Blizz 1260 to Anthony Hoffman, then upgrade my A3000 to the ceiling, then... :nuts:
 
Addicted to chaos.

Try to keep it simple, the more things you own they end up owning you :lol:

Time to check that Towered A1200 again and the rest Amigas for faults to send them for repairs.

Maybe I should sell them all and keep only one for backup.
 
Ubermick you're going thru an exciting phase let me tell ya, enjoy it but try to go easy on the money ;) :thumbsup:
 
i kept all my miggys and c64/128s

so far jus sold a ramcard and a500 hd8+ but gained a few more miggys and plenty of bits to go with them and now got no room to use them but plod on i will

and money whats that ?
 
TjLazer has some good advice :)

I did the same as you. My goal was to get my A1200 out and just "update" it (remove old hard drive, replace with cf etc.). Then I saw a SCSI cdrom, and so I needed a SCSI kit then :picard

I would say just have a think and try to be sensible before rushing in.
eg. I realised after I got the cdrom I would be better off just getting a network card and using that to transfer files and use aminet (most of the stuff on amiga cdroms is available on aminet anyway bar the games)
 
It's always the same. I had an A500+ back in 1991. It had 2MB ChipRAM, an external DF1: and a SCART lead to get better quality on my TV set. I felt like I owned the Earth back then with that setup!

A few years ago, I acquired an A1200 and it just went from there...

  • Ooh, I could put a hard disk in this.
  • Ahh, the Squirrel SCSI, what a cool thing that was. I'll get one.
  • Kickstart 3.1 you say? Sure, why not!
  • Ahh, accelerators! Yes, gotta get an '030
  • Oh, you're giving away an A600, I'll take that.
  • But it's going to need a hard disk
  • And Kickstart 3.1 as well
  • And another meg of ChipRAM
  • I really wish I had a big-box Amiga, that'd be cool. Oh, here's an A2000!
  • It needs an ECS Denise and Kickstart 3.1
  • And a decent SCSI hard card.
  • Oh, and an accelerator, can't miss out on that.
  • Now, what exciting Zorro cards can I get (RTG, network, video capture...)
  • This is nice, but I really fancy an A3000. Knackered, but we'll fix that up.
  • Nice SIMM adapter to give it a full 16MB FastRAM
  • Hey, I could go '040 with this! Cheap A3640 will work wonders!
  • Lets upgrade the custom chips (Kickstart, Buster, SCSI)
  • Zorro III you say? Let's have a Retina BLT Z3 and a Fastlane then!
  • Oh well, if this is how things are going I'd really love an A4000...
  • ...in a tower conversion case with a 7-slot Zorro busboard.
  • Inevitably it'll need a Buster 11 and Kickstart 3.1 ROMs
  • And a Cyberstorm MkII with SCSI and 128MB of RAM. Let's not do things by half-measures!
  • Ooh? PCI in an Amiga? Yes, I'll have a Prometheus board with a Voodoo III and a Realtek 8029 network card.
  • And there's a new Indivision AGA mkII just released. I'll take one!
  • You're getting rid of your Amiga hardware? Sure, I'll take those two A1200s. I clearly need three in my life, all with 030 accelerators.
  • A500s? Sure, if you're only gonna bin them, I'll take the lot.
  • A CDTV? That was cool. I've got to have one.
  • CD32? For that price, I'll give it a whirl.
  • Mouse adapters that run PC mice on an Amiga? I'LL TAKE TWO!
  • Workbench 3.1, 3.5, 3.9? One of each please! No, I'll have another two copies of 3.5 as well, just in case.
  • Erm? What colour are my carpets again?
:double
 
I can "help" you. I´ll sell you my blizzard 1260. :cool:

I gone pretty much the same route as you but I´ve gone from emulation to hardware and ended up with (so far) 4 amigas, 2 of them with blizzard ppc cards and soon an atari st and a spectrum. :double All in 6 months or so :)
 
I've never managed to get any amigas for free yet, I still have to pay for power cables :roll:

I was thinking of getting an A500 and maybe an A600 but then I gave myself a bit of slap and realised I wouldn't be able to use them all the time, so I'll probably sell some bits and put the money towards the Amiga I *really* wanted back in the day.
 
That's what I've essentially done, gone through all the desktop machines and ended up back at squae one with an A500 again as it's my favourite miggy model. Just concentrating on the single machine now, slightly cheaper that way, though my shopping list is still endless. :p
 
ubermick said:
WHEN WILL I STOP SPENDING MONEY ON THIS?!?! :p
Click to expand...
You're not entitled to ask that until you've acquired at least ten systems. :p

It was the usual story for me too. Started small and currently having 15 or 16 systems. I've lost count. :double Now I pretty much have what I want - except for that Beep. :double
 
Gouldin said:
That's what I've essentially done, gone through all the desktop machines and ended up back at squae one with an A500 again as it's my favourite miggy model. Just concentrating on the single machine now, slightly cheaper that way, though my shopping list is still endless. :p
Click to expand...

This is my goal. I'm going to aim for just one system, though I'll probably pick an A1200 with an '030.

And alas, it would seem this will have to be far sooner rather than later, I need to put a new bathroom in, so I'm going to have to raise funds somehow...
 
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