Suggestions for Amiga 2000 upgrades please

tastemakerChuck

New member
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Posts
9
Country
United States
Region
Oregon
Hey all!

I am new here and new to Amigas. I had a C64 in the 80s that I remember with fondness, and I recently caught the retro bug and I'm looking at getting a barebone Amiga 2000 with a rev 6.2 motherboard. It seems like there has been a great deal of activity in the accelerator and FPGA space in the last year, so I am hoping to get some up to the minute advice on the best set of current (or soon in the future upgrades) for this lovely classic Amiga. I don't want to buy older accelerators that conflict or are superseded by newer (and maybe less expensive options). So I am throwing my extreme noobness at your generous feet and hoping to get some good advice before I start shopping (here of course!).

Besides exploring, playing and learning AmigaOS and Amiga hardware, I would be using this A2000 for general computing: web, email, IRC, retro-gaming, office suite type things... My upgrade goals would be:

1. faster CPU
2. more ram
3. networking to get on the internet: ethernet or wifi
4. better graphics that allow higher resolution output, VGA or HDMI... while a clean old beautiful CRT would be cool a more modern LCD panel is probably more practical for me... should it be 4:3 ratio?
5. interface that allows addition of CF/SD cards or small SSD
6. with the above in mind should I upgrade the kickstart to 3.1, 3.5, 3.9? (currently on 2.04)
7. other...?

Thank you in advance for all of your help. If I have overlooked something please suggest that too!

:)
 
^^ what he said.. im having trouble finding ram for my gvp 030 and to add RTG would be too expensive never mind the cost a scsi HDD for my Impact :(

all the above is included in the Vampire 500 v2+ and a good deal quicker than an 060 system with the advantage of AGA + RTG in an A2000 :D
 
Last edited:
Thank you for the suggestions... the Vampire 500 V2+ sounds great! ... though it looks like they are not currently available. I have signed up on the waitlist...

I see that this would cover most things on my list but I think I still need networking solution...?

what about the Terrible Fire (TF530) accelerator instead of Vampire? I guess that is somewhat slower and doesn't have any video out...

until I have a Vampire and HDMI, would a BenQ BL702A monitor be a good solution with some sort of Amiga Video to VGA adapter?

Thank you!
 
Last edited:
I think PC Bridgeboards are a lot of fun. I have a A2286AT board in my A2000. So I get a 286 PC to play some older DOS stuff and also have an Amiga all in the same box.

Not for everyone but floating that idea for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
As suggested by others, a Vampire is a great option if you can find one. If not, classic accelerator boards for the 2000 are available for sale on Amibay. Very often, they will have a SCSI connector, allowing you to use a SCSI2SD adapter.
RTG cards popup once in a while. Picasso boards are popular. The new VA-2000 cards are a good alternative, and the firmware is being actively developed.
The X-Surf 100 is a good option to add both Ethernet and USB to the 2000.
 
I think PC Bridgeboards are a lot of fun. I have a A2286AT board in my A2000. So I get a 286 PC to play some older DOS stuff and also have an Amiga all in the same box.

Not for everyone but floating that idea for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I am doing something like this but with a more powerful board. Not sure why I am doing it but, somebody gave me the idea and thought why not! just having trouble finding some header cables and cannot pick which 2000 to stuff it in.
 
Thank you all for the suggestions! PM sent to ElectroBlaster as suggested.

The options do seem pretty vast... it gets a bit confusing... the bridge board idea is cool. In terms of drives... is scsi2sd preferable to something like the BuddhaIDE? and if I get the Vampire 500 V2+ I guess I don't really need either right?

with the x-surf + USB means I can use modern usb keyboards/mice as well? is x-surf my best internet/BBS option? or is there some wifi solution?

Thanks again!
 
Back
Top Bottom