🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3m8ski$4o7@hack.byron.apana.org.au>, Daniel Cocks (timelord@byron.apana.org.au) wrote:
> drives! I'd probably also need to get extra ram for my 500 (still only
> 1mb) and probably upgrade the KS (still 1.3). All this costs $$$ so I'm
> wondering what my best option is. I like the idea of adding a CD ROM drive
> as well.

Get an A1200. Any talk about expansion is rubbish.

> 2. Update to a newer model - the 1200 seems to be the go, along with a CD
>    rom drive. I've also seen ads for the 2000 at a reasonable price.

Don't go for an A2000, they're old, slow, and very obsolete. They give you
5 slots, which might be useful if you need 4 serial ports and 2 ethernet
cards, but other than that, forget it. ECS graphics are slothful and
incompatible, the stock 68000 is practically no faster than an A500 at all.
To get an A2000 even close to stock A1200 performance would require probably
over $1000 in hardware atleast. (And you should be able to pick up an A1200
without internal 2.5'' HD for $600-$700 I imagine.)

Infact the only thing I would recommend besides an A1200 or A4000, would be
an A3000, and they are rare and expensive.

> 3. I've heard you can convert a CD32 into a fully working 1200...would
>    this be worth it (and cost effective with the add-ons you'd need to buy?)

Not worth it, unless you can find a REALLY cheap CD32 to expand. Even then
I really wouldn't recommend it.

> I'm not after a SUPER powerful machine which will go faster than the speed
> of light (!) but something that is reasonably powerful, will run a lot of
> software, is CD compatible and will be around for awhile. I'd be using it
> mainly for word processing, games and running CD's, but I'd also like the
> option of being able to do "other" things with it as well if I wanted to.

Get an A1200. They have a 68020 and AGA graphics as standard. This will give
you decent processor speed, decent graphics speed and capability, graphics
compatibility for games, software compatibility with Kick and WB 3.0, fully
32bit hardware (both for CPU AND graphics) and an IDE controller allready
there. IDE is slower than SCSI2, but is still fast, I got 1.7M/sec when my
system was stock. (And slightly more now.)

You can add a CDRom easily to the A1200 via the PCMCIA slot. (This slot is
easily fast enough for CDRom.) So a CDRom is not a problem. Ram & FPU
boards are cheap and plentiful now, I would recommend one with 4M of 32bit
ram. This kind of system would be cheaper than an A2000 expanded to the
same capabilities. (And would still be faster in many respects. Get an A1200
without 2.5'' HD, and get a 3.5'' expansion kit and a fast 3.5'' big EIDE
drive. You'll still probably be better off dollar-wize and you'll have a
newer (less obsolete) machine to boot.

If you're >Really< worried about speed and expansion, get an accellerator
for it. I got mine (68030-50MHz, 68882 FPU, and 8M of 32bit 70ns ram) for
about $1000, and that wipes the floor with anything except an A4000-040.
Infact, my system runs very slightly faster than an A4040-25 for basic
instructions according to AIBB. This expansion also has a SCSI-2 port on it
if I need more or faster drives than IDE provides. (Or SCSI CDrom, tape, etc.)

(If you REALLY need a killer machine, get a 486dx4-100 with PCI. No Amiga
really cuts it anymore for performance except an A4000 with 68060, Graphics
accellerator card, and Zorro3 fast SCSI-2 .)

> | Daniel Cocks.               | The truth is out there. The X-Files.         |
--
==============================================================================
     // Gavan A.McCormack..MdX A1230-50/10-960 Tetragon@Lisa.apana.org.au
   \X/ "Shut-up Brain, I got friends now, I dont need you anymore!". [1F22]