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Like what? You can't just say something like that in a place like this and then not follow up with details. That's cruel.DigitalQuirk wrote:I have a LOT of plans slated for this machine.
Here, I have to inform you that an Amiga 2000 is low cost for a reason. It does not support Zorro III transfer speeds in its expansion slots. For that reason, a Picasso card, whatever version, in the 2000, is not necessarily faster than AGA, as a matter of fact, its probably slower.DigitalQuirk wrote:To address d0c's comment, it won't be hobbled by the rather slow AGA chipset; I'm thinking something along the lines of a Picasso 96, eventually.
Ah, I see...so perhaps I'd be better off going with a Blizzard 2604e Power Board combined with the CyberVisionPPC (or similar type of combination) for optimal performance. Apparently, it bypasses the Zorro II bus and offers data transfer rates of up to 100 MB/s. Of course, for my use, that may be overkill; but I'll see where this path takes me. Upgrading the video is probably going to be last on my list.eslapion wrote: Here, I have to inform you that an Amiga 2000 is low cost for a reason. It does not support Zorro III transfer speeds in its expansion slots. For that reason, a Picasso card, whatever version, in the 2000, is not necessarily faster than AGA, as a matter of fact, its probably slower.
The Amiga 2000 has Zorro II slots. This limits the transfer speed to all expansion slots except the CPU slot, which is used for accelerators, to 3.58 Mbytes/sec. For that reason, even if you put in a fast display card such as a Picasso or Cybergraphix which supports the fast Zorro III standard, this display adapter will fall back to Zorro II speeds when installed in an Amiga 2000.
AFAIK, Only the Amiga 3000/3000T and 4000/4000T supports Zorro III speeds.
The AGA chipset which uses 32bit ChipRAM has a theoretical maximum transfer speed which I believe is 14.32MBytes/Sec. while Zorro III runs around 20MBytes/sec.
Well, the only problem with Amiga stuff is that, unlike VIC stuff, it has gone up about 100% on Ebay over the past two years. It got old enough to finally make the transition from popular perception as obsolete junk to cool retro and collectable.Prices have, for the most part, seem to have become reasonable these days; at least for A2000 peripherals and expansion cards.
Note, even with the 7.0 ROM, the A2091 has a problem with DMA transfers when used with 68040 accelerators. The controller can't DMA to fast RAM and therefore starts to do transfers in an older way that's as slow as a floppy drive. Fortunately, there are some free patches on Aminet to fix this (which I can help you with if you ever go that route).ROM revisions are a common problem with the A2091; 6.6 or later ROMs are desirable, with 7.0 being the last version (strongly recommended, and necessary for 68040 machines). Most A2091s have revision 04 of the Western Digital 33C93 SCSI controller chip; replacing this with the 08 version may clear up SCSI bus problems. (Despite common belief, the "PROTO" marking is insignificant on either version of the WD chip; version 04 or version 08 are the only significant values.)
Yes, 8 or 9 megs of RAM is tons for most Amiga games and applications. Especially if you're sticking to software from the early 90s and earlier.DigitalQuirk wrote:Instead of maxing everything out, I think I'd like to make it into the Amiga I wish I had right when I abandoned my A500. 8 or nine megs of ram should be plenty;
Yes, even a 300 MB hard drive (find an old MAC) should be lots for Amiga stuff.as well as a sufficiently large enough hard drive to hold everything (should be easy these days).
I believe that Workbench 3.1 comes with drivers for CD drives. If you get a burner, look up the program MAKECD. The author released the keyfile to public domain last year. I use it a lot. It's not drag and drop, but it's reliable and has a lot of features.Definitely need a CD-ROM drive (preferably a burner),
Ethernet cards can be pricey, but not insanely so. There are lots of free methods to network your Amiga to your PC using a parallel or null modem cable. Check Aminet for free software to do this. Also look up Cloanto's "Amiga Forever". It comes with software called "Amiga Explorer" for doing something similar (plus copies of legal kickstart images, OS3.1, and lots of other goodes useable even if you don't want to run the emulator included).and ethernet access.
High density drives are okay. I have one, but I barely use it now that I have CD access. They are still costly on Ebay, unfortunately, but seeing that you're near Toronto you might find someone selling one used. Be aware the HD disks on the Amiga were very slow (a hack really).A high density drive for DF1: would be fun to tinker with,
I have considered a USB port for my Amiga, but I'm not sure I would use it all that often (enough to justify it), and having the USB program running in the background would probably just suck up CPU cycles and RAM (on a computer with a 68040/020 this might be a performance hit).and a USB port, while nice, may not be all that practical;
I've heard that the A2090 is a bit of a beast. But it should be fine as long as you limit yourself to one drive.Currently, I'm fiddling with an A2090 which works fine, but is a bit of a bear to get to work with anything modern. If you come across a 2091, do let me know.
