Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Thu, 18 Jun 2020, Peter Corlett via cctalk wrote: > DB-23 to SCART cables were (and still are) readily-available from anywhere > that > has anything to do with the Amiga. Sometimes they had sawn-down DB-25 plugs > since DB-23 wasn't exactly a common connector even in the Amiga's heyday. Unsurprisingly, given that the shell chosen isn't really DB nor any of the remaining D-sub standard DA, DC, DD, DE shell sizes (which may then come in various signal, power or RF pin configurations, e.g. the Sun DB-13W3, or DEC DA-3W3, or VGA DE-15 connectors). They could have opted for standard DA-26 if they were after connector space saving rather than locking customers into an inherently more expensive proprietary solution. Maciej
RE: Amiga Vendors?
> -Original Message- > From: cctalk On Behalf Of Peter Corlett via > cctalk > Sent: 18 June 2020 09:38 > To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts > > Subject: Re: Amiga Vendors? > > On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 05:39:44PM -0400, Ethan O'Toole via cctalk wrote: > [...] > > The early plasma TVs usually had BNC RGBHV inputs and such. They could > > take VGA in very easily. I'm pretty sure a PC would have been way > > easier to deal with and could reach much higher resolutions... without > > needing a DB-23 connector :-) > > Everything had RGB on this side of the Pond. There was a protectionist > decree that all TVs sold in France would have a SCART socket, but of course > this just meant that pan-European models sprouted SCART sockets and the > French TV industry was back to square one. Old standards never die, and the > TV I bought in 2018 has a SCART socket and would quite probably decode > SECAM but I have no SECAM sources to test it (and they'll even be rare in > France these days). > The latest TVs do not have anything other tan HDMI. I bought a pile of converter boxes that take SCART and convert to HDMI but for old VGA machines I am just hanging on to my monitors. > DB-23 to SCART cables were (and still are) readily-available from anywhere > that has anything to do with the Amiga. Sometimes they had sawn-down DB- > 25 plugs since DB-23 wasn't exactly a common connector even in the Amiga's > heyday. Dave
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 05:39:44PM -0400, Ethan O'Toole via cctalk wrote: [...] > The early plasma TVs usually had BNC RGBHV inputs and such. They could take > VGA in very easily. I'm pretty sure a PC would have been way easier to deal > with and could reach much higher resolutions... without needing a DB-23 > connector :-) Everything had RGB on this side of the Pond. There was a protectionist decree that all TVs sold in France would have a SCART socket, but of course this just meant that pan-European models sprouted SCART sockets and the French TV industry was back to square one. Old standards never die, and the TV I bought in 2018 has a SCART socket and would quite probably decode SECAM but I have no SECAM sources to test it (and they'll even be rare in France these days). DB-23 to SCART cables were (and still are) readily-available from anywhere that has anything to do with the Amiga. Sometimes they had sawn-down DB-25 plugs since DB-23 wasn't exactly a common connector even in the Amiga's heyday.
Re: Amiga Vendors?
I guess so, too. Connecting Amiga to plasma was probably the least hassle of all alternatives. PC would need something special (either card or converter?), and a hard drive, and a big box, and separate keyboard and reboot every four(ty) days - Amiga 500 could be just "stuffed under the rug". And after loading a "demo" from a floppy, there was no moving parts involved. It could just sit there and display flying images for years. Exactly. Maybe once a week, turn it off, put in the new floppy from HQ, turn it back on, or something like that. The early plasma TVs usually had BNC RGBHV inputs and such. They could take VGA in very easily. I'm pretty sure a PC would have been way easier to deal with and could reach much higher resolutions... without needing a DB-23 connector :-) - Ethan -- : Ethan O'Toole
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Wed, 17 Jun 2020 at 02:15, Tomasz Rola via cctalk wrote: > > I would say that was cool. Me too! :-) > I guess so, too. Connecting Amiga to plasma was probably the least > hassle of all alternatives. PC would need something special (either > card or converter?), and a hard drive, and a big box, and separate > keyboard and reboot every four(ty) days - Amiga 500 could be just > "stuffed under the rug". And after loading a "demo" from a floppy, > there was no moving parts involved. It could just sit there and > display flying images for years. Exactly. Maybe once a week, turn it off, put in the new floppy from HQ, turn it back on, or something like that. -- Liam Proven – Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk – gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven – Skype: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 – ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 03:02:57PM +0200, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: > On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 19:51, Tomasz Rola via cctalk > wrote: > > > > From time to time I behave like a normal human and, for example, zip > > channels on my cable tv. Few years ago, while stopping at their "see > > what we have on offer to you, prospective viewer" kind of channel, it > > cracked open and I have seen the Workbench screen. Version 1.3 or 2.0, > > if I am correct. Could be 2.0, so most probably Amiga 1200. Looks like I mixed few things up. The Workbench was the ugly one, so I would keep 2.0, but the Amiga for it would have to be A600 then. Not that it really matters much. [...] > The shop had full-length windows at street level. This is not much use > for a supermarket: the backs of shelves are not very interesting to > look at, it's hard to get in there to replace marketing posters etc., > leaving it open wastes potential shelf space... > > So they filled it with big plasma flatscreens (quite new tech at the > time). They could display animated advertising, special offers etc. I would say that was cool. [...] > I was very surprised to see what looked like a _new_ Amiga deployment > at that time -- end of the 1990s. > > But I guess it was good at its job, and probably required very little > maintenance... I guess so, too. Connecting Amiga to plasma was probably the least hassle of all alternatives. PC would need something special (either card or converter?), and a hard drive, and a big box, and separate keyboard and reboot every four(ty) days - Amiga 500 could be just "stuffed under the rug". And after loading a "demo" from a floppy, there was no moving parts involved. It could just sit there and display flying images for years. -- Regards, Tomasz Rola -- ** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature. ** ** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home** ** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened... ** ** ** ** Tomasz Rola mailto:tomasz_r...@bigfoot.com **
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 12:31:09PM -0600, ben via cctalk wrote: [...] > > And soon another version of something so marketing has new something > to make you buy a new version hardware and software.The problem was You know, we have so many letters in alphabet, what a pity to not use them all... for depiction of new USB standard - a, b, c - every five to seven years. And we also have Greek letters :-) . "Wi-fi gamma" sounds a bit scary, but might catch on. -- Regards, Tomasz Rola -- ** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature. ** ** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home** ** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened... ** ** ** ** Tomasz Rola mailto:tomasz_r...@bigfoot.com **
Re: Amiga Vendors?
> On Jun 13, 2020, at 10:03 AM, Doc Shipley via cctalk > wrote: > > On 6/10/20 11:05 AM, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: >> I found AmigaKit.com in the UK, are there any Amiga vendors left in the US? >> I need to order some parts, and not only do I not remember who I used to use >> in the US, I assume they’re gone. >> Zane > > I haven't dealt with them but there's Amiga On The Lake - a *new* Amiga > vendor: > > http://amigaonthelake.com/ I ran across them after I placed an order with AmigaKit (waiting impatiently for them to ship). They have a couple interesting items, but not really what I’m after. > There's a ton of reverse-engineering going on in the Amiga world. There are > new-production motherboard PCBs for the A500+, A1200, A2000 and A4000D. > Plus, for the A3000 and A4000 there are "enhanced” versions There is also a replacement for the A1200 & late model A500 keyboard PCB membrane, that looks really cool. > a Re-Amiga 3000 with SMD passives and SIMM sockets instead of ZIP/CHIP I’ve seen this, I didn’t realize it changed out the sockets for SIMM’s. My main A3000 has the Zipchip-to-SIMM adapter board in it. > the "AA3000+" which is a full rework, including daughterboard with optional > PCI WOW!!! That’s seriously cool looking. > The A4000TX which is a more mildly enhanced A4000 in micro-ATX form factor. Interesting. Both these are pretty cool, I just wish they were available already populated! I’m definitely not setup to do micro-miniature work, and I don’t even claim to come close to having that level of skill. > The A3640, reborn as A2640/A3660 This one is seriously tempted. I’m not 100% sure my main A3000 can take one of these. It’s been ~20 years since I was up on all of this. > Plus a new-design CPLD based A2000 flicker-fixer that's actually affordable. > > > Most of those are Open Hardware, and all of them are available as Amibay as > group buys or straight-up For Sale, or on Tindie. > > Free-ish CAD and design software has been very very good to the Amiga > community. It’s definitely interesting and exciting to see what’s available out there. Right now I’m simply trying to do some pretty basic work on getting things up and running. Back when I was actively using my Amiga’s, my main A3000 and the A500 were the two systems I used. I still can’t believe I have a working A1200, and never realized that it was only the TV out that was dead. The A600 was less interesting then, oddly enough, due to its size, it’s more interesting now, despite the dinky keyboard. I’m *still* trying to find all my floppies, and all my floppy cleaning kits. Pretty much everything else, except that and SCSI cables have been dug out. Zane
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On 6/10/20 11:05 AM, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: I found AmigaKit.com in the UK, are there any Amiga vendors left in the US? I need to order some parts, and not only do I not remember who I used to use in the US, I assume they’re gone. Zane I haven't dealt with them but there's Amiga On The Lake - a *new* Amiga vendor: http://amigaonthelake.com/ There's a ton of reverse-engineering going on in the Amiga world. There are new-production motherboard PCBs for the A500+, A1200, A2000 and A4000D. Plus, for the A3000 and A4000 there are "enhanced" versions a Re-Amiga 3000 with SMD passives and SIMM sockets instead of ZIP/CHIP the "AA3000+" which is a full rework, including daughterboard with optional PCI The A4000TX which is a more mildly enhanced A4000 in micro-ATX form factor. The A3640, reborn as A2640/A3660 Plus a new-design CPLD based A2000 flicker-fixer that's actually affordable. Most of those are Open Hardware, and all of them are available as Amibay as group buys or straight-up For Sale, or on Tindie. Free-ish CAD and design software has been very very good to the Amiga community. Doc
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 20:31, ben via cctalk wrote: > > And soon another version of something so marketing has new something > to make you buy a new version hardware and software.The problem was with > Amiga it was designed as 'game box' rather than a computer. (Nowdays you > phone is PC and the PC is a TV/game box.) > You want a computer, run IBM pc software on the Amiga. Since the > PC it is all about marketing and 'gee wiz' look at that, not hardware, > or being able to write structured programs. Well yes. I have some hope that AROS might reach a more usable state and run natively on the Raspberry Pi. Linux is still UNIX™, which is a complicated OS which requires a lot of maintenance, whereas children kept Amigas running for years. AROS on a £25/$30 computer could be a good fun/educational toy OS for kids. -- Liam Proven – Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk – gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven – Skype: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 – ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 19:51, Tomasz Rola via cctalk wrote: > > From time to time I behave like a normal human and, for example, zip > channels on my cable tv. Few years ago, while stopping at their "see > what we have on offer to you, prospective viewer" kind of channel, it > cracked open and I have seen the Workbench screen. Version 1.3 or 2.0, > if I am correct. Could be 2.0, so most probably Amiga 1200. > > So, yes. Indeed. I remember at around the turn of the century, a Sainsbury's supermarket by Clapham Common underground station in South London (near my old home) got completely modernised. https://stores.sainsburys.co.uk/0526/clapham-common The shop had full-length windows at street level. This is not much use for a supermarket: the backs of shelves are not very interesting to look at, it's hard to get in there to replace marketing posters etc., leaving it open wastes potential shelf space... So they filled it with big plasma flatscreens (quite new tech at the time). They could display animated advertising, special offers etc. But before the refurbishment was completed, there were some "coming soon" messages on the screens. And one day, someone left the mouse pointer on screen. It was the familiar chunky red NW-pointing AmigaOS pointer, as in http://www.heckmeck.de/amigastyle/amiga_pointers/pointers.png I was very surprised to see what looked like a _new_ Amiga deployment at that time -- end of the 1990s. But I guess it was good at its job, and probably required very little maintenance... -- Liam Proven – Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk – gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven – Skype: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 – ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On 6/11/2020 11:51 AM, Tomasz Rola via cctalk wrote: Indeed, newish computers are USB-only. And this means a layer or two of cruft which filters signal going between device and processor. Gamers know this, too, which is why they seem to prefer motherboards with ps/2 ports. And soon another version of something so marketing has new something to make you buy a new version hardware and software.The problem was with Amiga it was designed as 'game box' rather than a computer. (Nowdays you phone is PC and the PC is a TV/game box.) You want a computer, run IBM pc software on the Amiga. Since the PC it is all about marketing and 'gee wiz' look at that, not hardware, or being able to write structured programs. Ben.
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 03:58:24PM +0200, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: > On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 13:41, Jules Richardson via cctalk > wrote: > > > > The 4000T that I have was built in May of '96, and it amazes me that there > > was any kind of market for it in light of how widespread PCs on the desktop > > had become by that time. > > Agreed. > > VideoToasters might have been the main one, perhaps? >From time to time I behave like a normal human and, for example, zip channels on my cable tv. Few years ago, while stopping at their "see what we have on offer to you, prospective viewer" kind of channel, it cracked open and I have seen the Workbench screen. Version 1.3 or 2.0, if I am correct. Could be 2.0, so most probably Amiga 1200. So, yes. Amiga seems to have find itself a safe niche. Makes huge sense (the kind of the niche), from what I could gather about people still using it. But, maybe not so safe anymore, as tv moves to digital - my cable still provides analog channels side by side with digital - if one's tv set is properly equipped with decoders, it can receive both analog and digital (and, uh, also a "terrestial satelite", what a name). But, the number of analog channels is systematically going down - about fifty ten years ago, about thirteen today. I speculate that they are cannibalising their hardware and try to keep analog for as long as possible, because some clients are not willing to jump and buy a new tv. And some will just go and buy decoder for "terrestrial sat" (dvb-t), thus ending their cable adventure. I have used one tv tuner pci card or another during last two decades, now I will use some external box. Right now I am not willing to have it digital, they are not willing to ease it to people who want recording on their own hardware (vcr, dvd-r, etc) and I am not going to ease it for them and let them know what I record. Some dvb-t tuners allow owner to record, so this is the way forward. Anyway, we will see what happens to Amiga world in ten years. Other systems you mentioned, not so lucky. Very few paying users. They seem to be used by amateurs of their own DIY hobby projects - driving self made electronics and similar stuff. Indeed, newish computers are USB-only. And this means a layer or two of cruft which filters signal going between device and processor. Gamers know this, too, which is why they seem to prefer motherboards with ps/2 ports. -- Regards, Tomasz Rola -- ** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature. ** ** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home** ** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened... ** ** ** ** Tomasz Rola mailto:tomasz_r...@bigfoot.com **
Re: Amiga Vendors?
You are glossing over the fact Amiga users are technically 3/5ths of a person by law. Unfortunate but that also means Amiga user's opinions are 3/5ths important by extension. International law is very clear on this. Sorry. :) -A On 2020-06-10 12:54, John Foust via cctalk wrote: Geeze, we're not that old. You make it sound like we should be dead by now. - John
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 14:45, David Brownlee wrote: > > The big issue with the Hydra was its lack of cache coherency between > processors, which made conventional SMP somewhat... challenging. You > could do very cool multiprocessor stuff with it, just not in a > conventional SMP capable OS (I remember talking to someone trying to > use it under NetBSD at the time :) Oh my word! It reminds me of the late-generation MacOS-license-programme multiprocessor Mac clones such as the Daystar Genesis MP: https://everymac.com/systems/daystar/mp_plus/genesis_mp466_plus.html https://everymac.com/systems/daystar/mp_plus/genesis_mp932_plus.html A multiprocessor machine dedicated solely to running a single-processor OS... so that the extra CPUs could only be used by a handful of specialised apps, such as image filters. I think the Mac clones were basically designed to run a couple of specific Adobe Photoshop filters very very fast and basically nothing else. The chap that wrote the wonderful XPostFacto tool that got early versions of Mac OS X running on old, unsupported models of Mac did get OS X booting on some of the clones, but only on 1 CPU. It's a pity -- a maxed-out 4-CPU MP might have been a rather nice box for running MacOS 10.2 or 10.3 on. https://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/XPostFacto/Framework.cfm?page=XPostFacto3.html -- Liam Proven – Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk – gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven – Skype: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 – ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 13:41, Jules Richardson via cctalk wrote: > > The 4000T that I have was built in May of '96, and it amazes me that there > was any kind of market for it in light of how widespread PCs on the desktop > had become by that time. Agreed. VideoToasters might have been the main one, perhaps? > I had a StrongARM-based machine with a 486dx4-100 co-processor; it was a > really nice system, and plenty responsive enough for the time, I have the bits of something similar, although possibly with just an ARM610 or ARM710 -- I'd have to go through quite a lot of boxes to be sure. It's in pieces, and has been for a decade, unfortunately. Complete with a choice of PC co-pros. > but I never > really got on with RISC OS as an operating system. Oh really? I liked it a lot at the time. Perhaps because I was and remain fond of BASIC. I found it easy to explore and understand compared to Windows or any *nix. (Unix has always needed you to know C, which I dislike, and shell, and multiple scripting languages, and even so it is a cryptic, opaque OS, IMHO.) Details like being able to middle-click an "app" (because apps were just directories starting with an exclamation mark) and open it and see within it the various binaries, image files, help files, scripts and so on of which it's composed. Possibly on NeXTstep/macOS but nothing much else: even on classic MacOS it needed ResEdit and an understanding of a lot of cryptic codes. The limitation of 77 files per folder, which kept the filesystem simple and fast and forced you to be organised. > It's a shame Acorn never > for ARX off the ground. Absolutely. The parallels with Commodore and the CAOS project are remarkably close. I facilitated a talk at the RISC OS User Group of London shortly before I emigrated, which went into some depth of the history of the project: http://www.rougol.jellybaby.net/meetings/2012/PaulFellows/ As a last-ditch rescue effort, I think RISC OS was quite a triumph for its time. Horribly dated now, yes, but remarkably, still alive, now all-FOSS and runs well on modern hardware such as the Raspberry Pi. AIUI, the official Amiga and ST OSes remain closed source. There's an open-source recreation of ST TOS: https://aranym.github.io/afros.html It hasn't attracted much interest, though. There's also 2 different versions of the Sinclair QL OS which have open source code. One is Minerva, derived from Sinclair code, AIUI. https://bergbland.ddns.net/downloads.htm Info: http://tfs.firshman.co.uk/ql/minerva.htm The other is SMSQ/E, a rewrite by the original author: http://www.wlenerz.com/smsqe/ Neither meets the FOSS definitions, though. I am surprised that there seems to have been next to no interest in getting them running on anything else, or modernising them. For instance, AFAIK no emulator exists in any form for the last generation of native QL hardware, the Q40 & Q60 boards. http://www.q40.de/ > I actually have one of those still (which will probably need a home one day > as I no longer have any hardware that supports it). I got it from somewhere > back in my "collect all things Acorn-related" days, but I don't think I > ever even plugged it in. Wow! -- Liam Proven – Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk – gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven – Skype: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 – ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 11:58, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: > There was also a 3rd party multiprocessor board, the Hydra from > Simtech, but the appearance of the DEC-designed StrongARM killed that > off -- one 200MHz StrongARM was performance competitive with half a > dozen ~25MHz ARM710 processors. > > http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/32bit_UpgradesH2Z/Simtec_Hydra.html The big issue with the Hydra was its lack of cache coherency between processors, which made conventional SMP somewhat... challenging. You could do very cool multiprocessor stuff with it, just not in a conventional SMP capable OS (I remember talking to someone trying to use it under NetBSD at the time :) David
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On 6/11/20 5:58 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote: On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 09:52, Ethan Dicks via cctalk wrote: I'd say the Amiga really lost its shine around 20 years ago, about the time Linux was getting serious and Windows 98 dominated the desktop. Unfortunately, yes, I think you're right. The 4000T that I have was built in May of '96, and it amazes me that there was any kind of market for it in light of how widespread PCs on the desktop had become by that time. The original RISC PC had 2 processor slots, but the 2nd was intended for co-processors, such as an x86-32 chip which allowed RISC OS to run DOS or Windows 3 (or a limited version of Win95) in a window on the RISC OS desktop. I had a StrongARM-based machine with a 486dx4-100 co-processor; it was a really nice system, and plenty responsive enough for the time, but I never really got on with RISC OS as an operating system. It's a shame Acorn never for ARX off the ground. There was also a 3rd party multiprocessor board, the Hydra from Simtech I actually have one of those still (which will probably need a home one day as I no longer have any hardware that supports it). I got it from somewhere back in my "collect all things Acorn-related" days, but I don't think I ever even plugged it in. cheers Jules
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 09:52, Ethan Dicks via cctalk wrote: > > I'd say the Amiga really lost its shine around 20 years ago, about the > time Linux was getting serious and Windows 98 dominated the desktop. Unfortunately, yes, I think you're right. Ditto the Acorn RISC OS platform -- I know, rare in the USA, but the origin of the ARM chip, so of historical importance. 1998 is when Acorn closed its workstations division, just before the Risc PC 2, codenamed Phoebe, was launched. http://www.beebware.com/beebware/press/200998sp.html The original RISC PC had 2 processor slots, but the 2nd was intended for co-processors, such as an x86-32 chip which allowed RISC OS to run DOS or Windows 3 (or a limited version of Win95) in a window on the RISC OS desktop. There was also a 3rd party multiprocessor board, the Hydra from Simtech, but the appearance of the DEC-designed StrongARM killed that off -- one 200MHz StrongARM was performance competitive with half a dozen ~25MHz ARM710 processors. http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/32bit_UpgradesH2Z/Simtec_Hydra.html Among other improvements, including PCI slots, the Risc PC 2 supported 2 ARM CPUs in SMP. Acorn was working on a new OS that might have supported SMP, which RISC OS did not and still does not. https://archive.is/20130420024500/http://www.computeractive.co.uk/pcw/news/1924363/new-acorn-mini-os Windows 95 wasn't a great OS, but it was good enough and ran on COTS x86 kit, supporting almost all hardware and software out there. NT 4 wasn't perfect either, but was just as easy to use and very solid if you could afford to buy and build the hardware to run the OS. Between them, these spelled the end of the Amiga, the Acorn RISC machines, BeOS, and very nearly for the Mac. At the time, I wished that Acorn did a decent modern laptop. ARMs ran much cooler than late-1990s x86 chips, and RISC OS was perfectly capable of handling the late-1990s internet -- web, email, instant messenging, etc., with good office productivity apps, image editing and so on. A RISC OS laptop could have been thinner, lighter, cooler-running and with a much longer battery life than a 486 or Pentium laptop. (I don't think anyone ever made Pentium Pro laptops, did they?) An out did occur to me about 20 years later: BeOS on a twin-CPU or even quad-CPU ARM workstation would have been a joy. Around then, CPUs were often the single most expensive component in a computer, and drew the most power. ARM boxes circumvented both of these. https://liam-on-linux.livejournal.com/55562.html -- Liam Proven – Profile: https://about.me/liamproven Email: lpro...@cix.co.uk – gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lpro...@gmail.com Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn/Flickr: lproven – Skype: liamproven UK: +44 7939-087884 – ČR (+ WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal): +420 702 829 053
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 12:08 AM Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: > What I’m referring too is that in the US the Amiga hasn’t been a viable > commercial platform for nearly 30 years. I was using my A3000 every day through 1997, and only stopped because I got a sweet deal on an A4000 in NZ and brought it home (I did have to swap the PSU, but that went fine). I'd say the Amiga really lost its shine around 20 years ago, about the time Linux was getting serious and Windows 98 dominated the desktop. > Looking back 20+ years ago, we really only had 3 or so main dealers > supporting the Amiga market. It was just over 25 years ago that I bought out the service department of Earthrise Micro Systems, a large Commodore dealer in central Ohio, as they were closing down. Not too long before that, we had three dealers locally, Earthrise and two smaller shops. By 1995, they were all gone, or at least stopped carrying any Amiga gear. -ethan
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 12:04 AM Zane Healy wrote: > > On Jun 10, 2020, at 12:45 PM, Ethan Dicks wrote: > > I still have a load of GG2 Bus+ boards I need to test and bag... > > I was wondering if you were still had GG2 Bus+ Boards, like you did 20 years > ago. I probably have a lifetime supply given the steep drop-off in sales after 1998. I sold a couple at VCF Midwest a few years ago, but demand is low. > I have Amiga OS 1.x, 2.x, 3.1, and 3.9. I was very surprised to learn that > 3.1.4 was released a couple years ago, and 3.2 is well underway. I'm definitely behind the curve there. I have a working A3000 or two with 3.0 but I never upgraded past that. I need to finish the recap on my A3630 and A3640 CPU boards and I need to fix Varta damage to my A4000 motherboard. I still have some working A1000s and A500s and at least one working A2000... plenty of toys, just not the newest ones. Feel free to ping me if you would want a GG2 Bus+. They aren't as attractive for Ethernet as they once were since they only work with 10Mbps ISA cards. They still work fine for adding serial ports and parallel printer ports, freeing up the internal parallel port for PLIP or a digitizer. -ethan
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Jun 10, 2020, at 9:54 AM, John Foust via cctalk wrote: > > At 11:05 AM 6/10/2020, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: >> I found AmigaKit.com in the UK, are there any Amiga vendors left in the US? >> I need to order some parts, and not only do I not remember who I used to use >> in the US, I assume theyâre gone. > > Geeze, we're not that old. You make it sound like we should be dead by now. > > - John John, IIRC, you’ve been on this list about as long as me. Think about how long we’ve been on this list, we are *that* old. Just not “should be dead” old. :-) What I’m referring too is that in the US the Amiga hasn’t been a viable commercial platform for nearly 30 years. Looking back 20+ years ago, we really only had 3 or so main dealers supporting the Amiga market. One of those was the vendor that had the Commodore 65’s (I think that was Software Hut). I’ve tried googling up anyone selling Amiga stuff in the US, and had minimal success. I just made my largest Classic Computer related (as opposed to Retro Gaming) order in close to 15 years. :-) Now to see how long AmigaKit takes. Zane
Re: Amiga Vendors?
> On Jun 10, 2020, at 12:45 PM, Ethan Dicks wrote: > > On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 12:05 PM Zane Healy via cctalk > wrote: >> I found AmigaKit.com in the UK, are there any Amiga vendors left in the US? >> I need to order some parts, and not only do I not remember who I used to use >> in the US, I assume they’re gone. > > I still have a load of GG2 Bus+ boards I need to test and bag (and to > buy a new box of Zorro-II-sized anti-static bags) and a few loose > Amiga parts, but those are all bench spares from a defunct Commodore > dealer, not the sort of thing I have enough quantity to go (back) into > business with. I was wondering if you were still had GG2 Bus+ Boards, like you did 20 years ago. Right now I’m looking for a couple replacement batteries for the A3000 (need to swap that out on both systems). AmigaKit sells a nice Lithium adapter. I also want to get an IDE-to-CF adapter, and a holder for the Gotek. Looks like they don’t have the Gotek holders. Who knows what else I might need, once I dig deeper. I have Amiga OS 1.x, 2.x, 3.1, and 3.9. I was very surprised to learn that 3.1.4 was released a couple years ago, and 3.2 is well underway. Zane
Re: Amiga Vendors?
At 11:05 AM 6/10/2020, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: >I found AmigaKit.com in the UK, are there any Amiga vendors left in the US? I >need to order some parts, and not only do I not remember who I used to use in >the US, I assume theyâre gone. Geeze, we're not that old. You make it sound like we should be dead by now. - John
Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 12:05 PM Zane Healy via cctalk wrote: > I found AmigaKit.com in the UK, are there any Amiga vendors left in the US? > I need to order some parts, and not only do I not remember who I used to use > in the US, I assume they’re gone. I still have a load of GG2 Bus+ boards I need to test and bag (and to buy a new box of Zorro-II-sized anti-static bags) and a few loose Amiga parts, but those are all bench spares from a defunct Commodore dealer, not the sort of thing I have enough quantity to go (back) into business with. -ethan
RE: Amiga Vendors?
I have a few basic Amiga machines which hopefully will be listed soon. Also have a couple of spare keyboards. Cindy -Original Message- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-boun...@classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Zane Healy via cctalk Sent: Wednesday, June 10, 2020 11:05 AM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Amiga Vendors? I found AmigaKit.com in the UK, are there any Amiga vendors left in the US? I need to order some parts, and not only do I not remember who I used to use in the US, I assume they’re gone. Zane -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus
Amiga Vendors?
I found AmigaKit.com in the UK, are there any Amiga vendors left in the US? I need to order some parts, and not only do I not remember who I used to use in the US, I assume they’re gone. Zane
