10 Jun
2020
10 Jun
'20
9:05 a.m.
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
10 Jun
10 Jun
9:54 a.m.
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 they???re gone.
Geeze, we're not that old. You make it sound like we should be dead by now.
- John
9:08 p.m.
On Jun 10, 2020, at 9:54 AM, John Foust via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
wrote:
At 11:05 AM 6/10/2020, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote:
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
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.
Geeze, we're not that old. You make it sound like we should be dead by now.
- John 
11 Jun
11 Jun
12:51 a.m.
On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 12:08 AM Zane Healy via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> 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
3:58 a.m.
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 09:52, Ethan Dicks via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> 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.h…
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/…
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
--
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4:41 a.m.
On 6/11/20 5:58 AM, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote:
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 09:52, Ethan Dicks via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> 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.
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 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
6:58 a.m.
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 13:41, Jules Richardson via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> 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!
--
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10:51 a.m.
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
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> 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_rola at bigfoot.com **
11:31 a.m.
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.
12 Jun
12 Jun
6:05 a.m.
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 20:31, ben via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> 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.
--
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13 Jun
13 Jun
8:50 p.m.
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_rola at bigfoot.com **
12 Jun
12 Jun
6:02 a.m.
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 19:51, Tomasz Rola via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> 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
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16 Jun
16 Jun
5:15 p.m.
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
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> 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_rola at bigfoot.com **
17 Jun
17 Jun
2:03 p.m.
On Wed, 17 Jun 2020 at 02:15, Tomasz Rola via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> 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.
--
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Email: lproven at cix.co.uk ? gMail/gTalk/gHangouts: lproven at gmail.com
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2:39 p.m.
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. 
18 Jun
18 Jun
1:38 a.m.
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.
1:45 a.m.
-----Original Message-----
From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> On Behalf Of Peter Corlett
via
cctalk
Sent: 18 June 2020 09:38
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
<cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Subject: Re: Amiga Vendors?
On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 05:39:44PM -0400, Ethan O'Toole via cctalk wrote:
[...]
course
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 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
6:54 a.m.
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
11 Jun
11 Jun
5:45 a.m.
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 11:58, Liam Proven via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> 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.h…
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
7:03 a.m.
On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 at 14:45, David Brownlee <abs at absd.org> 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=XPostFac…
--
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8:53 a.m.
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
10 Jun
10 Jun
11:08 a.m.
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-bounces at 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
12:45 p.m.
On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 12:05 PM Zane Healy via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> 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
9:04 p.m.
On Jun 10, 2020, at 12:45 PM, Ethan Dicks
<ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, Jun 10, 2020 at 12:05 PM Zane Healy via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
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
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.
11 Jun
11 Jun
12:44 a.m.
On Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 12:04 AM Zane Healy <healyzh at avanthar.com> wrote:
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.
On Jun 10,
2020, at 12:45 PM, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> 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 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
13 Jun
13 Jun
10:03 a.m.
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
2:05 p.m.
On Jun 13, 2020, at 10:03 AM, Doc Shipley via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
On 6/10/20 11:05 AM, Zane Healy via cctalk wrote:
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.
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
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
1648
days inactive
1656
days old
26 comments
15 participants
participants (15)
-
abs＠absd.org -
abuse＠cabal.org.uk -
alan＠alanlee.org -
bfranchuk＠jetnet.ab.ca -
dave.g4ugm＠gmail.com -
doc＠vaxen.net -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
ethan＠757.org -
healyzh＠avanthar.com -
jfoust＠threedee.com -
jules.richardson99＠gmail.com -
lproven＠gmail.com -
macro＠linux-mips.org -
rtomek＠ceti.pl -
sales＠elecplus.com