#Commodore #Amiga Accelerator and Floppy

I installed an accelerator in my Amiga 1200 today. It runs for about 30 seconds and then the system locks up or it reboots. I can make it crash by hitting the CF card with a data requests, so I'm pretty sure my PSU isn't supplying enough juice for the Amiga with an expansion card. I'm on the hunt for a stronger PSU.

Meanwhile, I tried using the floppy drive for the first time and it didn't work. After some basic troubleshooting, I found out the eject button is broken. If I manually pull it out when I insert a disk, it engages the floppy and it works like a charm. I will have to dissect the floppy drive when I have time and see if it's just a broken spring. You never know what you're going to run into working on 15+ year old computers!

Here's a pic of the accelerator card:

#Commodore #Amiga New 4gb CF Card

Installed a new 4gb CF card into the Amiga today. WHDLOAD was preinstalled and seemed to work well. Of course, most games won't run on an unexpanded 1200 so I will need to wait until I get an accelerator. I did successfully play Arkanoid and Marble Madness. The new CF card also fixed the issue with the hard drive light not working.

#Commodore #Amiga Amiga To-Do List

Haven't had a ton of time to spend with my new Commodore family addition -- the Amiga 1200. I do have a plan of action to-do list.

1. Format the CF card and install Workbench. It works right now, but seems to be a mess.
2. Download and install WHDLOAD and register.
3. Install accelerator card.
4. Clean keys with Retr0bright.
5. Fix left Amiga key.
6. Acquire PCMCIA CF card reader to transfer files

Way down the road, I would like to get the Amiga on the Internet like I did with my 64.

Amiga Forever #amiga #commodore

After losing an eBay auction for a pristine Amiga 1200, I have reassessed my desire for a physical Amiga 1200. I never owned one of these as a youth. I wouldn't really have any basis in nostalgia for the hardware other than I wanted one when I was a kid and never got one. I was more than happy with my Commodore 64 right up until I got my first IBM PC.

With that thought process, I devoted some time to upgrading my Bootcamp partition on my iMac from XP to Windows 7. I installed Amiga Forever 2011 and toyed around with the configuration and achieved some pleasing results. I toyed around with Amiga OS 4, Workbench 3.1, etc. I got these working very well and had fun. I then found some classic games, like Cannon Fodder 2, Perfect General, Speedball 2, and Obsession Pinball and played those for awhile.

I think I might be able to put off getting an Amiga for a while longer. The emulator has been working flawlessly in Windows 7 and I can avoid the payout for a nice Amiga 1200 system, which was going to run upwards of $300 for everything I wanted.

Here's some screenshots of my accomplishments today.