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Query: Should I sell my spare Amiga 1200?

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:29 am
by rpiguy9907
I am in New Jersey and have two NTSC Amiga 1200s, neither has been recapped and I have an irrational fear that as soon as I sell one the other will implode.

I might use the proceeds from sale to recap the other Amiga 1200.

Is it a reasonable DIY job, or should I have it sent off to be recapped?

Re: Query: Should I sell my spare Amiga 1200?

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:41 am
by EzdineG
I’ve recapped a few, and while not particularly difficult, you do need to be careful as traces can easily lift if you apply too much heat or apply for too long. Contamination makes the solder more difficult to manipulate leading to the overapplication of heat and time, so you need to eyeball the board to make a sensible determination.

Unless you’re comfortable repairing potentially lifted traces, you might have someone else do the work.

Re: Query: Should I sell my spare Amiga 1200?

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:31 pm
by rpiguy9907
EzdineG wrote:I’ve recapped a few, and while not particularly difficult, you do need to be careful as traces can easily lift if you apply too much heat or apply for too long. Contamination makes the solder more difficult to manipulate leading to the overapplication of heat and time, so you need to eyeball the board to make a sensible determination.

Unless you’re comfortable repairing potentially lifted traces, you might have someone else do the work.
Thanks for the advice. Yeah I am hardly an expert at soldering, if that is the case I am leaning to send it away to someone who's done it before.

Re: Query: Should I sell my spare Amiga 1200?

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 2:40 pm
by Zippy Zapp
I have recapped both of my 1200's, an NTSC and a PAL. If you have SMD cap experience it should be no problem. The toughest areas are the caps behind the keyboard connector and in that area, as well as a couple of the through-hole caps that are on a ground plane. They require extra heat and even better a little fresh solder added in before trying to desolder.

That said, If you don't have experience with SMD caps, the A1200 is not the one you want to be your first one.

I recapped mine for prevention but neither system had leaking caps and the solder points were still shiny. After I removed them, there was zero evidence of leakage and testing a couple of them still showed them to be in range. Apparently there was a huge variation in cap quality with the A1200s. Mine were all name brand NICHICON Japanese caps from the factory. But yeah, 25 years for SMD is pushing it...

Re: Query: Should I sell my spare Amiga 1200?

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:11 pm
by intric8
What kind of condition are they in? All stock?

Re: Query: Should I sell my spare Amiga 1200?

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:29 pm
by rpiguy9907
One is a Commodore era A1200 with a flash drive installed internally (otherwise stock), but with a broken enter key. The other is an Escom era A1200 also with a flash drive installed, as well as a 25mhz 030 and 4mb Ram expansion. Both have working floppies.

The Escom is more yellowed, but I’m leaning toward selling the Commodore era A1200 unless there are any downsides to the later units.

Re: Query: Should I sell my spare Amiga 1200?

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 9:33 pm
by intric8
I have owned one of each of those models in the past two years. Both of mine were mint (the ESCOM model was NIB when I got it - I was the first person to ever open it).

That being said, I liked the look of the original C= 1200, and it had an original (tiny) mechanical hard drive that still worked. Thing was cool. The ESCOM model I had was a bright white case. Anyway, they were both good machines and my preference doesn't have any particular logic behind it just personal preference.

Good luck with your choice.

Curious - did you ever invest in the A1200 keycap Kickstarter that is on the verge of shipping?

Re: Query: Should I sell my spare Amiga 1200?

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 8:17 am
by rpiguy9907
intric8 wrote:I have owned one of each of those models in the past two years. Both of mine were mint (the ESCOM model was NIB when I got it - I was the first person to ever open it).

That being said, I liked the look of the original C= 1200, and it had an original (tiny) mechanical hard drive that still worked. Thing was cool. The ESCOM model I had was a bright white case. Anyway, they were both good machines and my preference doesn't have any particular logic behind it just personal preference.

Good luck with your choice.

Curious - did you ever invest in the A1200 keycap Kickstarter that is on the verge of shipping?
I did not. I have a problem with the A1200, although I like the idea of AGA and occasionally play AGA games, I always go back to my A500 running WB 1.3 because it is more nostalgic for me.

So I have resisted the urge to invest a lot of money into my A1200s, whereas at least one of my A500s may get a new case and keyboard at some point.

Re: Query: Should I sell my spare Amiga 1200?

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:05 pm
by intric8
I have a problem with the A1200, although I like the idea of AGA and occasionally play AGA games, I always go back to my A500 running WB 1.3 because it is more nostalgic for me.
I mean, that's what matters.

For me, I could sneeze and AGA would vanish and I'd never even notice. My SNES blows it away from a game machine perspective. WB 1.3 does virtually everything I need it to do, and it does it very well - whether it be games, software applications, hardware needs - everything. There are some nice-to-haves with later OSes and chipsets, but not enough to get me to go there as those whistles and bells usually mean compromising compatibility. I've nothing against it, either, I just prefer the older machines and experiences. So I totally hear ya. And I know several folks who grew up on the 1200 as their first Amiga and understand their perspective, too. There's no singular "right path" - just yours.

So I bought into the keycap program (2 years ago? Man, it's been a while) and don't even own a A1200 anymore.

From the Kickstarter:
The fullset is compatible with ALL Amiga classic keyboards.
EXCEPT for the A1000 and some early versions of A2000 or A500 not using Mitsumi Hybrid Switches.
I mean, that's probably going to kick me out even though I bought a set. I only use the A1000 and A2000 today. I do have 2 A2000 keyboards, but I've no idea what kind of switches they use. Maybe they'll work after all I but won't really know until the keycaps finally arrive.

If I had only one all-in-one to choose, though, it would be the 500 for me. It just works with the software I want to use.

Re: Query: Should I sell my spare Amiga 1200?

Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2019 1:53 pm
by Zippy Zapp
intric8 wrote:
So I bought into the keycap program (2 years ago? Man, it's been a while) and don't even own a A1200 anymore.
I didn't realize you got rid of your A1200. Or maybe I did and just forgot. I have been contemplating getting rid of my PAL 1200. I really don't need 2. I bought the PAL one until I found an NTSC machine as that is what I had back then. It doesn't really matter, though, because you can easily boot into PAL mode or NTSC mode from either. But my NTSC machine is not yellowed in the least bit.
If I had only one all-in-one to choose, though, it would be the 500 for me. It just works with the software I want to use.
I completely agree. The A500 was the first Amiga I owned. I had more fun on that than any other Amiga. Everything was new and a learning experience. BBS, Graphics, Demos, etc, all experienced on A500 first. When I bought the A1200 on release, I think it was at least a year until I had software that actually used the AGA. I think IIRC, it was an update to Vista Pro.