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robdaemon

Posted Tue Jun 20, 2017 7:37 pm

I'm Rob from the Seattle area. Been getting back into the Amiga after having sold my Amiga 500 in 1997, and just got an Amiga 2000 a year ago and have mostly maxxed it out.

I'm having fun getting back into the Amiga world.

My current rig:

Amiga 2000 rev 6
A2630 accelerator with a BigRAM A2630
GVP Series-2 SCSI controller with a Guru ROM
18 gb SCSI drive
Picasso II RTG
X-Surf 100
RapidRoad USB

I'm also doing some experimentation in JForth and Amiblitz3 in an emulator (Amiga Forever 2016)

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Shot97
Detroit, MI, USA

Posted Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:14 pm

Welcome to the board! Love the beautiful 2000, I'm still trucking along with a 500 myself and loving every second of getting the most out of it. Hope you have fun reading some things here and looking forward to any comments you wish to share.

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robdaemon

Posted Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:17 pm

Shot97 wrote:Welcome to the board! Love the beautiful 2000, I'm still trucking along with a 500 myself and loving every second of getting the most out of it. Hope you have fun reading some things here and looking forward to any comments you wish to share.
I'm considering a Vampire 500 v2 for my A2000, or just grabbing an A500 and putting it in there :)

I'm happy to share as I get things going with some development. I wrote a BBS on the PC in the early 90s, and some work on an AMOS Pro BBS in the late 90s. For some reason, I have this desire to make a new BBS :)

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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:56 pm

Welcome to AmigaLove, Rob!

I, too, am in Seattle. Dude - so cool to find somebody local into the same crazy (fun) hobby! I've got 2 A2000s, one I use daily and one I'm building up from scratch and trying to beef up - long story.

I'm on the opposite spectrum of upgrades, personally - mentally anyway. I'm more into the software to be honest, and most (if not all) of the software I really dig is catered for KS/WB 1.3. I also have 2 1200s, both which run 3.1, but I haven't been using them as much these days. Also have a pure stock 500 for testing purposes (if it doesn't work there, then it's probably something I won't be dealing with much). The a2000 is my personal favorite. It's got all of the software the 500 could take, but it also has incredible upgrades from BITD (back in the day) that allowed it to do simply remarkable things, and with a bit more pep. Many of which you own and run! I just love that. And I do geek out on upgrading my 2000 - but mostly with tech from the late 80s and early 90s, with the exception of the SCSI2SD and Wifi. Those two modern advances were a no-brainer for me and very affordable. Figuring out how to get the SCSI2SD to work in 1.3 was tough, but once I got it humming its been fantastic.
GVP Series-2 SCSI controller with a Guru ROM
I've got a Series 1... Curious what does the Guru ROM provide? I've seen that mentioned before.
18 gb SCSI drive
My god! How long does that take to boot? My 2GB SCSI2SD micro SD takes an extra 14 seconds to boot. You must be sitting there looking at a gray screen for a while, I'd think.

I've thought about the Vampire a few times, but I've come to realize that's just not my thing; I've seen a 1000 running one recently and it was very cool to witness.

I feel like there comes this odd inflection point where you can jack the hardware to where - at least financially - you're almost better off getting a modern PC and running emulation. But I totally get it. I used to restore air-cooled VWs. My pride and joy was a 1963 Bug that I dropped a racing motor into. I could pull a scratch in 2nd gear and nearly go airborne with it . The old bugs were shaped like an airfoil and the "big boys" actually do need wheelie bars to stay on the ground while going 100 mph on the quarter mile track. I once beat a 1969 Mustang in my '63 when I was young and dumb - and my car was only running on 3 cylinders that night. So I totally understand that thrill of souping something up well beyond what it ever could do when it was conceived. From a hardware perspective that can be a huge thrill just seeing it work the first time.

But then... what do you do with it after the fact? For me, most of my focus is pre-1992 software, and I find even on the 1200 trying to get some of the early-days stuff to work can often be a PITA. But... I digress.

Rob - thanks for taking the plunge on AmigaLove! I really look forward to seeing what projects you decide to dive into and share here.

Amiga <3

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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Tue Jun 20, 2017 8:59 pm

Rob:
I wrote a BBS on the PC in the early 90s
What was the name of it?

Do you BBS with your Commodore(s) these days? That scene is starting to blossom again, what with all of the inexpensive new WiFi options sprouting up everywhere.

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Shot97
Detroit, MI, USA

Posted Tue Jun 20, 2017 11:32 pm

Now that I find you were around writing things back in the day I'm even more excited to see what you might have to add here. It is the voice of the people who were old enough to do things besides play games that is very much missing from the online scene. if you end up writing and/or hosting a BBS, you let us know, I'm craving a BBS with people I'd enjoy reading from and might actually return the favor but not be too busy that you lose all sense of contact after a week. Some people think it's so fun they must do a daily dive into it, I tend to think that's the only way they can find enjoyment from it. After a week gone from some of BBS groups that seem to get pointed to, you're lost, and thus the fun is gone. I know how to BBS and am looking for a place to call home, but don't currently enjoy the places I've run across.

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TenLeftFingers

Posted Wed Jun 21, 2017 2:14 am

Hi Rob, welcome! The coding sounds very interesting.

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robdaemon

Posted Wed Jun 21, 2017 7:08 pm

intric8 wrote:I, too, am in Seattle. Dude - so cool to find somebody local into the same crazy (fun) hobby! I've got 2 A2000s, one I use daily and one I'm building up from scratch and trying to beef up - long story.
Yeah, I haven't met other locals in the Amiga scene! This is cool!

I have a second A2000 that I bought as a parts machine, especially to get a GVP 030 accelerator. That one has a bad motherboard, and I'll eventually fix it.
intric8 wrote:I'm on the opposite spectrum of upgrades, personally - mentally anyway. I'm more into the software to be honest, and most (if not all) of the software I really dig is catered for KS/WB 1.3. I also have 2 1200s, both which run 3.1, but I haven't been using them as much these days. Also have a pure stock 500 for testing purposes (if it doesn't work there, then it's probably something I won't be dealing with much). The a2000 is my personal favorite.
Most of my friends had A500's and A2000's, and an A1200. One friend had an A3000. I thought the A3000 was amazing, but was *always* out of reach.

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robdaemon

Posted Wed Jun 21, 2017 7:09 pm

intric8 wrote:What was the name of it?

Do you BBS with your Commodore(s) these days? That scene is starting to blossom again, what with all of the inexpensive new WiFi options sprouting up everywhere.
It was called Mirage BBS, it was a Telegard fork that I made a lot of modifications to. It didn't have any users except me, but it was fun.





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