CompuServe Messages

Marla; The A2000 is eminently upgradeable. How far you go depends on how much your son wishes to do with it. Will he only be using it to do schoolwork, in which case a simple word processing program will suffice, or will he want to do graphics, video processing, sound editing and other more sophisticated stuff? Since most of the latest software programs work best on newer operating systems, the first step is to upgrade to Workbench 3.1 (approx. $100. which includes a new rom chip, floppy disks and manuals). Next, because most good software requires upwards of 1 meg of storage and 2 to 3 megs of ram for loading and using, he will need a hard drive. The hard drive prices have come down considerably and you can probably get a 100 meg hard drive for ?+/-$150-200. If word processing is all he's going to do, this size will probably be enough. Any hard drive will require a drive controller and drive software, either scsi or ide. Scsi drives are faster and seem to cause less problems. It is most convenient to have a controller built into your accelerator, which brings us to the next item to be conidered. Most of the latest and best Amiga software runs best on accelerated systems. They function more efficiently and faster than the basic 68000 cpu. There are a number of accelerator cards available for the A2000. I'm partial to GVP, although their U.S. operation went "bust" and has been taken over by a German company. In fact, I'm not sure that there are any U.S. companys making accelerators for the A2000 right now, although a few German companys are. Still, several Amiga dealers have them in stock. Most A2000 accelerators allow you to add fast (32-bit) ram on the accelerator card. Some cards use industry standard ram chips, which are cheaper and easier to obtain for later ram upgrades (GVPs don't-you have to use special Simms chips and they are more expensive). Other considerations with respect to the amount of ram you need include whether or not your son plans to get into modem communication (EMail, Internet, etc.). There are many used and/or refurbished accelerators out there for good prices. I would suggest chosing at least a 68030, that has a scsi II controller, and that comes with scsi drive software and which has at least 4 megs of 32-bit ram on board. You can probably find one for around $600. As for software, I would recommend at least a file utility program (DOpus or Diskmaster-although these are commercial; you could probably find a few decent ones that are free or shareware on Fish disks or Aminet). My choice is DOpus. Good word processing programs include Wordworth (from Soft Logik), and Final Writer (Softwood), both commercial programs. You should also have an ascii text editor and there are several available as free- or shareware, cheap, an good. These things will give your son a functional system for handling his college work. Can I be of any more help? Just holler. Maybe others will also jump in with some ideas? Pax Vobiscum! Hank from northern N.J. running A2000 GVP'040@33