#OS/RAM upgrades
3 messages in this thread
Advice needed, please. I have an A3000 I bought in 1992. It is the stock
machine with 2 Megs running OS 2.04.
I want to add 2-4 Megs or RAM and am also thinking about upgrading the OS.
Should I upgrade to 3.1? What are the advantages and can I do that upgrade
(ROM replacement) myself? I am not an electronics expert.
Also, what's the best bet for adding RAM, both in terms of type and source?
TIA for the help mike cullison
mike,
I got lots of opinions when someone asks for it! 🙂
Here are my thoughts about your situation:
WB2.04 is a distant cousin to WB3.1 (the current OS), but it is light
years ahead of WB1.3! You can get along with WB2.04 for a little while as
long as you realize you are missing out on some significant OS
improvements and capabilities. I do not think I have yet run into a
program that will only operate under WB3.x, however, most programs
now-a-days will run under WB2.x but with reduced capability and ease of
use as compared to running under later OSes.
I feel your bigger problem at the moment is the small amount of RAM
your system has. I'm a multitasking fool and like to play with 24 bit
images <grin>! More is better in these type of environments. I've also
noted that more and more major Amiga applications are requiring a minimum
of 2Mb RAM to operate efficiently. What this points out is that your 2Mb
of RAM would be really cramping my style! I would recommend you add a
minimum of 4Mb of fast RAM (moving all your current memory into the chip
RAM area) giving you a total of 6Mb.
I'm a performance freak as well as a multitasking fool, so I wouldn't
consider anything but 1 x 4Mbit, >80ns, static column RAM chips. C=
recommended static column RAM for improved system performance, but didn't
quantify the difference between static column and paged mode. There is a
price difference between these types and you can check out the latest
prices from any of the vendors that advertise in Amazing Computing or
Amiga World.
After I had 6Mb RAM, I would without question upgrade the OS to WB3.1!
If there is any money left in the budget after this, buy more RAM. 🙂
Both the RAM and WB3.1 ROM installation will require you to disassemble
your A3000 much further than simply removing the case cover. If you feel
comfortable tearing things apart (and of course putting them back
together) and plugging chips correctly into circuit boards, the procedure
isn't to difficult. On the other hand, if you can't stand the anxiety and
COST of a "smoke test," it is more than worthwhile to pay someone to
perform this operation and be assured the patient lives!
EdV
Ed,
I agree with all of your conclusions–but here's a different slant. I
checked on the price of having 4 megs of 1×4 static RAM and WB 3.1
installed–no way can I do it myself. The price–which is from the Amiga
Warehouse in Pittsburgh where I bought my machine, and is competitive with
other prices in Amiga World–is somewhere in the neighborhood of $500.
That would give me plenty of memory and the current OS, but it still
leaves me with a small HD–40 megs–no CD-ROM and the old 880K floppy. If
I look at maybe a 300-400 meg HD, a CD-ROM and the new high density floppy
you're talking about another $800-1,000 easy. So it would take roughly
$1500 to make my machine more or less current. And i'd still own an
orphan.
I'm thinking that it might be a lot smarter to take that money, add a
little to it and buy a Quadra. And I've heard that when the new
generation of Power Macs come out the price on the low end machines will
drop even further. Hell, I saw a 90hz Pentium multi-media machine the
other day for a little more than 2 grand. Sure, I've got some investment
in Amiga software, but there's no guarantee that another Amiga will ever
be manufactured. And even if they were, there is still a lack of really
good productivity software for this machine. Final Writer is okay, but
it's not MS word and there really isn't a good spreadsheet.
I really could use more RAM right now, but since I can't just pop the
lid and stick it in, I think I'll hold my water a bit and see what happens
with the new Power Mac models. I will NOT buy an MS-DOS machine no matter
what because I just don't want to have anything at all to do with the IBM
world. But the Power Mac is an impressive platform and could do
everything I'll ever need to do.