#New Amiga Owner
41 messages in this thread
Hi to all,
I just purchased an Amiga 500 ( to be picked up friday) and I'm looking
forward to joining the rest of the Amiga crowd.
The unit I bought has the standard 512k memory, a Modem, a composite motor
adator, and a Three-pack of software.
Wha'goodies' should I buy next?
Also, is there a good Telecommunications program anyone would recommend ?
BTW, this is my fourth Commodore computer. I started on a VIC-20, went to a
C-64 and then to a C-128D. I still have the VIC and I plan to keep the 128.
( sentimental reasons, you know <G>)
I do plan on expanding the computer to 1 meg ( or higher) as soon as
finances permit, and add a second disk drive.
I can't wait till friday. <G> LONG LIVE AMIGA !!!!!!
Thanks, Brian
Brian,
The first goodies on your list should be expanding the computer to 1 meg
and the second disk drive. Depending on the quality of your high-res
display, you might want to consider getting an RGB monitor after that.
Then, add a hard-disk/memory combination unit.
Access! or JRcomm are good telecommunications programs. You'll find them
in LIB 5 of this forum. You might also want to pick up ARCHLP.EXE and then
ARC.EXE, ZOO.EXE and LHARC.EXE – the most widely used Amiga archiving
programs.
Welcome to the world of Amiga, and to the CIS AmigaForums. 8)
David
David,
I just got back from the local Amiga dealer and looking at software and
other goodies. OH, how I wish I'd win the lottery ! <G> Actually the
expansion card is less than I thought it would be and it will be my first
add-on. I'm also looking at adding on a Bridgeboard, sometime in the near
future.
I'm using a 1702 monitor right now and will be looking at an RGB soon, but
buying one is a little beyond my finances right now.
Now all I have to worry about is making room for the Amiga and the 128 in
the same room . <G>
Brian
Brian,
The Bridgeboard is a PC clone card for the A2000. Perhaps you meant an
ATonce board to give your A500 PC capabilities?
I know what you mean about wishing to have a lottery jackpot to spend at
the Amiga dealer. 8)
Just a note – you will need to get your ram expanded to 1 meg to run Whap!.
The second floppy drive makes everything a lot easier, too.
Hope this helps, 8)
David
David,
( checking bank account and who-owes-me's to see if I can get expansion
before Jan 4 ) 8)
The game I bought tonight also requiers 1 meg (sigh). Oh well, rome wasn't
built in a day either. 8)
How many disks does Whap! take up, and do you know the Dload time at 1200
baud ?
Definitely looking at a second drive, and thanks for the info on the
PC-emulator. Have you heard anything about it yet?
Brian
Brian, you've got the right idea. Save up for another 512K and disk
drive. Out of curiosity, where did you buy your Amiga? A dealer or a
mass-merchandiser?
— Ethan
Ethan,
I bought it at McDuff electronics for $499. I personally think that's wild,
becuase McDuff is a part of Tandy Corp. <G>
Now what do you suppose that means ?<EG>
Brian
So you have the A500C, right? McDuff's won't be a very good dealer, most
likely. They just sell as a mass merchandiser. You should try to find a
local Amiga dealer and buy from them regularly. This way there is a store
you can go to regularly for support.
— Ethan
Ethan,
Right now I have two places that I ca for Amiga software and hardware. I've
dealt with both before with my 64 and 128.
As a matter of fact, I went and priced RAM expanders at one of them today (
and found out that 1 Meg is closer than I thought).
The only reason I went with McDuff is the price and the fact that I have a
friend that wos there.
Now if only I could win the Lottery……<G>
Brian
Brian,
Had you purchased your 500 from a dealer (ie, purchased a 500P instead
of a 500C) you'd have paid about $100 more but would have gotten 1M instead
of 512k plus you'd have gotten AmigaVision (a $150 retail value). What you
wouldn't have gotten is the A520 RF modulator and those really poor
programs that came with the 500C.
-sja
Steve,
What is AmigaVision anyway ? When I was looking at the computer it
looked as though that would be one of the programs I couldn't use.
I now have the 1meg in place and am now online with the amiga. She feels
great, looks great and sounds fantastic.
Brian
Brian,
AmigaVision is definitely worth checking out. It's a very easy to use
authoring system. Sort of a step up from a programming language, in that
you interact with it using an icon based system to create a script, which
can then be played back. You can easily include pictures, animations and
music into the presentations.
Take the time to go through the provided tutorials – it's well worth the
effort. 8)
David
Brian,
You sure McDuff's is part of Tandy Corp.?
Don
Don,
Yep, they even have a map detailing all of the Tandy affilates nationwide
in the store here.
It suprised me too, when I found out. <G>
Brian
Yes, McDuff's is owned by Tandy. Here in Houston they also sell the Tandy
PC's also.
In addition, Tandy has just started opening a new chain of high-end
electronics stores called "The EDGE in electronics". They sell camcorders,
CD players, calculators, etc.
Greg
Greg White / MicroSearch 72230,1617
We listen to our customers..carefully
A McDuff's here in Houston sold a customer a 500C for $499 and then charged
him $499 for the 1084S monitor!!!
He really got upset when he found out that he could have bought a 500P with
1 meg and AmgiaVision, a 1084S and a external drive for the same price.
Talk about mad!!!
Greg
Greg White / MicroSearch 72230,1617
We listen to our customers..carefully
Greg,
Ouch!! I looked at a 500P ( I now realize that I need the 1meg), but a
1084 is out of my reach right now. I can make do with my old 1702 for a
while, After all isn't a little suffering good for the soul ? <G>
If someone had tried to pull that trick on me, they would have a computer,
monitor and every bit of trouble I could find to give them. I used to run
my Dad's restaurant and I learned one heck of a lot about customer
relations ( the HARD way <G>).
I've found that the biggest barrier to computer sales is cost. ( I'm trying
to sell Emerson PC'S ) That's what I love about the new CDTV systems. Low
cost and the fact that they can be hooked up to a standard TV. After your
hooked, then you can buy the monitors, genlocks, digitizers, and a lot of
other stuff I want but can't afford…Yet. <G> See you later, and good
sales! Brian B.
Just another reason to support your local Amiga dealer!!
Glenn
Brian,
The first thing you should get is more ram — the A501 module by CBM or
one of the clones. Then, get an RBG analog monitor and toss the rf
modulator.
Steve,
Right now I'm using a Composite monitor, and I've heard the loss of
graphics isn't so bad. I DO want to get an RGB as soon as possible. Could I
use a CGA or EGA monitor with my Amiga? I know where I can get both of
those …Cheap ! <G>
I'll probably be picking up the RAM expander sometime around Jan 1. I
should have enough cash to cover that. Then, I can restart building up my
bank account again.
Brian
Brian,
As long as you stick to mostly games you get by with a composite monitor
for a while — but if you're going to be doing any amount of text work
beware of a bad case of the fuzzies and eye strain.
What you need is a 15.75khz RGB analog monitor — neither a CGA or EGA
monitor will fit the bill. You're best bet is to go with the CBM 1084S.
Steve,
I used an 8 inch black and white TV and then a 9 inch color TV for 5
years before I bought my monitor. I think I can handle a little bit of
fuzzyness for a while until I get my 1084S. At least I hope I can. <G>
Besides, I'm a little fuzzy anyway. I work in a department store in the
electronics department…….<G>
Brian
Brian,
I presume that you're in now on the 128. Getting a terminal program and
Whap! (DO get it!) would be the first things I'd do. Are you getting an
Amiga term program with your modem? If not, you may need to do some fancy
footwork to get the files from the 128 to the Amiga.
Malcolm
Malcolm, he can use a null modem cable – which I did for a while. Or, if
he can locate an Amiga 1020 drive and Disk-2-DIsk from Central Coast
Software, he can transfer from 128 to Amiga VERY easily. I still use that
from time to time.
Betty
Betty,
The well-known and readily available RS-232 to user port null modem cable?
And once the cable is in place, what does he run on the Amiga side? Hmm..
not simple; perhaps a BASIC program. Locating a 1020 is also not simple.
Also, since he may not want to use these for any more than tranferring a
terminal and Whap!, they involve an expense that he would probably rather
apply elsewere. We'll see when he's back on.
Malcolm
Malcolm,
I have an RS232 adapter for My C64/128, and thought most people would have
one. When I first got my Amiga, I transferred lots of stuff through a
plain null modem cable that I made myself. I put a term on the AMiga and
one on the C64, each running with XModem, and transferred the stuff across.
Not so hard. And not so expensive. I suppose there are faster ways, but
that was what I did. Both term programs were PD things. As for the 1020,
THAT is a different matter. I bought one years ago, complete with
TRANSFORMER, but when I used the A1000 and two floppies, the 1020 made a
nice small workbench for me – saved lots of disk swapping. It also made it
easy to transfer data and programs between the two machines. I don't use
it a great deal any more, but I sure did for a year or two.
Betty
Malcom,
The Amiga Term disk I got with the modem went bad. The system told me to
use DiskDoctor, and it couldn't save the program. I'm on with the Amiga
using a program called Access that I got from the dealer. I also have the
512k expansion in place.
I'm going to go after WHAP! as soon as I sort this other program out. <G>
Brian
Brian,
You are FAR better off with Access! than with AmigaTerm. It is a far
better program, even though it is a bit old now. I use it all the time. Of
course, Whap! is needed too. You need to use both of them together – Whap!
for the automatic collecting of mail, messages, etc., but Access! for the
times when you want to be online 'live', such as for conferences.
Betty
Betty,
As soon as I get the hang of ACCESS, I'll be downloading WHAP! This is
different from any terminal program I've ever used.
The Chat line looks like a definite asset. How I have wished for this
before , when I was using CGterm and Vidtex.
See you later and Merry Christmas! Brian
Brian,
Most people like the Access! program a lot better than Amigaterm. If you
don't have the latest version, (1.42, I believe,) it's in LIB 5 of this
forum. It is a shareware package. JRcomm is another shareware offering
that many people like. It's also available in LIB 5.
Whap! great for CIS. You'll really enjoy using it once you get it. It's
in LIB 17 of this forum. Make certain that you download the complete
package, since there are a couple of files that are for updates only.
David
Brian,
Another thing you might want to consider,if you're going to do any amount
of software downloading, is a faster modem. A lot of Amiga files are pretty
*big*, and 1200 baud takes *forever* to download them. Any external modem
will work for you. I have a Zoom 2400 baud modem, which can be found mail
order in Computer Shopper for around $100. For spending time on CIS,
getting a 2400 baud modem and downloading Whap! will pay for themselves.
Glenn
Glenn,
Thanks for the advice. I might get a 2400 baud modem someday.
By the way, Do you know the command to load and run a program from the CLI
? Also, How do you get workbench to let you do a disk swap for the Dir
command.
Somehow the Icon on my copies of Access ! got blitzed and I can't load it.
Right now I'm back to the 128.
I love my Amiga but this opsystem is really nasty. HELP!!!!!!!<G>
Brian
Brian,
To load and run a program from the CLI, you simply type the name of
the program in a CLI. That presumes the program is located somewhere in
the CLI's search path.
A Search Path is the areas that the CLI looks for program names.
By default, it is the current directory (where you are on the disk) and
then C: which is the c directory of the drive you booted with.
I'd suggest you get a book on AmigaDOS. There's a good one from
Bantam Books (It's written by Commodore) called 'The AmigaDOS Manual'.
Your dealer more than likely has them in stock. Read the section on the
commands and things should become much clearer to you.
Don
Don,
Thanks for the help. I have a book called "Amiga for Beginners" ( I
certainly qualify there <G>). It says that I just might have dumped the
file in one of the drawers. ( crossing my fingers) I'll have to check the
disk and see.
Merry Christmas!!!!
Brian
Brian,
On the Amiga, you can run a program by just typing the program name and
hitting return – if that program is in your current directory. Suppose
that you want to run a program named GREATGAME that is in a directory
called GAMES on a disk in df1: To run it from the CLI, you could do either
of these:
(1) CD DF1:GAMES
GREATGAME
OR
(2) RUN DF1:GAMES/GREATGAME
The RUN is not necessary, but I usually use it. It makes a difference in
the machine, but let's not worry about that until you are a bit further
along. You can type RUN or not type RUN at this point.
Betty
Betty,
Thanks, I'll try that. I suspect the program is still on the disk since the
directory still shows the Access! program.
I can't wait to start playing around with the Music and graphics on this
beast !!!!
Merry Christmas !!!
Brian
Welcome, Brian. You will LOVE the Amiga – after a little while. At least,
it took me a while to really move over from my 8-bit machines entirely.
Comm program – I would suggest either Access! or JRComm from Library 5.
Both work well with CIS. Also, I would suggest that you get our automated
software, Whap! lin Library 17. It will save you a bundle of money in
online time, or at least will let you get lots more for the dollars you
spend, because it collects all the messages, software, mail, etc., quickly,
lets you read and answer everything offline, and then sends up your
answers, uploads, etc., automatically.
Let us know if we can help.
Betty
Betty,
Thank you for the welcome. It will take me a little time to get used to
the Amiga, plus the fact that there are Several games I haven't yet
finished on my 128. <G>
Yes, I HAVE been looking for a TC program like Whap!. It will be nice to
fully automate and be able to take advantage of some of the 'goodies' here
on CIS. Well, here we go again…computer fever all over again. <G>
Now to find homes for BOTH computers. <G>
Thanks again, Brian B.
Brian – only two? Gee, we have 2 8032's, 1 SuperPET, a C64 and an SX64, a
C128, and three Amigas in this house, not even counting the little Toshiba
laptop I take to the libraries. Surely only two won't cause a problem. 🙂
Betty
Betty,
You haven't seen my workroom. Fibber McGee's closet NEVER looked like this
!!
Actually, I need an extra desk and Monitor stand. I'll cobble something up.
I hope……. 8)
Brian
Brian,
Shouldn't be a problem..<g>. I have an A2000, an A1000, a C64 and a (bleh)
XT clone all in one little room. Plus a stereo and TV…<g>.
Glenn