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From: pk1s+@andrew.cmu.edu (Paul A. Karlin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc,comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: I wish to upgrade my A500 and would like some advice.
Message-ID: <Ic=13eK00WAJESc2UP@andrew.cmu.edu>
Date: 11 May 91 15:42:34 GMT
References: <12455@darkstar.ucsc.edu>
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 45
In-Reply-To: <12455@darkstar.ucsc.edu>

You may want to consider the A3000 power-up program.  I think the lowest
configuration is about $1800-$1900 for the A3000-16/50 (16MHz, 50MB HD,
2MB(?) RAM).  All you have to do is prove you own a Commodore product. 
It's not a trade-in, so you can sell your A500 to pay for the $100-$200
difference and whatever a new monitor will cost.  The 1950 is OK (and
there's an educational discount available), but I have heard that there
are a lot of problems with it.  You may want to try third-party;  I
heard that the NEC 4D MultiSync is excellent (but possibly very
expensive).

As for hard drives and BridgeBoards and such, the A3000 comes with the
A2091 controller, which is a perfectly functional (and pretty fast)
autobooting controller.  I assure you, though, that ANY working hard
drive is a drastic improvement over floppies only.  I have heard mixed
opinions of BridgeBoard and ATonce;  the BridgeBoards are slow and
expensive but offer software AND hardware IBM-compatibility, and I
believe ATonce only works with a 68000 (the A3000 is 68030).  There is
a public-domain (or shareware?) program called "IBeM" (available via
anonymous FTP) which is a software-only IBM emulator that works
on the 68020 or '030 Amigas.  I haven't tried it (I also have "only"
an A500), but from what I've heard it's decent.

The A3000 has the ECS and Workbench/Kickstart 2.0 (which may or may not
be good -- if you play a lot of games you may have some problems), so
it sure won't be obsolete in 2 months.  From what I hear, Workbench
2.03 (the latest release of 2.0) is about 90% compatible with 1.3, and
I believe that number includes games.  I do know that someone is
maintaining a list of 2.0-compatible software, and it is periodically
posted to one of the Amiga newsgroups.

I personally feel that the A500 will not be obsolete for quite a while
(most Amigas are A500s), but I understand why you want to upgrade.  I
plan to just get a HD+controller (hopefully GVP+Quantum if I can afford
it) for my machine.

I hope this helps... please keep in mind I'm not sure if my info is 100%
accurate.

P.S.  Please note I have directed follow-ups to .hardware only.

--Paul Karlin
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Carnegie Mellon University -- Pittsburgh, PA -- Undergraduate Class of 1994
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Carnegie Mellon University -- Pittsburgh, PA -- Undergraduate Class of 1994