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[Manu]

Hello ! I never bought a Mediator for my A1200, I wonder how many of you classic owners
bought and still use the Mediator PCI Busboard, and if you did, what did you use
it for and was it worth the investment ?

[CSixx]

I've got a Mediator in my towered 1200.
I love having a graphics card (voodoo3), it makes my workbench 100% more usable. Sound card and nic card is also a nice bonus.

And at around $200usd I don't think it was too expensive.

However, I think I may have been happier with a zorro expansion instead. I would then have a graphics card with native passthrough and automatic switching. A Zorram would also be a possibility.

[pVC]

First I had Zorro2 busboard in my A1200 with CV64/3D, Delfina Lite, Hydra Amiganet and MFC3. It was OK and opening new worlds, but in the end gfx speed was too much compromising and networking was bit flakey.

Mediator was a good and cheap way to get faster gfx and networking, but I didn't want to part with Delfina as it was really nice for playing mp3 with DSP. With SB I'd had to play mp3 with CPU and that wasn't an option. Other options to get faster gfx were BVision or Zorro3 expansion, but they'd required buying new accelerators etc, which made them too expensive and uncertain.

I decided to take a risk and ordered discounted ZorroIV busboard and MediatorZIV to go with it. I could use both PCI and Zorro cards with that system. Got Voodoo3, Realtek NIC and TV card for it and used Delfina on Zorro. Later also bought Spider2 USB card, which has worked nicely.

Everything worked pretty much like expected. Gfx speed is on its own level compared to Zorro2 and network is faster and way more reliable than it used to be. I'm happy I went to that system and it's still working.

[Crumb]

I*have A4000T &*A4000D models, both work ok and fit better than my old Prometheus. If you are short of money a Prometheus is a great way to have fast RTG and network.

Nowadays I would prefer a CV64 Z3 (no 3D), a flickerfixer and a Deneb USB2 card.

[Xanxi]

Have one but i don't use it for now (don't PM me, i won't sell it).

[Darrin]

I have one for my A4000.

I use it for a Radion card (and the extra RAM) and with a Soundblaster card.

I guess I'd have used it for USB and/or Ethernet too, but I already have a Deneb with a USB Ethernet dongle in a Zorro slot.

Nice card, works well.

What I need to do is insert my PCI Catweasle card into it and use the Open PCI drivers to allow me to attach a 5.25" floppy and write back D64 images to real floppy disks.

[Lando]

I used to have two - one in my A1200-060 Tower and one in my A4000 Tower along with a Cyberstorm PPC. I found them invaluable in adding graphic cards, sound cards and Ethernet cheaply (or as cheaply as is possible in Amiga terms) to my Amigas.

I sold all of my classic gear after getting my first Pegasos as I found I wasn't using them any more but if you're still into your classic Amiga hardware then I think a Mediator is probably the best single purchase you could make.

[Plaz]

Didn't add Prometheus to the list?

That's what I have along with a Voodoo 4500 video and reltek ethernet card for the 4000. Really adds some nice life to the old girl.

Plaz

[TheGoose]

I got one in an A1200T. But I've never really used it. They are nicely designed I think. Worth it I think, wasn't too expensive as a later and greater version was out at the time. I did buy a compatible Ethernet card for it. But then learned I really needed video card to be the bus master, gate keeper, or something like that.

[nicholas]

I used to have a Mediator in my old A1200 Frankentower, Voodoo 5500 PCI, Netgear MA401 PCMCIA Wifi sloted into a PCI adaptor, SBLive soundcard, MM chips on mediator board and I had a FastATA MK3 + BPPC240MHz to go with it.

Mediator was ok, but MorphOS 1.4 doesn't support it and neither did OS4 at that time. So I sold the lot.

edit: IIRC I had a PCI USB2.0 card and used the ArakAttack driver by Guido, but don't quote me on it as it was 5 or 6 years ago now.

[Manu]

Thanks to those answering so far, you really have seem to have put it to good use.

I do have a Voodoo 3 card lying around somwhere so I was glad to notice that could be used.

I aslo have Soundblaster Live card that I don't need for AROS anymore.
Better graphics would be nice to have with DPaint, I remember someone mentioned HighGFX or something I suppose I would need that to get DPaint take real usage of the new screenmodes.

Then my last wish would be to put in a PCI USB card and get my pen-tablet connected, but that can be something that is a bit too experimental. I don't know if anyone managed to connect a Wacom (Bamboo) that functions properly to an Amiga.

[smf]

i bought mine about 10 years ago and it gave my A1200 a new life for a couple of years so it was very worth it, i still use it sometimes but my main "amiga" since many years is nowdays a pegasos.

[Tahoe]

I've got two; one 4000D and a 4000Di.
Graphics and NIC's are the main advantages, as well as adding the Radeon's graphics memory as fast mem.

I also have a Prometheus, but it's currently not installed. It should be a nices platform, apart from the physical fitting which is off by a long shot...

[Daedalus]

I have one of the first model Mediators, fully populated with a Voodoo 3-3000, Realtek 10/100 network card, SB128 sound and a WinTV tuner card. Had it set up as a very nice system, a small LCD on the front of the tower would show which TV channel I was watching, time and date, what music was playing etc., and it could be controlled by an IR remote. Sadly it's not very stable any more and with the A1 under the desk for the past few years I didn't bother troubleshooting it...

[zmurf]

I own both an A1200 and an A4000.. neither have any Mediator and I have no interests in buying one. Both my machines have network and USB. The 4k have a Picasso IV graphic card and the A1200 have an IndivisionAGA. So I see no need for anything that the Mediator can give me. Also I rather spend that money on something like the Natami.