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[prismra]

Ok so I've been doing some research and as far as I see it, I have two options..

I can get a new 'old stock' Amiga Technologies A1200 from Vesalia.de

or

a refurb Commodore A1200 from Amigakit for a little more money.

I have read that the Amiga Tech versions have problems in regards to old floppy games and demos.

What's my best bet? Would a new, old stock Amiga Tech A1200 be better since it's never been used?

Thanks!

[Effy]

Isn´t it so that the Commodore has got a coloured video rca output and the Amiga Technologies has got a monochrome one ??? About the floppy issue, on an AT you can not use high density floppies at double density because the tuned pc floppy drives can see that it is an high density floppy. If you use normal old double density floppies then there´s no problem at all :-)
And I don´t see what the difference can be between a refurbished one and a new (old stock) one. If you are willing to spend the money they ask you might as well try to get a hold on an A1200 in tower for almost the same price, 2nd hand of course

[orange]

Amiga Technologies floppy doesn't have RDY signal, but you won't need it if you're gonna run games from HDD (presumably)..

[x56h34]

Keep in mind that Vesalia's stock of A1200 units is made to order, e.g. a bunch of new old stock parts laying around assembled into your preferred A1200 setup, so don't expect to "break the seal" on the box for the first time once you get the A1200 from them. :-)

Nothing wrong with that, but, assembling an A1200 system from parts requires some care as plasticky parts are very easy to break if the assembler is not too careful.

There's been reports on this site that received end products were often times on the "cracked" side, as far as some plastic parts are concerned.

I am not sure which dealer (if any) has any true NOS never opened units in stock nowadays, but it sure ain't Vesalia.

[TjLaZer]

Also do not ask a question or talk to anyone about placing the order!!! Apparently, it is TOP SECRET, Vesalia style!! If you do, they will cancel your order and blackball you!

[prismra]

LOL, what?

[Doppie1200]

Effy wrote:
Isn´t it so that the Commodore has got a coloured video rca output and the Amiga Technologies has got a monochrome one ???

I don't think this is true. The AT1200's I've come across all had colour output. Amiga Technologies did not change much. Only life cycle related changes where inplemented. The diskdrive for example. But the motherboard is the same CBM used to produce.

I just don't like the sticker badgs. It is just too cheap.

[itix]

Escom/Amiga Technologies A1200 have irritating problems with a floppy drives. I had an expensive internal high density floppy drive which worked on C= A1200 very well but on AT A1200 it didnt work at all.

On the other hand AT A1200 is always shipped with KS 3.1 when C= A1200 is usually shipped with Kickstart 3.0.

[lordspider]

In 1998 I have ordered a new Amiga 1200 Magic, of course it was made by Amiga Technologies, had mobo Rev. 1D4 and ROM 3.1

I've also asked the seller to mount a HD floppy drive inside instead of the standard DD one and I never had any problems while using floppy disks with old games.

After a few years I've replaced the dead HD floppy drive with a DD version and there were also no prolems with old games.

And the RCA output was in color, not monochrome!

[itix]

@lordsprider

Lucky you. I transfered Micronik HDD from my dead C= A1200 to new AT A1200 and it didnt work. It couldnt read DD or HD floppies. Not big deal though (I used my A1200 without floppy drive then) but annoying imcompatibility...

[lordspider]

@itix:

I remember I had some problems with the drive not reading any floppies after I made one of those floppy fixes found on the Aminet (it had something to do with delivering the Ready signal from external floppy connector to the internal one).
After I unmade all the changes I've done, the floppy drive worked like before, without any reading problems.

I had some floppy drives which worked only with A1200 by AT and not with A1200 by Commodore, but all the drives from A600/A1200 by Commodore I've used worked correctly with my A1200 by AT. Maybe it has something to do with the mobo revision??

[rockape]

Hi,

From Eyetechs help page.


"If your computer manufactured by Amiga Technologies/Amiga International supplied with a factory-fitted Kickstart 3.1 chipset and was bought after March 1996


o If you have an Amiga Technologies/Amiga International A1200 as above there is a very good change that the fix is not necessary.



If you have a Commodore-manufactured A1200


o If your motherboard is ID.4 or 2B with WB3.0 (3.0) ROMs, then it is likely to have the manufacturing fault - unless specifically fixed after purchase. The likelihood is that timing faults will occur when you try to expand above an '030 accelerator causing system instability problems.



A1200 motherboard revision levels


When the A1200 was designed there were - as is common in designs of that complexity - some 'bugs' in the chip designs. Many of these were corrected by the time the main production runs started, but some were not, and in fact several bugs still remain in the latest revisions of the AA chip sets.

The main production board issued in the UK - Rev 1.D.1 - had onboard provision for hardware workarounds to fix the main bugs, notably bus timing problems in the Gayle and Budgie chips. In general these boards work fine with most combinations of expansion hardware and are the boards which we use to test A1200 expansion products on before shipment.

The later revisions of motherboards - particularly the revision 1.D.4 and 2.B are a different story however. These boards revisions were designed to take corrected versions of the Gayle and Budgie chips - and therefore were designed without provision for the earlier hardware workarounds. However, revised versions of the custom chips were never produced and as a consequence all but a few of the last of the AT/Escom manufactured motherboards were shipped without either bug-free chips or hardware workarounds.

In general these 1.D.4 & 2.B defects only make themselves felt when the A1200 is expanded by the addition of an '040 (or above) accelerator, high performance IDE hard drive/CDROM subsystems, Zorro slots or I/O expanders (PortPlus etc). Often any one such accessory will work, but two or more will not work in combination. Typical symptoms are an accelerator exhibiting instability problems, a graphics card failing to be recognised or a CDROM failing to show disk icons.

In response to these problems, and in conjunction with Amiga International, Eyetech has developed a set of hardware modifications applicable to 1.D.4 and 2.B motherboards. These modifications bring the 1.D.4 and 2.B boards up to 1.D.1 specifications and result in the correct and stable operation of the A1200 with most permutations of performance-enhancing accessories. If you send us your A1200 motherboard (on its own or in its metal shield - but not in the A1200) we can undertake these modifications for a fixed charge of £30 + return carriage. Alternatively we can make the modifications and fit and test your accessories at the same time - please ring for details.



Eyetech-supplied Amiga International Magic Packs

Like several other Amiga dealers Eyetech has been supplying Amiga 1200 Magic packs since the became available from Amiga International in late 1997. Where applicable these packs bought from Eyetech have had the 1.D.4 and 2.B modifications already carried out. There are however two design limitations on these Magic Pack computers which were not present in the earlier Commodore-manufactured A1200's. These are design limitations rather than manufacturing defects and the rectification of them - although usually possible - is specifically excluded from all warranty provisions.



These limitations are as follows:


o Some copy protected games software uses floppy disk drive signals which are not present on the Magic Pack floppy disk drives. This software - which is in a minority - will not run on the Magic Pack A1200's without the addition of Eyetechs EZ-DF0 floppy drive interface.


o Changes to the A1200's video circuitry to meet new EC interference emission standards means that some monitors exhibit horizontal 'tearing' of the screen image when using the PC-compatible screen modes of DBLPAL, DBLNTSC, Super72, Productivity etc. (Standard 15 kHz screen modes work fine). Eyetech can undertake a (charged) modification to the A1200 main board to replace these suppression components with ones which allow the vast majority of PC-type monitors to function perfectly. However do check first - you may find that your A1200 functions fine with your monitor in these screen modes without further modification."




I pulled this gen off my storage help disk, the Eyetech help page may still be up.



Regards, Michael

aka rockape

[DJBase]

Keep in mind that Vesalia's stock of A1200 units is made to order, e.g. a bunch of new old stock parts laying around assembled into your preferred A1200 setup, so don't expect to "break the seal" on the box for the first time once you get the A1200 from them.

Nothing wrong with that, but, assembling an A1200 system from parts requires some care as plasticky parts are very easy to break if the assembler is not too careful.

There's been reports on this site that received end products were often times on the "cracked" side, as far as some plastic parts are concerned.
I am not sure which dealer (if any) has any true NOS never opened units in stock nowadays, but it sure ain't Vesalia.

Vesalia has NOS A1200 directly from India, where are the last bunch of A1200 stocked. They are still sealed if you order a complete Magic Package without extras (like HDD). They are also not assembled from parts. Please dont talk nonsense about things you have no clue.

[Doppie1200]

Vesalia has NOS A1200 directly from India, where are the last bunch of A1200 stocked. They are still sealed if you order a complete Magic Package without extras (like HDD). They are also not assembled from parts. Please dont talk nonsense about things you have no clue.

Please don't make such a statement so rapidly.
I bought my A1200 from vesalia. It was NOT NOS. It was composed of left over material and ít was not sealed.

I did not order any extra's but it was not sealed. Even the box had some wear, the extra software and manuals were missing. NOS my arse!

Nevertheless I was content with what I received. It was as close to NOS as I could get.

Please dont talk nonsense about things you have no clue.

[K7HTH]

TjLaZer wrote:
Also do not ask a question or talk to anyone about placing the order!!! Apparently, it is TOP SECRET, Vesalia style!! If you do, they will cancel your order and blackball you!

I must admit, that is the ONE act Vesalia conducts with unrelenting, die-hard commitment!