greg kimnach
greg kimnach the following pages are from 1999!
as with my selection of vcr formats, i chose a computer that the mass buying public eventually would totally dismiss. but i know i made the right choice. it's a shame that others succumbed to the marketing of other platforms (and formats, in the case of vcrs). yes, i presently use amigas at home: primarily for video work. however, the amiga is a joy to use on the internet and for "office" applications, as well. (none of those incessant, hair-raising, and aggravating roadblocks to productivity that i have at work, while using "the major o/s and office applications" vendor's word processor disguised as a desktop publisher.)
but, like any good computer, a computer must constantly be modified: be it hardware or software. leaving well-enough alone is not acceptable. if it ain't broke, fiddle with it!
i presently have three amigas which i use. the following table, while more or less correct, may not be up to date with respect to which hardware is in which machine. and i am currently in the downsizing mode and will probably sell the a2000s.
| a4000 (currently installing onboard-4000
in Supermicro case) |
a2000 server tower | a2000 tower | |
| motherboard rev. | 6.2b | 6.3 | |
| accelerator | cybervision ppc (060/50, 604e/233) | blizzard 2060/50 |
gvp-040/33 + GURU ROM v6.13 |
| fast ram [MB] | 128 | 128 | 64 |
| chip ram [MB] | 2 | 2 (Megachip 2000) | 2 (Megachip 2000) |
| kickstart/wb | 40.63/3.9 -- Yes, Vt4000/Flyer works! | 40.63/3.9 | 40.63 (3.1 s/w) |
| file system | pfs3ds | pfs3ds | pfs3 |
| video card | picasso iv | cv64-3d and ffv-2* | retina z2 |
| misc. enhancement | buster rev.11, onboard 4000 | ecs, megachip, 16-bit ISA slots | ecs, megachip, 16-bit ISA slots |
| expansion board | toaster 4000 | ariadne | gvp a4008 |
| expansion board | flyer | ad516 | |
| expansion board | personal animation recorder | ||
| expansion board | ariadne | gvp i/o extender | |
| expansion board | dps personal component adapter | ||
| expansion board | gvp i/o extender | ||
| other h/w | dataflyer scsi+ (for zip, scanner, etc.) | bigfoot 2000 and 300watt "pc" psu's | toshiba 5401b (12x cd-rom) |
| other h/w | plextor fast scsi2 ultraplex cd-rom drive | zip (internal scsi) | archive viper 250MB tapedrive |
| other h/w | single 1.76meg floppy | toshiba xm-6401b (40x cd) & jvc xr-w2010 cdr | |
| other h/w | bigfoot 4000 and 230w "atx" psu's | idek 17" visionmaster | clarity16 |
| other h/w | conceirto | usr sportster 33.6 fax/modem | mag dx-17f |
| other h/w | pablo | bigfoot 2000 & 300W atx psu's | micronik external scan doubler --SOLD |
| other h/w | paloma (no, it's just pal--not ntsc) | connectix quickcam | bigfoot 2000 (300) w ps |
| other h/w | 1.76meg floppies: internal and external | 880k internal | |
| system harddrives | seagate 15150wc | micropolis 2217av, st3600n, st32550n | (2) quantum 730meg & (1) 240meg |
| misc harddrive | (1) western digital 9.1gig (audio samples) (1) seagate st15150w (applications) |
seagate st3600a and fuji 3gig (for par) |
* the ffv-2 is installed because the cv64-3d hasn't a scandoubler, and the ffv-2 allows the early start-up and non retargettable screens to be viewed on the vga monitor.
each system has multiple boot partitions, including various "test_sw" partitions to test system stability/compatability with new s/w. also, each harddrive on each machine has a clean "wb31" (used when s/w proves reliable), and a "backup_wb" (just an image of "wb3x" in case of a harddrive failure).
a kitchen sync, dps personal vectorscope (vm-2000), and video distribution amp, dat backup, and flyer audio drives are installed in an avec flight recorder (a mid tower case with a backplane to supply power to the three cards). the flyer video drives are installed in two, 7-bay cases.
other topics of interest will include remedies (& step-by-step procedures) to overcome troubles associated with the installation of large harddrives, the irksome and irritating termination of gvp scsi cards (or other scsi cards this is to supplement the great information available at warren block's site scsi page)
also, during the summer of 98--while planning my wedding, going through the hassles of buying and closing on a house, playing soccer and all sorts of other distractions--i began modifying a pc tower case to house my 2nd amiga 2000. last summer ('99) i modified the supermicro server case for my primary a4000. for more tower hack info, click here.
