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Tag Archives: Escom

The Return of the Amiga 1200 Magic Pack

17 Comments Posted by on June 14, 2012
Amiga 1200 Magic Pack - Available again in 2012! (photo taken from http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/amigamagic.html)

Amiga 1200 Magic Pack – Available again in 2012! (photo taken from http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/amigamagic.html)

Hi everyone,

Some of you might have heard rumours about a large quantity of NOS (new old stock) Amiga 1200′s suddenly appearing out of nowhere. It is now confirmed that Petro T. Tyschtschenko have obtained 500 of these! Incredible, but true. :)

These will be available for purchase shortly and they will cost 150 EUR each. As far as I’ve understood, these are Amiga Magic Pack bundles that were sold by Escom back in the middle of the 1990′s. :)

This is probably the last chance for an Amiga freak (and other retro enthusiasts) to get hold of a brand new Amiga 1200. :)

You can read more about this on Amiga.org: http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=61870&page=2

Are you considering getting one of these machines by the way?

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Amiga , , , , , , ,

The Hunt for the CRT

16 Comments Posted by on July 29, 2011

I’m currently on the lookout for a CRT monitor. I’ve already got an LCD-screen that has fine picture quality, but it’s just not the same as the good old CRT ones. There is something special about running classic games on old-fashioned TV’s for example. It brings forth a nostalgic feeling, but most importantly.. the games looks right.

The new monitor will primarily be used with my Amiga 1200 (and Amiga 500 when I’m finished restoring and upgrading it), but if I’m lucky enough to find a 1084(S) from Commodore, it will be perfect for consoles as well. Have you seen that particular series of monitors in action by the way? They are pure excellence. After what I’ve heard and seen these boxes seldom breaks down. Units from the late 80′s are still rocking even today! The picture quality is also very good.

I found a picture of the Commodore 1084S on the Amiga History site. Check it out:

1084S from Amiga History

1084S from Amiga History (http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/monitors.html)

In the past I had an 14″ multisync monitor from Amiga International (got it from my parents for Christmas back in 1995 – I thought that it was the BEST Christmas ever! ;) ). It was released by Escom and Amiga International as the official Amiga monitor. This monitor was produced by Microvitec, a company known for creating quality screens. It served me well for many years, but did eventually break down. I’m a bit tempted getting one of those once more, but since I don’t have any need for a multisync on the old-school machines, the one from Commodore is on the top of the list. ;)

How about you? I know that there are plenty of retro gamers out there, but I’m very interested to learn whether you use CRT’s or LCD’s for your older stuff? Looking forward to hear from you! :) Thanks in advance for your input.

Amiga, Hardware, Misc , , , , , , , , , ,

My Amiga 1200

21 Comments Posted by on June 22, 2011

Today I would like to introduce you to my dear Amiga 1200. Please say hello!

My Amiga 1200

My Amiga 1200

This computer has been with me since the year 2000. I purchased it after one of my older Amiga 1200′s died. The old one was a Commodore model, but this one is from Escom. I got it brand new from old stock. I’ve taken extremely good care of it, so it looks almost new today, 11 years later. I look after it often, wiping it clean of dust and checking that everything is in order.

Let’s have a look at my setup in more detail:

Escom Amiga 1200

Indivision AGA Scandoubler/Flickerfixer (makes it possible to hook the machine up to an LCD-screen for example.. good stuff!)

Apollo 68030/40 MHz turbo-card with 32MB of RAM

40 GB 2.5 inch Toshiba hard drive

Micromys Mouse Adapter (makes it possible to use a standard optical mouse!)

AmigaKit W-LAN PCMCIA card (running wireless Internet on the Amiga works great)

PCMCIA Compact Flash adapter with a 512 MB memory card (excellent for transferring files between my Amiga and the PC)

The computer is running Workbench 3.1 with several extras added. Believe it or not, but the OS is only using 16 colours on the screenshot above. Thanks to Magic Copper, it looks like a whole lot more!

The hard drive is filled with various games, demos, utilities and music modules. I’d like to point out that I use the amazing WHD-Load for my games. If you are interested in running all kinds of games directly from your hard drive, this utility is a must! Please head over to their site to check it out. You won’t regret it.

Here’s a list of the programs and games I use frequently:

AMOS Professional (excellent BASIC programming language)

Deluxe Paint IV (I use this drawing program to create logos, font sets and sprites)

Hippoplayer (my favourite music module player)

Filemaster 3.0 (even if Dopus is a great file manager, I can’t seem to change my old Filemaster habits..)

Banshee AGA (one of the best shoot’em up’s ever!)

Project-X (another smashing shoot’em up)

UFO: Enemy Unknown (old-school turn-based strategy at its best)

I’m happy with my current setup, but I’m thinking about upgrading. If I’m going to do that, I’ll probably get a 68060 turbo-card. I’ve always wanted one of those, but they are incredibly expensive.. Doesn’t seem like the prices will drop in the nearest future either. Time will show. :)

So, what do you think about my Amiga 1200 setup guys?

Do you have an Amiga yourself? If yes, then I’d love to hear about your setup. :) My Amiga 1200 would also appreciate if you said “hello” by the way. ;)

Amiga, Hardware , , , , , , , , , ,

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