My Amigas - So where did this all begin.
I can chart my collecting to this A1200 PSU.
Winters break 1995 and I had had a tough
year and was in need of a good break.
The magazines were buzzing with the news
that the Amiga had a new owner and things
were about to pick up again. At last.
I just couldn't wait to get my hands on
some new Amiga hardware. So maybe my PC
plans could be put on hold, or forgotten.
Escom had already moved in down town
and so I had a new place to shop Amiga.
I hadn't considered a new A1200. What I
needed was some bigger disk space and a CD.
I had spent the best part of the year
drooling over the Squirrel but hadn't
resolved the issue of a currently used
and occupied PCMCIA port on the 1200.
Disk space had become a real problem. My
350MB internal 2.5" was full and file
sizes had grown bigger than my XL Drive
could cope with, even with the HD disks.
I had also become addicted to Sensible World of Soccer.
And Worms was driving me insane.
Ignore that for now... I'll swing back.
So £500 or £2200/2400 and not going to happen.
I needed more disk space for my big files
but adding a Squirrel would lose me my
PCMCIA RAM card. I needed the RAM.
I was creating animations, sound tracks
and AMOS programs and they were all bigger
than the capacity of a HD disk. I was now
starting to delete files and archive stuff.
So do I get the ZIP plus the Squirrel and then
buy a new accelerator with more memory.
And then I saw this advert for a 1GB
internal 3.5" hard drive and kit.
So that holiday I purchased the drive
from First Computer for £246+£18.99.
This way I kept the GVP accelerator which
trust me was really really fast.
I also kept the 4MB PCMCIA which when
added to the 4MB on the GVP made files
sizes accessible... but not 'savable'.
The XL Drive had almost become redundant.
Let me remind you that as of 25th Dec 1995
I still only had just one Amiga.
DOOMED... DOOMED !! Try as I might the
1GB wouldn't work. In the end First Computer
blamed the PSU. Being the original small unit
it just wasn't meaty enough for the job.
DOOMED... I was Doomed !!
This is my original PSU which I only
broke the warranty seal today.
And this is a big A500 brick that I
obtained a little later. Moving on.
So I sat that holiday watching crappy
Generations that a friend let me have.
This is not Generations.. this is First
Contact. I don't have Generations. The
memory leaves a nasty taste in my mouth.
Back to First Computer to discuss options.
I exchanged the drive for a 500MB 2.5" which
is still in the computer to this day. First
Computer did not offer the A500 brick as
an alternative. That is something I discovered
later. And again that heavier brick still
powers the A1200 to this day.
What happened next is still bonkers when I
give it any reasonable thought.
I was so miserable that holiday. All I had
for my memories was a failed hard drive and
a crappy Generations movie....
It was raining heavily. I mean real raining.
I was flicking through the pages of the
Diamond Free Adds and noticed an A1200 for
sale for £200. I didn't even stop to think
and in minutes I was off to the Tank camp
in Dorset to pick up another 1200 from a
military base in the driving rain.
And so my second Amiga arrived. Namely 'Tank'
Which I fitted that Magnum card to
that I mentioned earlier.
And the plan was ?
You have to remember that this was the era
of just one computer. The A1200 became the
2nd. I had to move files from one drive to
another and I couldn't move more than 1.4MB
or there about at a time. My files were like
3.0MB so just do the maths.
However with two Amigas I could Parnet.
So I got me a Parnet cable.
And it was time to party Parnet style.
So I set up my mini network.
DOpus configered to the NETWORK.
I was made.. I was able to transfer all
my important files to the new hard drive.
And that is where it all started. Cus I now
needed a new monitor for the A1200 Tank. So
I bought a second hand 600 with a monitor.
I then obtained an A500 computer with a brick.
In six months I also had a Win95 machine and
networked that to the A1200. I had thought
the PC would mark the end of the A1200 era.
It did not. It simply signalled the beginning
of everything that has followed. And now I
have 123 Amigas.... Incredible.
Pretty soon I was networking everything.
Within a week of buying 'TANK' I was back
to First Computer to buy a 175MB hard drive.
What networking did was break the 'one computer'
mentality. It made me realise that having more
than one computer gave me way more options. Within
six months of the above happening I was sitting
circled by three desks with a Win95 PC, Amiga 1200,
another 1200 and a 600. With a 500 on a small table
running through a large TV for games. I never ever
wanted to go through the misery of that 95 holiday
period ever again. And thankfully it has never been
the same since.
Even First Contact was better than Generations.
So that is how it all started and it just gets better
and better. In this room as I sit here typing this I
have an A600 clicking away and still enjoy my leagues
in Sensible World of Soccer. I'm in heaven.
OR AM I !!!!!!! Maybe I am in Amiga hell and I only
think the events of 1995 were for the good. Maybe
its a lesson to us all not to be tempted by the
Amiga and to turn and walk away. I didn't.
WALK AWAY DOOD !!!! Or not. Probably not.
The line must be drawn here ...
