This little adventure has been a long time coming. Since 1993.
My First Amiga 1200 arrived here in the November of 1993 and she
still sits here switched on every day. The second called TANK
arrived in the winter of 1995. My next was a brand new boxed
Magic Pack from Analogic in 2002 and then the flood gates that
is EBAY launched me into a buying frenzy which resulted in a
grand total of 30 Amiga 1200s finding their way here.
It was never my intention to accumulate so many but at the time
I was very busy at work and hardly at home so I would scour the
auctions in the evening and place bids in for a few quid for
various computers. Most to be truthful were tatty, busted and
incomplete. In those days you really could pick up anything
for £10 or so. I had this old Citroen on the drive that I used
as a parcel box and as I arrived home weary from work I would
joy at the parcels stacked up waiting inside. I really had no
other interests and so a few quid a week on computers was a whole
bag of fun.
Interestingly my collecting stopped in April 2008 when I ran out
of space. I have not made any bids for Amiga computers since that
date. Other Amigas have arrived here but those were gifted to the
collection.
Over the years I have been steadily refurbishing the A1200
collection and only yesterday was setting up another machine ready
for a 2.5" hard drive that is coming off the Bay. I was troubled
by a video cable connector and spent time sorting out one for the
1200. And so it goes on daily.
I have many times hinted at the numbers of A1200s I had but in
truth I have never quite established just how many there are. So
in the heat of July I started to put together a list. The final
number is 30 though in truth the number 30 is subject to a
decision by the dubious goals committee. One sadly is broken but
retrievable and I sense there is still one trapped in a box in
the small store cupboard. Either way 30 is a good number.
Many of these computers were in a bad way when they arrived here.
Some with broken keyboards, disk drives, mouse ports. They
generally had been hammered though some were in very good
condition.
The Analogic computer of 2002 is a complete replica of my 1993
Amiga complete with Blizzard and was purchased in the anticipation
of my beloved original A1200 falling over. That has never happened
so the computer stays in its box.
And I guess some reading this may say, why so many, why not sell
a few or give them to worthy Amigans. The answer to that is simple...
it would make me very very unhappy. I am an Amiga nutter. I have
spent years building up the collection and have spent so much time
not only repairing machines but also putting together all the
various peripherals, disks, books etc that would have gone with
the computers. Nothing but nothing is really ever left in a junk
state. So each and every one of these computers holds a very
special place in my life and I would be heartbroken losing any
of them. As I say I am an Amiga nutter and seriously if you had a
collection of something that valuable why on earth would you part
with any of them.
The Amiga 1200 for me is more than a computer. It is more than
the sum of its parts. It represents a time in my life when I was
on my knees and broken and needed a friend. The computer entered
my life and lifted my spirits and sparked a resurgence in my very
being. She was there every night I returned home from my busy
toils and never let me down. I am sure there are some reading this
that have been taken or bitten by the Amiga bug and even now
appreciate what it is to have a working Amiga in their grasp.
Some will have parted company but still wish deep down they could
again hear that gentle click of the floppy drive. For me I live
the dream every day and will do so until the day I die. BUT and
the big but.... they are all mine. I would not change a thing in
terms of collecting. And in truth if things were different I
would collect another 30.
To anyone that has an Amiga 1200 I say 'well done'. Please look
after your cherished and wonderful computer cus in truth she
represents probably the greatest computer ever made. I believe
that totally. I will not explain why but I will show you 30 of
them. I am so lucky to have so many 'girlfriends'.
A1200 - 21 thro' to 25
Amiga 1200 21
Odd label that says she was broken
so I set about resetting the connectors
and chips and gave the computer a good
talking to. And she sprang back into
life albeit that the floppy drive DF0
is an old busted. Needs some more work.
Gave her a new name Helena and good to go..
Amiga 1200 22
I did have two Amiga 1200s which are
in the Elephants graveyard. The one
featured above and this one. Sadly this
one needs a lot more work. Fortunately
I have a surplus of parts so its really
just a case of swapping things over.
There really is no rush to be honest.
Amiga 1200 23
Regular readers of my blogs will know
my cardboard Amiga well. Runs perfectly
out of the cardboard box. I have recently
swapped out the motherboard with that
of the tower and use the board as a
diagnostic tool checking kit. I have
all the original casing so its an easy
task to reassemble the A1200
Comes with an Apollo 060 (my second )
Buffered interfaces, Flicker Fixer SVGA
Keyboard adaptor, floppy adaptor and
various spare motherboards. I even have
a big box of spare ROMs, buffered interfaces
Power Flyer etc for the tower. And trust
me she works every bit as good as a trad
A1200 except straight out of the box.
Amiga 1200 24
'Mrs Aguilera come get some' .. Limp.
Meet Christina 3.0 ROM Kick 39.106
and running 39.29. Utilises the very
wonderful GVP Turbo+ and even has a
4MB PCMCIA RAM card by Amtek. The
internal drive is a 175M and I have
this machine here to my left running
on a 1084 monitor for Amiga light relief.
Amiga 1200 25
Desktop Dynamite.. Has a 350MB hard drive
running 39.106 with 40.42 1985-1992. There
is no RAM or accelerator card fitted.
I actually bought the Desktop Dynamite
for the box and the internal items. My
original box is deep in store and I am
not totally sure there isn't another
A1200 inside that box. Don't know.
OK that was Amigas 21 thro' to 25.
Only another 5 to go....
Read on
