FAQ

So you got (or are getting) an Amiga... now what can you buy
to make the most of it?



Q. I have a standard A1200. What is the first thing I should
get for it?

A. Get some recent games for a start and enjoy yourself.
Then sort yourself out with a good joypad (or joystick if
you are an old duffer like me), and a good and loud set of
speakers. Then get hold of the latest Amiga demo programs
and realise what an excellent machine you have just bought.


Q, Where can I get demo programs and this other "public
domain" stuff?

A. The simplest way is to post off a cheque to the many
libraries which advertise in CU Amiga every month.



Q. What hardware should I buy? I mostly play games.

A. A hard-drive isn't going to be high on your list of
priorities, because the majority of games cannot be copied
to hard drive. Instead, you should think about stocking up
the trapdoor expansion slot. Adding extra memory here will
speed up the Amiga, because of the internal architecture. A
memory board with a 4Mb SIMM is a great buy, but it will
cost about £160 upwards. Shop around.



Q. Should I get an acellerator card?

A. Acellerator cards speed up the Amiga because they contain
a new faster processor on-board, typically a 68030 or 68040.
They are more expensive than pure memory cards, and they
require memory to work effectively. Pricing is very
competitive at the moment, and as you would expect, depends
on performance. A double-speed (28MHz) 68020 card costs
about £260, a 50MHz 68030 costs about £350 -- both with a
sensible 4Mb of memory. If you only play games, an
acellerator card is a lot of money. Not all games will
benefit, but recently this has changed as titles such as
"AlienBreed 3D" and "Virtual Karting" starting to make the
most of extra hardware.




Q. I prefer using Workbench to playing games. What should I
get?

A. Both extra trapdoor memory and a hard drive will make
your life easier: the hard drive is probably more important,
but make getting more memory a number two priority. The
A1200 was designed for 2.5" IDE hard drives, but many
dealers sell 3.5" IDE drives which can be squeezed inside
the case. It's also possible to add SCSI drives externally,
but this is more expensive.




Q. Is a monitor a good idea?

A. Definitely. Even a relatively cheap monitor will give you
a better picture than a television (although a SCART
connection is pretty close), and the official Amiga monitor
will also allow you to view the special A1200/A4000 AGA
screen modes. These screen modes are twice the size of the
standard modes, and very useful when using "serious"
software.




Q. Do I need a CD-ROM drive?

A. Yes.. if you want to be able to use CD-ROM disks. The
advantage to CD-ROMs is that they can hold as much as more
than 600 floppy disks, and work reasonably quickly. There
are many Public Domain software collections sold on CD-ROM,
and if you are a big fan you should get a drive immediately.
The easiest way is to buy a SCSI interface such as the
Squirrel and an external SCSI CD-ROM drive. Together these
will cost £180 to £250 depending on the speed of the drive.
Most games for the CD32 will also work on an Amiga fitted
with a CD-ROM drive.



Q. What other fun stuff is there?

A. Lots. Have a video recorder or camcorder? Get VIDI,
VideoMaster or ProGrab. These are externally connected boxes
(costing from about £50) which take an incoming video signal
and "digitises" it to produce images which you can draw with
or even animate. If you don't have a camera you can use a
scanner (about £80 for black and white, £160 for colour)
which you drag over a photograph and get the same effect. A
genlock will allow you to overlay graphics Amiga over video
(perfect for subtitling home videos), and a multimedia
program such as SCALA will allow you to create stunning
presentations.





Q. What about a modem?

A. How could I forget! I modem will allow any Amiga to
connect to local Bulletin Boards (for electronic mail and
public domain software) or even the Internet. A 14k4 modem
costs about £130 and all the software you need is freely
available.




Q. What software should I get?

A. A good word processing like Final Writer or WordWorth
will be very useful, especially if you have a hard drive and
extra memory. Both are very smart, and genuinely useful. The
Amiga has good graphics as standard, and with a package like
Deluxe Paint or Personal Paint you will be able to create
images and animations. These can then be recorded to video
tape for example.


Q. What is "Ray Tracing" and "Rendering"?

A. A program such as Imagine, Real3D, LightWave or Cinema4D
will allow you to draw out a wireframe model and then create
an image as though the model really existed. You can
position lights and cameras, control the texture and
material of the objects and produce animations.
Unfortunately the process is time consuming and a very fast
Amiga (with a maths co-processor), lots of memory and a hard
drive are all but essential.



Q. I'm into music. How do I use the Amiga?

A. Get OctaMed or another "sound tracker" program from a
public domain library (a much enhanced version of OctaMed is
also available commercially). This will allow you to easily
compose music using the Amiga's built in sound sample
capabilities. Using MIDI interface and some sequencing
software (such as MusicX) you can control external MIDI
equipment and, talent permitting, create professional level
music.



Q. Can my Amiga emulate other platforms?

A. Oh yes: it can act as an Apple Mac, a PC, a Spectrum, an
Amstrad CPC -- but why bother? It's best at being an Amiga,
and Amigas are best.


John Kennedy