Amiga A2000 - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

paul.brett · 1st Apr 2007, 11:37 am

Hello all,

Can anybody help me with an Amiga A2000 problem? I am a complete Amiga newbie and want to get it fully working.

It has a single floppy drive, no hard drive and using the floppy disk that came with it, it does appear to boot. Inside is an A6230 upgrade board and a space/ribbon cable/power supply cable for a hard drive. The space appears to be standard 5¼", but I have caddies to mount a 3½" drive. Is it supposed to be SCSI or IDE?

I want a copy of the Amiga system disks and details of the correct hard drive to put in there (and how to format it).

As a side issue, I have another 3 of these things, surplus to requirements. I could be persuaded to part with one of them, for the right assistance and a proper Amiga mouse.

Thank-you.

Paul.

radiohm · 1st Apr 2007, 11:53 pm

Hi Paul.

I can't help with the disks but i have the two books in the attachments that you can have for the price of the postage.

P.M. me if you want them.

Regards.

Mike.

reel-to-reel-man · 2nd Apr 2007, 1:53 pm

Hello, I can not remember what the workbench is on the A2000, is it 1.3.3 or 2.04? I have got the disks somewhere but I have to copy them as I still have my A500+. I cant remember if the A200 does have an IDE interface on the board, the card will take a 500MB SCSI (Quantum) These machines are funny about drives. Have you got any disks for the machine at all? Any bootable disk will do for now (Apart from most games) the Workbench disks come up very often on EBay,

paul.brett · 10th Apr 2007, 2:46 pm

I think the Workbench version is 2.04.

I do have a boot disk, but after some text, it just shows a blank screen, the A2000 was part of a bank of machines designed to re-create the flight deck of a commercial airliner.

You have reminded me that I have both an A500 and A600 in the loft. I will dig both of thoese out and see if I can make my own boot disk. I may even have to (gasp!) read the manual!!!

I'm still on the look out to swap one of the A2000 machines for an Amiga mouse and any other interesting vintage computer stuff.

Paul.

reel-to-reel-man · 14th Apr 2007, 9:26 am

If you are getting text on the screen that could suggest there is a HD in side, the 2.4 logo usually displays a disk sliding into a disk drive when there isn't one. I suggest trying to type the following

c:LoadWB
c:EndCLI

That should bring up workbench and close the shell, do not be confused with the PC, there is no C: drive as such, usually you have DF0): (FDD) and HD0: (HDD), another command which is imbedded in the rom chips is DIR that will list what’s on the HDD if there is one.

I must have a hunt around for some disks, I think I gave them away when I sold my A4000, I still have a few A500's around so I would have the startup disks somewhere.

liamoliver · 15th Apr 2007, 3:54 pm

Try this page:
http://www.old-computers.com/museum/....asp?st=1&c=63

Is it the HD model? It says that the HD model uses SCSI.

P.S. As I recall, the number of Kickstart (1.3 etc.) should match the number of Workbench, though of course it perfectly fine to upgrade Workbench, I'm not sure about using an earlier version.

paul.brett · 17th Apr 2007, 4:00 pm

OK, so I have looked at this a little more. I think I have Kickstart 1.3.

Using a Workbench 2.05 disk from an Amiga A600 stored in the loft, I have attempted to boot. It complains with "This disk requires Kickstart version 2.0 or greater."

I was able to edit the Workbench 1.2 disk that came with the A2000 so that the program that was auto-running no longer does.

I know have a working boot disk. I get the CLI, but no mouse pointer.

ENDCLI brings up the workbench, but still without the mouse pointer. Anybody know how to get the mouse working? (I know it physically works, because it works using the Workbech 2.0.5 disk.

I do REALLY need some Workbench 1.2 or 1.3 diskettes, even if only a loan.

Thank-you.

paul.brett · 17th Apr 2007, 4:18 pm

OK, I got the mouse working. Somebody had set the foreground and background colours the same. Doh!

reel-to-reel-man · 17th Apr 2007, 10:10 pm

Glad to hear you are getting on with the A2000, I have not had chance to look any disks out, I have the ADF files but that’s useless unless you have cross doss running on your machine and rebuild the disk (Using the MS program, getting involved now)

If you have ROM 1.3.3 and you use a WB 2,04 then you may be able to use the loadwb function, it may be worth your while getting some 2.04 chips which fetch peanuts on Ebay amd would make a huge difference.

DrZarkov · 5th Jun 2007, 2:02 pm

The Amiga 2000 until Rev. 6.2 uses Kickstart 1.3 (or even 1.2 in the first generation), Rev. 6.3 or better use Kickstart 2.04 (and have the better ECS-chipset). You can use the kickstart-rom from the A 600 for the A 2000, it will work.

There is no such thing as a "Amiga 2000 HD", all HD models have an expansion card for harddiscs (if they have). Most common were SCSI (if it is a Commodore expansion card it is SCSI), sometimes you find MfM and on newer cards (very common are "Alphadata") IDE.

The Amiga file system is very different from the PC, it is impossible to write an 880 kb Amiga floppydisc on a PC. But you can get an AmigaOS 2.05 cheap for example at www.vesalia.de (they speak english and have an english website).

1st Apr 2007, 11:37 am	#1
paul.brett Tetrode Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, UK. Posts: 97	Amiga A2000 Hello all, Can anybody help me with an Amiga A2000 problem? I am a complete Amiga newbie and want to get it fully working. It has a single floppy drive, no hard drive and using the floppy disk that came with it, it does appear to boot. Inside is an A6230 upgrade board and a space/ribbon cable/power supply cable for a hard drive. The space appears to be standard 5¼", but I have caddies to mount a 3½" drive. Is it supposed to be SCSI or IDE? I want a copy of the Amiga system disks and details of the correct hard drive to put in there (and how to format it). As a side issue, I have another 3 of these things, surplus to requirements. I could be persuaded to part with one of them, for the right assistance and a proper Amiga mouse. Thank-you. Paul.

1st Apr 2007, 11:53 pm	#2
radiohm Pentode Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Stockton On Tees, Cleveland Posts: 18	Re: Amiga A2000 Hi Paul. I can't help with the disks but i have the two books in the attachments that you can have for the price of the postage. P.M. me if you want them. Regards. Mike. Attached Thumbnails

2nd Apr 2007, 1:53 pm	#3
reel-to-reel-man Heptode Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Paignton, Devon, UK. Posts: 805	Re: Amiga A2000 Hello, I can not remember what the workbench is on the A2000, is it 1.3.3 or 2.04? I have got the disks somewhere but I have to copy them as I still have my A500+. I cant remember if the A200 does have an IDE interface on the board, the card will take a 500MB SCSI (Quantum) These machines are funny about drives. Have you got any disks for the machine at all? Any bootable disk will do for now (Apart from most games) the Workbench disks come up very often on EBay, __________________ Vintage recorder collector www.vintagerecorders.co.uk

10th Apr 2007, 2:46 pm	#4
paul.brett Tetrode Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, UK. Posts: 97	Re: Amiga A2000 I think the Workbench version is 2.04. I do have a boot disk, but after some text, it just shows a blank screen, the A2000 was part of a bank of machines designed to re-create the flight deck of a commercial airliner. You have reminded me that I have both an A500 and A600 in the loft. I will dig both of thoese out and see if I can make my own boot disk. I may even have to (gasp!) read the manual!!! I'm still on the look out to swap one of the A2000 machines for an Amiga mouse and any other interesting vintage computer stuff. Paul.

14th Apr 2007, 9:26 am	#5
reel-to-reel-man Heptode Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Paignton, Devon, UK. Posts: 805	Re: Amiga A2000 If you are getting text on the screen that could suggest there is a HD in side, the 2.4 logo usually displays a disk sliding into a disk drive when there isn't one. I suggest trying to type the following c:LoadWB c:EndCLI That should bring up workbench and close the shell, do not be confused with the PC, there is no C: drive as such, usually you have DF0): (FDD) and HD0: (HDD), another command which is imbedded in the rom chips is DIR that will list what’s on the HDD if there is one. I must have a hunt around for some disks, I think I gave them away when I sold my A4000, I still have a few A500's around so I would have the startup disks somewhere. __________________ Vintage recorder collector www.vintagerecorders.co.uk

15th Apr 2007, 3:54 pm	#6
liamoliver Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Nr. Harrow, NW London, UK. Posts: 104	Re: Amiga A2000 Try this page: http://www.old-computers.com/museum/....asp?st=1&c=63 Is it the HD model? It says that the HD model uses SCSI. P.S. As I recall, the number of Kickstart (1.3 etc.) should match the number of Workbench, though of course it perfectly fine to upgrade Workbench, I'm not sure about using an earlier version.

17th Apr 2007, 4:00 pm	#7
paul.brett Tetrode Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, UK. Posts: 97	Re: Amiga A2000 OK, so I have looked at this a little more. I think I have Kickstart 1.3. Using a Workbench 2.05 disk from an Amiga A600 stored in the loft, I have attempted to boot. It complains with "This disk requires Kickstart version 2.0 or greater." I was able to edit the Workbench 1.2 disk that came with the A2000 so that the program that was auto-running no longer does. I know have a working boot disk. I get the CLI, but no mouse pointer. ENDCLI brings up the workbench, but still without the mouse pointer. Anybody know how to get the mouse working? (I know it physically works, because it works using the Workbech 2.0.5 disk. I do REALLY need some Workbench 1.2 or 1.3 diskettes, even if only a loan. Thank-you.

17th Apr 2007, 4:18 pm	#8
paul.brett Tetrode Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, UK. Posts: 97	Re: Amiga A2000 OK, I got the mouse working. Somebody had set the foreground and background colours the same. Doh!

17th Apr 2007, 10:10 pm	#9
reel-to-reel-man Heptode Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Paignton, Devon, UK. Posts: 805	Re: Amiga A2000 Glad to hear you are getting on with the A2000, I have not had chance to look any disks out, I have the ADF files but that’s useless unless you have cross doss running on your machine and rebuild the disk (Using the MS program, getting involved now) If you have ROM 1.3.3 and you use a WB 2,04 then you may be able to use the loadwb function, it may be worth your while getting some 2.04 chips which fetch peanuts on Ebay amd would make a huge difference. __________________ Vintage recorder collector www.vintagerecorders.co.uk

5th Jun 2007, 2:02 pm	#10
DrZarkov Retired Dormant Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Herongen, Germany Posts: 65	Re: Amiga A2000 The Amiga 2000 until Rev. 6.2 uses Kickstart 1.3 (or even 1.2 in the first generation), Rev. 6.3 or better use Kickstart 2.04 (and have the better ECS-chipset). You can use the kickstart-rom from the A 600 for the A 2000, it will work. There is no such thing as a "Amiga 2000 HD", all HD models have an expansion card for harddiscs (if they have). Most common were SCSI (if it is a Commodore expansion card it is SCSI), sometimes you find MfM and on newer cards (very common are "Alphadata") IDE. The Amiga file system is very different from the PC, it is impossible to write an 880 kb Amiga floppydisc on a PC. But you can get an AmigaOS 2.05 cheap for example at www.vesalia.de (they speak english and have an english website).