Is this a fair price for an Amiga 2000?

[Zap!]

I have never owned an Amiga, but found one locally. The owner won't go under $235. It comes with the following:

Amiga 2000 Desktop

Commodore A2091 Hard Card (no SCSI drive)

Amiga Keyboard

Amiga Mouse

Power Cable

Original system box, with styrofoam and wrap

 

 

Just wondering if that's a good (or even decent) deal or not, and if the 2000 is a good Amiga model to start with. In 1987 through to 1990, I read about the Amiga daily, even skipping lunch in HS to save my money for one. Sadly, it never happened.

[Tonyvdb]

Yes, that's a decent price. Is it yellowed or still fairly white? Not having the Hard drive does mean you'll need to get the OS installed on a drive or you can just use floppies for now. Don't use a drive larger than 4gb unless you plan on using OS 3.9, earlier versions did not like larger drives.

I guess I should also ask, what version rom is installed? You want 3.1 rom as earlier versions won't support an OS higher than the rom version other than 3.1 as it also supports Workbench 3.9.

Edited April 2, 2016 by Tonyvdb

[desiv]

Personally, unless you "really want" an Amiga 2000 (instead of just an Amiga), I'm not too sure.

No monitor?

 

I suppose if you are a collector, the box is nice, but means nothing to me...

 

The 2000 has composite video output, but I am pretty sure it's the same as the composite as the A500, which is monochrome. Pretty sharp monochrome, but no color.

 

You'll need either an A520 modulator (which creates color, but it's really bad and RF, not composite) or something like a GBS (can you solder to make your own cables?) to hook to an LCD/VGA monitor or an Indivision ECS (expensive if they are still being sold).

Or a 1084(s) Commodore monitor.

 

Then there's the 2091 with no drive. You'll need a SCSI drive or a SCSI2CF(SD) type of solution and those aren't cheap..

 

Not saying it's not a good deal (not sure.. don't know if there's much of a demand for the 2000), but it's a fair amount and you'll really need to expect to spend some more on it..

 

Oh, and I'd make sure you get a look at the motherboard and check for battery leakage.

The A500 came with 512k and no clock.

The 2000 had 1M and a clock on board, which is great, unless that battery leaked.

The 500 extra RAM cards had the same issue, but at least with those, it was only the card that could be ruined, not the whole motherboard.

 

Good Luck

 

desiv

Edited April 2, 2016 by desiv

[carlsson]

It is true that the composite output from the 2000 is monochrome, but I seem to recall that the 520 RF modulator has an output for colour composite video at the side, as well as the RF output. However you most likely will want to utilize the RGB output in one way or another, through the solutions mentioned above. It is amazing how much trouble you US people have suffered through the years for not having 15 kHz RGB inputs on a majority of displays.

Edited April 3, 2016 by carlsson

[RobertB]

The owner won't go under $235. It comes with the following:

Amiga 2000 Desktop

Commodore A2091 Hard Card (no SCSI drive)

Amiga Keyboard

Amiga Mouse

Power Cable

Original system box, with styrofoam and wrap

 

 

Just wondering if that's a good (or even decent) deal or not, and if the 2000 is a good Amiga model to start with.

The price is high for such a bare A2000. Does the A2091 come with any RAM? Does the machine at least have OS 2.04 disks (for better use of a hard drive)? You could get a used 4 gig or less SCSI drive mechanism for under $30.

 

Riding the San Joaquin train through California,

Robert Bernardo

Fresno Commodore User Group

http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm

[motrucker]

Check on the motherboard revision #. You do not want a 4.x board. You do want a 6.x motherboard. That is really more important than the ROM version.

If this machine has a 6.x motherboard, it's a fair deal, not a good one, if it's in really nice shape.

Happy hunting......

 

 

[+save2600]

Yes, the A520 video adapter outputs color composite.

[Bill Loguidice]

I don't think it's a great deal, especially without a matching monitor. You're not going to be happy with RF or composite. The Amiga really requires RGB to be usable for anything beyond the occasional game (and one without much text at that).

 

Honestly, I'd do what a lot of modern Amiga fans do and just save up for a loaded Amiga 1200 with accelerator/expanded memory and compact flash card. You'll be able to run all Amiga software, including stuff for the CDTV and CD32 with that kind of setup.

[Zap!]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I just want to let everyone know that a monitor is not a problem for me at all, as I have a 20 " PVM, so all I would need is the RGB cable. I would never use RF or even composite. He does have a 1084S that he is selling as well, but hasn't talked price.

 

I sent him an email offering $175. Awaiting his response. If it's too low, then I will ask him include the monitor the $235 he originally said. I'll keep you all posted.

 

Sent from my Galaxy Note Edge using Tapatalk

[Tonyvdb]

so to just give a recap, I would seriously find out these things before you go ahead and purchase.

 

Make sure it is a rev 6.x motherboard (forgot about that one) earlier versions were somewhat buggy.

Find out what rom chip is installed, You want at least 2.04 or better and ideally 3.1 (for that price it should be 3.1)

Does it include at least one working floppy drive? That is a must.

How much ram is on the A2091 SCSI card? If its empty this also reduces its value.

 

As mentioned a small SCSI drive can be had cheap on ebay (less then $30) Your gonna need some Workbench disks that match what rom is installed. Ask him to include them.

Edited April 4, 2016 by Tonyvdb

[Guest LiqMat]

Two products I highly recommend if you are getting a 2000. Fairly easy to install and makes life MUCH easier.

 

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=918&currency=USD

 

If it's a Rev 4 board like mine you will have to replace one cap for this to fit. An easy solder job really. Also using the Lotharek Rev F SD floppy drive emu. That is also a gem of a product.

 

http://www.lotharek.pl/category.php?kid=26

 

They are both pricey, but very high quality products. Both work with low rom revision numbers as well.

 

The Rev 4 board is perfectly fine for the classic A500 and A1000 stuff. If you want to explore more than that then what everyone else said above.

 

$235.00 if it's mint. I also replaced my mobo battery with a button cell and I highly recommend it.

Edited April 5, 2016 by LiqMat

[Nebulon]

It's sort of an average price. Not great. As others have mentioned, it sure would be good to have a 1084 monitor too.

 

If it's a newer A2000 and has the 8372A Blitter, you can easily toggle between NTSC and PAL (always a handy feature).

[Arnuphis]

I agree, that Indivision card is a must buy and fitting it is easy in an A2000. Saves a lot of headaches. Especially if you plan to play games. Otherwise good advice from everyone here.

[BoatofCar]

If you want to connect your 2000 to a VGA monitor and spend $20 instead of $100, you can connect the monitor cable to a GBS8200 board. Minimal soldering skills needed.

 

Here are the results. As you can see, the image is crystal clear and flicker free.

Regarding the sale, will you be in a position to inspect the machine before forking over the cash? Inspect the motherboard for issues very carefully. I don't think the price is unreasonable if you can ensure everything is in perfect working order.

[Oge]

The price seems to be quite good considering absurd prices seen on some auction sites.

 

I would make someone to inspect both motherboard and power supply in search of imminent failure/failures before using it extensively. This would IMHO save for a lot of headaches later.

 

Hunting for a CRT monitor with SCART capability (very difficult to find in United States) or a Philips CM8833-II (most viable solution) will complete the setup.

 

 

Cheers,

Oge

Edited June 10, 2016 by Oge

[phaxda]

Hi guys, I am just going to piggyback on this thread as it seems relevant (I can start a new one if that's preferable, though). I have had an Amiga 2000 in my collection for awhile now and always meant to getting around to seeing what it had to offer as they seem to be pretty cool machines. However, I had a kid and now I don't have any time to learn the intricacies of the system and have lost the desire to invest in a keyboard (I don't have one) so I am looking for some info and what a fair price might be for one of these beasts. It start up but requests an "Amiga Workbench 1.3 disk," which I do not have. Only peripheral is a mouse and the disk that was in the drive is "DELUXEVIDEO" and that won't boot ("is not a DOS disk"). I popped the cover and have attached some board photos if that helps...

 

Edit: I just went ahead and listed it locally on craigslist. I guess I should have made a Marketplace post I was really just looking for an estimate but then got carried away! Still, any help appreciated.

 

[Mark Wolfe]

I'm looking to sell or trade my Amiga 200HD that has a lot of cool features like a fully populated ram slots on video toaster board, a SCSI board with two SCSI lines, internal 160MB hard drive with workbench 3, lots of video software (no external hardware needed for frame grab or sync, etc) a floppy, and a SCSI SyQuest 88 drive - all of that is internal (no syquest disks), keyboard, mouse and as soon as I get it working, a SCSI to IDE adaptor with either a removable CF or SD card in it that will be bootable

 

I would like to trade that for a working Amiga 600 or 1200

 

Anyone interested ?

 

 

I may just sell it and use the money to buy what I want on eBay

 

I also have a spare Amiga 500 and an Amiga 1000 that seems to need a kick rom

 

 

I should add that I can throw in a workbench floppy or set up a Gotek Floppy emulator with the HCx2001 software so you can have any floppy you want on SD or USB depending on which Gotek emulator you get. I'll flash the firmware for you.

 

Second edit: as for standard prices on stock A2000, about $250 on up is standard if it is working and complete. Add-on cards add value depending on what the end user wants it for. Video cards for video editing are nice but really only valuable to gamers if they have ram expansion on them. You also need a special external hardware interface to deal with the 4 or 6 channel BNC sockets on the cards to get proper RGB or S-video... Otherwise you are stuck with a monochrome composite output or a blurry color composite if you have the right connector on the video out plug which is the same on the A500/1000

Edited August 5, 2016 by Mark Wolfe

[Mark Wolfe]

BTW: great tutorial vid on the vga setup by boatofcar

 

I use this ribbon cable thingy for my a500 which Has an internal flicker free vga chumpy

Edited August 5, 2016 by Mark Wolfe