How to replace your everyday PC for a Falcon030?

[A2600]

- Well you need a Falcon030

- NEW HD perhaps

- Linux w/ WINE to run windows programs

- The Network Kit to go Online

- Memory Upgrade

- External CD-Rom

 

Anything else required to replace your PC with a Falcon030??

[Clint Thompson]

Well, since my PC is a iMac, that may be a rough thing to do

 

But I was actually thinking about it the other day (even tho it would be a mistake because I would be sacraficing a lot with the ease and comfort I have come to love and learn, which is OS X)

 

Anyways, I was like well... as long as I could:

 

a)Surf the net reasonably

b)e-mail (of course)

c)List things on eBay and somehow upload a pic of the item (haha, Expose' for the 030)

d)use some sort of Instant Message service (AIM, ICQ or Yahoo)

e)Burn music CD's

 

Then I'd be set! Would I do it? Only as a fun little project to say "Hey, My Falcon can fly, er well... sort of" but could I live with it? Take my mac and DIE! (really tho, maybe I could)

 

I'm not sure about the linux thing with wine, as I could just use MiNT tho right to surf the net as long as I had STing and CAB and if I wanted to

really run Windows apps, I'd be better off with a PC!

Actually, I could have a complete AMD XP 2100 system for cheaper then most Falcons go for today (which is sick really) but

the Falcon really is an interesting machine with much power to have unreleased yet never seen (imo).

 

Personally I would get a lot more use out of the Falcon if I had all the glorious software at my fingertips that was released back in the day (and not have to pay full price like it's still friggin 1993)

Also, getting most programs to even run can be a pain, there's times I spent countless times rebooting just to get one app or one game to run

and fail. I always thought it was my first Falcon (which is why I originally sold it) and then my 2nd one (with had CT2, the first one had all the BlowUp FX accelerators 3 and stuff) while the one I have now... is not modded at all, and still doesn't act right, or like I expected it to.

 

I'd like to get some Raytracers to work right... or some that's in ENGLISH... (I can't read German and have no plans to do so anytime soon) so thats a problem.

 

Until I have some time to dwell into other things (NE2000, Raytracing, etc. etc.) I'll continue using it for SuperFly and Killing Impact

 

 

[krupkaj]

Anyways, I was like well... as long as I could:

 

a)Surf the net reasonably

b)e-mail (of course)

c)List things on eBay and somehow upload a pic of the item (haha, Expose' for the 030)

d)use some sort of Instant Message service (AIM, ICQ or Yahoo)

e)Burn music CD's

 

a) you can use Highwire, or in case text browser is enough links

 

b) MyMail, aMail or pine

 

d) AtarICQ

 

e) CD Writer Suite from Anodyne or Soundpool software (I am not sure the name of app)

 

 

So go for it!

 

I'm not sure about the linux thing with wine, as I could just use MiNT tho right to surf the net as long as I had STing and CAB and if I wanted to really run Windows apps, I'd be better off with a PC!

 

yes, of course, PC is faster a bit (actually I cannot imagine Falcon running wine under Linux)

[+Sauron]

"- Well you need a Falcon030"

 

You should probably also consider a TT030. If you're not planning on performing some massive upgrades to the Falcon, the TT may be more your style, and will give you more raw speed.

 

"- NEW HD perhaps"

 

This is a definite must. Anything over 2 GB will most likely hold you off for the lifetime of the Falcon (or the HD, whichever ends first).

 

"- Linux w/ WINE to run windows programs"

 

Just not possible, sorry. A barebones version of Linux can be installed on the Falcon (as well as NetBSD), but you'd get much more functionality out of the standard OSes that were tailor-made for the Atari ST series (like FreeMiNT). Even a heavily upgraded Falcon wouldn't be able to run Windows programs via WINE, though, as the Windows applications would at the very least require a recompile for the 680x0 platform. Finding existing Falcon programs to replace your Windows programs would be far more realistic.

 

"- The Network Kit to go Online"

 

A good idea, and probably the easiest to implement of all possible upgrades. Web browsing will most likely be quite painful, but I see no reason why pretty much every other function wouldn't work.

 

"- Memory Upgrade"

 

Anything above 14 Megs I believe would only be possible with a CPU upgrade, and these don't come cheap.

 

"- External CD-Rom"

 

Another must, especially if you want to backup data on the HD, in which case an external CD burner would be required. I believe HDDriver will take care of most drivers, but it doesn't come cheap.

[Sikor]

Disk more than 2GB? No problem: HD Driver and Magic or Mint...

[A2600]

Now let me shift this a bit...

 

I will be the proud owner of a MegaSTe also soon!!

 

Can I use the MegaSTe to replace my PC rather than using the Falcon?