classicamiga.com Forum http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/ Classicamiga.com Forum - Dedicated to everything Amiga. en Mon, 20 Apr 2026 07:42:40 GMT vBulletin 60 http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/images/misc/rss.png classicamiga.com Forum http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/ Has real hardware had its day? http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6254-Has-real-hardware-had-its-day?goto=newpost Sat, 18 Apr 2026 23:16:23 GMT Until fairly recently I would have said no way. You can never match the experience and feel of using a real Amiga, and that is still true. But... Until fairly recently I would have said no way. You can never match the experience and feel of using a real Amiga, and that is still true.

But we now have emulated systems such as the A500 Mini, the A600GS, the A1200NG and the soon to be released The A1200.

A real Amiga needs to be maintained (recapped) and all hardware addons are now expensive, be them new or retro. It's an expensive hobby if you want to do more than just play games. The upcoming The A1200 is possibly capable of emulating at least an 060, so speed isn't an issue for all but some.

Personally I don't really use any of my real Amigas any more. I recently started to set them up one by one to test them and check they all worked. The floppy drive on an A500 no longer works so I will be changing that for a Gotek. And I will be using an A1200 to test floppy disks soon, but not really to use for more than that really. Most people these days just want a load of retro games in an easy to navigate list they can scroll through and select, and for that the emulated Amiga systems are ideal. ]]> Hardware Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6254-Has-real-hardware-had-its-day Electric Cars (EVs) http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6253-Electric-Cars-(EVs)?goto=newpost Sat, 18 Apr 2026 20:32:54 GMT Does anyone here own an EV yet? We have just taken the plunge and bought our first! A 2020 Hyundai Kona 64kWh Premium SE in metallic red for... Does anyone here own an EV yet?

We have just taken the plunge and bought our first!

A 2020 Hyundai Kona 64kWh Premium SE in metallic red for just 11995 Pounds.

This was the top of the range model when it came out with the longer range battery and all the optional extras. The 64kWh battery range is about 278 miles, which is better than nearly every other can in this size, in our price range, with most only having 45-50kWh batteries and a 180-200 mile range. We wanted a bit more in case we wanted to travel a bit further, but also so it doesn't need charging as often. It's also got the more powerful electric motor with a 0-60 in 7.5 seconds, which is more than enough.

My wife only does about 20 miles most days so it would only need charging once a week. And we have worked out a full charge will cost less than 7 pounds on a home charger (which we now need to buy and get installed).

It is the older shape Kona so not quite as smart looking at the newer one. The front isn't as pretty. But I gave it a test drive and it's really nice to drive and very comfortable. I was also surprised by the level of equipment for a car that is really a lower end EV. As the top of the range model it has full leather with heated and ventilated seats (in the rear too), wireless phone charging, a really good speaker system, heads up display, radar cruise control and auto radar adjusting regen braking, and other things most cars now have such as 360 degree reversing camera and parking sensors, a larger infotainment screen etc. It seemed to have every possible equipment I could think of.

So we are very happy with what is quite a bargain priced purchase. The Kona also gets some very good reviews for reliability and the car itself. The main dealer we bought it from also did a battery health check. The car has 45k miles on the clock and it's still showing 100% battery health. Reviews also show the range it shows is very accurate and you should get what it states, which is unusual.

We just have to wait now to pick it up next week.

I'm now a bit jealous as I still have my older Peugeot 508SW diesel. The car I really want though is the BYD Seal or the KIA EV6. But I was really impressed by the Hyundai. ]]> General Chat Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6253-Electric-Cars-(EVs) Humble Bundle http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6252-Humble-Bundle?goto=newpost Fri, 17 Apr 2026 09:34:19 GMT Do any of you buy their monthly Choice Bundle?

I've been buying it every month for quite some time. I was lucky enough to have bought it for a couple of months before they changed their monthly subscription to Choice and so was given their Classic plan, which gives you all the games at a cheaper price each month for being a valued customer.

Most months are definitely worth far more than the price. Only a few months have I already owned a few of the included games or there hasn't been much I'm interested in. Most of the time it's great to discover new games or a franchise I hadn't played before. A lot of the included games are often compatible and run well on the Steam Deck too.

I always look through their other bundles every month. Quite often they do create new bundles with a lot of games from previous ones so you have to double check how many are not already in your library.

It does mean I keep expanding my Steam library though! ]]> PC - Windows, Linux, Mac Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6252-Humble-Bundle Music Linkfor Stereo mixer http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6251-Linkfor-Stereo-mixer?goto=newpost Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:14:48 GMT When I set my desk and computers up again last year I have the audio from each feeding into a seperate input on a spare Sony AV Amp I have. Problem... When I set my desk and computers up again last year I have the audio from each feeding into a seperate input on a spare Sony AV Amp I have. Problem is I can only hear and listen to one at a time, having to change sources for each.

I've wanted a small audio mixer for some time so I could have all the inputs going into it and then feeding into a single input on the Amp. I finally discovered a tiny Mini Stereo Mixer on Amazon yesterday from a company called LiNKFOR. It was about 16 pounds so nothing.

It just arrived and I have given it a quick test. It's very small but the case is solid metal and the whole thing is quite heavy so it won't move around easily. It also has some grippy rubber feat. On the back are 4 sets of phono left and right inputs, and 1 set of outputs. On the top are 4 line level dials (volumes). It's a passive device so it doesn't need any power of its own; just plug each device into the inputs and the one output into the amp. Obviously being passive when you have more than one audio source playing at once the overall volume will drop a bit, so you need to turn the amp up more, or the line level dials up on the unit itself.

It works fine and the audio seems just as good. An ideal little audio mixer if all you need to do is feed multiple audio inputs into a single amp to be able to hear them all at once.
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]]> General Chat Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6251-Linkfor-Stereo-mixer Car trouble and Emergency Car Recovery Services http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6250-Car-trouble-and-Emergency-Car-Recovery-Services?goto=newpost Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:01:57 GMT Do you have car emergency car recovery services where you live? And are you a member?

I've been a member of the AA since I was first driving and they have been invaluable over the years. I think it's quite necessary as you can get stuck anywhere if something happens.

Recently we have needed to use the AA quite a lot.

My wife lost power in her Volvo driving home a couple of weeks ago.. We called the AA out and there was a hole in the turbo hose pipe (that feeds the air into the turbo). It had rubbed on the engine metal shield. The AA did a temp fix by gluing a patch over the hole, which got the car working again. We managed to get a replacement pipe from an Amazon seller for about 30 pounds and fitted it ourselves. So that wasn't too bad. And without the AA it would have cost a lot more at a garage to discover the issue.

Then last week the clutch went on my car. I was reversing up the drive to park it after getting back to work and it was stuck in reverse and the clutch was stuck on the floor. The AA said the slave cylinder had gone and he showed me it was leaking out of the bottom. The AA got the car to a local garage. It turned out the clutch had gone as well as the slave cylinder, so that was an expensive repair. But I've been using a great local Polish garage which are brilliant. Lovely owner and his costs are far lower than anywhere else. I finally got the car back yesterday with the nice light new clutch.

Then this morning my wife left for work and rang me to say she had broken down. Lost her power steering and lots of warnings. Then the car wouldn't restart. I guessed the alternator or battery. So she now has my car
(that I only just got back yesterday) so she could get to work. I called the AA out again and I had to wait a couple of hours with her car where it had broken down. The AA tested the battery and alternator and said it wasn't charging the battery so looks like the alternator. He charged up the battery for 20 minutes than I drove it to the same Polish garage again. So now waiting to hear from the garage to see how much it will cost.

Thankfully I have borrowed one of my Dad's cars since my clutch went so we currently still had it as a spare car. I was about to drop it back to him this weekend so we were very lucky we still had it as a spare when her car went wrong today.

I don't know what people do if they break down without AA, RAC or similar breakdown cover. ]]> General Chat Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6250-Car-trouble-and-Emergency-Car-Recovery-Services Donations towards site upgrade costs http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6249-Donations-towards-site-upgrade-costs?goto=newpost Tue, 14 Apr 2026 08:51:44 GMT I was planning to buy the Xenforo forum software this week but I have had a big car repair bill as my Clutch and Slave Cylinder went last week, so... I was planning to buy the Xenforo forum software this week but I have had a big car repair bill as my Clutch and Slave Cylinder went last week, so I'm going to struggle to afford it for the moment.

The current Xenforo licensing is as follows:

Xenforo software $195
Enhanced search $60
Resource Manager $70
Media Gallery $60

Total is $395 + 20% UK VAT = $474 (350 pounds or 402 Euros)

If any of you can help out with a donation please use my Paypal dave@classicamiga.com

Note: Don't use the site donation page as I don't know if that still works.

It's much appreciated if you can help, no matter how small. Once we own the license it's owned, but we will need to pay a yearly maintenance fee after the first year to continue getting updates and access to their resources. I will make a mention on the site of members who helped to purchase the software to keep the site going.

Monthly running costs after this will currently only be ?12 per month + yearly domain licensing, so not much. ]]> General Chat Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6249-Donations-towards-site-upgrade-costs Optical Mouses (Mice?) http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6248-Optical-Mouses-(Mice-)?goto=newpost Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:52:04 GMT What's everyone's preferences for computer mouses these days?

When optical mouses became a thing in the early 2000s, they were really good, and would work on just about any surface. But several which I've had in recent years are very picky about surfaces.

I got a new MS IntelliMouse Classic a few years ago. That was a really good mouse as it has the same nice form factor as the old IntelliMouses, but after a couple of years, it became quite unreliable. It doesn't work properly on my mouse mat but it will work on my dirty desk surface. Also the scroll wheel went dodgy. Dismantling it and cleaning it helped a little bit but not much.

I've got a shortage of properly working mouses here so I had to dig out an old PS/2 intellimouse (ball type) which I keep in my junk drawer as a spare. ]]> PC - Windows, Linux, Mac Stephen Coates http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6248-Optical-Mouses-(Mice-) Music If you had to pick just one song http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6247-If-you-had-to-pick-just-one-song?goto=newpost Sat, 11 Apr 2026 00:09:32 GMT If you could only pick a single song to portray the type of music you have listened to throughout your whole life, that captures the emotion and... If you could only pick a single song to portray the type of music you have listened to throughout your whole life, that captures the emotion and feeling when you listen to music, what would that single track be?

For me it's Pink Floyd's Pulse concert live, Comfortably Numb.

It contains arguably the greatest guitar solo of all time, by the brilliant David Gilmore. You can feel his emotion through the guitar and he takes the original album track and just expands and blows it away. And out of all the albums I've bought throughout my live The Wall is probably the one I've listened to more than any other.

Another guitar solo that comes very close to this was from another live performance. When George Harrison was being posthumously inducted to the hall of fame, Price playing the solo at the end of While my Guitar Gently Weeps. If you have never seem and listened to this you need to take a look on Youtube. It's an amazing moment in history, just as Pink Floyd live was. ]]> General Chat Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6247-If-you-had-to-pick-just-one-song Literature Dead books http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6246-Dead-books?goto=newpost Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:13:47 GMT Dead books are those which have absolutely no use today. This might initially be hard to work out as surely a book is always useful? The... Dead books are those which have absolutely no use today. This might initially be hard to work out as surely a book is always useful?

The biggest collection of completely dead books are Computer reference manuals. If we take a book written for the Commodore Amiga for example a retro enthusiast might still want to use it to mess around with old programming software or other software. But what about for example a book that's a guide to Office 97 or Photoshop 4. It really has no purpose now because the software is so out of date, or the software still exists in a far newer version that is nothing like the version the book is based on.

I have been going through my book collection and have ended up with a massive pile of reference books like this for software like very old Adobe software, 3D packages like Maya and 3DSMax 2 and 3. Programming reference books for very old versions of PHP or for software I used to use every day in my job like Macromedia Director. All obsolete and dead. But I am finding it hard to just throw them away as they have a lot of memories attached to them, but also they were expensive at the time. Often nearly 50 pounds each. Can I bring myself to just bin them? I think I'm going to have to. Plus they have actually been sat in a box for other 10 years so I'm not even seen them for that long. I am needing to adopt a 3 year rule. If I've not looked at something for 3 years do I really need to keep it?

I just hate the idea of destroying a book though. Many people have no attachments to books. Some will read a novel and then pass it on to someone else or just throw it away. How? I read a novel and it goes on the bookcase into my collection. Novels for me are not like reference books. You can come back to them. They hold memories. And I have always seen books as precious as I struggled to learn to read when very young as I am dyslexic and UK schools in the late 70s didn't really recognise it. My mum thankfully did and worked hard to help me read, for which I'm ever grateful. It's an essential skill in life that unlocks so much. ]]> General Chat Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6246-Dead-books A man and his cable collection! http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6245-A-man-and-his-cable-collection!?goto=newpost Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:00:34 GMT The age old problem of not wanting to throw away a cable in case it might be useful later. Even those who are not techie will be guilty of at... The age old problem of not wanting to throw away a cable in case it might be useful later.

Even those who are not techie will be guilty of at least a small collection of power adapters from old devices and mobile phones, spare usb and hdmi cables etc..

Are you guilty of this? And does your wife or partner understand? Or keep moaning that you need to throw them away!

This is far more of an issue for us retro collectors. Manufacturers liked to make all the cables for their consoles proprietary and unique for each and every console they made. Every Nintendo system had a different controller connector and power cable, although they did share AV ports for a couple of generations.

I recently tackled my huge box of cables that was an impressive tangled mess. I ended up needing to buy 10 clear plastic storage boxes with clip on lids to sort them into useful separate types. HDMI, speaker wire, audio cables, power leads, power adapters, older AV cables (SVideo, Composite, Component etc)..

But this doesn't include my actual console collection. I also bought more of the small clear storage boxes and have sorted my consoles collection so each system now has its own box with all it's accessories in. Controllers, AV cables, memory cards etc. For the first time ever I'm actually getting to the point where it's all sorted, tidy and I can instantly find exactly what I need. It has taken ages, but finally it's not just a couple of removal boxes full to the top with a massive jumble of cables and other stuff.

This has left me with quite a few cables and connectors I have no idea what to do with, but don't just want to throw them away. Things like USB to Serial cables. What will I ever need or use those for? And IDE ribbon cables. I actually do need those at this moment because I'm going to be going through all the HDDs in my old PCs and seeing what's on all the drives I've had in storage. So that actually is a big argument for why we hold on to old cables. There is a reason!

I have however just binned every phone line cable and RT TV aerial cable I had. I've not used a TV aerial for over 10 years. We still have 2 of them on the roof but they are not connected to anything. It all goes through the internet now, And the same with the phone. Full fibre, so no need for phone line cables. Some cables do just become completely obsolete to the point where they actually have no purpose. ]]> General Chat Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6245-A-man-and-his-cable-collection! Happy Egg Day! http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6244-Happy-Egg-Day!?goto=newpost Sun, 05 Apr 2026 13:03:57 GMT Happy Egg day to you all! *Do you celebrate Easter? Buy Easter Eggs?* Obviously it has become over commercialised by the USA like everything,... Happy Egg day to you all!

Do you celebrate Easter? Buy Easter Eggs?

Obviously it has become over commercialised by the USA like everything, but it's chocolate so of course.

We still buy Easter Eggs for each other and obviously for my son.

And as a huge Star Wars fan I've been trying to collect the Star Wars Kinder Egg figures that have been released this year. I already had 6 of the 10. I had some extra help in collecting them from a friend at work who's son was also buying them so he passed on the duplicates he had. My wife bought me 6 more for Easter and amazingly there were 3 figures I didn't have, so I only have one (Chewbacca) to find now.

Are there any Chocolate Easter Eggs unique to where you live?

Obviously here in the UK we have Cadbury's so get a lot of eggs themed around their bars such as Flake, Twirl and Buttons. But also Cadbury's Cream Eggs, which have to be one of the greatest Chocolate inventions of all time. And Mini Eggs. Great on cakes, in Chocolate cornflake nests etc.. And Terry's Chocolate Orange.

What did you do growing up?

When young we used to have to go to the Easter Church service. The whole family, including Grand parents, Cousins, Uncles and Aunts would all meet at the church, and then after all go out for a big meal at a local restaurant.

I'm not religious (even though I was raised CofE) so we definitely don't go to church, but we are having my parents over tomorrow for Roast Lamb. Plus Mum's 80s is in about a week so it's a birthday celebration too. Mother in law is now bed bound so we will just visit and take her a roast dinner tomorrow. My wife is currently busy making a birthday cake. ]]> General Chat Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6244-Happy-Egg-Day! Guild Wars Reforged http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6243-Guild-Wars-Reforged?goto=newpost Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:23 GMT I played this MMO a lot when it originally came out and I know a couple of other old members from here did too. I totalled over 1600 hours! Those... I played this MMO a lot when it originally came out and I know a couple of other old members from here did too. I totalled over 1600 hours! Those were the days before marriage! :lol:

ArenaNet have remastered the original game and re-released it as Reforged. It's currently 40% off on Steam so a bargain. And as it was originally there are no monthly subscriptions, so once you own the game that's it.

And even better, if you played the game originally you can still log back into the same ArenaNet account and resurrect your old account in this new version. Retrieve your old character's and all their equipment and armour. I don't really have much time to play this again, but I'm tempted just to reload my old account and relive my Warrior Monk and Necromancer builds. ]]> PC - Windows, Linux, Mac Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6243-Guild-Wars-Reforged Missing Store pages on Steam http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6242-Missing-Store-pages-on-Steam?goto=newpost Sun, 29 Mar 2026 14:02:45 GMT This is something that really annoys me on Steam. Missing store pages. We all know games get delisted and deleted from Steam for various reasons.... This is something that really annoys me on Steam. Missing store pages.

We all know games get delisted and deleted from Steam for various reasons. For Simulators featuring Trains or Planes for example the developers licensing rights to use specific vehicles in their games mean the games can't be sold anymore so are removed from sale.

But why can't Steam retain the store pages?

They contain videos, screenshots, information about the game such as the developer, publisher, genre, as well as detailed descriptions of the game, it's release date, any addons available etc. Plus more importantly users reviews and the community pages that often contain loads of useful things like guides, videos and comments.

I understand removing them as the game is no longer on sale, but if you already own the game in your Steam Library you can still install it, and therefore I want to be able to see the Store page for the information and media.

This is also inconsistent because some games I have in my library that are no longer on sale on Steam do still have their Store pages, which state the game is no longer available to buy, but everything else is still there. But others are just gone and when you click Store page it just takes you to the Store home page. ]]> PC - Windows, Linux, Mac Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6242-Missing-Store-pages-on-Steam Game walkthroughs and guides http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6241-Game-walkthroughs-and-guides?goto=newpost Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:03:08 GMT Do you ever use game guides and walkthroughs?

I'm a bit of a completist for Adventures and RPGs so I tend to have the guide for the game to hand and double check the area I'm in is fully complete before I move on. Nothing more annoying than missing a secret or rare item. But I don't like to outright cheat with guides. I only use them to make sure I've not missed something or if I'm really stuck and can't progress.

I used to buy the official guides from BradyGames and Prima, especially Final Fantasy and other Squaresoft games. It's a shame there have stopped making them as I liked to have the book to go with the games. I've also always using GameFAQs (where a lot of us originally met). Invaluable walkthroughs when you are stuck or just want to be a completist with a game.

The most recent guide I used was for Disaster Report 4 on the Playstation. It's quite a big adventure game and you can move through the areas without triggering whole story arc events and missing big chunks of the story (if you don't trigger certain events, the rest of the events don't happen later in the game).

I also use the Minecraft Dungeons guides a lot with my son to go back through levels to find all the secrets. That's great fun and is good to get him to play multiplayer. Also for weapon and armour hunting to try and find the best sets.

I also use guides and walkthroughs if I decide to replay a game I've completed in the past. I've done that a couple of times for Zelda games and point and click adventures, just because I wanted to replay the story and get through the game without needing to remember or work out everything again. ]]> General Chat Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6241-Game-walkthroughs-and-guides Do you opt for the easy option or a tough challenge? http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6240-Do-you-opt-for-the-easy-option-or-a-tough-challenge?goto=newpost Thu, 26 Mar 2026 10:40:46 GMT When playing a game these days do you go for the Easy level of difficulty or look for a challenge? Do you go for the easy way just to experience... When playing a game these days do you go for the Easy level of difficulty or look for a challenge?

Do you go for the easy way just to experience the story or to see the whole game and all it's levels?

Or do you like the challenge of learning the levels and the sense of achievement in mastering it and reaching the end? ]]> General Chat Harrison http://forum.classicamiga.com/forum/showthread.php/6240-Do-you-opt-for-the-easy-option-or-a-tough-challenge