Amiga 2000 family

What can I do with an Amiga 2000  family member.?
The Amiga 2000 family was the first of what we call the BIG BOX Amigas. This is also one of the most popular Amigas. Especially since they were low-cost, easy to use, and had many expansion slots. There are quite a few members in this family from the 2000, 2000HD, 2000UX and the 2500/2500UX. These are basically all the same machine under the hood, the HD model with a Hard Drive and the UX model with UNIX. The 2500 series machine has the ECS, the Enhanced Chip Set which provided for the use of more Video Memory and better graphics. The Amiga 2000's are the next most common "second hand Amigas" following the A500 you will find. The VIDEO TOASTER, was built for this powerful machine, some versions you may find that have the Toaster built in, and don't even say Amiga on them, but Video Toaster. Basically the chipset of the A2000/2500 are physically the same as an A500, but have more expansion options.

Can the A2000 family run modern software?
Yes, but not without some upgrading. Generally, the following upgrades:

A) AmigaOS 3.1
B) Accelerator card equipped with a 68030/40mhz or better
C) 8MB RAM
D) 1MB Agnus chip, Super Denise chip (if not so equipped, some were), the 2MB Agnus is more useful, but if you are at a really tight budget, the 1MB will work.
E) Hard drive controller with hard disk and (100Mb or more) & CD-ROM (if possible).
F) Graphics Card for AGA compatibility
* Please note, that any software requiring the upgraded AGA custom chipset will not work with the A2000/2500, however newer video cards and OS3.5 or higher, will allow you to run many AGA titles.

Can I connect it to the Internet?
Yes, once again you'll need to upgrade. First off, it's imperative to have a hard drive and a good amount of RAM. With the 68000 CPU as stock, you'll be limited in what types of applications you can run. FTP, IRC, E-Mail, Telnet and a Webbrowser will work, albeit very slowly. You'll need at the very least AmigaOS 2.04, with 3.1 you'll be able to run a webbrowser in 16 colors. Even if you upgrade to a fairly quick CPU, you'll still be limited in colors.

How do I expand it?
The Amiga 2000/2500, has many upgrade options. Use the Zorro II, slots on the inside of the box that have many expansion products made for them. The chips on the motherboard are almost all socketed, this allows great flexibility, and there are many options that take advantage of that. Also the open drive bays leave room for a CD-ROM and an extra floppy