Amiga 4000/4000T

What can I do with an Amiga 4000/4000T?
The powerhouse of the Amiga family. You can use this for general computing or as a speedy graphics workstation. There are plenty of expansion options and tons of uses for this Amiga. Usually found sporting a VideoToaster 4000 card. Create a television studio out of this box, it will do all of your graphics.
NASA uses Amiga 4000's to track the Space Shuttle...

Can the A4000 run modern software?
Yes, but at least upgrade to OS 3.1, the original 3.0 has plenty of bugs, that need to be stomped out.

Other recommended upgrades are the following:
A) AmigaOS 3.5 / 3.9
B) Accelerator card equipped with a 68040/40mhz or better (up to 68060/75Mhz or a 233Mhz G3)
C) 16MB RAM
D) 2MB chip mem
E)Hard disk (300Mb or more)
F)CD-ROM

Can I connect to the Internet?
Yes, First off, it's imperative to have a hard drive and a good amount of RAM. Even with a stock 68030 CPU, you will not be limited in what types of applications you can run. FTP, IRC, E-Mail, Telnet and a Webbrowser will work, with good results. With OS 3.5 and above you will be able to add plug-ins for FLASH, REAL-PLAYER and a few other web enhancements.

How do I expand it?
:The Amiga 4000 has many upgrade options. Use the CPU slot for Acceleration Use the Video Slot for A FlickerFixer and Scandoubler or Graphics Card, or even the Video Toaster. There are expansions for almost anything you can dream of.

What are the specifics of the IDE controller?
Both the A4000 and 1200 have IDE drive controllers, standard. The IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) standard is most common on PCs and is generally cheaper, though slower, than comparable SCSI drives. IDE drives are easier to set-up, though because they are limited to two drives per connector. Drives are configured in a master/slave set-up, where the boot drive is usually set to Master. And the second drive is the slave. Both HD's need to have the jumpers set, or you will never get them up and running. Drives are connected using a three ended cable, one of the connectors goes to the motherboard or controller, one to the boot hard drive and one to the slave drive (CD-ROM). You can find how to set your jumper settings, on your drive by looking in the manual or by checking on the Internet for your drive. Some drives will need to be set to use the computer's LED so that you can see when the drive is active..

:Is the 4000 IDE connector EIDE and ATAPI compatible?
Yes, though, the controller cannot have 4 drives (like EIDE). It also is not as fast as standard EIDE. However, it is compatible and should work fine. For ATAPI CD-ROMs you will need proper drivers... or you can download or purchase a package like IDEFix '97, ASIMCDFS 3.8.

:Does the A4000 have a standard IDE controller?
Yes. It is standard but limited compared to the IDE controllers on PC's, but older IDE drives work perfectly.

Do I need a buffer for the A4000 IDE interface?
No, but if you have a long cable going between the drive and the controller it is, a really good idea. You could experience some data loss if you don't have one. Especially, when you have a CD-ROM attached.

Can I connect more than one drive to the A4000 interface?
Yes, but only two drives, as the Amiga opted for a lower cost than true EIDE. You can upgrade the controller to a gain faster access and more drives using the BUDDHA or CatWeasel controllers.

What are the maximum transfer rates I can expect from the 4000 IDE interface?
Between 1MB to 2.5MB/s. Not bad, but not a speed demon either.