ScuzzBlog: Diaries July 2026 Entry 3rd July 2026: Post 1: Amiga 1200 - Finding a pristine A1200. Amiga 1200 - Finding a pristine A1200. Someone asked how they could acquire a pristine condition A1200. I have obtained what I would call mint in box only twice in my life. The first was my original Amiga 1200 purchased in October 1993 and the second was an Amiga Magic Pack bought from Analogic in 2002 which was old stock from the Escom days. So finding one today in the year 2026 is going to be a challenge. I commented that the most rewarding and immaculate machines that I have acquired have always been gifts from fellow Amigans. Because of my reputation for looking after kit, and cus I have been here since the dawn of Amiga time, they felt safe handing over their beloved machines for safe keeping. Sadly, also, a few folk were either dying or had passed away. Time was when I first started with the Amiga there was an active community of Amiga groups and users. We also had sites like Amibench and an active magazine circulation. I acquired quite a few bits of kit from a local rag called the Diamond Free Adds. The good thing about the free adds was you could place a wanted add, something folk seem to be missing these days. The Yahoo Groups died and so we are left with a modest number of Amiga User sites to interact with. Personally I rarely get involved these days as most that post seem to be of the ' Yeah I had one of those ' brigade and contribute very little. However, as with all these sites there are those lurking that like me rarely show their face. More on that later. OK So if the house burnt down and I needed to maintain my lust for the Amiga what would I do. First up cry but then get the first machine I could afford. Probably a banged up A500. Mostly I would be working to get a mouse, monitor, power supply, disk boxes, disks etc so if someone was selling a broken Amiga but came with all the extras I would obtain that. In truth I would be trying to secure a healthy stock of support kit. I would buy magazines, cover disks, software. Classic software like DPaint, Wordworth, AMOS etc. I would then start to look for an upgrade and my eyes would be set on an A1200. I guess I would try to get one recapped. So I would save my pennies until I was happy to pounce. Once secured I would be back on track to my collecting. Cus it wouldn't stop there. As to pristine I really couldn't care less, but if you like a new looking Amiga you either have to drop lucky or accept the case has been retrobrited. I would prefer a good working yellow machine any day. You really want a machine that has had the least done to it. Most important would be the original box and books etc. So how much ? The least I would expect to pay is what I originally paid in 1993 and that is five hundred and fifty quid. I recently bought a crap HP Win11 machine for a thousand quid so an A1200 in good working order has to be worth the same. Depends what comes with it. I have no interest in modern upgrades so I would then sniff around the sites for an accelerator. OK Moving onto the current Amiga Community... I know you are still out their I can sense your being. The world we live in today is very superficial. It is a product of mobile phones. It is a world that has generated those that pretend to be involved just to gain some fake sense of validation. So the initial layer of comments made on a forum you can ignore. Serious users will never respond. However as with all forums there is a layer of knowledgeable users who lurk below the surface, and only by monitoring the site will you get to know who these guys are. So when they post make sensible, constructive, supportive comment and see if you can get a rise out of them and get on their good side. You never know where these contacts can lead. I have received so much free stuff from guys I developed a good working relationship with. Simple truth is that real Amiga folk like to help. You just have to find them. So your first port of call is EAB which is the Diagon Alley of the Amiga world. Prepare to be savaged when you first arrive but soon you may just trip across a helpful and useful type. The next two useful sites are the stock and trade backstops that at times seem to go into hibernation state , but trust me they are all still active. Just lurking. And that is Amiga Org and Amiga World Net. Amiga Org is more traditional whereas Net is for post Commodore for the most part. For some reason I am a hero member on Amiga Org. No idea how that happened. Next up familarise yourself with the guys at Lemon Amiga cus they will save your life in a jam. With each of these main sites you get links to many others and so visit these sites and keep an active list. Get involved. It would be wise to familiarise yourself with the work of Bo 'Mighty' Bo Zimmerman, the god of all things Commodore. Plus the work of Greg Donner who knows everything about Amiga Workbench. I provided a links page on my blog a year or so ago. Just find my index page, link at the top and search for links. In respect of modern forums whilst its interesting reading the Discord site, personally I wouldn't get involved. Same goes with Amiga Reddit. Posts very rarely develop into full on conversations. Sadly a product of mobile phone society. Empty Barrels. On that Reddit front the Commodore and C64 sites are more useful as are the Retro and Vintage Computers. Other platforms have some crazy guys on hand so getting over to Stardot and joining an Atari , Amstrad, MSX and Amiga discussion is still a blast. Adriens Basement on YouTube can be the most dull experience but he knows his stuff. Also a couple of the restoration sites where guys rebuild old consoles is useful to learn soldering skills. I have no experience of Face Book as I don't do Social Media. I find that building up an interest in the platform and chasing links to their natural conclusion is the best way of truly getting to know what it is your looking for and want. It also will help you decide if you really want to dedicate your time and efforts to the platform. The Amiga is like a vocation, you give up great chunks of you life for it. And it needs that level of dedication. Did you know that if you save a simple notepad document with the HTM extension it becomes a web page that you can view with your browser. So there you go design your own webpage, get some cheap webspace, add some contact detail and beg the world to give you an Amiga. You can only try. A guy once did that to me from Brazil and I sent him a mouse and keyboard to make his A2000 work. But he first had to show his worth. My advice as ever is to follow the white rabbit. It takes a bit of getting your head round but its worth the journey. Remember Neo in Matrix.... And watch the film Finding Forester. If you can demonstrate your worth then just maybe the Oracle will grant you your wish. But are you the one or just another empty barrel. So learn how to fly the flag and as Eric Schwartz said .... Be a survivor. I leave you with images of what should be in the box and some old kit I threw together Amiga 1200 - Finding a pristine A1200. It really is amazing how well this box has lasted over the years. It's not like I made extra effort particularly in the earlier years. Even the base has survived. Quite incredible. The sticker identified the A1200 has being fitted with an 80MB hard drive. Two games and two applications came with Desktop Dynamite. Plus Workbench 3.0 disks. All held in this neat little presentation box. Inside is the paperwork and the books. The actual 80MB hard drive that was fitted the day I brought the A1200 home. She was replaced with a 350MB hard drive a year later. Sadly the drive broke whilst being used in someone else's computer. Always carry a spare pack with you. The very magical DeluxePaint IV. Dunno where I would have been without this particularly the animation software. Wordworth was generally fine, though in truth not my favourite word processor. Can't play Oscar cus if I do that blasted music just goes round in my head all day long. Dreadful game.. Sorry. Books that mark the beginning of everything. Disks that were copied and safely tucked away. These are not the actual originals. All my originals are in this disk box. Note the little 'X' on the labels. Dennis game 'leaflet' And you need the booklet out all the time cus of the code needed to play the game. So annoying. Wordworth... Which also needs the code. I copied down the most important key codes onto a handy bit of card I kept next to the Amiga at all times. The spine on these books is way too rigid. I much prefer the earlier ring bound books. You get the hard drive supplement if you have the hard drive ready fitted. Magical AGA. Again the spine being too rigid makes the book unusable to be honest. Plethora of never ending leaflet updates. Offers on sale. The warranty. I actually purchased the extra cover. I also registered the Wordworth software. My original receipt 29th October 1993. My down payment for the 1942 monitor which sadly never surfaced as Commodore went bust before it arrived. The cover was very useful cus I did have to call them out once. I do not have the DOS version for 3.1. And a bit of all white Wishes can come true. Gifts from fellow Amigans. And the last new Amiga I actually purchased

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Last updated 3rd July 2026

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