A500 questions

[DaveMB]

Ok, well I have a sudden desire to own an A500 and have a few questions.

I will need a way to transfer adf's to floppy disks, (I have no interest in WHDLoad - Even though I do have a registered copy)

If I buy Jens's ACA500 when it gets released, Will I be able to plug a CF card straight in and install Workbench and TSGUI? (as that's really all I will need)

I understand that the ACA500 requires Kickstart v1.3 or higher for CF auto-boot so will these do the job http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...roducts_id=157 or are these likely to cause compatibility issues with some OCS games? (just covering my bases here )

Thanks for the answers

[prowler]

If you get an A500 it will most probably come with a Kickstart 1.3 ROM chip fitted.

You will not improve the machine's compatibility with most games by fitting a KS3.1 ROM chip.

[moijk]

aca500 comes with :

• 68EC000-10 clocked at 14 MHz (i.e. double A500 clock)
• 2 MB or 4 MB of physical RAM, entirely available for applications (minus 512 KB if MapROM is used)
• external expansion, no need to open the A500
• two Compact Flash card slots (each one of them bootable and able to read/write Amiga or PC formatted cards)
• trapdoor memory expansions up to 1.8 MB FastMem still work (including RTC)
• ChipMem expansions still work
• custom expansion port for local hardware (14 MHz 16-bit, double Zorro speed)
• clock port for hardware expansions, e.g. for Silversurfer or Catweasel Mk2
• optionally expandable by adding an ACA-1220 / ACA-1231 / ACA-1232 card
• licensed Kickstart ROM images 1.3 and 3.1 included in Flash-ROM
• FAT95 file system also included in Flash-ROM
• full WHDload compatibility incl. Quit key!

[gnujon]

Originally Posted by DaveMB

Ok, well I have a sudden desire to own an A500 and have a few questions.

I will need a way to transfer adf's to floppy disks, (I have no interest in WHDLoad - Even though I do have a registered copy)

If I buy Jens's ACA500 when it gets released, Will I be able to plug a CF card straight in and install Workbench and TSGUI? (as that's really all I will need)

I understand that the ACA500 requires Kickstart v1.3 or higher for CF auto-boot so will these do the job http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...roducts_id=157 or are these likely to cause compatibility issues with some OCS games? (just covering my bases here )

Thanks for the answers

You won't need to get a 3.1 Kickstart ROM chip upgrade if you're getting an ACA500, it includes a licensed Kickstart 3.1 and 1.3 built in. It let's you choose between them when you boot up. 1.3 is a better choice for compatibility when booting games and demos from floppy, but the ACA500 will be ideal for running WHDLoad. If you want to run things from floppy you might want to consider an HxC floppy emulator. Then you won't have to mess around with actual floppy disks and you can put all your floppy images onto an SD card.

[DaveMB]

Originally Posted by prowler

If you get an A500 it will most probably come with a Kickstart 1.3 ROM chip fitted.

Ahh ok, I assumed the A500 was v1.2? Obviously some will have been upgraded, But not all of them and I guarantee I'd end up with one that hadn't , Also I know changing the Kickstart wouldn't improve compatibility, I was concerned it might reduce it.

Originally Posted by moijk

aca500 comes with :

licensed Kickstart ROM images 1.3 and 3.1 included in Flash-ROM

That's good to know, When I read about the ACA500 Jens was still negotiating RE: Kickstart licenses.

Originally Posted by gnujon

you might want to consider an HxC floppy emulator. Then you won't have to mess around with actual floppy disks and you can put all your floppy images onto an SD card.

But I actually want to use floppys (besides I have around 200 or so just sat here waiting for me to use them)

Thanks for the answers guys.

[gnujon]

Originally Posted by moijk

aca500 comes with :

• 2 MB or 4 MB of physical RAM, entirely available for applications (minus 512 K

Moijk, do you know if 4 meg versions will be available? Or will we need to send our ACA500 boards back to Jens to be upgraded if we want that?

[prowler]

Originally Posted by DaveMB

Ahh ok, I assumed the A500 was v1.2? Obviously some will have been upgraded, But not all of them and I guarantee I'd end up with one that hadn't , Also I know changing the Kickstart wouldn't improve compatibility, I was concerned it might reduce it.

Well, your A500 might come with Kickstart 1.2, and this can be more compatible that KS1.3 for certain games.

Also, when I said that KS3.1 would do nothing to improve compatibility, I neglected to say that it might well reduce it. Sorry.

PS. If your A500 does come with a Kickstart 1.2 ROM chip fitted, I could probably let you have a KS1.3 chip from one of my spare A500s if you would prefer it.

[DaveMB]

Originally Posted by prowler

I could probably let you have a KS1.3 chip from one of my spare A500s if you would prefer it.

Might take you up on that, cheers

[gnujon]

Originally Posted by DaveMB

Ahh ok, I assumed the A500 was v1.2? Obviously some will have been upgraded, But not all of them and I guarantee I'd end up with one that hadn't , Also I know changing the Kickstart wouldn't improve compatibility, I was concerned it might reduce it.

Many A500s did ship with v1.3 Kickstarts, but you're right, you will find some old ones out there with v1.2. And yes Kickstart 3.1 will be less compatible with older floppy games and demos. You should try to find yourself one of the newer A500s with kickstart 1.3 and a 1 meg ECS Agnus chip, that way you will have the option to upgrade it to 1 meg of chip RAM (using the trapdoor expansion memory). Or better yet, try to find an A500+ (if you can find any that haven't been destroyed by their leaky batteries). If you're getting an ACA500 then you could use it with an A500+ to boot up with Kickstart 1.3 for the best compatibility with your older software.

[DaveMB]

Originally Posted by gnujon

If you're getting an ACA500 then you could use it with an A500+ to boot up with Kickstart 1.3 for the best compatibility with your older software.

was just thinking about that