A500 Mini Hacks / Mods

[zx80]

Originally Posted by kriz

For sure a Pi400 is a excellent option, but this A500 mini is great for all who just remembers the Amiga and is without technical knowledge/time to make own solution

Fully agree if you use the A500/Mini as shipped with the 25 games included. But when it comes to hacking the A500 Mini (e.g. add own games/workbench) I doubt the A500 Mini would need less knowledge than modifying a Pi400 setup.

But I agree that the A500 Mini like any other Amiga project no matter if based on real hardware or based on emulation helps keeping the Amiga community vibrant and enjoyable. At the end every product will find it‘s niche.

[mrv2k]

I'm the guy who made the AGS2 mod. It's one of those things where I wanted to push the A500 Mini beyond what it's creators wanted without making any modifications to the firmware. It felt like trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot sometimes, but I'm pretty please with the results.

As for Raspberry Pi being better than the A500 Mini, it's true, it is. I have a Pi4 and Pi400 which are just sitting on my desk as at the moment as I actually spend most of my time on the A500 mini as it quick, easy to use and just works. If anything making AGS2 for an enclosed environment was far less stress than the Windows tools I've made which had to be tweaked for so many different configurations.

As AGS2 has been quite popular, I will probably make a Pi version as it does sound like a bit of fun and I will hopefully learn some new things.

[zx80]

Originally Posted by mrv2k

… As for Raspberry Pi being better than the A500 Mini, it's true, it is. I have a Pi4 and Pi400 which are just sitting on my desk as at the moment as I actually spend most of my time on the A500…

Please don‘t get me wrong. It never was my intention to start a sort of Arcon/Atari/Amiga is better than XY war here. Everybody should use the system she/he prefers.

I started my first trip to emulated Amigas in 2012 with Cloantos AF2012 on my Tower PC. Although working just fine, it did not work out, it didn‘t feel right to me, so I put the CD back in the drawer of my desk. About 10 years later I setup Retropie on my old Pi3b with Amiberry 5.1, WHDLoad and the Roms from AF2012 and plugged it to our 4k TV and here it was, the feeling I had about 30 years ago with my real Amiga 500. Now I do play with my kids Bubble Bobble, Blood Money, Rick Dangerous and about 90 other games I played back in time. Then I bought a Pi400 last Christmas and started setting up my own custom workbench setups, testing other distros created by other people out there and the fun of the good old days is still back inside me since then.

Somewhere in between I bought a C64 Mini/Maxi but the only thing I use of it regularly are the USB Joysticks delivered with them on my Pi3b. The C64s are just dusting around in my basement. Can‘t tell what really makes the difference, but something just works, while some other may not, depending on personal preferences and past experiences.

[lineacero]

Very good to all, and congratulations for this great channel from a great group of friends.
I have a sad story to tell you all.
My son formatted my micro sd card where I had my games and my friend's "Arcade game selector 2" launcher for my "Psvita" henkaku console with the UAE4All2 great emulator Psvita.
It had "4 hdf files" of up to "2 gb each file" .hdf file with the arcade game selector 2 launcher and the iff games and images.
Someone here that I have 4 hdf with games and arcade game selector and images of the games in iff format ,, please help, please ,, I can't play my friend's games anymore ,,, my son formatted everything.

[mrv2k]

AGS2 version 1.2 is available on the ftp under ~uploads/mrv2k https://www.facebook.com/groups/5713...0815777421042/

[Fissuras]

I've just got my A500 mini and thank to you guys I've been able to make it so much more satisfying.

[amigang]

A500 Mini Game Selector v1.3 is available!


HTTP
http://grandis.nu/turran/FTP/~Uploads/mrv2k/AGS_v1.3/
MEGA
https://mega.nz/folder/nBdnRA7L#jkELd1ZYD1zFfaPnYk84qg

[Lord Aga]

What is the official state of A500 Mini right now?
Does it allow native hdf support, and thus easy Workbenching, or does that still require hacks?

I remember them adding adf support.

[gimbal]

There has not been an extra patch since, unfortunately.

[Lord Aga]

That's too bad

I suppose it would be a killer feature to have. Just stick in a thumb drive with a hdf file, choose it from the menu and BAM - Workbench. Coupled with the existing adf support it would make a truly well rounded product.

Now, I don't know if there are some difficulties on the technical side...

[DisasterIncarna]

Originally Posted by Lord Aga

What is the official state of A500 Mini right now?
Does it allow native hdf support, and thus easy Workbenching, or does that still require hacks?

I remember them adding adf support.

isnt it basically an arm device comparable to a pi3 and running the amiberry emulator? cant someone just replace whatever is default/limiting the device with a normal setup.

[BigD]

Originally Posted by DisasterIncarna

isnt it basically an arm device comparable to a pi3 and running the amiberry emulator? cant someone just replace whatever is default/limiting the device with a normal setup.

You might as well buy a Pi3 if you're doing that. There are enough great softmods to get by IMHO.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by BigD

You might as well buy a Pi3 if you're doing that. There are enough great softmods to get by IMHO.

No get at least a Pi4 if you're going to roll something yourself. The only reason to get an A500 mini is for the looks, the convenience of having something up and running in minutes and the fact that you get the roms legally.

[BigD]

Originally Posted by gimbal

No get at least a Pi4 if you're going to roll something yourself. The only reason to get an A500 mini is for the looks, the convenience of having something up and running in minutes and the fact that you get the roms legally.

To be able to play WHDLoad Amiga games, Workbench stuff under AMiNIMiga and to play games that came to AmigaNG like WipEout 2097 (PSX version) under Pandory means that THEA500 Mini is ideal. I can't say messing with AmiBerry options is particularly fun despite allowing me to softmod some single disk ADFs before the firmware officially supported it.

I guess there are some of us that would prefer to forget our Amiga is actually a Next-Gen Acorn tech machine! THE500 Mini gives you that distance from the whole Arm cult thing! But yes you do pay an Amiga tax!

[DisasterIncarna]

Originally Posted by BigD

To be able to play WHDLoad Amiga games, Workbench stuff under AMiNIMiga and to play games that came to AmigaNG like WipEout 2097 (PSX version) under Pandory means that THEA500 Mini is ideal. I can't say messing with AmiBerry options is particularly fun despite allowing me to softmod some single disk ADFs before the firmware officially supported it.

I guess there are some of us that would prefer to forget our Amiga is actually a Next-Gen Acorn tech machine! THE500 Mini gives you that distance from the whole Arm cult thing! But yes you do pay an Amiga tax!

not sure i get what you mean by distance from arm tech? the a500 mini is an arm device, it literally has the exact same ARM Cortex A53 as the pi3, just because its in an amiga shaped case doesnt make it distanced from regular pi's or other arm devices.

If its just the look/feel then the pi 3 & 4 has already had several c64/amiga shaped cases long before the a500 mini.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/5014...pberry-pi-case

https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-print-mo...i4-amiga-chase

Thats just 2 quick ones found, there are heaps of 3d printed retro cases for the pi and in the case of the pi4 which you can do yourself or buy from someone else, your better off with that option as the pi4 is more powerful than the a500 mini's pi3 like specs and you can use a less limited emulator setup and do as you please.

And ofc to top them all is the pi400 which is pretty much a pi4 with a keyboard slapped on it, so you have a functional pi with keyboard in a form factor reminicent of retro all-in-one computers like the amiga.

[Loggo]

Hi there!

I’m relatively new to Amiga stuff. I grew up with Nintendo/SEGA consoles and only got to explore Amiga’s library in the last 5 years or so. I decided to buy the A500 Mini for a more "consolized" experience and managed to load WHDLoad games using Amigajay’s "unofficial pack" from the other thread, but I have run into some problems and I would appreciate some help if possible.

1. Unlike the pre-loaded games (where I can switch between different screen options), all my WHDLoad games play in a small window. Am I doing something wrong?

2. Lionheart has graphical glitches. More importantly, though, the controls are messed up when I use the 2 button configuration. One button will draw the sword (as it should), but the other will perform Valdyn’s "high strike" instead of jumping. Occasionally, however, Valdyn will jump so the controls seem to switch (randomly?) between working and not working. I have absolutely no idea how to fix this.

3. Is there a way to assign "rapid fire" to one of the buttons? I’m getting too old for button mashing in shmups and Battle Squadron is brutal without rapid fire.

[BigD]

Originally Posted by DisasterIncarna

not sure i get what you mean by distance from arm tech? the a500 mini is an arm device, it literally has the exact same ARM Cortex A53 as the pi3, just because its in an amiga shaped case doesnt make it distanced from regular pi's or other arm devices.

Yeah, but it is set up for you with RGL carousel system and you don't have to delve into the AmiBerry menus if you don't want to. You wouldn't know what CPU it has if you didn't research it!

[sokolovic]

Originally Posted by Loggo

Hi there!

I’m relatively new to Amiga stuff. I grew up with Nintendo/SEGA consoles and only got to explore Amiga’s library in the last 5 years or so. I decided to buy the A500 Mini for a more "consolized" experience and managed to load WHDLoad games using Amigajay’s "unofficial pack" from the other thread, but I have run into some problems and I would appreciate some help if possible.

1. Unlike the pre-loaded games (where I can switch between different screen options), all my WHDLoad games play in a small window. Am I doing something wrong?

2. Lionheart has graphical glitches. More importantly, though, the controls are messed up when I use the 2 button configuration. One button will draw the sword (as it should), but the other will perform Valdyn’s "high strike" instead of jumping. Occasionally, however, Valdyn will jump so the controls seem to switch (randomly?) between working and not working. I have absolutely no idea how to fix this.

3. Is there a way to assign "rapid fire" to one of the buttons? I’m getting too old for button mashing in shmups and Battle Squadron is brutal without rapid fire.

Hello !


1 - You'll have to configure each game with the advanced options to get the best screen size (you have to configure the advanced option mode on the system option first). Not every Amiga games have the same screen definition.


2 - Here again, I think you can improve Lionheart using the options (adding or removing blitter use etc... Can't remember what you can do)



3 - Can't help you with that.



Maybe you should try an adapted package for the A500 Mini. There quite a few you can easily find on the internet. I believe games here are configured the best possible way each to play on the A500 Mini

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by BigD

To be able to play WHDLoad Amiga games, Workbench stuff under AMiNIMiga and to play games that came to AmigaNG like WipEout 2097 (PSX version) under Pandory means that THEA500 Mini is ideal.

Yes and no, unfortunately the WHDLoad support is not as configurable as the ADF support. And save states are not guaranteed I found out the hard way.

[BigD]

Originally Posted by gimbal

Yes and no, unfortunately the WHDLoad support is not as configurable as the ADF support. And save states are not guaranteed I found out the hard way.

The save states work fine unless the usb sticks corrupt but you can back up the usb sticks. The built in games are a different matter and yes you lose the saves when you do a factory reset. I've needed to do that after the CD32 controls for Worms: TDC stopped working (not sure why but it's happened twice now)! WHDLoad options are fine and configurable. A great soft mod option is Pandory which allows slow games like Jim Power and Fire and Ice to run faster and 2-player mouse games like Lemming and The Settlers to work with two mice; one for each player (not possible under the RGL Carousel)! Having access to Pandory is better than losing the ability to use it once the 1.1.1 firmware update is applied. The firmware update isn't worth it just for the ADF support IMHO.