A500 queries

prabmire · 03 October 2011, 12:47

Hey all,

Been sorting my amiga collection out recently and gotten back into the flow of playing some damn awesome games!, i've got a query though, i've seen another A500 on youtube thats got the A590 hdd, and an external CD drive connected at the same time, while this is an impressive setup, i've been thinking about doing the 512k ram upgrade and using an A570 for CD TV stuff, any help at all would be appreciated

Prab

Fingerlickin_B · 03 October 2011, 13:03

The CDTV was certainly cool...I loved mine...but only for modifying.

Considering the fact that anything CDTV can be run on another Amiga anyway, I see no point in turning your A500 into a pseudo-CDTV (although doing it simply because you want to is always fun).

IIRC both the A590 & A570 add 2mb of fast RAM, but the A570 gives you no HDD. If you have the correct revision of motherboard, you can take that 512k expansion & have an A500 with 1mb of chip RAM with very little work (slight modding, easy as pie), which would make your machine great for WHDLoad using an A590!

PZ.

prabmire · 03 October 2011, 13:27

Awesome stuff, i've seen a 570 for sale locally, want to add a couple of external floppies for ease of use on workbench and multidisk games!

Fingerlickin_B · 03 October 2011, 13:43

Speaking of which, what revision MB do you have?

PZ.

Jope · 03 October 2011, 14:24

The A570 can take a SCSI adapter, if you can find one.

prabmire · 03 October 2011, 14:36

Not sure on MB revision i'll have to check! My dad bought this amiga with the game pack that included batman so i'm guessing it was an 89 model

Jope · 03 October 2011, 16:30

Batman Pack machines probably have Rev5. At least mine was.

dabone · 03 October 2011, 16:37

I've got a a500 that I'm trying to get to 1mb chip cheaply.
I need a new angus. (Mine is just a fat).
Rev 5 board., What is the cheapest way to get 1mb chip?
The rest of the setup is cool, 8mb fast, 2gb cf card on a ide adapter, now I just need some more chip ram.

Later,
dabone

Jope · 03 October 2011, 18:51

* Isolate PAL/NTSC pin of 1MB Agnus from the socket if PAL is desired, leave it as is if you prefer to default to NTSC refresh rates (a thin sliver of sticky tape works here)
* Install the Agnus into the motherboard
* Toggle JP2 to its alternate position
* Turn off switch on your ram expansion or isolate _EXRAM from Gary if your expansion has no switch.

Ja valmista tuli!

The cheapest ways to get the Agnus and trapdoor expansion is buy them second hand on amibay.com probably?

clenched · 03 October 2011, 20:40

I have bought chips from this place before and was satisfied with their quality. The page lists the Agnus you need @ $12 but I would email first since I don't know how recent the page is.

EDIT: UhOh, I just realized that question wasn't the main topic.

prabmire · 04 October 2011, 14:49

Just a quick bump, was wondering in addition to the ram upgrade i can do internally with the trapdoor, what kind of upgrade can i do on the A570, can i have the ram upgraded on both components?

thinking of this ram for the main machine:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spirit-Tec...ht_2384wt_1398

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SupraRAM-5...ht_1562wt_1398

i really should sign up to amibay!

Prab

Jope · 04 October 2011, 15:54

You should upgrade the trapdoor RAM as far as it can go, then plug in another RAM expansion to the side of the machine.

I don't recommend the Insider.

prabmire · 04 October 2011, 16:03

I think its already had the 1meg ram upgrade, as i've just been playing games that require 1mb ram

i don't want to risk damaging this ol girl as its the original 500 my dad bought, i think i'll just add an external floppy and a570 to it and be happy with it.

Another thing:
If i want to back up original amiga games, how do i go about it, just transfer from disk to disk using workbench?

Prab

Jope · 04 October 2011, 18:35

Forget about backing up original amiga games. You will need to learn reverse-engineering skills to remove the copy protection.

Alternately: buy a Kryoflux and find IPFs of the originals somewhere.

prabmire · 04 October 2011, 18:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jope

Forget about backing up original amiga games. You will need to learn reverse-engineering skills to remove the copy protection.

Alternately: buy a Kryoflux and find IPFs of the originals somewhere.

Wasn't their a drive that could make analogue copies of the games?

Prab

Jope · 05 October 2011, 18:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by prabmire

Wasn't their a drive that could make analogue copies of the games?

Prab

There is a little cartridge that plugs between the computer and the first external drive (Cyclone) which will make these analogue style copies given that you run the Cyclone software.

It won't work on all games.

prabmire · 06 October 2011, 15:32

Got my A570 hooked up! works a treat, even tried the audio cd facilities, its pretty much a defacto CDTV

, also bought one of the xcopy/cyclone dongles just need another FDD now

Fingerlickin_B · 07 October 2011, 11:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jope

* Isolate PAL/NTSC pin of 1MB Agnus from the socket if PAL is desired

Ok, this might be what I need!

My A500 has 1MB Agnus & won't play certain games...this has to be it...running in NTSC (with multi-signal TV it's not apparent & I never thought of that).

Jope, could you please tell me which pin this is?

*EDIT* - Think I did this on a CD32's Alice before. It's still pin 41, yes?

RE-EDIT: Yep, pin 41...works fine now

PZ.

03 October 2011, 12:47	#1
prabmire Registered User Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Se London Posts: 79	A500 queries Hey all, Been sorting my amiga collection out recently and gotten back into the flow of playing some damn awesome games!, i've got a query though, i've seen another A500 on youtube thats got the A590 hdd, and an external CD drive connected at the same time, while this is an impressive setup, i've been thinking about doing the 512k ram upgrade and using an A570 for CD TV stuff, any help at all would be appreciated Prab

03 October 2011, 20:40	#10
clenched Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Gainesville U.S.A. Posts: 771	I have bought chips from this place before and was satisfied with their quality. The page lists the Agnus you need @ $12 but I would email first since I don't know how recent the page is. EDIT: UhOh, I just realized that question wasn't the main topic. Last edited by clenched; 03 October 2011 at 20:52.

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03 October 2011, 13:03	#2
Fingerlickin_B Amiga Nut Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Belco, Australia Posts: 2,242	The CDTV was certainly cool...I loved mine...but only for modifying. Considering the fact that anything CDTV can be run on another Amiga anyway, I see no point in turning your A500 into a pseudo-CDTV (although doing it simply because you want to is always fun). IIRC both the A590 & A570 add 2mb of fast RAM, but the A570 gives you no HDD. If you have the correct revision of motherboard, you can take that 512k expansion & have an A500 with 1mb of chip RAM with very little work (slight modding, easy as pie), which would make your machine great for WHDLoad using an A590! PZ.

03 October 2011, 13:27	#3
prabmire Registered User Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Se London Posts: 79	Awesome stuff, i've seen a 570 for sale locally, want to add a couple of external floppies for ease of use on workbench and multidisk games!

03 October 2011, 13:43	#4
Fingerlickin_B Amiga Nut Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Belco, Australia Posts: 2,242	Speaking of which, what revision MB do you have? PZ.

03 October 2011, 14:24	#5
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	The A570 can take a SCSI adapter, if you can find one.

03 October 2011, 14:36	#6
prabmire Registered User Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Se London Posts: 79	Not sure on MB revision i'll have to check! My dad bought this amiga with the game pack that included batman so i'm guessing it was an 89 model

03 October 2011, 16:30	#7
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	Batman Pack machines probably have Rev5. At least mine was.

03 October 2011, 16:37	#8
dabone Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Chattanooga TN, USA Posts: 109	I've got a a500 that I'm trying to get to 1mb chip cheaply. I need a new angus. (Mine is just a fat). Rev 5 board., What is the cheapest way to get 1mb chip? The rest of the setup is cool, 8mb fast, 2gb cf card on a ide adapter, now I just need some more chip ram. Later, dabone

03 October 2011, 18:51	#9
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	* Isolate PAL/NTSC pin of 1MB Agnus from the socket if PAL is desired, leave it as is if you prefer to default to NTSC refresh rates (a thin sliver of sticky tape works here) * Install the Agnus into the motherboard * Toggle JP2 to its alternate position * Turn off switch on your ram expansion or isolate _EXRAM from Gary if your expansion has no switch. Ja valmista tuli! The cheapest ways to get the Agnus and trapdoor expansion is buy them second hand on amibay.com probably?

04 October 2011, 14:49	#11
prabmire Registered User Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Se London Posts: 79	Just a quick bump, was wondering in addition to the ram upgrade i can do internally with the trapdoor, what kind of upgrade can i do on the A570, can i have the ram upgraded on both components? thinking of this ram for the main machine: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spirit-Tec...ht_2384wt_1398 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SupraRAM-5...ht_1562wt_1398 i really should sign up to amibay! Prab

04 October 2011, 15:54	#12
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	You should upgrade the trapdoor RAM as far as it can go, then plug in another RAM expansion to the side of the machine. I don't recommend the Insider.

04 October 2011, 16:03	#13
prabmire Registered User Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Se London Posts: 79	I think its already had the 1meg ram upgrade, as i've just been playing games that require 1mb ram i don't want to risk damaging this ol girl as its the original 500 my dad bought, i think i'll just add an external floppy and a570 to it and be happy with it. Another thing: If i want to back up original amiga games, how do i go about it, just transfer from disk to disk using workbench? Prab

04 October 2011, 18:35	#14
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	Forget about backing up original amiga games. You will need to learn reverse-engineering skills to remove the copy protection. Alternately: buy a Kryoflux and find IPFs of the originals somewhere.

06 October 2011, 15:32	#17
prabmire Registered User Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Se London Posts: 79	Got my A570 hooked up! works a treat, even tried the audio cd facilities, its pretty much a defacto CDTV , also bought one of the xcopy/cyclone dongles just need another FDD now

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