Helping Amiga love survive

[elronnightshade]

hi guys!

im new here and so glad that i found you

i am a 16 yr old gamer, retro gamer, computer lover and retro computer lover, oh yay

a while back i bourght an amiga 500, i am very happy with it as it seems to be in near mint condition, apart from yellowing, and was supplied boxed with original foam packaging and manuals and even an original waranty card.

as for the hardware, its an amiga 500, usual stuff, v1.3 roms and disks, power supply, mouse, a520 modulator. under the trapdoor it is populated, not too sure on size though....1mb? 512kb?

it boots up fine, aside for one thing.. when in the amiga dos screen after putting the workbench floppy in it reads "battery backed up clock on found"

not too sure why, any thoughts?

it then procedes to load up fine into workbench which oporates perfectly

inside the case the hardware is spotless, there dosnt seem to be any mods

so guys, how can i enhance her? how to i get games onto it? can i upgrade any of the hardware, i heard that u can change the motorola cpu from a 68000 to a 68010? where do i go from here? could i add a modem? how? lots of questions i know, sorry guys

i dont mind working with hardware upgrades or soldering, i built the pc im writing this on myself

thanks for your help EJN

[alexh]

Originally Posted by elronnightshade

under the trapdoor it is populated, not too sure on size though....1mb? 512kb?

Depends if it is an A500 plus. Usually they are 512Kbytes.

Originally Posted by elronnightshade

it boots up fine, aside for one thing.. when in the amiga dos screen after putting the workbench floppy in it reads "battery backed up clock on found" not too sure why, any thoughts?

Your trapdoor card does not have a battery backed up clock. Not all did. It doesn't matter. Ignore this msg.

Originally Posted by elronnightshade

so guys, how can i enhance her?

Buy an A1200? That is the best upgrade.

If you're going to stick with your A500 then the best purchase is a hard drive + RAM. Second hand from eBay or Amibay for about £50. Look for an A590 or GVP HD8+. You'll probably want a new Kickstart ROM & OS too.

Originally Posted by elronnightshade

how to i get games onto it?

Fit a cheap PCI SCSI card into your PC and then connect the hard drive to copy games onto it either using WinUAE or ADFView

Or you could use a slow serial link and some software like AmigaExplorer.

Originally Posted by elronnightshade

can i upgrade any of the hardware, i heard that u can change the motorola cpu from a 68000 to a 68010?

Not worth it. That upgrade is cheap but will break 70% of all games. All A500 CPU upgrades will be uneconomical. If you want to upgrade to a faster Amiga, get an A1200.

Originally Posted by elronnightshade

could i add a modem? how?

What for? I'd forget anything like that. Waste of time and money. Just use your PC for surfing and use it to transfer data to your Amiga.

[elronnightshade]

thank you alexh very much i have been thinking of buying a 1200 for a while now, though i am more likely to just upgrade the roms and add a hdd to my 500, and no its an ordinary 500 not a + so i think ur right about it probs being 512kb under the trapdoor

[prowler]

Hi EJN, and welcome to EAB!

Any money you wish to spend on your Amiga hobby would be far better spent on acquiring an A1200 than on upgrading your A500.

An A500 in near mint condition with 1.3 ROMS is a fine machine, the more so with 512K trapdoor memory expansion and none of the problems that come with a battery backed-up clock. So leave that as it is. You won't find anything more compatible for playing all those old games and demos from floppy disk.

The potential for expanding an A1200, on the other hand, is limited only by your imagination and budget...

[alexh]

Originally Posted by prowler

You won't find anything more compatible for playing all those old games and demos from floppy disk.

The disks & drive are the weak link.

[prowler]

Well, despite the "weak links", EJN's A500 "loads up fine into Workbench, which operates perfectly"!

I guess it'll be okay for playing a few games as well, at least for a good while yet.

[lugosi]

Originally Posted by alexh

Your trapdoor card does not have a battery backed up clock. Not all did. It doesn't matter. Ignore this msg.

Or it has one, including a leaking battery that already did some damage - I wouldn't want to ignore *that* possibility

[Hewitson]

alexh: 70%?

Replacing the 68000 with a 68010 does not cause many compatibility problems at all in my experience. Of course the odd title won't work but being able to quit every WHDLoad slave is a fair tradeoff

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Hewitson

Replacing the 68000 with a 68010 does not cause many compatibility problems at all in my experience.

I have a different experience. However I am not excluding the problems were caused by something else (perhaps kickstart incompatibility, 2MB Chip RAM etc. etc.)

Rebooting when you've got a flash card as your primary drive and an optimised startup sequence & workbench setup is only slightly longer than being able to press quit.

[elronnightshade]

i would love a 1200 guys but being a student, the budget is rather limited and the a1200s are rather more expensive than the a500s, ill just stick to playing games from floppys from ebay atm then though in my head i am brewing up a double loading cpu config, with a switch system to flick between the 68000 and the 68010...crazy i know

[elronnightshade]

oh and sorry for double posting but the trapdoor cards battery is defo NOT leaking, could it have a a bat backed clock and the battery is just flat and needs replacing?

[prowler]

Originally Posted by elronnightshade

oh and sorry for double posting but the trapdoor cards battery is defo NOT leaking, could it have a a bat backed clock and the battery is just flat and needs replacing?

Get that old battery out, and quick! It's a miracle that is hasn't leaked if the clock isn't keeping time.

Removing it by cutting through the wires where they are soldered to the pcb is the best method, for it will obviate the risk of lifting any solder pads by the inexperienced use of a soldering iron.

You don't need a battery-backed clock for a floppy-based system. You can always set the time and date from the shell each time you power it up if it's that important to you.

[ck1200]

Welcome to the forum and hope you enjoy it, i started off with a 500+ many moons ago but always had the c-64 as a kid, however it was quickly evident a 1200 was what i wanted mainly for the aga side of thinks and a few other reasons, i have however seen them advertised for various prices ranging from as cheap as £20.00 to over 200.00 upgraded

the main 1200 i use was a very clean example bought for only 25.00 it now has the main spec listed in my sig just get what you can when you can

Chris

[elronnightshade]

@ prowler, will do exactly as you said very soon, thanks for the advice

@ck1200, looking on ebay as we speak for a cheap a1200

sorry for slow replys guys, hard to juggle workign on my amiga, doing my exams and trying to fix an acorn:P

[ck1200]

Excellent probably ones offering local pick up only will be he cheapest, and acorn lol?

do tell

[elronnightshade]

its an acorn a7000, sadly shes quite ill even sader than that, there is far less support out there for acorn than amiga

[ck1200]

Originally Posted by elronnightshade

its an acorn a7000, sadly shes quite ill even sader than that, there is far less support out there for acorn than amiga

Ok well i'll be honest i've not heard of that model, always fancied a archimedes a3010 or a3020 though as i use to use them in school

I also would not worry to much on a yellowed keyboard in any of the adverts you see if the case is still mostly white you can just replace the keyboard with a new one and have a smart looking computer

Good luck in your acorn project and in finding a 1200

Chris

[elronnightshade]

thanks again chris, the A7000 isnt too far from an a30xx, its still a risc machine

and im not too worried about yellowing, more interested in if it will turn on

[ck1200]

lol on the boot up...and mmhhh must learn more about risc machine's i think and the various models

[elronnightshade]

and i must learn more about how to get mine to turn on