New to Amiga - want to add hard drive

03 July 2010, 16:53

Hi - Amiga virgin here. I just bought at a car boot sale the Amiga A500 with a monitor. (I was a commodore 64 guy myself) It came with the work bench disks, about 20 games or so, a midi interface, some joysticks and a few other bits like educational software and some cables.

Anyway, I want to add a compact flash hard disk or even better an SD card one if such a thing exists!

I hope this can be done because when I search an earlier thread just now, I said that the PCMCIA thingy was only for the A600? I hope this is still possible. Any idiots guides appreciated! cheers!

ck1200 · 03 July 2010, 17:08

Congrats on the amiga purchase, i was also a c64 owner years ago and still am

hd wise the main option that springs to mind is a side mounted gvp unit or similar these contain a hard drive and some ram

take a peek on here or there may be one on e bay at min, not sure you can link a cf to a 500 though, think thats just 600and above dont hold me to it though

cosmicfrog · 03 July 2010, 19:06

try this

http://amibay.com/showthread.php?t=4617

Retro1234 · 03 July 2010, 19:13

AMIGA 600 and A1200 already have IDE adapters so its quite easy and cheap with them

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmicfrog

try this

http://amibay.com/showthread.php?t=4617

Thats very intresting ive not seen that before -Its a long thread what is the cost of those?
:assembled

I think theres also the IDE68k -internal IDE addapters for the A500.

03 July 2010, 20:06

Thanks for the replies, I'm a bit dipappointed it doesn't have an IDE adapter.

Also, going through the box of games, most of them do not work with read errors. Is this normal for a box of old games which has been in storage?

Rather annoyingly the workbench disk also has errors and I cannot load it. Any ideas on what I can do about this>?

paul2010 · 03 July 2010, 20:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ballisticbrian

Thanks for the replies, I'm a bit dipappointed it doesn't have an IDE adapter.

Also, going through the box of games, most of them do not work with read errors. Is this normal for a box of old games which has been in storage?

Rather annoyingly the workbench disk also has errors and I cannot load it. Any ideas on what I can do about this>?

I've also got an A500 and 16 of my games still work after 15 or so years (when I got the Amiga).

They've been stored in a disc box or in their cardboard box/cassette when not in use, though.

I had Workbench 1.3 fail on me today. You may be able to find another one on one of the auction sites.

TBH, these days, I wish I'd got an A600 or A1200 - due to the greater RAM, better graphics and more expansion options/better games available (A1200).

03 July 2010, 21:49

Guys, I got the workbench working and made a copy of it straight away. It says there are 351000 bytes free roughly. Can you tell from this if it's been upgraded? There is definately an add on card in the under side trap door. Now I guess I need a null modem cable next , right?

paul2010 · 03 July 2010, 23:47

I've just seen a video clip of an A500 showing 875000 bytes free when loaded up, so it would appear you've only got 512k Ram?

Maybe your expansion board has failed/isn't pushed in properly.

fryguy · 03 July 2010, 23:52

Sounds like it doesn't finds the extraram. Try reseating the extramem card.

04 July 2010, 23:30

Hi guys, thanks again for your help. I bought another Amiga (I love car boot sales) . I have gone from none to two. The extra memory card in my first one had a battery leaking onto itself and wasn't working. I swapped the card over and now have a working 880000 free bytes although the new card doesn't have a clock... and therefore no leaky battery , YAY. But no clock

oh well.

So... I have a working system with some memory does anyone know if I need amiga software to use a null modem cable. My goal is to get retro games onto the amiga so I can write them to Amiga disks.

P.S. 95% of the disks and software work on the new AMiga,

prowler · 04 July 2010, 23:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ballisticbrian

So... I have a working system with some memory does anyone know if I need amiga software to use a null modem cable. My goal is to get retro games onto the amiga so I can write them to Amiga disks.

Hi Ballistricbrian,

Have a look at this thread:

Hombre Project - PC to Amiga

03 July 2010, 16:53	#1
Ballisticbrian Posts: n/a	New to Amiga - want to add hard drive Hi - Amiga virgin here. I just bought at a car boot sale the Amiga A500 with a monitor. (I was a commodore 64 guy myself) It came with the work bench disks, about 20 games or so, a midi interface, some joysticks and a few other bits like educational software and some cables. Anyway, I want to add a compact flash hard disk or even better an SD card one if such a thing exists! I hope this can be done because when I search an earlier thread just now, I said that the PCMCIA thingy was only for the A600? I hope this is still possible. Any idiots guides appreciated! cheers!

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03 July 2010, 17:08	#2
ck1200 CBM & Retro Mad Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: North Wales/Wirral Uk Age: 42 Posts: 611	Congrats on the amiga purchase, i was also a c64 owner years ago and still am hd wise the main option that springs to mind is a side mounted gvp unit or similar these contain a hard drive and some ram take a peek on here or there may be one on e bay at min, not sure you can link a cf to a 500 though, think thats just 600and above dont hold me to it though

03 July 2010, 19:06	#3
cosmicfrog The 1 who ribbits Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: leek, Staffs, UK Age: 56 Posts: 3,557	try this http://amibay.com/showthread.php?t=4617

03 July 2010, 20:06	#5
Ballisticbrian Posts: n/a	Thanks for the replies, I'm a bit dipappointed it doesn't have an IDE adapter. Also, going through the box of games, most of them do not work with read errors. Is this normal for a box of old games which has been in storage? Rather annoyingly the workbench disk also has errors and I cannot load it. Any ideas on what I can do about this>?

03 July 2010, 21:49	#7
Ballisticbrian Posts: n/a	Guys, I got the workbench working and made a copy of it straight away. It says there are 351000 bytes free roughly. Can you tell from this if it's been upgraded? There is definately an add on card in the under side trap door. Now I guess I need a null modem cable next , right?

03 July 2010, 23:47	#8
paul2010 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 86	I've just seen a video clip of an A500 showing 875000 bytes free when loaded up, so it would appear you've only got 512k Ram? Maybe your expansion board has failed/isn't pushed in properly.

03 July 2010, 23:52	#9
fryguy Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Skarabörg, Sweden Age: 44 Posts: 1,019	Sounds like it doesn't finds the extraram. Try reseating the extramem card.

04 July 2010, 23:30	#10
Ballisticbrian Posts: n/a	Hi guys, thanks again for your help. I bought another Amiga (I love car boot sales) . I have gone from none to two. The extra memory card in my first one had a battery leaking onto itself and wasn't working. I swapped the card over and now have a working 880000 free bytes although the new card doesn't have a clock... and therefore no leaky battery , YAY. But no clock oh well. So... I have a working system with some memory does anyone know if I need amiga software to use a null modem cable. My goal is to get retro games onto the amiga so I can write them to Amiga disks. P.S. 95% of the disks and software work on the new AMiga,

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