Amiga 1000 purchase, what to do?

[Signman]

Just purchased a beat up, possibly working A1000.
Haven't even received it yet and here I am asking for advice.

Even if this boots, I really don't want to run this hardware. My first Amiga was the 1000 so nostalgic for it.

I'm thinking of pulling the MB and installing either a Mist board, Pi,or if it ever comes out, the Replay board. I have a couple of old beige pc keyboards and the look would be close.

What would you do?

[Marchie]

Just got one myself, I'm hoping to add an accelerator (ACA 500 +, maybe a Vampire). Not very creative, I know. Couldn't bear to pull it apart though...

[thgill]

Originally Posted by Signman

What would you do?

I would smack you across the face for even contemplating gutting it to install a raspberry pi.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by thgill

I would smack you across the face for even contemplating gutting it to install a raspberry pi.

I would get behind you in that line. An A1000 is a lovely machine which should not be gutted but brought back to its former glory and thoughtfully upgraded.

[idrougge]

While I don't agree it's a wonderful machine, there are enough people out there who think so that it's a waste to see it destroyed by someone who doesn't appreciate it.

[EugeneNine]

You'd have a big empty box with a little tiny Pi inside. At very least carefully disassemble and sell the internals to someone else who can't find any.

[Thorham]

Originally Posted by thgill

I would smack you across the face for even contemplating gutting it to install a raspberry pi.

Indeed.

Originally Posted by EugeneNine

You'd have a big empty box with a little tiny Pi inside. At very least carefully disassemble and sell the internals to someone else who can't find any.

Indeed.

Originally Posted by idrougge

While I don't agree it's a wonderful machine, there are enough people out there who think so that it's a waste to see it destroyed by someone who doesn't appreciate it.

Indeed.

[Signman]

Come on, tell me how you really feel

I had the original when some of you were toddlers, trust me I had have a lot of love for this machine but after updating the original a few times it was time to get a 500 with more chipram and expandability. That was around 1990.

Long ago sold those, now have others, including a few 500 and 1200s. Your passion has given me pause to reconsider, not sure I could do it anyways.

Really hoping I can clean the exterior, really bad looking.
Maybe I will post progress.

[NorthWay]

I'd love to get a PAL A1000. Saw one in national adds for NOK 10 000,- (no, I'm not paying that kind of stupid money for it).
Get someone to overhaul it (replace capacitors etc) and get in line for a Vampire.

It _is_ a stunningly beautiful machine. I'd even contemplate getting the C= 128 that it shares its design with.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by Signman

Come on, tell me how you really feel

Why don't you send it my way and I'll give it some proper love. I will not gut it.
Gutting an A1000 to do something stupid with it is, well, sad.
Would I use an A1000? Rarely. But I wouldn't gut it!

[Signman]

I am on the list for the vampire 500. I would consider putting it in this if MB is good.
But to what avail? With 512 chipram whdload isn't going to work well.

[Xebec]

Originally Posted by Signman

I am on the list for the vampire 500. I would consider putting it in this if MB is good.
But to what avail? With 512 chipram whdload isn't going to work well.

This is what has me holding off on ordering one for my NTSC Amiga 500 -- the 512KB chipram problem.

However, I'm going to order an ACA500plus for my 500 because it is able to convert (Without modifying the mainboard) 512KB trapdoor ram expansions into chipram - 1 MB of chip ram, with a mildly faster system (68000 @ 14 mhz default, overclockable to 42 mhz) makes it probably faster than a stock A1200, and 1MB is enough to run quite a lot of OCS things..

I read a few posts about ACA500/ACA500plus working in A1000 but you might want to ask about that and it's ability to work with RAM expansions on the A1000 (which I believe there are several choices for..). Of course the plus gives you fast harddrive storage and extra fast ram of course for a much cheaper than vampire price..

[EugeneNine]

yea, yea I know what to do, send it to me

I can't recall the 1000 system board, can you solder on the additional ram like the 500?

[mattsoft]

Congrats! The A1000 is a classic and one of the most elegant computers ever made.

Originally Posted by demolition

I would get behind you in that line. An A1000 is a lovely machine which should not be gutted but brought back to its former glory and thoughtfully upgraded.

And I would be 3rd in line to smack you again, and maybe kick you to the ground.

I have 2 A1000s and have done very little to modify them. Everything is pretty much reversible and none of them have compromised the case.

If you want to have a flexible Amiga, go for a 600 or 1200 where you can easily install chip/fast RAM and CF cards. The A1000 is sort of meant to be left alone, in my opinion.

[mattsoft]

Originally Posted by Xebec

I read a few posts about ACA500/ACA500plus working in A1000 but you might want to ask about that and it's ability to work with RAM expansions on the A1000 (which I believe there are several choices for..). Of course the plus gives you fast harddrive storage and extra fast ram of course for a much cheaper than vampire price..

I have an ACA500+ and it works on my "rejuvenated Amiga" reliably. This Amiga has the Expert Services Rejuvenator board with the 1MB ECS and 2.04 KS on ROM. On my plain, vanilla 1000, the ACA500+ will not boot. The Vampire might be a better way to go.

[Signman]

Haven't hooked up to monitor, will do later. Also no keyboard.
I do hear the old floppy click, so hopeful.

Took it apart at work, here is photo of interior. Looks really clean unlike exterior.
Revision A

[Marchie]

Originally Posted by Signman

Haven't hooked up to monitor, will do later. Also no keyboard.
I do hear the old floppy click, so hopeful.

Took it apart at work, here is photo of interior. Looks really clean unlike exterior.
Revision A

Beautiful! You probably don't need me to tell you, but it's pretty easy to solder an A2000 keyboard adapter to test it out (if you have an A2000 keyboard already of course!).

Originally Posted by mattsoft

I have an ACA500+ and it works on my "rejuvenated Amiga" reliably. This Amiga has the Expert Services Rejuvenator board with the 1MB ECS and 2.04 KS on ROM. On my plain, vanilla 1000, the ACA500+ will not boot. The Vampire might be a better way to go.

I wasn't aware you needed a rejuvinator board to get the ACA500+ working, is this the same story for a Vampire? What's the story with the rejuvinator board? What does it do? (as before mentioned, I just acquired an A1000, so still learning).

[mattsoft]

Originally Posted by Marchie

I wasn't aware you needed a rejuvinator board to get the ACA500+ working, is this the same story for a Vampire? What's the story with the rejuvinator board? What does it do? (as before mentioned, I just acquired an A1000, so still learning).

I don't know if you need to or not, but that's what I've experienced using these 2 Amigas.

This blog talks about getting an ACA500 (not plus) running on a pretty stock A1000: http://amigax1000.blogspot.com/2016/...miga-1000.html -- he talks about a high miss rate when trying to boot the A1000 with the ACA500. My experience has been a 100% miss rate for booting the ACA500+ on a stock Amiga. However, on the Rejuvenated A1000, it boots pretty much every time.

There is a video of someone with a Vampire 500 in what looks to be a stock A1000 booting just fine: [ Show youtube player ].

Based on the info above, I'm guessing that a Vampire would be a better upgrade than an ACA500 for the A1000. I'm the list for a Vampire 500 and will try it on my stock A1000 if and when Apollo ever contacts me. If someone has a Vampire 500 they want to sell, let me know!

[deladrevoc]

If a Pi or a MIST doesn't seem right in it's own skin, will it feel right in an Amiga's?

You are the custodian of this machine now. Don't take away its heart and soul, cherish it as it stands - as part of your collection.

500s & 1200s were made for upgrading :O)

[B14ck W01f]

Originally Posted by Signman

Just purchased a beat up, possibly working A1000.
Haven't even received it yet and here I am asking for advice.

Even if this boots, I really don't want to run this hardware. My first Amiga was the 1000 so nostalgic for it.

I'm thinking of pulling the MB and installing either a Mist board, Pi,or if it ever comes out, the Replay board. I have a couple of old beige pc keyboards and the look would be close.

What would you do?

If the disks didn't come with the A1000 already, you should seek out the Kickstart/Workbench 1.0-1.3 ADFs that are floating somewhere on the Internet and find some way to transfer them onto disk.