A600 - The black sheep of the Amiga Family? - Page 2

Twistin'Ghost · 12 January 2002, 11:57

Well, all I wanna say on the A600 vs A500+ debate is that the A500+ was not the worst of the black sheep analogy. The only incompatibilities I remember from my A500+ was games that were badly coded and that didn't follow CBM's guidelines, so they broke when they expanded the chip memory to one meg. Hardly the fault of the machine, and this was a problem on any Amiga with the Fatter Agnus, not just the A500+.

Overdoc · 12 January 2002, 17:25

Quote:

Originally posted by Ian
What was that??

Was it that the CDTV (with accessories) is the best looking computer you've ever seen.

That's what I've learned

Yup, that black 1084S monitor is something I'd like to have

Overdoc · 12 January 2002, 17:30

Quote:

Originally posted by MarzAttakz
Well, looks like all of you on here had better luck. But then maybe you had more of a choice back then, and wasn't an 11-year old kid like me back then.

You are not the only one !
I only had a standard A-500 with 512k memoryexpansion and 2nd drive for the last 10 years !
Only about 2 month ago I got my first A-1200, because I got it rather cheap.
But haven't had enough time to test some cool software on it, yet.

Shatterhand · 12 January 2002, 20:41

Hmm, what I am going to tell now it's all the pure truth. although I know some people will not believe..

My A600HD had a 1.3 Kickstart and no HD or IDE Interface.

You see, my dad bought this computer to me, and the only thing I knew about amiga at that time was how to boot a game and play it . (Not much different from today

) . The "hand holding the WB disk" in the startup of my A600 was the same of my father's A500 , so I saw no problem on it.

Only years laters I learned about all those stuff like Kickstarts, Fat Agnus, etc etc etc , then I asked my dad why my A600 had a 1.3 rom and no HD, and he just answered "I don't know"

RetroMan · 12 January 2002, 20:46

Quote:

Originally posted by Shatterhand
My A600HD had a 1.3 Kickstart and no HD or IDE Interface.

Not quite true ! EVERY A600 got an IDE interface, it´s on the mainboard !! But you need at least Kick 2.05 to use it !!!

Shatterhand · 13 January 2002, 01:39

Hmm, I've just opened my A600 to check

there are some pins here that looks like the pins from an IDE interface, but I am not smart enough to say if it's really IDE without trying to insertin an IDE cable and see if it connects. (Yeah, I am that dumb

)

so, Retroman , an A600 with kick 1.3 isn't new to you?

BTW ... My A600 is in a so good condition, the only problem it has is the disk-drive , that refuses to load the disks (even damaging them)
If I just change this disk-drive for other general 3.5 disk-drive, it will work nicely ?
I also need to find my power supply, and hope it's working nicely

jmmijo · 13 January 2002, 01:46

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the 600 come with a 44-pin IDE connector, the kind for 2.5" drives? If so then yes Shatterhand, you can get a 44-pin data cable and connect it to a 2.5" HD. The reason for it having 44-pins instead of the standard 40-pins is that the cable provides power to the HD instead of a separate cable like on standard HD's.

As for the floppy drive, couldn't a regular PC floppy work? Of course the 600 would ignore the High Density part of the drive. You would also want to use only Double Density disks as well.

RetroMan · 13 January 2002, 01:51

Ok, I´ve attached an image where to find the internal IDE Port, it´s near the power connector in the upper left corner, but pay attention to this : It´s an 2,5" HD connector with 44 pins !!! Normal 3,5" HD´s got 40 pins, the extra 4 pins are for power supply .... so what you need now is a 2,5" to 3,5" IDE cable, then you´re able to connect any 3,5" HD drive, even a CDRom to that connector ..... all you need then is a power cable to get the power from your floppy drive extended to fit into the 3,5" HD and voila (well, you may also use an external power supply from an old pc for supplying the HD with some power

About the disk drive, you may NOT use a 1,44MB PC floppy drive, that won´t work, only some rare 1,44MB drives from PC are capable of running in an Amiga as 880KB floppy ..... try to get an external drive and mount it inside your A600 .... don´t forget to use the jumper on the backside to turn it into floppy DF0: (yes, there ARE jumpers

)

Any more questions ? Ask me

RetroMan · 13 January 2002, 01:52

Uppps, here´s the pic

jmmijo · 13 January 2002, 01:59

Good pic RetroMan

Thanks for the update as I'm always looking for little tidbits of info.

Now as for the no-go on the High Density PC drive being used as a 880k Amiga drive, hmm, I think I'll look into this myself. Seems that all you would have to do is to hook it up to the cable and make sure it's jumpered as drive 0. I like a challenge so I'm going to go and hook a spare drive up into an external box first then try it out on a 500 in the internal slot.

RetroMan · 13 January 2002, 02:05

The problem is, to find a PC drive with the option of jumpering it

There are only a few models that have that option .... and those btw. CAN indeed be used as HD floppys in an Amiga...

jmmijo · 13 January 2002, 02:30

Hmm, been playing around with a Teac FD-235HF that has a jumper block on it. The problem is trying to figure out the pins as the circuit side and the component side only have numbers and letters rather then a chart

I've looked on Aminet as well, there are some hacks that involve changing a floppy data cable.

I don't suppose you've seen this drive have you?

jmmijo · 13 January 2002, 02:45

@RetroMan,
I found a PDF doc on Teac's website and I'm reviewing the jumpers now. Not really clear on my floppy drive, of course. Going to fool around some more with it.

http://www.teac.com/DSPD/pdf/3fd0020a.pdf

7-Zark-7 · 13 January 2002, 04:31

The A600 was a bit of a mixed blessing. I had to purchase one in replacement of my A500 which finally buggred up. Badpoint was the lack of backwards compatibilty with Kickstart 1.3 A500 titles.

On the plus side, it was probably the closest things ever came to a "portable amiga", & having a HD made life more berable.

I could be wrong, but wasn't the whole A600 project actually the failed remenants of another machine??
I seem to recall a story in the early '90's CBM were considering a low-end Amiga product to replace either their C64 product line or compete with the consoles. (At a C64 price point which was much lower than the Amiga).
So the story went, I think there were early initial models M/B's actually had a no. "A300" stamped on them.
I think the story went that the cut-downs of a smaller M/B, soldered on chips,& lopped off keyboard etc. made no real retail price-difference to the A500's & the project was abandoned but they instead used it to replace the A500's.

Pyromania · 13 January 2002, 05:15

A600, I would still like to collect one of those little cute fab ECS machines.

jmmijo · 13 January 2002, 06:10

@Pyromania,
I found one for sale on eBay, unfortunately it's in Great Britain. The S & H may not be to good

here's the link.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...tem=1317705424

jmmijo · 13 January 2002, 06:20

@Shatterhand,
I found a replacement floppy drive for the A600, problem is it's one eBay in the USA

Here's the link.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...tem=1319142209

Shatterhand · 13 January 2002, 08:05

haha, cool, my A600 indeed has an IDE interface

So, why the hell my kickstart is 1.3 ? That must be some shit produced only in Brazil or something.

@Retroman

I was actually thinking about a 720 Kb drive. But anyway, those shouldn't be that easy to find anyway too

Anyway, I need to find my power suplly, and hope it's working

@jmmijo

thx a lot for the link mate!

jmmijo · 13 January 2002, 09:50

@Shatterhand,
You're welcome

I also noticed power supplys on eBay as well, check them out by doing a search for amiga and you should see quite a few matches for software and hardware.

RetroMan · 13 January 2002, 13:27

Quote:

Originally posted by Shatterhand
haha, cool, my A600 indeed has an IDE interface
So, why the hell my kickstart is 1.3 ? That must be some shit produced only in Brazil or something.

Hmmm, was that A600HD bought from a shop back then ?? Then the shop owner made some extra money, cause he must have removed the Kick 2.05 which is the lowest Kick the A600 shipped with !!! Also if your A600 is labeled HD, there must have been a 20,30 or 40Meg HD inside ..... The A600 itself came without a HD, but it wasn´t labeled A600HD then !

13 January 2002, 01:52	#29
RetroMan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Germany Age: 51 Posts: 3,704	Uppps, here´s the pic Attached Thumbnails

13 January 2002, 05:15	#35
Pyromania Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 3,379	A600 A600, I would still like to collect one of those little cute fab ECS machines.

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12 January 2002, 11:57	#21
Twistin'Ghost Give up the ghost Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: U$A Age: 33 Posts: 4,662	Well, all I wanna say on the A600 vs A500+ debate is that the A500+ was not the worst of the black sheep analogy. The only incompatibilities I remember from my A500+ was games that were badly coded and that didn't follow CBM's guidelines, so they broke when they expanded the chip memory to one meg. Hardly the fault of the machine, and this was a problem on any Amiga with the Fatter Agnus, not just the A500+.

12 January 2002, 20:41	#24
Shatterhand Warhasneverbeensomuchfun Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Rio de Janeiro / Brazil Age: 41 Posts: 3,450	Hmm, what I am going to tell now it's all the pure truth. although I know some people will not believe.. My A600HD had a 1.3 Kickstart and no HD or IDE Interface. You see, my dad bought this computer to me, and the only thing I knew about amiga at that time was how to boot a game and play it . (Not much different from today ) . The "hand holding the WB disk" in the startup of my A600 was the same of my father's A500 , so I saw no problem on it. Only years laters I learned about all those stuff like Kickstarts, Fat Agnus, etc etc etc , then I asked my dad why my A600 had a 1.3 rom and no HD, and he just answered "I don't know"

13 January 2002, 01:39	#26
Shatterhand Warhasneverbeensomuchfun Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Rio de Janeiro / Brazil Age: 41 Posts: 3,450	Hmm, I've just opened my A600 to check there are some pins here that looks like the pins from an IDE interface, but I am not smart enough to say if it's really IDE without trying to insertin an IDE cable and see if it connects. (Yeah, I am that dumb ) so, Retroman , an A600 with kick 1.3 isn't new to you? BTW ... My A600 is in a so good condition, the only problem it has is the disk-drive , that refuses to load the disks (even damaging them) If I just change this disk-drive for other general 3.5 disk-drive, it will work nicely ? I also need to find my power supply, and hope it's working nicely

13 January 2002, 01:46	#27
jmmijo Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: PDX Age: 62 Posts: 2,396	Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the 600 come with a 44-pin IDE connector, the kind for 2.5" drives? If so then yes Shatterhand, you can get a 44-pin data cable and connect it to a 2.5" HD. The reason for it having 44-pins instead of the standard 40-pins is that the cable provides power to the HD instead of a separate cable like on standard HD's. As for the floppy drive, couldn't a regular PC floppy work? Of course the 600 would ignore the High Density part of the drive. You would also want to use only Double Density disks as well.

13 January 2002, 01:51	#28
RetroMan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Germany Age: 51 Posts: 3,704	Ok, I´ve attached an image where to find the internal IDE Port, it´s near the power connector in the upper left corner, but pay attention to this : It´s an 2,5" HD connector with 44 pins !!! Normal 3,5" HD´s got 40 pins, the extra 4 pins are for power supply .... so what you need now is a 2,5" to 3,5" IDE cable, then you´re able to connect any 3,5" HD drive, even a CDRom to that connector ..... all you need then is a power cable to get the power from your floppy drive extended to fit into the 3,5" HD and voila (well, you may also use an external power supply from an old pc for supplying the HD with some power About the disk drive, you may NOT use a 1,44MB PC floppy drive, that won´t work, only some rare 1,44MB drives from PC are capable of running in an Amiga as 880KB floppy ..... try to get an external drive and mount it inside your A600 .... don´t forget to use the jumper on the backside to turn it into floppy DF0: (yes, there ARE jumpers ) Any more questions ? Ask me

13 January 2002, 01:59	#30
jmmijo Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: PDX Age: 62 Posts: 2,396	Good pic RetroMan Thanks for the update as I'm always looking for little tidbits of info. Now as for the no-go on the High Density PC drive being used as a 880k Amiga drive, hmm, I think I'll look into this myself. Seems that all you would have to do is to hook it up to the cable and make sure it's jumpered as drive 0. I like a challenge so I'm going to go and hook a spare drive up into an external box first then try it out on a 500 in the internal slot.

13 January 2002, 02:05	#31
RetroMan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Germany Age: 51 Posts: 3,704	The problem is, to find a PC drive with the option of jumpering it There are only a few models that have that option .... and those btw. CAN indeed be used as HD floppys in an Amiga...

13 January 2002, 02:30	#32
jmmijo Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: PDX Age: 62 Posts: 2,396	Hmm, been playing around with a Teac FD-235HF that has a jumper block on it. The problem is trying to figure out the pins as the circuit side and the component side only have numbers and letters rather then a chart I've looked on Aminet as well, there are some hacks that involve changing a floppy data cable. I don't suppose you've seen this drive have you?

13 January 2002, 02:45	#33
jmmijo Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: PDX Age: 62 Posts: 2,396	@RetroMan, I found a PDF doc on Teac's website and I'm reviewing the jumpers now. Not really clear on my floppy drive, of course. Going to fool around some more with it. http://www.teac.com/DSPD/pdf/3fd0020a.pdf

13 January 2002, 04:31	#34
7-Zark-7 Zone Friend Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Brisbane/Australia Posts: 1,270	The A600 was a bit of a mixed blessing. I had to purchase one in replacement of my A500 which finally buggred up. Badpoint was the lack of backwards compatibilty with Kickstart 1.3 A500 titles. On the plus side, it was probably the closest things ever came to a "portable amiga", & having a HD made life more berable. I could be wrong, but wasn't the whole A600 project actually the failed remenants of another machine?? I seem to recall a story in the early '90's CBM were considering a low-end Amiga product to replace either their C64 product line or compete with the consoles. (At a C64 price point which was much lower than the Amiga). So the story went, I think there were early initial models M/B's actually had a no. "A300" stamped on them. I think the story went that the cut-downs of a smaller M/B, soldered on chips,& lopped off keyboard etc. made no real retail price-difference to the A500's & the project was abandoned but they instead used it to replace the A500's.

13 January 2002, 06:10	#36
jmmijo Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: PDX Age: 62 Posts: 2,396	@Pyromania, I found one for sale on eBay, unfortunately it's in Great Britain. The S & H may not be to good here's the link. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...tem=1317705424

13 January 2002, 06:20	#37
jmmijo Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: PDX Age: 62 Posts: 2,396	@Shatterhand, I found a replacement floppy drive for the A600, problem is it's one eBay in the USA Here's the link. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...tem=1319142209

13 January 2002, 08:05	#38
Shatterhand Warhasneverbeensomuchfun Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Rio de Janeiro / Brazil Age: 41 Posts: 3,450	haha, cool, my A600 indeed has an IDE interface So, why the hell my kickstart is 1.3 ? That must be some shit produced only in Brazil or something. @Retroman I was actually thinking about a 720 Kb drive. But anyway, those shouldn't be that easy to find anyway too Anyway, I need to find my power suplly, and hope it's working @jmmijo thx a lot for the link mate!

13 January 2002, 09:50	#39
jmmijo Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: PDX Age: 62 Posts: 2,396	@Shatterhand, You're welcome I also noticed power supplys on eBay as well, check them out by doing a search for amiga and you should see quite a few matches for software and hardware.

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