Diffrences between 500 and 600?

13 May 2002, 15:16

Hi'ya
Do any of you guys know what the main dirrences between the Amiga 500 and 600?

IE (in what ways is the 600 better?)

All I know is that the 600 don't have a numeric keypad.

Also do you know how much can u pick them up for nowerdays?

Thanks

RetroMan · 13 May 2002, 15:59

Hmmm, the A600 has a mainboard manufactured with SMD Technologie and therefore uses less power, the A600 also got an internal IDE Port (2,5" 44Pin) and a PCMCIA Port, the most chips (except the Kickstart) are not on a socket and A600 came with Kick 37.300 (Kick 2.05) .... most of the A500 came with 34.005 (Kick 1.3) or older ones with Kick 1.2 ! The A600 was able to boot from HD with that Kickstart, the A500 needed a Bootrom on the HD Controller to do that ....

Overdoc · 13 May 2002, 21:07

Just a tiny addition

The A-600 also has 1MB chipram standard, while a A-500 only has 512k.
But if you are playing with the thaught to buy an A-600 and also want to play some games then make sure you get a kickswitcher and an additional kick 1.3, because quite a lot of games won't work with kick 2.0 !
So, for playing old Amiga games the A-500 is the better choice, and for more serious Amiga computing it would better to get an A-1200, imho.

13 May 2002, 21:29

Quote:

make sure you get a kickswitcher and an additional kick 1.3, because quite a lot of games won't work with kick 2.0 !

Many games can be made compatible with a software that loads kickstart 1.3 rom into memory so having a kick1.3 in hardware is not essential but some games will still refuse to work. I remember final fight didn't work with my kick 2.0 A500+, if memory serves right, it was an issue with fast ram absence. Also a softkicker allocates memory at the size of the loaded kickstart.

Miggy2TheMax · 14 May 2002, 02:58

The 500 has OCS (Original Chip Set) and the 600 has ECS (Enhanced Chip Set), what this means is you can run higher resolutions on the 600..

But all in all IMO, you can alway convert a 500 to be a 600, so I don't really see the point of a 600... Uh Oh .. I better not start a 500 vs 600 thread

14 May 2002, 03:34

I'm not sure but I remember has internal tv modulator as well.

Paul · 14 May 2002, 09:30

Quote:

Originally posted by Burseg
I'm not sure but I remember has internal tv modulator as well.

Yes the A600 has internal tv modulator as I used to run it off my TV and Monitor at the same time.

On my fried A500+ I could not use both as an external modulator plugged into the monitor socket

14 May 2002, 10:59

Hi'ya

OK Another couple of questions:

Can the Amiga 600 OS Mount PC disc's or does that require a better Kickstart version?

Also so how would I boot the amiga up with kick start 1.3?

Many Thanks

RetroMan · 14 May 2002, 11:01

Quote:

Originally posted by etheridge
Can the Amiga 600 OS Mount PC disc's or does that require a better Kickstart version?

There is no special A600 OS

But if you use WB 2.1 on your A600 it will work, cause WB 2.1 got CrossDos with it

7-Zark-7 · 14 May 2002, 14:02

I think that the A500 also had a Zorro expansion slot didn't it? (That panel under the left hand side-& I'm not referring to the memory expansion slot). I recall that the old GVP range of hard disks/accelorators used that expansion slot.
Don't forget that the A600 also had the "smart card" slots as well.
I owned an A600HD,(though the floppy drive is half-dead),& their not bad,but agree that the A500, which I had before it was better for gaming generally.
As others have stated-your best bet would be to find an A1200HD,A600's are the most portable units,but WB2.4 sucked for games compatibility!

14 May 2002, 14:43

So could I make the 600 boot off kick start 1.3 so I could play the games?

RetroMan · 14 May 2002, 15:00

Quote:

Originally posted by etheridge
So could I make the 600 boot off kick start 1.3 so I could play the games?

Sure, just put in a Kickstart Switch and a Kickstart ROM 1.3 and you´re done, should be easy to find on EBay ....

14 May 2002, 15:07

A kick start switch????????

sorry I'm VERY new to the amiga scean.

RetroMan · 14 May 2002, 15:25

In an Amiga there is a Chip which is the Kickstart ROM, you can buy a Switch, so you can put TWO Kickstart Versions into an Amiga and switch between them (like this one here : http://www.amiga-society.de/ahwbook/resykickswitch.html)

14 May 2002, 15:44

hi'ya.... again

Sorry about this,
last question (for now anyway

!!)

So what workbench does the amiga 600 come with,
and that version won't let you read pc disc's (Correct)??

Also does the work bench come with any terminal software??

SORRY AGAIN!

right I think I need a :smoking now!

Amiga1992 · 15 May 2002, 07:04

Well, let's clarify one little thing: stock 1MB a600s wont be able to load all 1.3 software when you softkick it into 1.3, because softkicking eats its memory. so for safe bootkicking you need at least 1.5MB of ram. I have never had any problems with softkickers like skick or TUDE, almost all software i chucked to it ran (except those that need slow ram)

about yer last questions... The 600 usually comes with Kickstart 2.05 and Workbench 2, if you buy a used one perhaps it has Workbench 2.1 but this is not probable. You dont need this for reading PC disks tho, you can get the standalone Crossdos if you have WB2.0 or older.

Workbench comes with no terminal software.

I moved the thread, I'm in sweeper mode today

Overdoc · 15 May 2002, 16:03

Hmm, but I think at least 95% of all Amiga games should work on an A-600.
The newer ones, which often need 1MB ram should work on kick 2.0 anyway ( at least I think so because otherwise software companies would have lost all A-500+ & A-600 owners )
Older games most of the time don't need more than 512k memory, but need kick 1.3. So it should be possible to softkick them into 1.3 on a stock 1MB A-600 without problems

Or am I wrong here ?

About Crossdos:
The standalone Crossdos also works on kick 1.3 ( maybe even kick 1.2 ? ) up to at least V4.0 ( which I use on my kick 1.3 A-500 ), and I think even V5.0 works in kick 1.3 Amigas.

Paul · 15 May 2002, 16:15

I never had problems with Amiga games on my A600HD.

7-Zark-7 · 15 May 2002, 17:38

@Paul.Count yourself lucky mate! When my A500 died & I got an A600HD, I instantly lost use of (bought games),Speedball 2, Unreal, Murder,& Hero's of the Lance,(no great loss!), & that's not counting the copied stuff.
Curse CBM's kickstart updatings!

Amiga1992 · 15 May 2002, 19:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Overdoc
So it should be possible to softkick them into 1.3 on a stock 1MB A-600 without problems
Or am I wrong here ?

Lotus Tiurbo Challenge won't work

That's the only one I had problems with. Besides, most of the games just need the 1.3 kickstart to boot up, after it booted up, it doesnt matter if it erased the kickstart, they still work. Lotus doesnt work, dunno why. but with 2MB is A-OK.

I never had any probs with my 600 either, and I love it. I recommend you getting one.

13 May 2002, 15:16	#1
etheridge Posts: n/a	Diffrences between 500 and 600? Hi'ya Do any of you guys know what the main dirrences between the Amiga 500 and 600? IE (in what ways is the 600 better?) All I know is that the 600 don't have a numeric keypad. Also do you know how much can u pick them up for nowerdays? Thanks

13 May 2002, 15:59	#2
RetroMan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Germany Age: 51 Posts: 3,704	Hmmm, the A600 has a mainboard manufactured with SMD Technologie and therefore uses less power, the A600 also got an internal IDE Port (2,5" 44Pin) and a PCMCIA Port, the most chips (except the Kickstart) are not on a socket and A600 came with Kick 37.300 (Kick 2.05) .... most of the A500 came with 34.005 (Kick 1.3) or older ones with Kick 1.2 ! The A600 was able to boot from HD with that Kickstart, the A500 needed a Bootrom on the HD Controller to do that .... Last edited by RetroMan; 13 May 2002 at 16:32.

14 May 2002, 02:58	#5
Miggy2TheMax Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Australia Age: 45 Posts: 381	One more difference. The 500 has OCS (Original Chip Set) and the 600 has ECS (Enhanced Chip Set), what this means is you can run higher resolutions on the 600.. But all in all IMO, you can alway convert a 500 to be a 600, so I don't really see the point of a 600... Uh Oh .. I better not start a 500 vs 600 thread

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13 May 2002, 21:07	#3
Overdoc Commodore Collector Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Austria Age: 53 Posts: 944	Just a tiny addition The A-600 also has 1MB chipram standard, while a A-500 only has 512k. But if you are playing with the thaught to buy an A-600 and also want to play some games then make sure you get a kickswitcher and an additional kick 1.3, because quite a lot of games won't work with kick 2.0 ! So, for playing old Amiga games the A-500 is the better choice, and for more serious Amiga computing it would better to get an A-1200, imho.

14 May 2002, 03:34	#6
oldpx Posts: n/a	I'm not sure but I remember has internal tv modulator as well.

14 May 2002, 10:59	#8
etheridge Posts: n/a	Hi'ya OK Another couple of questions: Can the Amiga 600 OS Mount PC disc's or does that require a better Kickstart version? Also so how would I boot the amiga up with kick start 1.3? Many Thanks

14 May 2002, 14:02	#10
7-Zark-7 Zone Friend Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Brisbane/Australia Posts: 1,270	I think that the A500 also had a Zorro expansion slot didn't it? (That panel under the left hand side-& I'm not referring to the memory expansion slot). I recall that the old GVP range of hard disks/accelorators used that expansion slot. Don't forget that the A600 also had the "smart card" slots as well. I owned an A600HD,(though the floppy drive is half-dead),& their not bad,but agree that the A500, which I had before it was better for gaming generally. As others have stated-your best bet would be to find an A1200HD,A600's are the most portable units,but WB2.4 sucked for games compatibility!

14 May 2002, 14:43	#11
etheridge Posts: n/a	So could I make the 600 boot off kick start 1.3 so I could play the games?

14 May 2002, 15:07	#13
etheridge Posts: n/a	A kick start switch???????? sorry I'm VERY new to the amiga scean.

14 May 2002, 15:25	#14
RetroMan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Germany Age: 51 Posts: 3,704	In an Amiga there is a Chip which is the Kickstart ROM, you can buy a Switch, so you can put TWO Kickstart Versions into an Amiga and switch between them (like this one here : http://www.amiga-society.de/ahwbook/resykickswitch.html)

14 May 2002, 15:44	#15
etheridge Posts: n/a	hi'ya.... again Sorry about this, last question (for now anyway !!) So what workbench does the amiga 600 come with, and that version won't let you read pc disc's (Correct)?? Also does the work bench come with any terminal software?? SORRY AGAIN! right I think I need a :smoking now!

15 May 2002, 07:04	#16
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	Well, let's clarify one little thing: stock 1MB a600s wont be able to load all 1.3 software when you softkick it into 1.3, because softkicking eats its memory. so for safe bootkicking you need at least 1.5MB of ram. I have never had any problems with softkickers like skick or TUDE, almost all software i chucked to it ran (except those that need slow ram) about yer last questions... The 600 usually comes with Kickstart 2.05 and Workbench 2, if you buy a used one perhaps it has Workbench 2.1 but this is not probable. You dont need this for reading PC disks tho, you can get the standalone Crossdos if you have WB2.0 or older. Workbench comes with no terminal software. I moved the thread, I'm in sweeper mode today

15 May 2002, 16:03	#17
Overdoc Commodore Collector Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Austria Age: 53 Posts: 944	Hmm, but I think at least 95% of all Amiga games should work on an A-600. The newer ones, which often need 1MB ram should work on kick 2.0 anyway ( at least I think so because otherwise software companies would have lost all A-500+ & A-600 owners ) Older games most of the time don't need more than 512k memory, but need kick 1.3. So it should be possible to softkick them into 1.3 on a stock 1MB A-600 without problems Or am I wrong here ? About Crossdos: The standalone Crossdos also works on kick 1.3 ( maybe even kick 1.2 ? ) up to at least V4.0 ( which I use on my kick 1.3 A-500 ), and I think even V5.0 works in kick 1.3 Amigas.

15 May 2002, 16:15	#18
Paul RIP Friends Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: UK Posts: 2,157	I never had problems with Amiga games on my A600HD.

15 May 2002, 17:38	#19
7-Zark-7 Zone Friend Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Brisbane/Australia Posts: 1,270	@Paul.Count yourself lucky mate! When my A500 died & I got an A600HD, I instantly lost use of (bought games),Speedball 2, Unreal, Murder,& Hero's of the Lance,(no great loss!), & that's not counting the copied stuff. Curse CBM's kickstart updatings!

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