What can't I do with A500+A1200?

[Xebec]

Hey folks, I'm still somewhat new to Amiga (grew up with Atari ST). Over the last 2 years I have acquired:

A500 (NTSC Rev 5 unfort)
Commodore 512KB trapdoor expansion
Indivision upgrade
(Plan to add ACA500plus, Gotek)

A1200 (had full recapping done a few months ago)
ACA1221 (28 mhz OC, 63MB ram)
Indivision
CF HDD setup
Kickstart 3.1 upgrade
PCMCIA NIC
HxC floppy emulator

Would this pretty much allow me to run most/all Amiga games other than those late games requiring 040+ processors?

Also, I assume most software requiring ECS or 2MB of chipram will work on the A1200 without hassle?

(Ultimately I'd like to get a Vampire for the A1200 and 'waterfall' the ACA1221 to the A500 attached to the a500+).

[idrougge]

You're good to go apart from the fact that your A500 may not be PAL compatible.

[Xebec]

Originally Posted by idrougge

You're good to go apart from the fact that your A500 may not be PAL compatible.

Thanks - sounds like there's no easy way to switch the A500 to PAL / 50 hz like the A1200 or Atari ST? I'm assuming some PAL games would work on the switchable A1200 and not the NTSC A500?

[idrougge]

It's easy as long as your Agnus is new enough. I don't know what Agnus revision may lay inside a rev. 5 A500.

[Matt_H]

I think rev 5 can be upgraded to do everything rev 6 can, it's just a little harder.

But with WHDLoad the 1200 should be all you need.

[Jope]

If the Agnus hasn't been changed, your rev5 shipped with an OCS Agnus. The A500 ECS 1MB Agnus as seen in the rev6 boards is a direct fit in an NTSC board though, so you can just swap it in if you want software switchable PAL.

[dirkies]

don't you need to replace the oscillator aswell to convert an NTSC to PAL?

[idrougge]

Not for gaming. Genlock users may want to change it, though.

[Xebec]

Originally Posted by Jope

If the Agnus hasn't been changed, your rev5 shipped with an OCS Agnus. The A500 ECS 1MB Agnus as seen in the rev6 boards is a direct fit in an NTSC board though, so you can just swap it in if you want software switchable PAL.

Once you have the upgraded Agnus - is it just software to switch between modes?

I have a 8372A Agnus chip that I bought off Ebay a while back that I meant to install. I stopped because of the other solder/cuts required on the board, but now that ACA500plus allows you to go 1MB without modifying your A500...

[Jope]

Originally Posted by Xebec

Once you have the upgraded Agnus - is it just software to switch between modes?

Yes. It will default to NTSC in the rev 5 board.