ACA Expansion Alternatives?

[BadHatGamer]

Hey guys.

I'm retro-gaming on a Rev5 A500 (1mb ChipRam modded) with ACA500+ and gotek drive.

I've got my eye on the ACA1221ec boards from Individual Computers to go with the ACA500+ (Its big brother is a little out of my budget currently).

Are there any relatively affordable and accessible alternatives to these two boards?

Also, are there any 68030 boards within general price ball-park of the ACA1221ec, which is 68020? (Or am I just dreaming of a white Xmas here?)

Of course these would need to play nice with my ACA500+ as well.

Cheers guys.

[Jope]

HC508, Wicher 500i are both alternatives.

[E-Penguin]

TF530, although perhaps you'd have to build it yourself

It comes down to what do you want to do with it? If it's just WHDLoad you've probably got enough to play the good majority of non-AGA games already.

[Amiga1992]

Terriblefire TF530!

[BadHatGamer]

Not really interested in building my own board. The 1mb ChipRam (trapdoor) mod was about as far as I'm willing to go messing about with a soldering iron.

The Wicher 500i looks ok, but on closer inspection it doesn't really offer anything that my ACA500+ doesnt - besides a 68010. And it seems to be more of a replacement for the ACA500+ which is not what I'm after. As I said in my original post - I'm looking to expand upon the ACA500+ with a cpu/memory/etc board like the ACA1221ec, not replace the ACA500+.

I was hoping to get something like a 68030, because I would like be able to play mp3s etc (albeit at low quality I know) and eventually, smacking a Plibox or RaspberryPI modded for serial connection in the back would be a smoother experience. Ibrowse doesn't play nice on a 68000 (AWeb does ok though). Heck, I'm pretty sure I could even run AmigaOS 3.5 or 3.9 on that kind of setup, even if only for the laughs. I think 3.5/3.9 require a 68020 bare minimum.

All that being said, what I REALLY wanna wanna wanna wanna wanna is the Vampire 600 V2 - Just coz POWAAA! - but sadly I can't even afford to let my low-budget druel land near one of those for now. Its definitely on the list though.

I guess that unless someone can point me to a similarly priced alternative to the ACA1221ec that has 68030, I think I'll probably end up going for the ACA1221ec.



EDIT:

Oh and does anyone know if the Individual Computers boards (like the ACA1221ec) replace the memory on the ACA500+ or add to it?

[Amiga1992]

Vampire is a terrible option (for now) for retrogaming. You are just adding trouble with incompatibilities.

Your ACA500+ is great for playing old games. Why do you even want an 030? The more you put in an Amiga, the more incompatible and messy it becomes.

[BadHatGamer]

Originally Posted by Akira

Vampire is a terrible option (for now) for retrogaming. You are just adding trouble with incompatibilities.

This is true enough.

But if I remember reading correctly, the Vampire can be 'switched' off in a somewhat similar fashion to how parts of the ACA500+ can be switched off to mix and match for compatibility.

I'd never use something like the Vampire for retro gaming. But it would mean that I can stay in heaven for my everyday browsing/email tasks and video etc, rather than go crawling back to my PC.........

[AmigaNAZI alert!!!]
Please, don't even try to tell me to go try AROS or its X86/Amiga-wannabe distros. And if you suggest running UAE at Windows bootup, I'll pelt you with olives hehe.
[AmiPatriotism Condition Green.]


And its not like I couldn't recommission another A500 for the Vampire as a separate system. (Hell if I'm throwing that kind of money around, why not? )

[TuKo]

Most people saying Vampire is incompatible never had one :-)

GOLD2 testing was focused on WHDLoad compatibility and results were VERY good. Only some badly coded games failed... as they would fail with other accelerators.

[BadHatGamer]

Originally Posted by TuKo

Most people saying Vampire is incompatible never had one :-)

GOLD2 testing was focused on WHDLoad compatibility and results were VERY good. Only some badly coded games failed... as they would fail with other accelerators.

Stop it. You're only making me wanna sell my house/car/soul/left-testicle-to-medical-science more than I already do.
Incidently, how much coin can I get for a slightly used mother in law?

But in all seriousness though, It'll be a while before I'll be able to afford one of those. By the time I can, these boards might be giving A500s sentience.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by TuKo

Most people saying Vampire is incompatible never had one :-)

I'm saying ALL ACCELERATORS will bring incompatibilities. Anyone saying otherwise is delusional.
(yes I own several accelerators)
My question posed before remained unanswered: what are the OP's reasons to get an 030?

Personally, if this is a RETROGAMING Amiga rig, I wouldn't add any accelerators at all. Slap a Gotek and use your ACA500+ hard drive for any game that works well on the setup.

[BadHatGamer]

Originally Posted by Akira

My question posed before remained unanswered: what are the OP's reasons to get an 030?

No it doesn't.

Originally Posted by BadHatGamer

I was hoping to get something like a 68030, because I would like be able to play mp3s etc (albeit at low quality I know) and eventually, smacking a Plibox or RaspberryPI modded for serial connection in the back would be a smoother experience. Ibrowse doesn't play nice on a 68000 (AWeb does ok though). Heck, I'm pretty sure I could even run AmigaOS 3.5 or 3.9 on that kind of setup, even if only for the laughs. I think 3.5/3.9 require a 68020 bare minimum.

I'd like to not JUST retro-game on the A500,

I tell a lie in the above quote, though. I should really amend it to:
"Ibrowse doesn't play nice on a 68000.....outside of an insanely beefed up WinUAE configuration".
68000 @ 3Ghz+ anyone? 800x floppy reads?

[Amiga1992]

You can't really play MP3s on a 030. I have a 030@50, it doesn't play shit.
You can't really browse the Internet nicely on an 030, let alone on shitty, incompatible, deprecated iBrowse.

You can run OS 3.5 or 3.9 I guess, though.

[BadHatGamer]

Originally Posted by Akira

You can't really play MP3s on a 030. I have a 030@50, it doesn't play shit.

I've seen it done, albeit at low(est) quality as I stated before. I'm not exactly talking about packin' 192kbps at 48000hz. Jeez. More like 11025hz at a low as heck bitrate. And don't expect to be running anything else while thats going of course.

Originally Posted by Akira

You can't really browse the Internet nicely on an 030, let alone on shitty, incompatible, deprecated iBrowse.

You can run OS 3.5 or 3.9 I guess, though.

So call me an antiquitist , but if I wanted something beefier than that, I'd get a later model with PPC etc or a Sam440 or something with OS4 - not that there's really a chance of that. I don't have a six figure salary career after all, and Amiga isn't my ONLY hobby, so I can't fling cash around at hardware like its happy hour at the Moulin Rouge. I have an amiga, and I'm looking to expand it and probably tinker the hell out of it. That's reason enough I think.

The idea is to find a balance without re-inventing the stone tools you must use to eventually re-invent the wheel, and without having to re-mortgage the house twice to do it.

Also, you can't really browse the internet on anything with iBrowse.....again, except perhaps on a massively souped up WinUAE configuration and some serious plugin magic and even then, it still wouldn't pull its own weight in the modern internet. Ever try HTML5 or CSS3 in iBrowse? Now that's . But its the browser I prefer on the Amiga, and it works for the kind of sites I would browse on an Amiga. Besides, we're not debating the pro's and cons of browsers here. I'm a man who has been known to fire up AWeb on AmiKit for cryin' out loud.

Browsing Aminet and other such archive sites or even forums like this on iBrowse would likely be just fine though.
SLOOOW as a dog on valium, I'll grant you - but fine nonetheless. Downloading WHDLoad installs would be a pain in the arse, speedwise - but at least I wouldn't have to infect my CF card with PC germs just to get a game onto it, and I wouldn't need to keep my amiga within arms reach of a PC.
There's also the FTP route of course.

Again, I'm certainly not expecting to be using my A500 as a NextGen i7 replacement. I'm a lot of things, but I'm not delusional.

[TuKo]

Originally Posted by Akira

I'm saying ALL ACCELERATORS will bring incompatibilities. Anyone saying otherwise is delusional.

Sorry but you did not said that

You said "Vampire is a terrible option (for now) for retrogaming. You are just adding trouble with incompatibilities."

[BadHatGamer]

Originally Posted by TuKo

Sorry but you did not said that

You said "Vampire is a terrible option (for now) for retrogaming. You are just adding trouble with incompatibilities."

Which is still inherently true, because ALL accelerators can cause incompatibility issues.

Stop being a pedantic computer-geek. If you dare say "BAZINGA", I'll pelt you with olives as well. I have lots of olives.



Meanwhile.........
Back on the topic, my original post questions still stand.

[Daedalus]

Bottom line, there aren't really any accelerators as cheap as the ACA1221, let alone one with an 030. The 030 tends to be a sweet spot for WHDLoad machines, able to play the more intensive games as well as classic old stuff with suitable WHDLoad setup, and as a result, second hand boards go for crazy prices sometimes. As for playing MP3s, really not a chance without totally doing away with the quality of the sound. You could try out a hardware decoder, but that's additional expense. The MASPlayer is an option, and I *think* the clockport on the ACA500+ should work with boards like the MP3@64 or Prisma Megamix, but I'd confirm that before shelling out for them.

Any of those options will give you full quality MP3 playback at decent bitrates, with the Prisma supporting several other formats too.

[happymondays]

For WHDLoad gaming on A500, I can only recommend the HC508, it worked out brilliant for me: http://irixlabs.com/
It has a 68000 @ 50 MHz with 8 Meg Fast RAM and CF slot plus another IDE.
Although it is best to use it with 1 Meg Chip at least (beacuse of the WHDLoad games' requirements).

[E-Penguin]

I think I'll get an HC508 for my next Amiga (I'm missing an A500plus), they look very good. A different approach to the ACA500+.

On the subject of MP3 playback, has anyone had any success with a USB sound card? Via a RapidRoad clockport adapter, presumably.

[BadHatGamer]

Originally Posted by happymondays

For WHDLoad gaming on A500, I can only recommend the HC508, it worked out brilliant for me: http://irixlabs.com/
It has a 68000 @ 50 MHz with 8 Meg Fast RAM and CF slot plus another IDE.
Although it is best to use it with 1 Meg Chip at least (beacuse of the WHDLoad games' requirements).

Please read below:

Originally Posted by BadHatGamer

And it seems to be more of a replacement for the ACA500+ which is not what I'm after. As I said in my original post - I'm looking to expand upon the ACA500+ with a cpu/memory/etc board like the ACA1221ec, not replace the ACA500+.

Also, we have already established that I'm on 1mb Chip, and that I'm already running WHDLoad games.

————————————————

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Bottom line, there aren't really any accelerators as cheap as the ACA1221, let alone one with an 030. The 030 tends to be a sweet spot for WHDLoad machines, able to play the more intensive games as well as classic old stuff with suitable WHDLoad setup, and as a result, second hand boards go for crazy prices sometimes.

Looks like I'd probably go for the ACA1221ec with the 020 then. WHDLoad isn't really an issue. I can run just about all the games I want to with what the ACA500+ and 1mb Trapdoor ChipRam conversion hack provide. For the few exceptions, I just run them from the Gotek instead. Not really worth shelling out all that extra for a handful of WHDLoad games.

Originally Posted by Daedalus

The MASPlayer is an option, and I *think* the clockport on the ACA500+ should work with boards like the MP3@64 or Prisma Megamix, but I'd confirm that before shelling out for them.

The MASPlayer does look promising for MP3 and while its good pricewise, I reckon I'll have to wait until after I get a Plibox (or mod one of my Raspberry PIs for serial connections). Does this also pass through output of other applications/games (eg from Paula) or does this require having both audio outputs connected simultaneously?

Although really what I probably SHOULD be doing is waiting and saving so I can nab one of the Vampire boards within the foreseeable future. Could of, would of, should of. But I guess half the experience is trying out some different hardware.

[Daedalus]

Well, I didn't mean that you should go for the 030 over the 020, more explaining that they are more sought after and so as a result disproportionately expensive on the second hand market. The 020 will be perfectly fine for WHDLoad - the 030 doesn't really increase compatibility, especially with older games.

There is a newer version of the MASPlayer available that has a passthrough for the Paula outputs, though it does occupy the parallel port which would rule out the PLIPBox being used at the same time. The Prisma also has a Paula passthrough, the MP3@64 does not.

As for MP3 playback via USB, I haven't heard of it on the Amiga. But there's no reason it shouldn't be possible, it only(!) needs someone to write an appropriate driver.