Eh Up from Yorkshire
 

I've just been given a rev 6a a500 with 0.5mb 'trilogic' trapdoor expansion (Trilogic were a local Yorkshire computer shop - they also made the 'expert cartridge' for the c64). This is the 2nd a500 I've owned, my first one was back in the 80's - no idea what happened to it.

Anyhow, after recapping the a500 & the expansion (1 cap on that!) I've now eradicated the random guru's that were occurring. I can now boot from most of the floppies that I've been loaned which are mainly old cover disks, so of limited use. Feels good to have resurrected the old girl.

The keyboard has some non functional columns of keys 'f3,4,r,f,v' & '(,9,6,3,.'. A quick look over the membrane shows no obvious breaks, but a prior owner spilled some coffee into the keypad so I've given that a good clean out. I've got a rigid membrane on order so hopefully that will solve the issue.

An RGDB2HDI & RPi Zero are also in the post - I'm using an HDMI upscaler at the moment but the quality is pretty poor. I've also got a gotek coming so I can at least mount some adf's and do something half useful :)

The Kickstart roms are 1.3, but I have a TL866 & adaptor so will most likely buy a 3.1.4 license and burn some roms to maximise hardware compatibility - I may also put a rom switcher in so I can revert to the 1.3 roms if needed.

I'd like to add IDE, a modest speed improvement, 8mb fast ram, and potentially 1mb chip/1mb slow - but am not sure which is the best way to go/what mix of addons will achieve the best result. I've had a good ogle at the various projects in the hardware section and am even more undecided about which way to go now. IDE & memory are the bare essential though as this will no doubt be used as a whdload machine.

I'd be very grateful of some guidance - including if I need to post a general 'advice wanted' thread in a more suitable place. :help

Ben

Welcome, mate.

For WHDLoad I would highly recommend getting an ACA500+.

Cheers. :great

The AC500+ looks great, but I don't like the idea of having something hanging out the side of the a500 case. I need to be able to pack the 500 away easily and I just think it'll be a bit of a pain to have to unplug/bag that up every time.

Maybe it's not as cumbersome as I think but I'd like to see what other options there are before making a decision.

Yes, that sounds like a deal breaker. There was a mod, though, can't remember where I saw it, in which you could make the ACA internal. Crazy stuff!

Hi!

The ones I’ve owned were Sordan’s HC533, a 33Mhz 68000 with 8MB ram, which I was happy with for a couple of years, until I got a TF536, 50Mhz 68030 with 64MB ram. The TF is a good option as it’s quite cheap if you order off Alen H Marks on the Commodore Amiga Facebook Group. Like £150ish?

He can make one where the 030 is directly soldered on top, so that it’ll fit in with the HDMI mods that are popular now.

Thanks.

The 536 looks interesting, does it require the cpu relocator/is that part of the package, or do you think it would work inserted into a DIP socket stacked into the mainboard socket? Just wondering as an alternate to a soldered cpu: is it likely that I'd ever want to remove the cpu anyway?

I suppose I should join that FB group. :)

EDIT - just thought about this a bit more and realised the keyboard & shield would probably be in the way without the relocator.

I don’t know all the ins and outs but Alen will be able to answer all your Q’s.
I enjoyed the HC533 which didn’t need a relocator, that one interestingly, can boot from a 1.3 system.

Ey up, another Yorkshire lad here.

I have an hc533 from Sordan and it works well, would recommend as a simple solution. I’m thinking of starting a local user group meeting in a brewery... when we can.

I've pulled the trigger on a 536, it's already in the post - superb service from Alen.

Beer is always good :D