Amiga 500 Buying Advice?

[Fuzzball]

When buying an Amiga 500 today, are there any things to look out for or things to avoid. Are there any preferred revisions? etc.

(and probably 101 other questions I can't think of right now)

(bear in mind I am considering putting a pistorm in it and a rgb2hdmi)

[Jope]

Try to get a revision 6 machine right away. Easy to detect: if the power led can go dim, it is rev 6 or newer. If it can only be off or bright, then it is rev5 or older.

[Liqourice]

I'd say rev 6a or newer as well. Rev 5 has some quirks, especially to upgrade roms, that you don't have with newer boards. Older revs I honestly don't know. Rev 6a and newer is a lot easier to upgrade chipram to at least 1MB as well.

[Cylon]

Get a rev.8 A500, but not the A500+.

[Fuzzball]

Thanks everyone for the info. Are there advantages/disadvantages with the 500 plus?

[Snoopy1234]

I have a 500+ and I like it. The downside everyone considers is that it has a later chipset (ECS) and a later rom revision (2.04) both of which are not natively compatible with some if not many earlier games and stuff. Using a Relockick disk to boot it in rom 1.3 "Usually" fixes that but not always.

The things I like, is the A500+ can have 2MB chipram (ram that bottlenecks graphics ability and raw processing). It has 1MB standard but adding a 1MB card in the trapdoor bumps it to 2MB.
A early standard A500 can't be expanded like that without modifications to the motherboard. Only 512k fastram expansion. Modern alternatives and third party addons are a workaround.

Another advantage of the A500+ is it has "Extra Half-Bright" graphics modes on top of what the A500 has. Although not frequently implemented in most software.

The A500+ is also good to go if a self-booting Hard drive if added using Workbench 2.1 which is a nice middle of the road OS over the 2.04 rom.

[Fuzzball]

Thanks for that. I think I will stick to looking for an A500 for now. The reason I asked is the A500+ on Ebay seem to be in much better condition. As well as that a lot of the A500 on Ebay are listed as "Untested". Yeah right, of course it is "Untested" rather than "It doesn't work but I want the max price I can get".

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by Fuzzball

As well as that a lot of the A500 on Ebay are listed as "Untested". Yeah right, of course it is "Untested" rather than "It doesn't work but I want the max price I can get".

Well, it's a bit of lottery but a lot of them are genuinely untested, because they are sold by "normal" people, not Amiga hobbyists. To test an A500 you need cables, PSU, a disk - often an additional expense.

[Snoopy1234]

A500+ also has a Real Time Clock and (dreaded) Varta battery which is prone to leakage destroying the motherboard. I wouldn't buy an untested A500+ because of that. I've replaced the battery in mine.

[Cylon]

The late A500 with Rev8 main board are the same as the A500+, but without the deadly VARTA battery.

So that's why you would chose an A500Rev8 instead of an A500+.

You'd get the 2MB AGNUS, ECS chip set.

[Fuzzball]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

Well, it's a bit of lottery but a lot of them are genuinely untested, because they are sold by "normal" people, not Amiga hobbyists. To test an A500 you need cables, PSU, a disk - often an additional expense.

Yes the more I look into it, the more I am being put off buying one. Also I think I would always be worried about it packing in. I have a Mister FPGA which is great but I do miss the "tactile feel" of using a real Amiga. I miss the floppy drive sound, etc. The Mister just doesn't have the nostalgia factor for me.