Expanded A500...now what?

[manossg]

Hello, EAB people!

I have my A500 from back in the day, that I have lovingly restored to full working condition. I have also expanded my miggy with an ACA500+ and a clean WB3.1 installation. I love this piece of hardware and, apart from the obvious WHDLOAD goodness, it has breathed new life in the machine and this, in turn, has whetted my appetite for using my A500 for some light productivity, always within the limits of this nice accelerator.

So, what can I do?
1) Using tracker software seems like the obvious choice, since I am a musician and working with actual hardware will improve my skills on ProTracker and Octamed. Suggestions for .wav to .iff converters?
2) I would like a word processor, ideally using it to write the scripts for my retro YT channel. Exporting to PC would be great, even in ASCII (Excellence!?), as well as supporting greek fonts. An excel type kind of program would be cool as well.
3) Any emulators that might work well in the 42mhz mode?
4) Can I mount and run CDTV images?
5) Any suggestions for improving the WB experience, without bloating it? For example; mouse wheel support.
6) Apps for file exploration, like Directory Opus? Ideally they would allow for .lha management.
7) PDF readers?
8) Other suggestions?

Thank you in advance!

[Sim085]

Originally Posted by manossg

2) I would like a word processor

Wordworth is very nice and can save in RTF or ASCII.

Originally Posted by manossg

5) Any suggestions for improving the WB experience, without bloating it? For example; mouse wheel support.

Have you seen BetterWB? This adds a lot of extras on Workbench 3.1.

[manossg]

Originally Posted by Sim085

Wordworth is very nice and can save in RTF or ASCII.

Thanks, mate, I will definitely check it out.

Originally Posted by Sim085

Have you seen BetterWB? This adds a lot of extras on Workbench 3.1.

Looks nice and without any bloat. But it needs a new WB installation, right?

[Sim085]

Yes I have always installed the two in sequence. Not sure if it is a must but I find it more easier to do that and then add on top of it.

Originally Posted by manossg

Looks nice and without any bloat. But it needs a new WB installation, right?

[manossg]

Originally Posted by Sim085

Yes I have always installed the two in sequence. Not sure if it is a must but I find it more easier to do that and then add on top of it.

Ok, will give it a try.

[d4rk3lf]

I have the same rigg.

...and, other then usual WHDLoad stuff, I started Real 3D, and rendered few images, then Lightwave (though, on my old crt TV, resolution is way to high, and it flickers a lot).
Other then that, I converted some small clip, and managed to make it play on my A500.
[ Show youtube player ]

Long term goal will be converting entire movie (probably some classic like Back to the future, or Terminator 2, Jurrasic Park, Braveheart), and watch it completelly on my A500

[manossg]

Originally Posted by d4rk3lf

I have the same rigg.

...and, other then usual WHDLoad stuff, I started Real 3D, and rendered few images, then Lightwave (though, on my old crt TV, resolution is way to high, and it flickers a lot).
Other then that, I converted some small clip, and managed to make it play on my A500.
[ Show youtube player ]

Long term goal will be converting entire movie (probably some classic like Back to the future, or Terminator 2, Jurrasic Park, Braveheart), and watch it completelly on my A500

Wow, it is fantastic that the ACA500+ inspires people to enjoy and discover non-gaming aspects of the A500.
It truly breathes new life into this hardware!

I wish you the best in your conversion movie project, mate, cheers!

[Sim085]

Do not want to hijack the thread but cannot resist not to ask; what did you use to play the video and what is the video format?

Originally Posted by d4rk3lf

Other then that, I converted some small clip, and managed to make it play on my A500.
[ Show youtube player ]