Amiga 1000 awesome again?

[YouKnowWho]

Amiga 1000 - the first, the original, holds a special place in the hearts of Amiga fans. Still great looking.

But, it's been unloved. Upgrades are hard. Chipset is old. People want more from their Amigas, and the 1000 just got left behind. Can't hold a candle to the 1200. With such a lovely case design it is actually a bit of a surprise Commodore never did a new AGA swap-in motherboard for it, as it would have been an easy thing to do with the case design and slide in back-plane.

Anyhow, I have a little Amiga 1000 project in mind myself, but in the mean time, has this pistorm made the A1000 viable again? Lovable again? Surely anyone running an A1000, this is a no brainer upgrade, even if it is getting into the simulation/emulation/unpure chipset debate. Does this make the A1000 hold its own against A1200? I think so.

Now, if someone would make some way to squeeze in a Zorro card inside the A1000 (there is room to fit most with a ribbon cable type extension connector) without it hanging off external, the A1000 would suddenly become something special again. The old girls would be new again.

[YouKnowWho]

By the way, I trust everyone saw the A1000 with Rejuvenator Board, 2.04KS ROM, 1MB Chip RAM sell for $2500 USD+ a short while back?

Shows you how desperately this type of upgrade was wanted by some.

[eXeler0]

Maybe you've seen the Rejuvinator reverse engineering project?
They have replicated the hardware but they are still struggling with the custom "firmware".

If they succeed, this will still have the problem with availability of a specific Agnus version. The exact Agnus version used in the Rejuvinator is practically "unobtainium".

A second alternative is to replace the motherboard with the upcoming re-engineered alternative, the A1100.
I myself am in waiting line for this one. Here they chose a more obtainable Agnus version but its still hard to get or expensive.
The A1100 is currently in early beta stage.

If you can live with 512K chipmem, the "520 Classic" accelerator is a good upgrade but it not everyone will love the side car -exansion sticking out on the right side.

So, yea.. if you want a cost effective solution, and one that doesnt physically alter the original Amiga too much the the PiStorm checks a lot of boxes.
Assuming youre fine with emulation and not a purist who wants original chips..
Ironically, due to the global chip shortage, getting a pistorm right now is not exactly easy either.

[frank_b]

I ;put an aCA 500 plus in my PaL one. Runs the cPU at full speed Never tried an a1200 accel though as it is so high off the ground. Runs 1.3/2.04 and 3.1 with the cpu at 40 mhz.

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by frank_b

I ;put an aCA 500 plus in my PaL one. Runs the cPU at full speed Never tried an a1200 accel though as it is so high off the ground. Runs 1.3/2.04 and 3.1 with the cpu at 40 mhz.

Yea, ACA500+ seems to work fine in the A1000 for a lot of people, however it should be noted it is NOT recommended by Icomp.
Physically it sort of shares the same "problem" with the "520 classic" as they both stick out on the side in a way some people will find unattractive.

[alain.treesong]

Hello,
Here is french video about the A1000 and ACA 500+ :
[ Show youtube player ]

A another good extension for the A1000 (english):
[ Show youtube player ]

In hardware point of view, everything was almost here in 85.

[eXeler0]

@alain.treesong Yes, the Parceiro is a really nice expansion and as far as physical add-ons go, its pretty discrete, however, it does not really accelerate the A1000 to new levels. You get 8MB Fast RAM and a good storage option but for those looking for more speed the 520 classic gives you pretty much all that + more for the same price. (~€200 ballpark)

[YouKnowWho]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

Yea, ACA500+ seems to work fine in the A1000 for a lot of people, however it should be noted it is NOT recommended by Icomp.
Physically it sort of shares the same "problem" with the "520 classic" as they both stick out on the side in a way some people will find unattractive.

There really should be an adapter with ribbon for the A1000 to keep a device internally. There is enough room and some plastic supports can keep boards safe.

[YouKnowWho]

Originally Posted by eXeler0

Maybe you've seen the Rejuvinator reverse engineering project?
They have replicated the hardware but they are still struggling with the custom "firmware".

If they succeed, this will still have the problem with availability of a specific Agnus version. The exact Agnus version used in the Rejuvinator is practically "unobtainium".

A second alternative is to replace the motherboard with the upcoming re-engineered alternative, the A1100.
I myself am in waiting line for this one. Here they chose a more obtainable Agnus version but its still hard to get or expensive.
The A1100 is currently in early beta stage.

I've seen a guy on here do A1600 - which as you likely guessed is a 600 Mobo in the A1000, using original PS as well. Not a bad idea, and in terms of upgrades for A1000 is a good one.