Amiga 500 mini (first review)

[nivam]

Hello,

I just saw this mini review in youtube.

[ Show youtube player ]

As I am an owner of several real Amigas (A500, A500+, A1200) and various emulated systems, I think I'll pass.

That mouse though....


Edit: And another one:
[ Show youtube player ]

[BLUELiGHT]

Originally Posted by nivam

That mouse though....

It looks perfect for an emulated system!

[ransom1122]

No adf support...

**amiga 500 mini with no disk support... really?

Mini seems to be a a1200, with whdload support only

Hopefully they have adf support update in their minds..

[dreadnought]

No adfs, really? What about WHDL? If you can't add any of your own games then that's quite a big letdown. Perhaps it will be hacked or updated later...

[CFou!]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

No adfs, really? What about WHDL? If you can't add any of your own games then that's quite a big letdown. Perhaps it will be hacked or updated later...

it seems that we can use LHA archives with pre-installed game files via WHDLoad (files+slave) on usb key (see first video at 6,54 mn)

[DanyPPC]

I think that a firmware update can make a future support to adf files.

But the loading of WHDLoad games is very quick and the aim of this console is to play, not to wait the slow floppy disk loading, even if emulated.

[CFou!]

Originally Posted by DanyPPC

I think that a firmware update can make a future support to adf files.

But the loading of WHDLoad games is very quick and the aim of this console is to play, not to wait the slow floppy disk loading, even if emulated.

see
https://retrogames.biz/thea500-mini/support/whdload

[rsn8887]

In the RetroRecipes Video you can see what I feared: Speedball (fist bumping in menu screen), Damocles (in game gfx vs text scroll), Starglider (in game) all run way too fast because of WHDLoad. I think this is the same problem you get on Amiberry, unless you fiddle with CPU Speed and other controls which are missing on TheA500 Mini.

Since the firmware and WHDLoad packages for the A500 Mini will probably be updated several times, just like the C64 Mini Files, it might improve in time.

I would have loved an option to set an Amiga 500 cycle exact config and boot .adf files.

[Gordon]

Any European English reviews yet?

[CFou!]

Originally Posted by rsn8887

In the RetroRecipes Video you can see what I feared: Speedball (fist bumping in menu screen), Damocles (in game gfx vs text scroll), Starglider (in game) all run way too fast because of WHDLoad. I think this is the same problem you get on Amiberry, unless you fiddle with CPU Speed and other controls which are missing on TheA500 Mini.

WHDLoad is not in question, it is on the side of the options of the emulator the problem.
It would be necessary to ask to RETROGAMES that in a future update of the firmware we can define the speed by a simple tag of the type (speed: A500/A1200/A4000/no limit...) when launching the game via USB key

[alexh]

It is a shame they scaled the tank mouse down by approx the same amount that they scaled the Mini. Presumably so it didn't look oversized next to the Mini.

It would be good to get feedback from owners. Does it feel much worse than the original?

[duga]

Originally Posted by alexh

It is a shame they scaled the tank mouse down by approx the same amount that they scaled the Mini.

It's not.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by duga

It's not.

What's that mean? It's obviously scaled down, you can see that in the video.

Are you suggesting that it's not scaled down by approx the same amount as the main unit? How do you know that? It looks close.

[Gorf]

Originally Posted by alexh

What's that mean? It's obviously scaled down, you can see that in the video.

Are you suggesting that it's not scaled down by approx the same amount as the main unit? How do you know that? It looks close.

No - watch the first video - the mouse is only a little bit smaller than the original (maybe 80% of the size), while the case ist just a quarter of the size!
Next to the Mini itself the mouse looks huge!

[desiv]

It looks like they did a decent job with this, and I like the mouse/controller...
Yeah, the system looks like it is about 1/4 size, and the mouse looks like it is about 3/4 size. If they sell that mouse separately, that might be tempting. ;-)
I'm not into the mini systems myself, but I hope they do well with this one.

[Northgrove]

So as for productivity, you can run Workbench on it? How would you go about starting that, like if it was just another game from the selection screen?

What Kickstarts does it come with? Can you switch for compatibility reasons? Can you supply your own Kickstart ROM like 3.1.4 or 3.2?

I like the attention to detail on the mouse and case -- definitely premium stuff compared to cheap 3D printed Raspberry Pi Amiga cases. I like that it supports AGA as it should and is more like an A1200, and that it can do up to 10 MB Fast RAM and at ~25 MHz. Gives it some leeway for retro productivity use as well! While an A500 Maxi would be awesome, I also like this size to be able to quickly stash it away in a drawer by your computer desk. I would've loved to see the C64 Mini joystick rather than a controller though.

[eXeler0]

Originally Posted by Northgrove

So as for productivity, you can run Workbench on it? How would you go about starting that, like if it was just another game from the selection screen?

What Kickstarts does it come with? Can you switch for compatibility reasons? Can you supply your own Kickstart ROM like 3.1.4 or 3.2?

I like the attention to detail on the mouse and case -- definitely premium stuff compared to cheap 3D printed Raspberry Pi Amiga cases. I like that it supports AGA as it should and is more like an A1200, and that it can do up to 10 MB Fast RAM and at ~25 MHz. Gives it some leeway for retro productivity use as well! While an A500 Maxi would be awesome, I also like this size to be able to quickly stash it away in a drawer by your computer desk. I would've loved to see the C64 Mini joystick rather than a controller though.

Im getting mine April 8th at the earliest, will be testing what can be done, but youtubers will likely try all that before then.. But i'll definitely get one of those Atari-joystick to USB adapters..
Regarding hacks, exploits etc, I wonder if someone will be tempted to tap into the 3d capable GPU that sits in the SoC.. you know, hack the emulator to run Warp3d (or whatever needs to be done), then play GL Quake on ;-)

[alexh]

Originally Posted by desiv

If they sell that mouse separately, that might be tempting. ;-.

They do. It's £19.95 on Amazon. Plus there's a full size wireless optical one in black and standard on Kickstarter now for €36

[DisasterIncarna]

i understand its a "mini" amiga, but not having it a bit larger to the size of say a pi400 so you at least had a functional keyboard was a turn off for me.

[Amiga600]

Well I can say I am slightly disappointed with TheA500Mini

I would have liked RP9 Support (since I am making those on my Blog) I did try getting RP9 Support Enabled but nothing seems to have been done upto this point: (https://twitter.com/AmigaBoing/statu...84968234962945)

The lack of ADF / IPF support is kinda disappointing as well, even the lack of HDF support too, which would have been a bonus of course

I suppose the above could be enabled with a Software Update

Yes the non-working Keyboard is bad, But at least you can plug one in

The WHDLoad Support is good, But I would have liked to have seen a way to integrate those into the main menu system, perhaps as PNG images and TXT files to store the Game Info then the Mini could read that and put the Games on the Carousel like the rest are, kinda like you can do when you hack the Playstation Classic - all the Games appear in the carousel and it looks much nicer than "a list of files on a USB stick"