Getting my A500 out after 15 or so years

[paul2010]

Originally Posted by ghost_of_war

Ah, the good old days before the internets...

I'm 30 but I never experienced the days before the Internet.

I didn't use the Internet until 1996, when I went to Further Education college and didn't get the Internet at home until 2004.

Before I got broadband at home, I was using 3G through my phone and it was slow and really expensive!

The first computer I ever used was a BBC Micro at primary school, followed by my brother's Acorn Electron and then an Acorn Archimedes A3000 and A5000 at secondary school.

[fitzsteve]

Good choice in games Paul =)

Yes the Megadrive Pads work fine with the Amiga, good to know if you want to play any two player games like Sensi Soccer

You should be able to pick up those games for £1-2 each on ebay.

If you decide to get an A1200 you can get an easyADF kit from Amigakit (uses the PCMCIA port) and you can make your own game disks which is what I used to do before getting the memory upgrades and such, now I run the games off the hard drive.

There are ways I think to do it with the A500, but it wont be straight forward.

Glad you got everything ok, looks like a standard A1200 mouse to me, and I think they are a little basic

Enjoy,

Steve.

[ck1200]

Originally Posted by paul2010

I'm 30 but I never experienced the days before the Internet.

I didn't use the Internet until 1996, when I went to Further Education college and didn't get the Internet at home until 2004.

Before I got broadband at home, I was using 3G through my phone and it was slow and really expensive!

The first computer I ever used was a BBC Micro at primary school, followed by my brother's Acorn Electron and then an Acorn Archimedes A3000 and A5000 at secondary school.

I remember the bbc-micro in art and design but favoured the archimedes and could mostly be found in this room on my break

[Hewitson]

Originally Posted by paul2010

I get a good picture on my 26" LCD TV from the RGB to Scart cable but it only fills 75% of the screen - is this normal?

For NTSC games, yes.

Same as how you get the "letterboxing" when using say a PAL SNES or Megadrive, except this is all at the bottom instead of being divided between the top and bottom.

[paul2010]

I've rummaged through my bedroom and managed to find the following games:


Sid Meier's Colonization (boxed but a bit tatty - sleeve needs gluing back together)

Top Gear 2 (boxed - in almost new condition - has a price tag on it, showing the price as £10 down from £26)

At the top of the Top Gear 2 box, it proudly claims to be 'The World's No 1 race game' - not now, it isn't!


European Champions (boxed and very good condition)

Thundercats (in cassette)

Mercenary and The Second City compendium (in cassette)

Insanity Fight (in cassette)

Ikari Warriors (just disc)

Captain Fizz (just disc)

Barbarian - The Ultimate Warrior (just disc)

[paul2010]

I still love the simplicity of the games.

Nice being able to straight away jump into a game instead of spending 15 mins reading an Xbox 360 game manual.

[ck1200]

Some good finds there, i could never get in to the Thundercats game though despite loving the cartoon as a kid!!

Ikari Warriors is ace

[Retro1234]

Originally Posted by Hewitson

For NTSC games, yes.

I think its more the other way around

Originally Posted by paul2010

Nice being able to straight away jump into a game instead of spending 15 mins reading an Xbox 360 game manual.

I can agree with that just jumping into a game never played before or having a quick game at 2 in the morning.

[Retro1234]

Sorry to confuse things its like someone said to me european games made with NTSC in mind 525 lines or just limiting the screen size for speed but on a NTSC TVs/NTSC/60 appear full screen or larger screen.

Also sorry mods I deleted my above message and had to type it again
Yes im a dick.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by paul2010

managed to find the following games:
Thundercats (in cassette)
Mercenary and The Second City compendium (in cassette)
Insanity Fight (in cassette)
Ikari Warriors (just disc)
Captain Fizz (just disc)
Barbarian - The Ultimate Warrior (just disc)

Looks like you bought your Amiga from Silica. All these games came free with an Amiga from Silica in what was known as the TenStar Pack

[paul2010]

Originally Posted by alexh

Looks like you bought your Amiga from Silica. All these games came free with an Amiga from Silica in what was known as the TenStar Pack

I'm not sure, as, as I mentioned above, I got it off a mate of someone living with us at the time.

It's a shame I can only find 4 or 5 of the 12 or so games in the collection and shame I can't find the cases to some of them.

I've been playing some more games today:

Stardust (demo disc)
Cybernoid, Major Motion, Buggy Boy, Virus (all on the one floppy!)

I was also real chuffed that I got Captain Fizz to finally play properly (the joypad was in the wrong joystick connector, which is weird, as it hadn't been a problem with the other games).

Stardust is great graphics and Major Motion a fun little car shooting game.

I'm in the process of ordering 2 games from retrogames.co.uk (can't decide which ones yet).

I think I'm going to keep my A500 for several years yet, as it's still working after 23 years and what's to say it can't carry on for another 5-10 years?

I'd pretty much like an A1200 but am I going to use it more than I'm using the A500 (for about an hour a fortnight)?

[ck1200]

Glad your enjoying the 500!!

[alexh]

Originally Posted by paul2010

shame I can't find the cases to some of them.

Pretty sure that some didn't come with cases. Just instructions on a printed sheet and the disk.

Originally Posted by paul2010

I'd pretty much like an A1200 but am I going to use it more than I'm using the A500 (for about an hour a fortnight)?

Almost certainly not. It's just a fact of life that we are older and our spare time is more precious. I'd be surprised if you used anything (cept maybe your TV & PC for web) for more than an hour once a fortnight.

The hard drive makes it much more accessible (you dont have to fiddle with disks). Before you buy perhaps try WinUAE emulator on your PC to see if you would enjoy the experience more?

[paul2010]

After much deliberation (resulting in me checking Amiga games web sites on the bus to work), I ordered Pinball Dreams and Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker the other day.

I wanted two games that were 'pick-up-and-play' and games that I could have a long as well as short session on.

I've never had a pinball game on any computer or console so far and I hated the snooker games on my Xbox and Sony PSP (World Snooker Championship).

I very nearly bought Fire and Ice or James Pond 2: Robocod but I didn't think I'd have the time to play it.

Pinball and Snooker have cost me £18 together with shipping from Retro Games, so good value.

[Steve]

http://www.retrogames.co.uk/more/on/details/017571


I very much recommend this game for your Amiga 500 if you like arcade adventure games set in a 3D world. Drive vehicles, kill soldiers and rabbits, get chased by bulls, fly helicopters etc. I have the original of this which I bought off eBay. Really fun game to play and way ahead of its time. No one realised at the time but this game was a glimpse of the future.

[ck1200]

Originally Posted by Steve

http://www.retrogames.co.uk/more/on/details/017571


I very much recommend this game for your Amiga 500 if you like arcade adventure games set in a 3D world. Drive vehicles, kill soldiers and rabbits, get chased by bulls, fly helicopters etc. I have the original of this which I bought off eBay. Really fun game to play and way ahead of its time. No one realised at the time but this game was a glimpse of the future.

Seconded i remember that

[paul2010]

Nooooo.

My Workbench 1.3 and Amiga Basic 1.2/Extras 1.3 discs appear to have failed.

I've got the original 'green label' discs and Workbench 1.3 didn't do anything when I inserted it from power-on, so I loaded Deluxe Paint 2 to Workbench and then took it out and inserted Workbench 1.3 but it comes up as 'Lazarus' on the 'desktop'.

Does this mean this and the Basic/Extras disc are likely to have had it?

I've tried blowing dust out of them and I'm sure I'd kept them protected in the disc box since last using them.

My 'The Very First English Version' disc works OK, so it's not the floppy drive.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by paul2010

...inserted Workbench 1.3 but it comes up as 'Lazarus' on the 'desktop'.

That means someone already tried to 'repair' them with diskdoctor. Seem like they've indeed had it

[paul2010]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

That means someone already tried to 'repair' them with diskdoctor. Seem like they've indeed had it

I hardly ever use Workbench but I suppose I'd better look for another copy on one of the auction sites in case I need it.

I've got a copy of Workbench 2 but this of course requires Kickstart 2 to boot from and I've only got 1.2(?).

[prowler]

Hi Paul,

You can send me all your corrupted Workbench, etc. disks and I will repair them for you, FOC!