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Amiga 500 Newbie... Need some direction


bbking67

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I'm an experienced Atari 8-bit user and former Atari ST guy and I just bought an Amiga 500 lot. I've always wanted an Amiga and noqw I have one (though it needs a few things before I can move forward).

 

What I have:

 

- Amiga 500 Computer (there is something in the expansion--I'm hoping its a 1MB upgrade)

- SupraDrive sidecar HDD Chassis + 40MB HDD

- Supra external floppy (seems to have some kind of Datel copier/speedup device)

- 1080 Monitor (I also have a battered 1084)

- Humungous power brick for the computer.

- Handful of amiga disks

- 100+ new never used DSDD floppies (yay!)

 

The computer is missing the F1 key and there is no mouse.

 

So here are my questions:

 

1. Are the $20 mouse adapters decent or is it better to go with an Amiga mouse? If I can get an optical mouse with PS/2 protocol support I think I'd prefer that... or is it only roller mice that work?

2. Are the old power supplies reliable enough to use? Or should I modify an ATX supply to drive the Amiga? I would test the P.S. with a voltmeter before using it no matter what

3. Are the floppies reliable on Amigas? I've had good success with 5.25" Atari floppies but are the 3.5" ones still going to be usable? Opinions?

4. Is there any use for the HDD? Or am I just better off to get a floppy emulator like the Gotek?

5. Is there a good way to interface with a modern LCD monitor or TV? Or is this just as horrible as the ST? I have a 1084 and a 1080, but I'd really rather go with a modern display.

6. Can I move files from PC to the Amiga easily? Recommendations? I guess if I get the floppy emulator that will do it but until then?

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1. Yeah you can use optical mice with the Amiga adapters, which I recommend

 

3. varies a lot,

 

6. if you have a PC with a floppy drive, you could use Amiga software like CrossDos or Fat95 (depends on the OS version you have on the Amiga) to access DOS/FAT floppies like you would Amiga disks. just don't try to use HD floppies.

 

(other questions most info I have is likely out of date or inadequate)

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Hi,

I recently scored an A500 after not having an Amiga of any type for over 25 years. So many of these questions I had to answer for myself over the last month.

 

1). For sure get a mouse adapter. Well worth the money. The one I picked up last week allows you to move two jumpers and use it on either an Amiga or an Atari. ;)

2). I modified an ATX power supply. Just happen to have a couple laying around.

3). My luck with Amiga floppys has not been good. Out of the 120 or so floppys I have from "back in the day", I have not been able to get any of them to read. But I have not finished qualifiying if it is the floppy disks or the drive.

4). Depends on what you want to use it for. If all you want to do is play disk based games and don't mind the floppy load times. Get a Gotek for sure. If you want to use WHDLoad, you are looking at adding more memory and possibly upgrading the Kickstart roms also. (also, see below)

5). I purchased an Indivision ECS (scan doubler) from AmigaKit. It was a little pricy and requires you open up the machine, pull the Denise chip, instert it into the adapter and insert the adapter into the Denise socket. It has an RGB connector on it. I ran mine out the side expansion slot and plugged it into my 17" LCD. Works great! With a side benefit of, if you are running KS2 or higher, gives you an ECS upgrade.

6). Easily? Not easily. But it can be done. As the poster above suggested, use a utility on your Amiga to read MS-DOS formatted floppy disks. Or use a Null-Modem cable and Amiga Explorer. There are other adapters out there as well that allow you to connect an Amiga floppy drive to your PC.

 

Sounds like you scored well there. The SupraDrive setup, is a SupraDrive 500XP? How much ram is installed in it? Looks like it can be fitted with up to 8mb. So you might be able to use it and get away with just upgrading the KS roms. Fairly painless and not too expensive to do that and you might end up with a nice little WHDLoad machine.

 

Thanks,

Ron

 

I'm an experienced Atari 8-bit user and former Atari ST guy and I just bought an Amiga 500 lot. I've always wanted an Amiga and noqw I have one (though it needs a few things before I can move forward).

 

What I have:

 

- Amiga 500 Computer (there is something in the expansion--I'm hoping its a 1MB upgrade)

- SupraDrive sidecar HDD Chassis + 40MB HDD

- Supra external floppy (seems to have some kind of Datel copier/speedup device)

- 1080 Monitor (I also have a battered 1084)

- Humungous power brick for the computer.

- Handful of amiga disks

- 100+ new never used DSDD floppies (yay!)

 

The computer is missing the F1 key and there is no mouse.

 

So here are my questions:

 

1. Are the $20 mouse adapters decent or is it better to go with an Amiga mouse? If I can get an optical mouse with PS/2 protocol support I think I'd prefer that... or is it only roller mice that work?

2. Are the old power supplies reliable enough to use? Or should I modify an ATX supply to drive the Amiga? I would test the P.S. with a voltmeter before using it no matter what

3. Are the floppies reliable on Amigas? I've had good success with 5.25" Atari floppies but are the 3.5" ones still going to be usable? Opinions?

4. Is there any use for the HDD? Or am I just better off to get a floppy emulator like the Gotek?

5. Is there a good way to interface with a modern LCD monitor or TV? Or is this just as horrible as the ST? I have a 1084 and a 1080, but I'd really rather go with a modern display.

6. Can I move files from PC to the Amiga easily? Recommendations? I guess if I get the floppy emulator that will do it but until then?

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Nice..

I've heard several people have had good luck with HD floppies by taping the HD hole so the system thinks it's a DD floppy.

I still wouldn't recommend it for anything important, but if you have the floppies and you aren't worried about an error eventually, it's worth a shot.

 

I'd clean the drive.. I bought a few floppy cleaning kits for that. The old disks are likely to be a bit gummy... ;-)

(Well, maybe not likely, but..)

Thoughts on the questions:

 

1. Are the $20 mouse adapters decent or is it better to go with an Amiga mouse? If I can get an optical mouse with PS/2 protocol support I think I'd prefer that... or is it only roller mice that work?

Not sure, I only have original Amiga mice / trackballs. I've heard good things about the adapters tho..

2. Are the old power supplies reliable enough to use? Or should I modify an ATX supply to drive the Amiga? I would test the P.S. with a voltmeter before using it no matter what

The Amiga power supplies seem to be fairly reliable. I've been tempted to get an ATX adapter / new PSU but the old ones keep working.

(That's one of the reasons I haven't sold my A500 tho. I don't use it, but it's my backup PSU. :-)

3. Are the floppies reliable on Amigas? I've had good success with 5.25" Atari floppies but are the 3.5" ones still going to be usable? Opinions?

I've had really good luck with my Amiga disks... I did manage to get a decent amount of new (unused anyway) DSDD floppies tho..

4. Is there any use for the HDD? Or am I just better off to get a floppy emulator like the Gotek?

For the A500? Questionable. I love it for my A1200, but it was just a $3 adapter and a CF card. I'd like to have one for my A500, but is there any real use?? If you want to use WHDLoad, then yes. Otherwise the GOTEK is fine.

5. Is there a good way to interface with a modern LCD monitor or TV? Or is this just as horrible as the ST? I have a 1084 and a 1080, but I'd really rather go with a modern display.

I much prefer my 1084s. I think they look much nicer. That said, I have a GBS-8220 on my A1200 hooked to a KVM that I share with my PC. (Not the K or M part, but the V switches.. ;-) )

I did have to make my own cable for it..

6. Can I move files from PC to the Amiga easily? Recommendations? I guess if I get the floppy emulator that will do it but until then

You can kind of do it with the floppy emulator (I have a "blank" floppy image that I use for that a bit).

I have a Windows program (that I run under WINE on Ubuntu) that can mount the ADF file and I can copy files to/from it. (Can't remember the name of the app right now)

Tho, if you are just using a GOTEK, you probably won't need to transfer many files..

 

desiv

Edited by desiv
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For file transfer from pc to amiga i use Amiga Explorer. Works good, but it is slow.

I don't have a lot of issues with old floppy's. Allmost all of them seem to work. I only had a few disks that where bad.

A hdd can be great if you have a game that uses multiple disks. So you don't need to swap floppy's.

I like the sound of the floppy seeking and loading, but i'm going to get a gotek for ease of use, transferring files from pc to amiga.

Maybe modding my gotek to produce loading sounds.

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Yea, that would be great. I have been drooling over an ACA500 for a month now. They are out of stock everywhere. And there will probably not be any more made. The word over at EAB is the new ACA500 Plus will be replacing it. It was slated to be released before the end of the year, but it's probably not going to happen, if at all, until the first quarter of next year. But one can hope? Right?

 

Thanks,

Ron

 

 

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I too have an Indivision ECS, but cannot bear to install it. HATE the generic pixelated and blocky look of VGA, let alone the thought of using it on an Amiga. Bought it for when my 15khz monitors bite the dust down the road beyond repair. But I'll try to make sure that never happens. Will probably sell the Indivision before then. ;)

 

Wouldn't use anything but a standard Amiga mouse on an Amiga, but I too have heard good things about the Cocolino, etc. adapters. If you don't mind using some generic/optic mice with the Amiga - then go for it. Else, I'd seek out an original ball model if you want the real feel.

 

Amiga PS are very reliable. Can't tell you the last time I had to recap one. And even so, recapping is a lot more sensible than jury-rigging some big old bulky and noisy PeeCee PS to it. Wires dangling everywhere, etc. Blech.

 

Floppy drives are extremely reliable, especially compared the to the ST's. But it's still prudent to open her up for a good douche and lube.

 

Lots of utilities to transfer files to and fro a PeeCee via floppy. Built right into the OS even, but there's no need to mess with that when you've got the CF card solution above. Not exactly hot swappable, but doesn't get much simpler than dragging files to a CF card.

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Hi,

I recently scored an A500 after not having an Amiga of any type for over 25 years. So many of these questions I had to answer for myself over the last month.

 

1). For sure get a mouse adapter. Well worth the money. The one I picked up last week allows you to move two jumpers and use it on either an Amiga or an Atari. ;)

2). I modified an ATX power supply. Just happen to have a couple laying around.

3). My luck with Amiga floppys has not been good. Out of the 120 or so floppys I have from "back in the day", I have not been able to get any of them to read. But I have not finished qualifiying if it is the floppy disks or the drive.

4). Depends on what you want to use it for. If all you want to do is play disk based games and don't mind the floppy load times. Get a Gotek for sure. If you want to use WHDLoad, you are looking at adding more memory and possibly upgrading the Kickstart roms also. (also, see below)

5). I purchased an Indivision ECS (scan doubler) from AmigaKit. It was a little pricy and requires you open up the machine, pull the Denise chip, instert it into the adapter and insert the adapter into the Denise socket. It has an RGB connector on it. I ran mine out the side expansion slot and plugged it into my 17" LCD. Works great! With a side benefit of, if you are running KS2 or higher, gives you an ECS upgrade.

6). Easily? Not easily. But it can be done. As the poster above suggested, use a utility on your Amiga to read MS-DOS formatted floppy disks. Or use a Null-Modem cable and Amiga Explorer. There are other adapters out there as well that allow you to connect an Amiga floppy drive to your PC.

 

Sounds like you scored well there. The SupraDrive setup, is a SupraDrive 500XP? How much ram is installed in it? Looks like it can be fitted with up to 8mb. So you might be able to use it and get away with just upgrading the KS roms. Fairly painless and not too expensive to do that and you might end up with a nice little WHDLoad machine.

 

Thanks,

Ron

 

 

The SupraDrive says 512KB on the sticker... not sure if it has been upgraded. The expansion port of teh A500 has a board there which has a tin cage that is soldered shut... maybe it's a 501. I guess I'll have to replace the battery if there is one.

 

The thing with the SupraDrive is that it doesn't have a power supply, so I'll have to make one (5 and 12V should be easy). I just have to find the right DIN connector in my junk or worst case order one.

 

Looks like the SupraDrive HDD was upgraded to a bigger drive... possibly 50MB. The original Conner 40GB is there too. Hopefully one of the disks still works.

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I too have an Indivision ECS, but cannot bear to install it. HATE the generic pixelated and blocky look of VGA, let alone the thought of using it on an Amiga. Bought it for when my 15khz monitors bite the dust down the road beyond repair. But I'll try to make sure that never happens. Will probably sell the Indivision before then. ;)

 

Wouldn't use anything but a standard Amiga mouse on an Amiga, but I too have heard good things about the Cocolino, etc. adapters. If you don't mind using some generic/optic mice with the Amiga - then go for it. Else, I'd seek out an original ball model if you want the real feel.

 

Amiga PS are very reliable. Can't tell you the last time I had to recap one. And even so, recapping is a lot more sensible than jury-rigging some big old bulky and noisy PeeCee PS to it. Wires dangling everywhere, etc. Blech.

 

Floppy drives are extremely reliable, especially compared the to the ST's. But it's still prudent to open her up for a good douche and lube.

 

Lots of utilities to transfer files to and fro a PeeCee via floppy. Built right into the OS even, but there's no need to mess with that when you've got the CF card solution above. Not exactly hot swappable, but doesn't get much simpler than dragging files to a CF card.

 

Recapping is something I might do... are there any mobo caps that should be changed?

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Agreed, if your PS works, no reason to do anything but use it.

For me, I didn't have one. Mine only has one set of wires. ;)

Power%20Supply.jpg

 

And I put wire loom around it when done. If I needed another set of wires, one could easliy re-solder the leads back in the PS and run it to your expansion with an plug on the end. Then there would just be one PS "to rule them all". lol

 

Thanks,

Ron

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Recapping is something I might do... are there any mobo caps that should be changed?

 

Doubtful. But if you've got the computer opened up, may as well inspect for bubbling/leakage. Amiga's of this vintage are more likely to have bad RAM/CIA chips or other I.C.'s (Gary/Denise) that simply need to be reseated. Especially that fat bitch Agnus. :lol:

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Most important is to check if the memoryupgrade unterneat the trapdoor has a battery backedup rtc. Many of these batterys are leaking and damaging the memory pcb.

 

Oh, that's right... if it's a Commodore A501, you'll need to desolder the RF shielding to get at it. There are modern CR2032 coin cell battery kits (with diode) you can replace the leaky NiCad with. If the battery leaked, might have damaged the clock/calendar circuit or worse. No biggy though, can either try to repair or stabilize with a vinegar/baking soda solution or simply replace or do without the board. There are a few modern replacements for expansion RAM... one guy up in Canada as a matter of fact, makes some 68000 expansion do-dads w/ CF card storage even. Kipper2K:

 

http://www.kipper2k.com

 

...in order to get the scsi.device working with the CF card though, you'll need a 2.05+ A600/A1200 Kickstart chip. I'd recommend a full 3.1 Kickstart/Workbench installation.

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Is the 3.1 Kickstart/Workbench just new EPROMS?

 

 

Oh, that's right... if it's a Commodore A501, you'll need to desolder the RF shielding to get at it. There are modern CR2032 coin cell battery kits (with diode) you can replace the leaky NiCad with. If the battery leaked, might have damaged the clock/calendar circuit or worse. No biggy though, can either try to repair or stabilize with a vinegar/baking soda solution or simply replace or do without the board. There are a few modern replacements for expansion RAM... one guy up in Canada as a matter of fact, makes some 68000 expansion do-dads w/ CF card storage even. Kipper2K:

http://www.kipper2k.com

 

...in order to get the scsi.device working with the CF card though, you'll need a 2.05+ A600/A1200 Kickstart chip. I'd recommend a full 3.1 Kickstart/Workbench installation.

 

Is the kickstart upgrade just EPROMS?

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Is the 3.1 Kickstart/Workbench just new EPROMS?

 

 

Is the kickstart upgrade just EPROMS?

 

Yes, Kickstart is a ROM chip - Workbench is on floppy/download.

 

Can usually hit this guy up for Kickstart chips (write to him if none are listed at the moment):

 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/italod/m.html?item=151710431322&hash=item2352a5785a%3Ag%3AQw8AAOSwrklVeNkY&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

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I'm an experienced Atari 8-bit user and former Atari ST guy and I just bought an Amiga 500 lot. I've always wanted an Amiga and noqw I have one (though it needs a few things before I can move forward).

 

What I have:

 

- Amiga 500 Computer (there is something in the expansion--I'm hoping its a 1MB upgrade)

- SupraDrive sidecar HDD Chassis + 40MB HDD

- Supra external floppy (seems to have some kind of Datel copier/speedup device)

- 1080 Monitor (I also have a battered 1084)

- Humungous power brick for the computer.

- Handful of amiga disks

- 100+ new never used DSDD floppies (yay!)

 

The computer is missing the F1 key and there is no mouse.

 

So here are my questions:

 

1. Are the $20 mouse adapters decent or is it better to go with an Amiga mouse? If I can get an optical mouse with PS/2 protocol support I think I'd prefer that... or is it only roller mice that work?

2. Are the old power supplies reliable enough to use? Or should I modify an ATX supply to drive the Amiga? I would test the P.S. with a voltmeter before using it no matter what

3. Are the floppies reliable on Amigas? I've had good success with 5.25" Atari floppies but are the 3.5" ones still going to be usable? Opinions?

4. Is there any use for the HDD? Or am I just better off to get a floppy emulator like the Gotek?

5. Is there a good way to interface with a modern LCD monitor or TV? Or is this just as horrible as the ST? I have a 1084 and a 1080, but I'd really rather go with a modern display.

6. Can I move files from PC to the Amiga easily? Recommendations? I guess if I get the floppy emulator that will do it but until then?

1. I've actually never used one of those adaptors. However, it shouldn't be too hard to find an Amiga mouse. Golden Image made good ones.

 

2. The power supply should be fine. Of the ones that I have, none have given me any trouble.

 

3. Diskettes on Amiga are reliable. One way to make sure the blank disk is good is to format it. If the DOS format fails, you could trash the disk since it would likely cause errors if you try DMSing to it (i.e. decrunching an bootable image file to disk).

 

4. If you want to just run games and demos on the Amiga 500, the hard drive will be marginally useful (or not at all). It couldn't hurt to keep it and use it for awhile to get the feel of it. The most important thing is the external diskette drive. That'll save you a lot of disk swapping.

 

5. There are external boxes out there for hooking up to LCD screens. Personally, I'd use the 1084 monitor.

 

6. One of the best ways to move files from PC to Amiga is to use the free PC2Amiga utility and a parallel cable. This is where the Amiga hard drive will come in handy.

 

This page contains the PC2Amiga files (as well as other useful utilities):

http://www.blitter.com/~nebulous/utilities.html

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Yes, Kickstart is a ROM chip - Workbench is on floppy/download.

 

Can usually hit this guy up for Kickstart chips (write to him if none are listed at the moment):

 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/italod/m.html?item=151710431322&hash=item2352a5785a%3Ag%3AQw8AAOSwrklVeNkY&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

For maximum games compatibility, it's best to stick with Kickstart 1.3 and Workbench 1.3.

 

But if you really want to upgrade the OS and the associated Kickstart chip, feel free to do so. Just be sure to keep the old one around -- just in case.

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For maximum games compatibility, it's best to stick with Kickstart 1.3 and Workbench 1.3.

 

But if you really want to upgrade the OS and the associated Kickstart chip, feel free to do so. Just be sure to keep the old one around -- just in case.

 

In the context of what I was suggesting (removable CF card with RAM), you want to go with 3.1. Think WHDLoad here.

 

If you're going to keep your machine floppy based and purchase real media (like some of us still do), then yes - nice to keep it 1.3. But the work-a-round in a floppy based 3.1 system involves a simple program you boot if you want 100% compatibility, so again - not a big deal if one goes 3.1. Hey, that rhymed! :lol:

 

Not talking about a Kickstart switcher either. All this can be done with software and a little bit more RAM today.

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In the context of what I was suggesting (removable CF card with RAM), you want to go with 3.1. Think WHDLoad here.

 

If you're going to keep your machine floppy based and purchase real media (like some of us still do), then yes - nice to keep it 1.3. But the work-a-round in a floppy based 3.1 system involves a simple program you boot if you want 100% compatibility, so again - not a big deal if one goes 3.1. Hey, that rhymed! :lol:

 

Not talking about a Kickstart switcher either. All this can be done with software and a little bit more RAM today.

CF is cool, but diskettes and 1.3 still offers the highest level of compatibility. I've used just about every software solution out there (including Degrader) and have still had issues getting some OCS games running on machines with Kickstart 2.0 and newer ROMs. With free utils that can decrunch images to diskette (from DMS or ADF), a diskette-based solution is easily doable.

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On the topic of floppy disks, I believe floppy drives break more often than floppy disks do. That means if someone tried 120 disks and none would read, I think the drive needs cleaning or likely is toast. It is very common for the drive to break down, thus you see a lot of beaten up Amiga 500's that will work, but the floppy drive was already pulled to another machine. The mechanism is the same as in some Atari ST etc but I seem to remember that due to the way the Amiga reads a full track every time it needs a sector, drives wear out quicker.

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On the topic of floppy disks, I believe floppy drives break more often than floppy disks do. That means if someone tried 120 disks and none would read, I think the drive needs cleaning or likely is toast. It is very common for the drive to break down, thus you see a lot of beaten up Amiga 500's that will work, but the floppy drive was already pulled to another machine. The mechanism is the same as in some Atari ST etc but I seem to remember that due to the way the Amiga reads a full track every time it needs a sector, drives wear out quicker.

It may not actually be the drive. It's worth trying the drive on a different Amiga to see if it's actually a bad CIA chip.

 

In my experience, I've only seen one diskette drive actually go bad on an Amiga (and I've used somewhere between 15 and 20 Amiga disk drives over the years).

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Actually, now that I've mentioned the CIA chips, here's a tip for Amiga newbies:

 

Do not pull out or plug in the parallel or serial cable while the Amiga is on. If you're used to the PC you know you can do this without issues. However, on an Amiga, you risk nuking one or both of the CIA chips.

 

Fortunately, on an Amiga 500 or 2000, these chips are easy to replace (if you can find replacement parts).

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