Got an Amiga 500, need advice/tips/infos

[CatPix]

So, I recently got TWO Amiga 500 in a lot of computers.

After testing, they both works, and both can read and write floppies!

 

 

 

Tho, I'm a 95% noob in Amiga stuff, so I need some advices.

 

To my understanding, there are two main different generations of Amiga; the Amiga 500 gen, and later "AGA" graphics.

There are also different Kickstarters, and Benchworks.

 

Anyway, one of the two Amiga have a 512Ko RAM expansion, which is apparently a must have to get into Amiga 500 gaming. There should be a RTC clock on it, but the Benchwork doesn't detect it. I assume I need to replace the battery? Not sure it's so important but I won't let a battery leak everywhere anyway.

 

From what I've seen so far, msot Amiga expansions, either original, BITD one and modern ones are usually very expensive.

What is really needed for gaming? I saw a cheap converter to pluf standard floppy drive/gotek drives to the external port or internal. This seems good. I heard about a CF card?

 

I don't plan to upgrade to Amiga 4000 levels of power, so if I stick to Amiga 500 standards, will I need to upgrade to Kickstarter or can I keep what I have? Or does it matter only for a handful of games?

 

Also, I need to get power supplies for them. I heard that later switching power supplies can't stand the load for upgraded Amiga 500, but I don't plan to go overboard with it, so do I need to care about getting a phat copper supply or will the switching power supply be enough for my use?

 

If you have other advices, tips or even games you like for the Amiga, let me know

Edited December 14, 2016 by CatPix

[Sinphaltimus]

You will probably want rom switcher.

 

This will allow you to switch between a 1.3 kickstart and a 3.1. With both, you have all the compatibility you needed for most Games.

 

OCS is the original or old chipset. Then came ECS and finally AGA came to the last generation.

 

That's about all I can offer right now off the top of my head.

 

For bare minimum A500 gaming. 512k chip plus 512k fast ram ocs or ecs and 1.3 js will be enough to get you going and having fun. It's how most of us started out.

[CatPix]

I guess. I looked more, but it seems mroe practical to for go for an Amiga 1200 to really get into hard drive and other fancy stuff, so I wouldn't want to blow money on an A500 if I plan to upgrade later. I'm not ready yet to blindly throw 250/300€ in the air

[amiman99]

The cheapest option is for you to get the Gotek drive, try not to pay more then 30€ for it for fully flashed etc. Gotek is little picky on the USB drives, so maybe get one with the USB drive to be sure.

If you are adventurous, get the non-flashed Gotek and do it yourself.

 

You also need a monitor or composite adapter, because composite video is in black and white.

 

That should be enough.

[eightbit]

Do yourself a favor and crack open that memory expansion (break it out of its metal casing), clip out the battery and neutralize it with vinegar and clean it up. If it still works (reads the extra ram in workbench) you are good. I can see by the picture of the metal housing that it has already exploded/leaked. You don't need the battery at all and it will function without it (just no pre-set clock on startup). Clean it up/ remove the battery, toss the metal housing and you can plug it in just fine "board only" (which a lot of third party boards for the A500 plug in this way anyway)

 

I have yet to come across any official 512MB Commodore A500 ram expansion that DIDN'T have the battery explode. I have opened and removed batteries on around 50 or more of these over the years and they ALL have leaked to some extent....some worse than others. Why they would weld this together and not allow access to the battery is beyond me. Guess they figured nobody would be using it by the time the battery died and exploded

[CatPix]

Thanks for the Advice, but as soon as I saw the acids leakage on the board, I removed it.

I need to work on the board still : without the whell, I do'nt have the extra RAM, which mean that some grounding on the PCB is cut and pass through the casing. Well now the PCB is safe and I have the extra RAM.

Thanks you for that advice anyway, this isn't an obvious thing to guess when you don't know about it.

 

For the monitor, I have a SCART lead as mentionned so I'm good on that side (or did I mentionned it? never mind).

So Gotek will suffice me? I guessed so. Seems liek the fancy expansions are better used on an Amiga 1200

[Nebulon]

Your Amiga 500 is fine the way it is.

 

You may find a second diskette drive useful though. It's not a requirement for playing games.

 

No need for a ROM switcher. Save that stuff for the future if you decide to get into Workbench apps and things like that.

 

You'll want a Workbench 1.3 boot diskette and some kind of copy program (like Nib 2.0).

 

Remember: Don't plug anything into the floppy, printer, or serial port while the machine is powered on.