Questions about A500, rev 6a

[Randy]

Picked up this one on the cheap as non-working, but looks OK except for yellowing keyboard and missing screws (any idea what they are?)  The Chinon drive FD-357B, seems to be non functional even with cleaning and recapping, just seeks for track 0, also, it appears the drive light doesn't seem to come on, is that normal?  Assuming I can get a working drive, are there any suggestions for this A500, like add chip ram to the board?  I wanted this one for more game compatibility with older games over my 1200, would adding the chip ram negate that?  Also, is there a modern storage solution besides Gotek, not a big fan of the Gotek that I have used with my Atari ST, but may have to make friends with it on the 500.  Thanks

[Daedalus2097]

Some very old games will be hard-coded to expect a 512k chip / 512k slow-fast A500, and will be upset by any deviation from that. Which is why some people who modified their A500s back in the day for 1MB chip RAM added switches to the machine to toggle between the two configurations. If you're planning on mostly running very old games from floppy/Gotek, purely for compatibility, then I would keep it as it is. Most games that need the extra chip RAM will work on the A1200 anyway, especially if you're using WHDLoad or similar.

 

As for the drive, it's normal for the drive to seek the heads to track 0 on power up and then stop there, so that it knows where the heads are. If it's continually seeking, it looks like the track 0 sensor isn't being read. They have a small aperture that can easily be clogged by old grease and dust, so I'd start there.

 

Modern storage options besides the Gotek generally involve additional hardware, which give it things like SD card readers, CF card readers or IDE ports. These will tend to break compatibility with the very old, poorly coded games you want to keep compatibility with, and thus require more RAM and WHDLoad or similar to get them working. In which case you'd be better off just sticking with the A1200.

[English Invader]

I recently started using a Gotek with a BBC Master 128 and I can't recommend it enough for that system or the model B BBC Micro.  It helps a lot that the floppy drive is external on the Beeb and you just run a long IDE cable underneath the case and plonk the Gotek on the top with the LCD display and the little knob sitting right in front of you.  The Beeb has several different file systems and a device like the Gotek that doesn't require any bespoke software on the system is very useful if you want to use the Master or model B with the file systems that were originally designed for them instead of using something like the MMC that requires its own software and file system and cuts the user out of the original experience.

 

I've long suspected that happy and comfortable use of the Gotek depends a lot on the system you're using it with and how conducive its native features are to the device which is why I held off on it for so long.  Didn't like the idea of cutting a hole in the side of an Amiga/ST case and not having convenient access to an original floppy drive.

 

What I would suggest for your A500 (if you have floppy disks), is to use your A1200 to prepare disks for it.  The A1200 has the PCMCIA adapter and the software to convert ADFs to real floppy disks so you just make them on the 1200 and then run them on your A500.

 

The OCS compatibility issues with ECS and AGA have been well documented over the years and the solutions like Relokick, TUDE and WHDLoad are very good.  As mentioned before, I'm a recent A1200 adopter and after learning a bit about how the system is at factory spec I don't begrudge the A1200 community their elitism.  They got nothing out of the box from Commodore and everything they have managed to get out of the system has been down to their own initiative.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2020 by English Invader

[youxia]

You can use long cable and keep the Gotek on top of A500 as well (I do). There are also various converters so you can use it as an external FDD, alongside the original one.

 

I don't much like to use it myself, but that's not Gotek's fault really, it's just because it's a PITA to navigate large collections from these tiny displays, or having to boot into menus first. Plus multi-disk games are generally a nightmare on Amiga/ST. But there's no way around it unless you upgrade to SD/CF and that's what Daedalus 2097 already mentioned.

 

If you get one, don't be a cheapskate like me - I'd definitely invest in the Gotek with rotary knob and proper display this time round.

[Daedalus2097]

For ease of use, you can modify a Gotek to overlay its display onto the main display output, and use the Amiga's keyboard to navigate the displays. It's a little involved, but if you've got basic electronic modding skills and can handle a soldering iron, it's relatively simple. This image is of this mod carried out on an A1200, but the results will be similar on any Amiga.