My A500+ Project

[sim085]

Thanks for your reply. I understand now. Something else; when I connect an accelerator card (or a hard drive) which has a processor of lets say 68030@40Mhz then will my A500+ start using just this processor or it will use its 68000@17Mhz AND ALSO the 68030@40Mhz processor?

[arnljot]

The 68000 will start the machine, but soon after loading kickstart I think, it will then hand over control to the 68030, which will then be the CPU in use.

[A6000]

When you plug an accelerator into an amiga it takes over from the factory fitted processor, so the 68000 is effectively disabled.

[pyrre]

The 68000 will start the machine, but soon after loading kickstart I think, it will then hand over control to the 68030, which will then be the CPU in use.

Unless you use a cpu socket accelerator. it will bypass the 68000 commands completely and run only the "speedy" cpu.
Unless you tell it to boot from the 68000....
(accelerators like the derringer)

[cpfuture]

@sim085:

I have an A500+ that I can use to browse the web. The best way to upgrade your A500+ is, as you already guessed:

- an accelerator
- more RAM
- a harddisk

Often an accelerator will already offer you more RAM. You could try and do it without a harddisk and without an accelerator (I know, I did, just to see if it would work), but it will be slow as hell.

To get online you should indeed use Kickstart 3.x, because I think iBrowse requires it. Install AmiTCP (the TCP/IP stack). If you're on dialup a modem will work, but if you have broadband the easiest way is to hook up a null-modem cable between your A500's serial port and a PC or Mac and use a PPP connection. PPP is a pain to setup properly in Windows, but really easy if you use Linux or Mac OS X.

There are Ethernet solutions for the A500 (I have a Hydranet), but they use BNC connectors, so they're a pain to set up and also very hard to find.

Good luck with your setup!

[sim085]

Considering that it is nearly impossible to buy a GVP with an 68030@40Mhz processor should I consider buying a hard drive and an accelerator card (with the 68030@40Mhz processor)? If so any additional RAM I buy would be connected with accelerator card or with the A500+ itself? If it is connected with  the accelerator card (as I suspect) then would this RAM be specific to the accelerator card RAM for the A500+ follow some sort of standard. I am asking this because my Grand Slam hard drive had some RAM with it and don’t know if I can maybe make use of this.

Also, I know I need an accelerator card with a 68030@40Mhz processor, but how much RAM would I need and how much hard drive space?

Thanks again for all the comments As I said I am sorry I am asking such question but when I used to play with my A500+ I was still 7 years old and used it steadily only till when I was 12 years! Therefore for me everything you people tell me is completely new and mostly fascinating

[A6000]

Enter bboah in google and it will take you to a site that gives a lot of information on most amiga hardware.
It lists nearly 40 accelerators for the amiga 500 alone, plus tech specs on them such as how much memory can be fitted.
Find an accelerator on ebay, ebid or amibay and look up the details on bboah.

[Lockon_15]

I started similar project some 3 years ago, with a 19 years old Rev5 A500. I've got challenged by a usual "bet buddy" with ironic support of few other friends which still can't accept the fact A500 could display this very HTML page.

In short, everything is already said - you can't move an inch forward unless you get an accelerator. For A500 there are some 30+ designs, but generally only few of them are top-class (Derringer, A530, VXL30, Viper530, PPS040-500). Top class means top price. For instance, I got my A530 fully functional after 2 years of constant search. At last it was a faulty unit generously delivered from a member of this forum, which I have recently repaired in AMIGACENTER. With 8Mb FASTRAM, SCSI controller and 68030 @ 40Mhz it is argubly the most complete A500 accelerator set available (this is subject of discussion, many would bias Viper). This piece or something similar should permit smooth Workbench 3.1 installation and form fair basis for further system expansion.

In my case, I went for GVP because I thought it would be almost impossible to match/find both affordable and capable HDD controller in one box and faster CPU with extra RAM in other box.
Since SCSI drives are hard to acquire in one piece for a decent price, I got a 2Gb drive just for making headstart with GVP A530. My final solution include SCSI-to-IDE converter and IDE-to-CompactFlash converter. Few forum members have succesfuly applied this layout, using all benfits of modern solid-state mass storage (lower power consumption, temperature, lifecycle and shock resistancy coupled with superior transfer rate performance).

Stable storage system on A500 will bring the system a step closer towards the networking part. For that issue, I'm shooting on clockport adapter with SubWay USB adapter. Once configured with new bug-check version of Poseidon USB stack, it will (I hope) allow at least 50Kbytes per second on 40Mhz A500 (of course this requires USB-to Ethernet adapter).

Anyway, good luck on project, keep us informed on further progress.

[A1260]

@Lockon_15

can you post pictures of your a500?

[cpfuture]

@Lockon_15:

Dobro!!  ;-)

I have a clockport adapter which I never got to use. But if I use it with a Subway, how can I have a USB-Ethernet adapter work? Wouldn't you need specific drivers for that, so it can show up as a SANA-II network device?

[Tenacious]

Your project is certainly interesting.  I think you were referring to Mr A500, if not check out his screen shots on this site.

The most minimalized Amiga that I've seen this done with was an A600 HD (7 Mhz - no acceleration) with 3.1 roms and 2 megs of fast ram in the PCMCIA.  The standard serial.device was replaced with 8N1.device (I think).  It seems it could browse with Aweb and iBrowse, both earlier versions.  It was not fast and the images were dithered but it was surprisingly satisfying.

I think the mininal upgrades are a harddrive and at least 2 megs of fast.

[Lockon_15]

@A1260

I have a scheduled summer vacation with my family, starting later this very day. Won't be even close to A500 untill early September, but will monitor this forum "traffic". Of course, pics of A500 and A530 will be posted shortly uppon returning home.

@CPFUTURE

That driver issue thing crossed my head several times when I browsed eBay listings for those 5 euro USB-ETHERNET adapters. However, if you navigate to this page:

http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=2538

System description is listed below pic. It's easy to spot 2 metal USB bracket pairs with a single USB port connected to a RJ45 cable over an adapter. Now, check comments below - it seems like a working setup.

Since I'm months away from opening "networking chapter" and there are still some issues with Poseidon driver, I just put the usual IT logic aside and concluded USB-Ethernet as a done deal.

This state of mind might deviate from reality, but hell it's a good feeling.

[sim085]

Hi,

I have been doing research all over the internet all yesterday evening and this morning and still did not find any accelerator card for sale.

From the research I did it seems that the best two options are the GVP A530 and the Viper 530 with the Viper 530 being my first preference!

However from what I read on this forum and other forums it seems that such hardware peaces only rarely appear on eBay and other auction sites and a lot of people suggest to have patience.

Therefor I decided I should concentrate on other parts of this project; such as the RAM.

I found on amiga-hardware.com that Commodore produced the A501 and the A501+ RAM expansion boards. It seems that the A501+ is specific for the A500+. However if I find and A501 would this still work with my A500+? Also are there any better RAM expansion boards and would this be still required once I buy the accelerator card (since some accelerator cards also have RAM on them)?

Also regarding Kickstart ROM; Should I buy a Kickstart switch board so that I keep both the Kickstart 2.0 and 3.1 or I no longer need the Kickstart 2.0 if I have the Kickstart 3.1!?

[countzero]

sim085 wrote:

I found on amiga-hardware.com that Commodore produced the A501 and the A501+ RAM expansion boards. It seems that the A501+ is specific for the A500+. However if I find and A501 would this still work with my A500+? Also are there any better RAM expansion boards and would this be still required once I buy the accelerator card (since some accelerator cards also have RAM on them)?

Yes. The trapdoor slot of A500+ is to increase Chip RAM, which is always useful regardless of how much RAM you have on your acelerator. Think of it like graphics card RAM. It maxes out at 2 mb, so get a 1 meg card. The A501 and A501+ are 512K only, so I would avoid them. 1 meg cards for A500+ pop up at ebay from time to time.

Also regarding Kickstart ROM; Should I buy a Kickstart switch board so that I keep both the Kickstart 2.0 and 3.1 or I no longer need the Kickstart 2.0 if I have the Kickstart 3.1!?

Kickstart 2 is totally useless once you have 3.1 rom. Maybe you may want to keep a 1.3 rom for old games, but you won't need it much if you have whdload.

[sim085]

If it maxes out at 2Mb then why did they get out 8Mb RAM expansion boards such as the Elbox 500/8 (http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=1543) or 2Mb RAM expansion boards such as the AmiTek: Maximem (http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=945)?

These are marked as to be connected with an A500/+ Trapdoor Slot which I am assuming to be either A500 or an A500+. Is this wrong?

edit: found a good article here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_Chip_RAM. However still cannot understand why such companies produced such RAM expansion boards if the A500+ could only be upgraded to 2Mb.  

[Lockon_15]

AFAIK, there are 3 types of trapdoor RAM expansions:

- i.e. A501 with 512Kb RAM; those use so called "SlowRAM" and always use only exposed socket to function
- i.e  Elbox 500/2 with 2Mb RAM; those also use so called "SlowRAM", but due limitations/design of Amiga memory map, it can only use appx 1,8Mb of installed RAM banks. Moreover, such expansions need extra logic (provide address space for 4 RAM banks) which can be easily seen in form of additional adapter which connects RAM expansion board with one of well known Amiga chips (usually GARY, but can also stretch to 68000 COU as well)
-i.e. Elbox 500/8 with 8Mb RAM; those use real FASTRAM in 100% address space; physical layout puts RAM expansion board on trapdoor, but there are 2 additional adapters which connects to other Amiga chips on motherboard. Basically, this type of expansions offering 8Mb RAM need access to expansion bus usually ocuppied by sidecar expansion port on left side of Amiga.

Regarding A501+ RAM expansion holding additional 1Mb CHIP RAM, I'm not sure if that's correct.