Ultimate A500?

[mr_a500]

I believe I have the ultimate A500 - not just in hardware, but in software config (hence the name "mr_a500" ;-)).

If you can find an elusive Viper 530 - something I have been searching for for years - then you might have the ultimate. (and I might kill you to steal it :-D - the Viper 530 has 50Mhz 030 and 128Mb RAM!!)

My A500 has:
Viper 520 - 33Mhz 68020, 68882 FPU, 8Mb Fast RAM, 3.0ROMs
Mini Megi - 2Mb Chip RAM
40Gb 5400RPM 2.5" IDE HD
ECS Denise - with Mini Megi gives full ECS chipset
DCTV - for 24bit composite (displaying images, not WB)
Microspeed Trackball - verrry comfortable and no need for mouse space
WB 3.1 - believe me, on an A500 WB 3.9 is NOT the ultimate


I don't consider scandoublers or CD-ROM an improvement so I don't have any. All of my upgrades are internal, so there's no junk hanging off. (except DCTV, but it's just a small black box)

[mr_a500]

The Viper plugs into the A500's 68000 CPU slot. There are 2 IDE connectors - one for 2.5" (which my HD is attached to, sitting on top of the card) and one for 3.5". I never could use the 3.5" connector because there's no convenient way to power a 3.5" drive. I was thinking of getting a compact flash to IDE adapter and using compact flash instead of 2.5" HD. Modern harddrives are total crap and usually fail within 2 years!

About the old games - about 99% OCS/ECS games work fine on my Amiga, thanks to WHDload. The remaining 1% either haven't gotten a WHDload install yet or have minor graphics problems in WHDload or have unexpected exits. It's still a hell of a lot better than using a stock A500, waiting for slow floppy load and swapping disks!

My A500 is my first Amiga too - bought in 1989. I recently got a free A1000. The A1000 is nice, but much harder to upgrade. The great thing about the A1000 is the built-in composite output. I played Beast on my big TV and it looked great.

[mr_a500]

Yeah, PPS 040 board would be fun to see in action

You mean "smell in action". From what I've heard, the 040 gets very hot and the A500 case is pretty tight. "mmmmm.....burning plastic" ;-)

Does anybody out there have an 040 in the original A1200 case? Is a fan needed? (I'm not a fan of fans)

[mr_a500]

A good start but a towerized A500 goes still further, as my A500T in Micronik Classic Mini Tower:

Bah! That's not an A500 anymore, it's an A2000 in a PC case. "Real A500s don't have towers."TM

That's like taking the engine out of a VW Beetle and putting it into an Oldsmobile - and still calling it a Beetle. ;-)

I'd love to have an 060 and 96Mb RAM in my A500, though!

[mr_a500]

Look at mysig for my A500 spec, its not that ultimate but is not stock either. Would Like to get the mega chip so it has more chip ram and something to improve the video out put (scan doubler or graphics card if they even exist for the 500). Also i can play MP3 on it (with MAS player).

Yes, you definitely need 2Mb chip if you want to do anything useful. There are two different chips, by different companies - the Mini Mega and Mini Megi. I think Softhut still has some Mini Megi, but they're damn expensive.

I wouldn't bother with a scandoubler - A500 graphics look much better on a 1084 monitor. (I tried a scandoubler and was horribly disappointed)

I play MP3s on my A500 too. I use DiamondGUI with Mpega.library. DiamondGUI allows you to buffer for smooth playback (A500 is too slow for smooth real-time decoding). Once I decide I like the MP3, I convert to AIFF so I don't have to worry about buffering or decoding.

[mr_a500]

E-Matrix 530 50MHz 68882 Kick 3.1, SCSI 64 MB (couldn`t find a 128 MB that was slim enough)

Holy #$%#! That means YOU ACTUALLY HAVE THE VIPER 530!!! I read that E-Matrix 530 = Viper 530. Oh man, I want that thing!

I guess you win the "Ultimate A500" award. (...walks away to stick head in pile of mud...)