Bought an A500. Now What?

[kedawa]

So, after being Amiga-less for over 12 years, I picked up an A500 system with a 512KB expansion module and a 1084S monitor.
It works perfectly and is in decent condition.
It's basically the same configuration as the one I had as a kid, except for the newer kickstart ROM and Workbench (I had 1.2 back then, and this one has 1.3)
It cost me $60 plus a $10 cab ride home, and I think it was money well spent.
The only other software I got with it is a handful of pirated games and programs, Fusion Paint being the most interesting.

Bearing in mind that I bought this machine for nostalgic recreation (it will mainly be used for games and casual tinkering with graphic/music apps), and I am on a limited budget (let's say $100 per year to spend on my Amiga) I do have some questions.

Other than a joystick and maybe an external floppy drive or three, what other hardware/upgrades should I be on the lookout for?

Is it worth the investment to buy Kickstart 3.1 and WB 3.1?

What's the cheapest way to get my Amiga and my PC to talk to each other?  Specifically, I want to get more software over to the A500.

Where can I get a cover for the side expansion slot?  It appears to be the only component missing from the system.

Are there any Amiga related organizations or retailers in Canada, preferably Ontario, that I should be aware of?

Thanks in advance for any and all input.

[kedawa]

Wow.  Thanks for the quick replies everyone.

The null modem option sounds good and cheap, but that raises a few questions as well.  What sort of software do I need on the Amiga side to get the null modem connection going, and will it work with a USB<->serial adapter on the PC side?
My PC has no legacy I/O.

[kedawa]

darksun9210 wrote:

WHDLoad? whats that? - its a program that takes floppy games, and allows you to have them installed, and run from hard disk. much quicker, and no more disk swapping! :-D
but bear in mind, that alot of WHDload modified games want one whole meg of chipram, so you may have to do the "cut and jumper" modification to your A500 to turn the 512k expansion in the trapdoor into chipram. more detail on that can be found or asked for as needed. also fastram will help as WHDLoad can "pre-cache" the game data there for instant midgame loading. helpfull for swapping scenes in adventure games for example.

I think my A500 may already have this mod.
I was looking at the memory map using the software on my extras disk, and it shows 1024K chipram and 0K fastram.
Does that mean it's modded already?  Or is there some way that amigados can use fastram as chipram?

[kedawa]

It's definitely an A500 and it has the A501 module.  The realtime clock even keeps time.

Are there any disadvantages to having 1MB chipram as opposed to 512KB of each?

[kedawa]

That's good to know.  I was afraid some of my favorite games might have issues with the lack of fastram, as some of them didn't have music without the A501.
Hopefully it's just the amount of ram that counts, and not the specific configuration.

[kedawa]

There seems to be several programs that do the same thing, but I'll deal with that when the problem comes up.

What's the story on HD floppy discs?
I've used them on Amigas before without any problem, but I've heard that they are less reliable in the long run.
I'm not terribly worried about disc reliability, since I can just back everything up on my pc anyway, but I would opt for double density discs if using HD discs will shorten the life of my floppy drive.
Do I have anything to worry about?

[kedawa]

I know it's included with AF, but I didn't check to see if it is available separately.
I'm still waiting for my USB<->Serial adapter to arrive, and I still haven't found a compatible null modem cable.  I'll probably end up making the cable myself.

[kedawa]

That's cool.  I'll have to look into that once I have the cables ready to go.