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Author Topic: Broadband solution for the amiga 500  (Read 4324 times)

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Offline Argus

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Re: Broadband solution for the amiga 500
« on: August 05, 2004, 03:01:11 AM »
I second the Bodega Bay idea.  I just spent a month putting the Bay's busboard in a custom tower with a Rev. 5 A500 a la Tom Week's T.O.P. project.  I also had a Denise Extender Board lying around so I added a video slot for a Microway flickerfixer.  So, after much work I have an 'A500T' with four ZII slots, one ECS video slot, 1MB chip/8MB fast ram but still the lowly/mighty? 7MHz 68000.  Works great for adding an A2091 SCSI card, memory, even ethernet but still no processor slot so you'd need to find a CSA MegaMidget or other 68000 slot accelerator to speed it up or go mad waiting for windows to open, etc.  Also, a 68020 is minimum for 3.5/3.9.  Be careful though, not all A500 accelerators that go in the 68000 slot will be compatible with the Bodega Bay.  I use this DIY project with a Multiface III card and dial-up (I don't mind waiting) and turn off image loading for web stuff and plan to add a MegaChip some time. My advice for A500 broadband: buy an old A2000 or better yet an A3000 instead and add one of Jen's excellent X-Surf cards.  I love the A500 but it's a bear to find stuff for it, imho.
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Offline Argus

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Re: Broadband solution for the amiga 500
« Reply #1 on: August 05, 2004, 12:43:39 PM »
I agree with redrumloa.  Since the A500 motherboard was designed from the A2000, why mess with it if you can have the real thing with an A2000?  But challenges I also understand.  The trouble with adding a Zorro bus to the A500 expansion slot is that I believe it must be buffered, etc. to emulate a real A2000 bus.  That's more than a DIY project, but maybe I'm wrong.  I forgot to suggest and have never actually found one myself, but I believe Micronik made a special expansion board for the A500 which added Zorro and processor expansion slots to the A500 in a nice tower package.  This used to be sold here in the States by a company called CeV Design in Massachusetts (they used to advertise in Amazing Computing, wow! now that's dating me!).  Alas, like so much neat Amiga stuff for the A500, it remains a mythical creature to me.  If interested in seeing this real gem, there is a picture of one on the amiga hardware site (www.amiga-hardware.com).
posted on A2500+ C=2620 14MHz/8MbFast/1MbChip
dialed in @34K
Just livin\\\' the dream...