Hi i have just bought a Amiga 500 + and it works really well ,i was wondering where i would get a SCSI HDD controller ,so as to use a cd rom like the guy on youtube ,i am not really sure what a SCSI HDD controller is or what it actualy does ,apart from control the Hdd ,also how much upgrading can i do on this model Amiga ,i already have two Amiga 1200,s which need a little work on them ,but i am really impressed at how good the games look on the Amiga 500 + and how quick it is ,as i dont think theres been any work or upgrade done on it ,any help please .
A SCSI controller is pretty much "equivalent" (please forgive me but to make things simple) to an IDE controller, but it is/was much flexible and intelligent.
A (advanced) SCSI controller was faster than IDE counterparts, and can manage not only hard disks, CD-ROM/DVD drives and ZIPs, but also other mass storage devices, like tape backups (useful in those days) and image flatbed (A4) scanners.
In a SCSI controller you can connect up to 7 devices of whatever kind: each device has a different number assigned by you.
Nowadays EIDE/Serial ATA and USB substitute all SCSI connecting flexibility and improves it (especially USB).
I own an A500+ and I have an Oktagon 508 sidecar SCSI controller, something similar to the A590 from Commodore.
With it I have connected a 800MB Quantum hard disk inside its case, and an external SCSI CD-ROM drive.
Beside this, I can suggest you to get a sidecar IDE controller: it would make your life easier for finding hard disk and CD-ROM drive (normally even in the junkyard
).
An example is the AT-BUS 508, pretty much like my Oktagon but IDE.
The only thing in this case is adapting an external case for placing the IDE CD-ROM and let the flat cable going from the controller to the drive (I'm not aware of external IDE cases, like SCSI ones).
Hope I figured you out.
About spending money and time on Amiga 500 and so on...
Speaking frankly, spending money on Amiga hardware today IS somehow illogical for the average PC/computer user, but it's a different matter: as I wrote in an old thread, is like with old cars.
You can get better running with new ones, with more comforts, generally.
But the old ones, the one you like, despite begin less powerful and less comfortable, gives you such nice feelings the new one don't.
The same with Amiga, and between Amiga models.
I have an A500, an A500+, an A1200, A1000, A600 and a not working A4000 motherboard: probably my preferred one is the A500/+, probably because it was my first, and recently I also bought an Apollo 520 to get some more "power" out of it.
That's not better to leave it for the A1200: it's a matter of perspective... and budget, of course!
BY!
