My A500+ Project

[sim085]

Hi,

I decided I need a strategy in order to get my A500+ back to its past glory My end goal is to be able not only to do the same things I used to do with my A500+ when I still was in my teens but also to be able to browse the Internet on it (not sure if possible)! Obviously I’ll need to do some hardware shopping and this is why I need a buying strategy. I already did some research and decided to put all my questions in a single post rather than in multiple posts which do not provide enough background on my goal! Also this would help other people who have similar goals

So to start with I will give my current A500+ specifications:

Processor:   68000@7.14Mhz
Chipset:   ECS
Kickstart:   V2.04
MMU:      none
FPU:      none

(I do not know the exact motherboard revision but I can open it and see if it is available on the inside. Should you need any more information just ask me and I’ll try to get it)

Following are all the hardware upgrades I have considered so far. Please do not hesitate to inform me should I have forgotten any hardware upgrade I could need.

Internals:
On these forums I found out about a person who successfully browses the internet from his A500 (http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=1192=7). However in his A500 specification I can see he has the Processor 68030 w/68881 FPU, Kickstart version 40.63 and Workbench OS 3.5. Now as much as I know with my current specifications I can only install up to Workbench OS 2.x! So will I need to upgrade my Processor and Kickstart? If so how can I do this? And is there anything better than those specifications for the A500+? The only worries I have with such internal upgrades are that I feel my A500+ would no longer be an A500+! However if that is the only way forward then I am happy to try it out Also should I consider upgrading my RAM/Fast RAM?

Hard Drive
I used to have a Grand Slam hard drive once but this one no longer works. I am not sure if I should go for the Comodore A590 hard drive or one of the GVP hard drives. Personally I would like to have an all Comodore A500+ but from what I can find on the internet it seems that the GVP hard drives are just better – they also suite better (in design) to the A500 but am not sure if this is also true for the A500+! I also read somewhere that the A590 hard drive cannot be daisy chained with other peripherals while the GVP hard drives can! Is this true? Anyways what would you people pick?

Modem
Personally I think this would require a whole post for itself since like that it would help better people with this same goal. So the question here is not exactly how to connect my A500+ to the internet but rather if there is anything (hardware wise) which I have missed out in this post which is essential to connect my A500+ to the internet.

To conclude I would like to thank anyone who has read till here. I am sorry for the long post but did not know a better way how I could communicate all this. Personally I would like to keep my A500+ as close to the original specifications as possible but understand that this could be hard. Thanks to everyone for any the comments

Regards,
Sim085

[sim085]

Thanks for your reply I did a quick search on the internet to see if I can find any GVP A530 for sale but seems to be really hard to find one! It is nice to hear that I can just upgrade my Kickstart without replacing any ROM chip. I will do a quick search on the internet to see how this can be done.

[sim085]

HyAmi wrote:
And imho you should definately get a 3.1 kickrom.

From the little research I did on upgrading to Kickstart 3.1 it seems that I need to buy new ROM. Is this so? If yes then which is the place to buy such ROM chips? (I found some already but not sure which one is best).

[sim085]

DBAlex wrote:
You don't have to get a new rom if you don't want, if you have plenty of ram...

I think I'll buy the 3.1 Kickstart ROM from amigakit.com Will this allow me to install older versions of Workbench as well (such as the Workbench 1.0 and 2.0)? Also is there any more recent version of Kickstart ROM available for the A500+? At amigakit.com there is only the Kickstart 3.1 ROM available for the A500+.

[sim085]

When talking about the processor what does the first number mean exactly. That is when saying 68030@14MHz what does the digit 68030 mean? Sorry if this is a stupid question :$

[sim085]

Thanks for the answer. The reason I asked the question in the first place is because I went to check the specifications of the GVP A530 hard drive (from here: http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=68) and it says inside it is has a 030@40Mhz processor!

So I am confused does 030@40Mhz processor really mean a 68030@40Mhz processor or it is an 030Mhz processor which together with the 68000@7.14Mhz inside my A500+ makes a total processor power of 68030@40Mhz? I do not know if the question is clear. I got the impression that the GVP A530 hard drive comes with a 68030@40Mhz processor.

[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?

[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

[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!?

[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.  

[sim085]

Thanks for the reply Lockon_15. Things are more clear now regarding RAM I will try to find a 1Mb RAM expansion board then since I would like to leave the sidecar expansion port free for a hard drive and also I do not want to mess to much with the chips in the A500+. Thanks again

btw - is it important to know the maker of a RAM expansion board? or they are no so different from one another?

[sim085]

Thanks for the suggestion, I am doing some more research right now

I now also have another question (sorry buy questions keep popping in my mind :$)

What would be the best setup; to have a hard drive and an accelerator card all in one (like the GVP A530) connected to the Side Expansion Slot OR to have a hard drive (like the GVP A500 HD8+) connected to the Side Expansion Slot and an accelerator card (like the Viper 530) connected to the CPU Socket?

[sim085]

Thanks, I'll buy the GVP HD8+ and 1Mb RAM extension board now and then when a Viper or Derringer becomes available I'll try to get it as well I also hope to upgrade my Kickstart ROM chip soon as well!

[sim085]

Thanks darksun9210 for your long description. Your setup is very interesting. However I am hoping to stick to the GVP HD8+ a little longer then you

I bought the GVP HD8+ and the 1Mb Ram expansion board from eBay for GBP 60.98 (excluding shipping). Is that a fair price? Also the GVP HD8+ I bought is 2GB. Is that good? Or I should already start thinking to upgrade this?  

[sim085]

The GVP I bought should also have 4Mb internal fastram So I guess I got it for a good price. Now I just have to wait for the stuff to arrive and see if they work (They should, at least that is what the seller told me)