Just got my A500 and was about to fire it up for testing

[TjLaZer]

@irishmike

Check eBay for a Commodore monitor.  Models like 1080, 1084, 1950, 1960, 2002 will work great.  I have a couple spares here myself.

Also the C64 is the best selling computer of all time.  The Amiga 500 never came close.  Though it was the best selling Amiga model.

If you want a HD just get a used 2000.  Might cost less than a sidecar drive for the 500.

[irishmike]

Thought of that.  I think I have a line on both a A2000 here in the KC metro and the monitor... but I also found a line on a 2500 which I like better which I am going to buy.

When I get the 2500 and the monitor, my a500 may come up as available, it is actually in very good condition and I got it in a box with the 520 modulator... I would sell that to another person who isn't trying to make the Amiga their main machine :-)

Which brings me to another daft question:  There are adapters from Amiga to a regular SVGA monitor are there not?  Where does one find these?

I assume the 2k series will not have an AGP port for a graphic card... does it have std PCI?  If so, what card should someone find to use in the box?

Anyhow... I also have a nice 80 GB IDE and a nice 20 GB IDE hard disk that I would love to install in my new system...

Anyhow, I can't reveal my entire evil plans to get away from the giant MS at this point, the post would just go on and on if I did :-)

[B00tDisk]

BoingBoss wrote:


If an Amiga 500 has an internal 2.5" hard disk, it will be in the place of the disk drive (there will not be an internal disk drive).  People that have hard drives inside their Amiga 500 have to use an external DF0: disk drive.
 

Wrong.

[jeffimix]

Hehe.... okay....

Where to start.

Amiga 2000/2500 are very similiar machines (2500 was a later edition with an accelerator board 020 or 030 iirc with a few megs of RAM, and i think ECS). They both use Zorro 2 as their main system bus, they are from the late eighties and thusly predate PCI. ISA slots exist on them but for all practical purposes (except maybe case fans, or if you like 386s) are useless. They can have accelerator boards shoved in them (anywhere from 020/14mhz to 060/50mhz) with ram and hard drive controllers, which make them speed up quite a bit. Most graphics cards available for them are Zorro 2, be Very Careful when buyign a gfx board to buy oen that is CyberGFX or Picasso 96 compatible(standard RTG software), others will have limited to no software support. There are a range of 16bit soundcards available also. The Delfina seems to be choice as it has a built in DSP (can play MPeg audio with almost no cpu strain) MAS devices also process audio with a DSP, and plug into the parallel port. Few 24bit gfx boards use the video slot, but a few do, also, genlocks and internal scandoublers tend to occupy it, lastly, the Video Toaster, an old but very capable linear video editing board can go in that video slot. There are of course USB, serial/parallel, video capture, ethernet, and just about every other concieved of expansion available for the Zorro 2 bus. The 2000 may Not have PCI boards, or PPC accelerators, but within those constraints can be made into a pretty respectable machine, capable of running OS3.9 with  broadband internet and 24bit graphics.

I should repeat: the 2000 was built in the late 80s, it is not a modern machine in many respects, and can only be upgraded with a specialised range of hardware.

The 3000/4000/1200 can get PPC accelerators, and PCI boards . If you really wanted PCI, don't get a 2000 (which includes the 2500 and 1500).

PS: OS4 needs PPC, only prerelease is out on only AmigaOne boards right now.

[Jope]

BoingBoss wrote:
If an Amiga 500 has an internal 2.5" hard disk, it will be in the place of the disk drive (there will not be an internal disk drive).  People that have hard drives inside their Amiga 500 have to use an external DF0: disk drive.
 

But why? The 2.5" mechanisms are small enough to fit anywhere inside the A500.. It's not very cramped.. You could even fit a 3.5" drive inside without much hassle. Of course the top RF shield has to go, but I've lost mine a long time ago anyway.

I have an ICD AdIDE + Novia mounting kit and the 2.5" drive sits in a bracket on top of one of the CIA chips.. The floppy drive is just fine where it is.

[TheMagicM]

also I am looking for the illusive A1 mobo and have made contacts... either the companies are VERY backlogged or the thing is not available yet?

Give the Pegasos system a look, its a very capable machine.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

@Irishmike
if you got a harddisk, many games won't play from it (I take it for granted that you want to play games on the A500).
Most games are disk only and autobootable, and not accesable from workbench (NDOS)
There's a project called WHDLoad to put these disk-only games on hd, but I could not get these games running from hd on my plain A500 with A590 hd.

anyhoo, have fun with yer A500!

[B00tDisk]

Jope wrote:

BoingBoss wrote:
If an Amiga 500 has an internal 2.5" hard disk, it will be in the place of the disk drive (there will not be an internal disk drive).  People that have hard drives inside their Amiga 500 have to use an external DF0: disk drive.
 

But why? The 2.5" mechanisms are small enough to fit anywhere inside the A500.. It's not very cramped.. You could even fit a 3.5" drive inside without much hassle. Of course the top RF shield has to go, but I've lost mine a long time ago anyway.

I have an ICD AdIDE + Novia mounting kit and the 2.5" drive sits in a bracket on top of one of the CIA chips.. The floppy drive is just fine where it is.

Incidentally:

[

So once again, Doomy is either lying, or just plain stupid.

[TheMagicM]

I've wanted that for the longest

[Jope]

So once again, Doomy is either lying, or just plain stupid.

The poor devil is so semi-informed, but then again he's so arrogant that he thinks he knows it all and can't accept any corrections to his info.

A true besserwisser in the worst sense..

I wouldn't have a problem if he wasn't so arrogant when spreading his beliefs - it's so sad when his instructions are always partially true, but at the same time partially incorrect or unnecessary (yet they are the RIGHT WAY and you MUST DO IT LIKE I SAY). Then people get misinformed and start spreading the same beliefs on other forums and the problem just gets bigger.

But hey, I don't have to change the world, so I mostly just ignore the man nowadays.

[BoingBoss]

Hi Jope,

I think you need to watch your big mouth!  Only a stupid person will place a hard drive right over the chips.  A smart person will remove the disk drive and install the hard disk there.  Then they will configure an external disk drive to be DF0.  I am NOT lying and I am NOT stupid and I DO KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT !!!!  Many of you THINK that you know what you are talking about when it comes to the Amiga Computers, but, you do not.  This is why a lot of people are happy that I have returned, because I do actually try to help them with their Amiga problems.  Just compare how I answer people to the way most of you answer them and you will see that there is a big difference.  I actually enjoy helping folks with their computer problems.  Many of them have sent me private emails, thanking me for helping them solve their problems.  Many of them have told me that they thought that I am one of the most helpful people on Amiga Org and that I should be an Adviser or Moderator.  I told them that just thanking me was enough.  I will ALWAYS love the Amiga and Atari ST computers and I will continue to offer my advice and vast amount of computer knowledge to those who are wise enough to listen.  

[TheMagicM]

alright guys, calm down.

[PMC]

BoingBoss wrote:

I think you need to watch your big mouth!  Only a stupid person will place a hard drive right over the chips.  A smart person will remove the disk drive and install the hard disk there.  

BoingBoss,

There's no call for that mate, I know Jope said something which upset you, but there's no need to respond in this way.  It just creates more bad feeling here which I'm sure you agree we don't need.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and will respectfully ask if you'd kindly explain why it's a bad move to site a 2.5" HDD as per the picture.  It does have the advantage of allowing you to retain the internal FDD, so why would you not recommend it?

I will ALWAYS love the Amiga and Atari ST computers and I will continue to offer my advice and vast amount of computer knowledge to those who are wise enough to listen.  

No-one doubts your dedication to the cause dude, but I don't think that telling people they're stupid is going to win you many friends.  I've disagreed with people on this site over many things, but it doesn't mean they're dumb.  If you big yourself up and make an error - as we all do from time to time - then you set yourself up for a fall.

I'm not suggesting here you've got it wrong, which is why I'm asking you for your opinion based on your experience.

[irishmike]

I am not sure either why the hard drive would not be fine as pictured?  It seems to be on risers above the chips allowing for plenty of airflow around the circuits.  That is just my opinion... they who offer the kit may have just made a fine design... in my experience, I have seen many tighter configurations on other platforms... while we all can agree that heat is not our friend, if you have what appears to be 1/4 of an inch of space, I would think it would be fine.  Plus 2.5 Hard drives are "used" to being in higher heat environments since they are "notebook" hard drives.

This is simply my opinion.  :-D

BoingBoss:

I too would like to know why you think this is not a good idea... is it because of heat dissapation as I have pointed out?

I also am not saying you are wrong, just wanting to hear why you feel the way you do about the kit.

Thanks,

[B00tDisk]

BoingBoss wrote:
Hi Jope,

I think you need to watch your big mouth!  Only a stupid person will place a hard drive right over the chips.  A smart person will remove the disk drive and install the hard disk there.  Then they will configure an external disk drive to be DF0.  I am NOT lying and I am NOT stupid and I DO KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT !!!!  

Did you spend all day practicing that little (fake) rant, Doomy?  Should I post the URL to where you, Mr. Helpful, promise to go after amiga.org with DDOS attacks?

Aaaaaaanyway, the hard drive mounting kit came with brackets that kept it off of the chips, and ICD got rave reviews for the AdIDE products in AmigaWorld, long before you ever set eyes on the Amiga.