Question about obtaining software

[irishmike]

Hello all:

If any of you have been following my posts, you know that I just got an Amiga A500 system and that I am looking for hardware for it and what hardware it is ;-)

Now we turn our attention to software:  Where can one obtain later system software IE) OS 3.9 and a later workbench, will this even work on my A500?  The machine only has 4 MB of ram so I may be looking at an upgrade.

Also where can you find things like:

An internet browser
Word Processing/Office
YIM client
things of that nature...

photo (gif/jpeg) veiwer

etc...

I don't mind low cost shareware, but prefer freeware where possible ;-)

Is it possible to compile Mozilla FireFox on the Amiga... sorry if this seems like a daft question, but I would need information on doing it if it is possilbe because I like the Mozilla browser best of all.

anyhow... help and suggestions are welcome.  pmail me if you have good advice to offer a newbie in this arena.

Thanks,

[TjLaZer]

Go here:  www.softhut.com

For software and hardware, great Amiga store, been around forever.

[irishmike]

Cool:

Can you also get OS 4 through them (just curious).  I am always glad for someone pointing me in the right direction.

Thanks again Mr. Laser :-)

[PMC]

irishmike wrote:

Can you also get OS 4 through them (just curious).  I am always glad for someone pointing me in the right direction.

You'll need OS 3.1 ROMs suitable for your A500 if you want to run OS 3.9.  Depending on how ambitious you are, you could fit an accelerator card to your A500, complete with a 50Mhz 68030, plus RAM and a CD ROM drive.  

Otherwise, I'd suggest getting an A1200.  This beastie will run most of the same programs as your A500, but can be fitted in a tower case and have numerous add ons fitted; including IDE HDDs and CD/DVD ROMs, accelerator cards up to 240Mhz PPC, PCI bridgeboards allowing use of Voodoo 3 cards, PCI networking / sound / USB etc cards, accelerated IDE ports, high speed serial / parallel ports etc.  

The A1200 is the realistic starting point, but if your looking at OS4 then it might be slightly better value to go for an Amiga One instead of a new and highly specced A1200.

[SamuraiCrow]

Software Hut will be able to get you AmigaOS4 but you'll need a PowerPC equipped Amiga to be able to use it.  If you're looking for shareware and freeware try the Aminet archieves you'll need the LHA archiver to unpack the files found there.

[TheMagicM]

I think you're expecting too much from your A500... how much is it expanded?  If its a stock A500 w/4megs ram and thats it..then you'll need a few things...  You for one would need a accelerator to run a browser because it will be very slow if even run at all (cant remember if you need a 020 or faster).  You need a hard drive (a MUST).  A video card would be excellent but then you'd need a Bodega Bay kinda thing that would give you zorro slots to use a gfx card (dunno if thats right..its been a long time since I've looked at how much a A500 can be expanded)...

[pjhutch]

I don`t think its possible to do all this on the A500.

You would need for OS3.9 and Browsing:
    Hard Drive Controller and Hard disk
    CD ROM Drive
    020 Accelerator or better and Fast RAM
    Kickstart 3.1

The 1st three items are very hard to find these days.

You would be better off getting an 1200 and upgrading that, as parts are easier to get than the 500 or it may work out cheaper to forget the classic amigas and go for an AmigaOne or Pegasos.

[irishmike]

Hi Guys:

I came to this conclusion.  I think I am going to try to find my A500 a new home (perhaps a friend of mine who just saw her and lamented his old A500)... but it will be up for grabs after I get my 2500 that I am buying... I think this is the machine to use for a starting point for me.

Thanks for all the help.  The only thing was the A500 came cheap and the 2500 is not very inexpensive, but I am looking to replace my PC with it :-)  (At home anyhow).

I am sure i will have more questions once I get the 2500 :-)

[TheMagicM]

great!    Post up when you do!  

[odin]

irishmike wrote:

Thanks for all the help.  The only thing was the A500 came cheap and the 2500 is not very inexpensive, but I am looking to replace my PC with it :-)

Aaaah, that sir, is a very noble goal. However it is also quite a big quest needing a lot of money. You will want to get a 060 card, a Picasso IV gfx card with all bells and whistles (audioadd on, TV tuner etc). But even with a über-Frankensteined A2000 you will find that e.g. browsing with an Amiga is still a very limited experience. IMHO the best you could do if you are serious about wanting to learn to use AmigaOS is to get AmigaForever6 (a fully licensed emulation package based on WinUAE). It would enable you to run anything up to OS3.9 on your PC and speeds greater than any real-world Amiga.

But then again...I'm a grumpy old Amiga-user who is fed up fiddling with failing patched-on hardware and worse software and even more fed up waiting for OS4 ;-).

[PMC]

@Irishmike,

It's well worth upgrading from your A500.

Although the A2500 is a good machine in it's own right (military spec, high quality Amiga in the words of one of our esteemed members here), but you'll be limited to expensive Zorro II only expansions and no PPC option.

An A3000 is a better bet as you can fit a PCI bridgeboard, PPC accelerators etc and an A4000 will give you access to AGA.  Many users here prefer the A3000 as it offers SCSI, standard VGA output etc.

If you want to upgrade on the cheap(ish) then an A1200 is the way to go.

[irishmike]

Hello all:

I am very pleasantly surprised with all the support I have gotten here.  I have even recommended this community to the friend that wants back into the amiga experience.

Anyhow, I am looking into the new A1 G4 mobo and OS4 as well as obtaining my 2500... I am very looking forward to that!  I am also inspired a bit on the A500... where did the kit pictured with the 2.5 Hard disk come from?  

Thanks for all the help (again) and I look forward to speaking more as my new machine(s) get here.

Whoever suggested "Softhut" thanks, they are very responsive!

Till later,