Internet on a amiga 500

[som99]

OK ty dudes you guys realy know like everything hmm i mean webbrowsing. so what do i need kick rom 2.04-2.05 or 3.1 chip? like i understand i cant use AmigaOS 3.9 on older chips then 3.1 and does realy AmigaOS 3.9 work on a miga 500? then il might need much more memory (RAM) and/or a harddrive dont I?
ty in adw
//som99

[patrik]

@som99:

List of stuff you need:
3.1 kickstart ROM
3.1 Workbench disks
A harddrive controller with builtin memory-expansion such as for example the GVP Impact HD8+. Be aware that those can be a bit tricky to get hold of and if they don't come with a preinstalled os you _will need_ to partition a harddrive on the Amiga and how to install the os.

Vesalia is cheapest on the 3.1 kickstart ROM + 3.1 Workbench disks, they charge 17.90 + 9.90 EUR for it.

There is absolutely no problem running 3.9 on an A500 given that you have an accelerator with a 68020 or better cpu on it. There are even 68040 accelerators for it like the PP&S Progressive 500/40.

Btw, where in sweden do you live?


/Patrik

[jkirk]

AFAIK 3.9 will work with an a500 if you have kickstart 3.1 and an 020 accelerator. at original specs 3.1 is the best you can go to.

2.04 or 3.1 will be my suggestion 2.05 don't buy you anything more than 2.04 and was designed for the a600.

so if you want 3.1 os get the 3.1 chip( my personal reccomendation)
if you want to go for 2.1 os get the 2.04 rom.(3.1 will run version 2 workbench also IIRC.)

biggest reason to get 3.1 (DATATYPES)

[som99]

ok ty for the help il look around for some of the stuff you mentioned but if i got a 3.1 rom then i cant run all the old amiga games i have can I? I live in klippan in skåne its a bit near ängelholm and klippan is in the north east side of skåne.

//som99

[jkirk]

There are even 68040 accelerators for it

Sweet i did not know they existed. wonder if they are still being sold somewhere.

[som99]

ok ty dude then if i buy a rom i will buy a 3.1 rom but does all old amiga 500 (1.3 rom) games work on 3.1 os and 3.1 rom? and also i need a harddrive dont i to use 3.1 os?
would it all be much easier to try to get internet (webbrowser) to work on a amiga 600? I know a guy near me selling a amiga 600 for 30 euro.

//som99

[patrik]

@som99:

I agree with jkirk - 3.1 is a better choice, it is faster and more applications work with it is much more compatible with kick 1.2/1.3 games. If someone didnt get 2.04 back in the days it was because of some poor programmed games didnt work with it, but 3.1 is _much_ better in that aspect.


/Patrik

[jkirk]

but if i got a 3.1 rom then i cant run all the old amiga games i have can I?

some will some won't. for that you have two choices. now i don't know if it is compatible but there are programs such as relokick that will take a earlier rom and allow you to do a soft kickstart to run old games.

the route i would reccomend however is a kickstart switcher. this is a device that will allow you to switch between the two kickstarts. just remember os 2.0/3.0 won't function with 1.3 active.

[patrik]

@som99:

The A600 will be cheaper to get on the net as it has a IDE harddrive-controller and room for a 2.5" (laptop) harddrive.

There are caveats though - first you will need to get a 3.1 kickstart for that one too (2.05 is standard) as the only webbrowser available for 2.1 is the oldest version of AMosaic and that one cant show many pages. The other caveat is that you will have to get more memory as the A600 has way to little memory even if it is expanded to 2MB chipmem to be able to use a browser.

(edit):

If it already has 2MB chipmem, (1MB standard), you can upgrade its fastmem using a 4MB PCMCIA static ram card. I dont know where you can buy those though :-(.


/Patrik

[som99]

ty all but still i need a harddrive dont i? and would it be easier to buy a amiga 600 and get internet to work on it or do you think i shall stick with my amiga 500 that i did buy in 1990 (for 7000$ i think) my ever first computer
ty dudes for all fast replies you guys are realy nice helping a poor noob like me ouy here also you 2 have realy much knowlage in amiga hardware and software keep the amiga alive

//som99

[patrik]

@som99:

An old reasonably sized 2.5" harddrive is cheap. Keep below 4GB to avoid OS issues. Also the partitions on it needs to be smaller than 2GB.


/Patrik

[jkirk]

yes an a600 is a better choice as far as expandability. you might even be able to get an ethernet card for the pcmcia slot(rev 1)if you can get the drivers. not to mention the ide port. it also has a later chipset than the a500 allowing more functionality(chip, display modes,etc..)


however if you are contemplating this the jump to a a1200 might be more feasable in the long run.

[patrik]

Dont forget that you cant expand the memory of the A600 more than 2MB (without rare and expensive accelerator) if you use the pcmcia port for a ethernet nic. And I am very unsure if say IBrowse would launch with just 2MB memory.

Btw, check out this A600 .


/Patrik

[PaSha]

How about good old Alynx?
Yes, it is text only, but it IS a web-browser.
http://main.aminet.net/comm/net/ALynx.lha
http://www.aminet.net/package.php?package=comm/net/ALynx.lha

Works on kick2.04/OS2.0x too

-Paul

[jkirk]

so to sum it up

a500 can be done with some investment(Could be expensive)
a600 more reasonable for this project but upgrades are rare(trapdoor only)

a1200 best bang for buck (strictly from a classic perspective) upgrades are more plentiful than other two models.

[jkirk]

How about good old Alynx?

i used to use that. didn't like it though. heck i purchased voyager 1.x and used that on my system. though i turned all pictures off.