Why is NTSC Amiga 500+ so hard to find?

[LoadWB]

This has plagued me for quite a while.  I managed to come across a true Amiga 500+ with Rev 8 mobo several several years ago, I think 1996-ish.  My 500's have been so Frankensteined that I honestly have no idea where I found the 500+.

Recently I started looking for another one, or at least a Rev 8 mobo to no avail.  I can only find PAL 500+s from UK.  Are NTSC A500+s really rare?

It recently hit me that I could also just pick up a 600 which would pretty much give me the same system (save for KS1.3 for older games) with PCMCIA and IDE interfaces.  But then I noticed that the 600 was solidly crippled with base of 1MB RAM.  Pfah!  Man, why would Commodore do that?

[TjLaZer]

Yes they are very rare as not many were sold here in the US, most moved onto the A600 by then or bought the original A500.  The A600 can be upgraded to 2MB Chip with a trapdoor module.

[LoadWB]

I've seen upgrades for the 600, including the ChipRAM upgrade.  I'll continue to consider that, meanwhile I'm putting my 50MHz Derringer '030-based 500 back into production.  Now I just need to find a Rejuvinator for the 1k  :-D

[x56h34]

I'm a proud owner of an NTSC A500+ upgraded to 2MB chip ram and an internal E-Matrix 530 accelerator, internal 40GB 2.5" IDE hard drive, and soon to be added internal slim-line CD-R drive. :-D

[LoadWB]

Sweetness.  My NTSC 500+ has the Derringer and I will be trying the AdIDE interface, too.  I have three KS switchers to choose from sitting in a box here.

[Matt_H]

I read in and old magazine that the 500+ was never actually released to the North American market. I guess that's not quite the case reading the other posts in this thread ;-)

I think very late A500s over here were actually re-badged A500+s. Or something pretty damn close. My 500 has a full label like a 500+ (though it only says A-500) and the same LEDs as a 500+.

I've never actually opened it up though (still has the warranty seal!) so I don't know what exactly is under the hood. Still only have 1MB of Chip RAM with the trapdoor expansion installed...

[LoadWB]

The Rev 8 mobo has an onboard battery-backed clock.  Try checking for it.

[LoadWB]

Come to think of it, I complained about the A600 only having 1MB on-board, IIRC the A500+ also only came stock with 1MB, and the A501+ provides the second 1MB for 2MB of ChipRAM.  I'll have to pull mine out of its box and double check.  I am pretty sure this is the case, though.

BTW, I realized just now that this was under software and should have been under hardware... I originally started this thread to ask about NTSC CD32 titles, but changed my mind  :-)

[LoadWB]

Okay, one last thought on identifying your A500... ShowConfig or SysInfo can identify chips.  I don't think any other revision A500 mobo came with the 2MB Agnus.

That's it, I'm done :-)

[ChrisUnionNJ]

Here some info I found since I have not seen it posted anywere
 there are no real NTSC 500+ here in the USA what you might
 find here are 500's with a 500+ MB but they just branded them as
 plain 500's..
Not sure how true the info is but does sound like something commodore
 would do...:idea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500_Plus

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[magnetic]

Now I just need to find a Rejuvinator for the 1k  :-D

There is one on ebay right now.. going for over $300 atm.


@ thread

Yeah, A500 plus pretty rare in US.

[Damion]

I read in and old magazine that the 500+ was never actually released to the North American market. I guess that's not quite the case reading the other posts in this thread ;-)

I think very late A500s over here were actually re-badged A500+s. Or something pretty damn close. My 500 has a full label like a 500+ (though it only says A-500) and the same LEDs as a 500+.

I've never actually opened it up though (still has the warranty seal!) so I don't know what exactly is under the hood. Still only have 1MB of Chip RAM with the trapdoor expansion installed...

I also have one of these (luckily found NOS) with the 500+ style label minus the "plus". I never opened it because of the intact warranty seal, and also thought they hadn't sold Rev 8 motherboards in the US market. It would sure be a downer if there's a leaking battery in there. Knowing C=, they probably would have shipped them sans battery but I suppose it's worth a look.

-edit-

If the BBOAH is correct, US Rev 8 boards were likely all OCS without batteries.

[nscaleworld]

I do not see what all the fuss is about. Just do the one mb chip ram upgrade, plug in a Super Denise, and a Kickstart 2.04 rom, and you have yourself an Amiga 500 Plus. BTW, it is far better to add the extra 512K chip ram on the motherboard, then thru the trap door. Uses less power and does not task the power supply as much.
 
I remove Amiga 500 motherboards from their plastic cases and install them into nice mid sized pc tower cases.  Then you can use an Amiga 3000 keyboard and mouse. I also install a Super Gen Genlock inside the tower case, because it gives you two broadcast quality color composite outputs.  Since most games are low res, they look great on a TV.

[tone007]

I do not see what all the fuss is about. Just do the one mb chip ram upgrade, plug in a Super Denise, and a Kickstart 2.04 rom, and you have yourself an Amiga 500 Plus.

Not quite, the A500+ has 2MB Chip RAM when a 1MB upgrade card is installed.  Pretty sure the only way to get that in an A500 is a Megachip or something similar. Considering I got an 8a board and 1MB upgrade shipped from the UK for probably under $50 total, it beats paying for the hard to find and pricier Megachip and the additional few bucks for a Super Denise.

[nscaleworld]

Not quite, the A500+ has 2MB Chip RAM when a 1MB upgrade card is installed. Pretty sure the only way to get that in an A500 is a Megachip or something similar. Considering I got an 8a board and 1MB upgrade shipped from the UK for probably under $50 total, it beats paying for the hard to find and pricier Megachip and the additional few bucks for a Super Denise.

If you think $80 for a MegaChip is "pricier" then you should not be in this hobby.  Anyway, who really needs more then 1 mb of chip ram on an Amiga 500.  I still say that the best Amiga 500s are plain old Kickstart 1.3, 512k chip, 512k fast, and a plain Denise chip, anotherwards, nothing fancy.  I have NEVER had problems with this kind of an Amiga 500, and all classic Amiga games run great, look great, and sound great.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it