I found a boxed A500 setup

[A4000_Mad]

Hi Guys,

I don't know why I rang about an A500 advertised in my local paper last night as I wasn't looking for one. Prehaps it was because of all the activity going on here at this site

The lady who answered the phone could hardly tell me anything about the A500 as she said it was up in the loft which her husband had converted for his model railway. She could only say that it belonged to her son who had emigrated and coudn't take it with him. I asked if I could pop along to have a quick look at the A500 and also to see the train set as I'd always fancied having a nice one myself. She said it was ok and off I went.

I wasn't expecting to find a boxed, mint GVP IMPACT Series II A500 HD8+ and Philips CM8833 monitor. The A500 is a bit yellowed, but when I connected it all up on top of the cooker it booted straight into the 52MB hard drive :cool:




The A500 has a red power light which for some reason seems to be older and more original than the ones with the green power lights to me. I have no idea why some have read power lights and some have green ones.

Anyway, I thought I'd share this interesting find with you and congratulate you all on the awesome new A.Org :drink:

[bloodline]

How much did you get it for?

[Tension]

Red LED means it is one of the original A500s.  Does it have a C= keyinstead of left Amiga key??

[A4000_Mad]

How much did you get it for?

I paid the full asking price of £45. Was that a good deal?


@ Tension

It has a left Amiga key.

[dougal]

I paid the full asking price of £45. Was that a good deal?


@ Tension

It has a left Amiga key.

Its a very nice deal .. Considering the condition and the fact thats its boxed along with the boxed monitor and also the HD .

Nice one!

[bloodline]

I paid the full asking price of £45. Was that a good deal?


@ Tension

It has a left Amiga key.

I probably would have been happy to pay a little more than that actually...

[alexh]

I cannot quite make out how much RAM you've got from the photo but it looks like just 512Kbytes!

If it is you need to get some RAM for your HD8+ ASAP! 2 * 4Mbyte 30-pin SIMMS

Perhaps consider converting the 52Mbyte hard drive into a flash drive with a SCSI->IDE->CF adapter system.

Maybe consider making it auto-powered at the same time.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~davem2/overclock/a500hd.html

[chiark]

Excellent, nicely done - nice little setup you've got there!
Most fair price, too.  The hard drive is worth about £30-£50, the monitor is a tenner at least and the 500 boxed with red LED will give you between 5 and 30 quid depending on your luck.

[alexh]

The hard drive is worth about £30-£50

Probably a bit more. Only the ICD Trifecta is more sort after!

[dougal]

I cannot quite make out how much RAM you've got from the photo but it looks like just 512Kbytes!

If it is you need to get some RAM for your HD8+ ASAP! 2 * 4Mbyte 30-pin SIMMS

Perhaps consider converting the 52Mbyte hard drive into a flash drive with a SCSI->IDE->CF adapter system.

Maybe consider making it auto-powered at the same time.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~davem2/overclock/a500hd.html

Can that be done ?? I have a A590 which i think has a 120MB HD ... Its SCSI , so what would i need specificly to put a CF instead ?

[klx300r]

WOW ! thats an amazing deal for that lot..congrats & enjoy A4000 :-)

[mr_a500]

The A500 has a red power light which for some reason seems to be older and more original than the ones with the green power lights to me. I have no idea why some have read power lights and some have green ones.

I've never seen an A500 with green power lights. I didn't even know they existed until somebody mentioned it in a forum.

From what I've seen (& in old computer magazines), it looks like sometime in the late 1980's, indicators in electronics went from "red=on" to "green=on" and "red=problem". All my pre-90's computer stuff has red power LEDs and all my post-90's stuff has green power LEDs.

[Tahoe]

I've never seen an A500 with green power lights. I didn't even know they existed until somebody mentioned it in a forum.

From what I've seen (& in old computer magazines), it looks like sometime in the late 1980's, indicators in electronics went from "red=on" to "green=on" and "red=problem". All my pre-90's computer stuff has red power LEDs and all my post-90's stuff has green power LEDs.

Commodore went from red to green power led's in their A2000 when the Rev 6 A2000 was introduced. Same happened with the A500. Red power led usually means you have a rare rev 3 (the one with the C= left key instead om Amiga key) or a rev 5. Rev 6a machines usually have a green power led. All (original) rev 8A (500's and 500+'s) all have a green power led.

[alexh]

Can that be done ??

What the auto-power or the CF bit?

Auto-power is easy and as long as you have a solid core PSU then it will be fine, but using a CF card will draw a lot less power than a hard drive.

I have a A590 which i think has a 120MB HD ... Its SCSI , so what would i need specificly to put a CF instead ?

You need a SCSI->IDE adapter, an IDE->CF adapter, a CF card and a USB CF card reader.

I would advise making the card removable (i.e. cut a slot in your A590 case) it will make it sooooo much easier to transfer files from the PC to the Amiga. Believe me it's like having a new Amiga being able to transfer data like that.

Of course you do not have to make it internal, with an old SCSI external enclosure (like one for a CD) you can add the SCSI->IDE->CF in place of the CD drive and then connect via cable to the back of the Amiga.

[stevieu]

Anyway, I thought I'd share this interesting find with you and congratulate you all on the awesome new A.Org :drink:

Very nice! I must take some pictures of my A500, I think. Boxed Amigas are always nice

Steve