A500/2000 accelerator cards: still unfeasible to create new ones?

[Photon]

The 600 is hard drive "ready", as well as the PCMCIA slot, so it is more readily expandable.

Expandable with the three possible expansions available for it, SRAM, card adapter, and Ethernet. That limits it, and you'll have to choose one and only one. Forget fastram if you need a transfer card, and forget internet if you don't have an accelerator (same as for A500).

Yes, for any accel to sell for A500s it would need a harddisk interface. 68020 accel without harddisk interface... no point in bringing out the A500 from the closet, there will be endless support tickets if misc old harddisk interfaces are used.

Also comes with ECS and 2.x kickstart, so might play nicer with some hardware too.

I doubt A600 sales came close to A500+ sales, and it has ECS and kick 2.0. So. Not that ECS/2.0 ever played nice with anything...

The first thing people would do, now that new harddisk interfaces with fastram (and now maybe also faster CPU) are being made, is to finally plop in kick 3.1, because the harddisk interface would have drivers not made for kick 1.3

Im sure if someone made it for the 500, people would buy it, just because it was there, but I can see why the 600s and 1200s were first in line.

If someone made it for A500 (with harddisk interface), people would buy it just as they did for A600, because it would make it exactly as usable as their A600.

Sorry for butting in and respect to all involved, but I just don't buy how the A600 has any points in favor of the A500 in this particular question.

[runequester]

Expandable with the three possible expansions available for it, SRAM, card adapter, and Ethernet. That limits it, and you'll have to choose one and only one. Forget fastram if you need a transfer card, and forget internet if you don't have an accelerator (same as for A500).

Well, you can swap them out, but if you have networking, you don't really need the card adapter.
 
In any event, its still stuff the 500 doesn't have. Most people aren't keen on null modem cables anymore for file transfers.
 
 

Yes, for any accel to sell for A500s it would need a harddisk interface. 68020 accel without harddisk interface... no point in bringing out the A500 from the closet, there will be endless support tickets if misc old harddisk interfaces are used.

An 020 card with some fast ram, and an IDE interface would be pretty nice as a boost to the old girl.
 

I doubt A600 sales came close to A500+ sales, and it has ECS and kick 2.0. So. Not that ECS/2.0 ever played nice with anything...
 

Yeah, ECS is kind of the bastard child Wasn't the 500+ only out for some 6 months, before the 600 replaced it?
 
 
I agree though, that there's undoubtedly a market for a decent 500 expansion. My thing is, that I can understand why they didn't do that one first.

[tone007]

Sorry for butting in and respect to all involved, but I just don't buy how the A600 has any points in favor of the A500 in this particular question.

A600 still has a PCMCIA slot, try adding a network card to your A500.

[desiv]

I don't know that I'd say "exactly as usable," as I do like PCMCIA for transfer and ethernet.  I know it's not perfect, but it comes in handy...

But, as this IS Jens and he likes to make products that can sell other products of his...

It would be interesting if it came with a clockport.....
Then, once those buyers have been using their machines for a bit (probably after they have bought the Indivision ECS), they can say, "You know, I'd love to be able to transfer files easier and maybe even use the internet...  Isn't there some product that can.. er.. what?  Subway??  USB??  And it plugs into my current card I bought from you?  Hmmm...

I'm just saying...  That in itself wouldn't be a motivator, but if it's not much more to add a clockport.. hmmm...
(I have 0-idea of the technical feasibility)..

desiv

[runequester]

I don't know that I'd say "exactly as usable," as I do like PCMCIA for transfer and ethernet. I know it's not perfect, but it comes in handy...
 
But, as this IS Jens and he likes to make products that can sell other products of his...
 
It would be interesting if it came with a clockport.....
Then, once those buyers have been using their machines for a bit (probably after they have bought the Indivision ECS), they can say, "You know, I'd love to be able to transfer files easier and maybe even use the internet... Isn't there some product that can.. er.. what? Subway?? USB?? And it plugs into my current card I bought from you? Hmmm...
 
I'm just saying... That in itself wouldn't be a motivator, but if it's not much more to add a clockport.. hmmm...
(I have 0-idea of the technical feasibility)..
 
desiv

I've seen other expansions that add a clockport, so I imagine it would be feasible. Not sure about costs and how available the needed parts are, though.

[giZmo350]

I've seen other expansions that add a clockport, so I imagine it would be feasible. Not sure about costs and how available the needed parts are, though.

Clockport would defeat the whole purpose for the A500 as you would HAVE to run OS3.9. For me it's about the base compatibility of the A500 with internal storage & ADF transfer. A small accelerator w/mem and use of LCD would be the bomb.

[Digiman]

The majority of peepz using Amiga is for memories, whdload and some progs.
For these things an 020 with 8MB is more than enough. Then again you can get an A1200 with a memory upgrade to even have AGA instead.
With ACA630 more and more peepz are happy with their A600's since it's the elite of the accelerators for stability and power.

If you go low on memory and use intensive programs go for an 040 or better 060. Since I saw you work on 1500/2000 why don't you try getting an Blizzard 2060 all this time?
Ye I know it's expensive, but not more than most of us have gave for an BPPC

Don't need an 060 really, just value for money and a worthwhile improvement on stock 7mhz 68k Plus 2nd hand £500 cards that can fail the next day = alarm bells ringing.

I used to recreate videos using digitizers + anim brushes....would be nice to do it again. Rest of my time will now be spent making nice games for stock OCS Amigas.....I don't use A600/500/1200 due to keyboards. A4000= waste f money for my purposes.

[Digiman]

Exactly.

If you want a souped up ECS experience then you're going to use an A2000 or A3000.

A500s are rare enough, A2000/3000 a problem to find let alone expansion cards.

Anyway best to make something better than 14mhz 020 +4mb. Too restrictive and a dead end.

[Cammy]

Clockport would defeat the whole purpose for the A500 as you would HAVE to run OS3.9. For me it's about the base compatibility of the A500 with internal storage & ADF transfer. A small accelerator w/mem and use of LCD would be the bomb.

You don't need OS3.9 to use a Clockport expansion. You can use a Subway USB card with Kickstart 1.1 using the Anaiis USB stack. I'm sure all the other expansions made for the Clockport have no problem running with 3.1 either.

[giZmo350]

You don't need OS3.9 to use a Clockport expansion. You can use a Subway USB card with Kickstart 1.1 using the Anaiis USB stack. I'm sure all the other expansions made for the Clockport have no problem running with 3.1 either.

Now that I did not know! No need for Poseidon or Trident? That's awesome. Thanks for that info Cammy!

I've been really wanting to put an Indivision ECS and MiniMegi in the A500 & and with a Subway USB I would have exactly what I want! BTW,Is Indivision coming out with a new version of their scandoubler? I see that AmigaKit is out of them but Versalia still has them I think....   should I wait?

[Cammy]

No problem, it's a shame that Anaiis isn't very well known because it's a fantastic little USB stack. It's much simpler than Poseidon, and doesn't support such a large range of devices, but it's got the basics like USB mouse, joypad, keyboard, hub, printer, and more. To try it out, simply disable Poseidon by putting a ; in front of the line at the start of your Startup-Sequence, and install Anaiis. If you like it on your A1200, it should be fine on your A500 too. I use it on my A600 through the Subway connected to the A603's Clockport.

http://aminet.net/package/driver/other/anaiis
http://aminet.net/package/dev/c/anaiis_print

I don't know if Jens is planning a new version of the Indivision ECS, but I'm sure they'll restock once they sell out. Currently he's working on the Indivision AGA Mark II, which should have built-in Graffiti emulation, which gives us a Chunky graphics mode!

[tone007]

A500s are rare enough, A2000/3000 a problem to find let alone expansion cards.

"A500" and "rare" in the same sentence? Now that's funny.

[giZmo350]

You don't need OS3.9 to use a Clockport expansion. You can use a Subway USB card with Kickstart 1.1 using the Anaiis USB stack. I'm sure all the other expansions made for the Clockport have no problem running with 3.1 either.

Just to be clear, did you mean to say that the Subway will work with KS 1.1 as above or 3.1 as in the last sentance?

Ahhh, never mind - followed the link!  ;-)

[Cammy]

I'm sure the Subway works with Kickstart 1.1 with Anaiis. But other Clockport expansions, being designed for the A1200 primarily, may require 3.0 or 3.1 ROMs depending on the software controlling them, but I haven't got any others to test. In any case, with a simple Kickstart ROM switcher and both 1.3 and 3.1 ROMs in the A500 you should definitely be able to get the most out of what your A500 can do anyway.

[ciento]

A500 card with IDE, video chip, 8meg ram,  and 020/030 would be great!
I'd buy a TV that was made after 1970, to celebrate!

[Lockon_15]

Now that I did not know! No need for Poseidon or Trident? That's awesome. Thanks for that info Cammy!
 
I've been really wanting to put an Indivision ECS and MiniMegi in the A500 & and with a Subway USB I would have exactly what I want! BTW,Is Indivision coming out with a new version of their scandoubler? I see that AmigaKit is out of them but Versalia still has them I think.... should I wait?

Jens is finishing work on Indivision AGA Mk2 which will add DVI support and few other image enhacements like 75Hz PAL mode etc. You want Indivision ECS which is available from Vesalia and will be available from AmigaKit. This SD/FF will remain the most advanced SD/FF since it's planned to include basic/acceptable mini-RTG features which ***might*** put OCS/ECS machines closer to AGA look&feel (WB only).
 
Few days ago I ordered a second IndyECS since I want to check dual monitor/extended desktop support in my A500. That's right, you can have 2 IndyECS stacked together spanning WB in 2 screens.