Just bought GVP HD8+ hard drive!

[AmigaBruno]

I've just bought a GVP HD8+ hard drive from eBay for my Amiga A500 Plus. According to the eBay listing this has a 42Mb hard drive fitted, but no RAM is included,

Obviously, I could probably fit a larger hard drive, or even a second hand drive to this unit. What kinds of hard drives are compatible?

According to the details on http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/impact500mk2 , this unit will accept up to 8Mb of RAM, but I felt I should check on here exactly what types of RAM are compatible. I seem to remember that 9Mb RAM is the limit for an Amiga A500 Plus.  Where is this RAM available fairly cheaply?

[Lurch]

According to the details on http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/impact500mk2 , this unit will accept up to 8Mb of RAM, but I felt I should check on here exactly what types of RAM are compatible. I seem to remember that 9Mb RAM is the limit for an Amiga A500 Plus.  Where is this RAM available fairly cheaply?

Congrats :-) The 500 plus has 2MB chip RAM and you can have up to 8MB Fast RAM.

You can then get an accelerator and as long as it's ram is in the 32bit space the sky is the limit when it comes to RAM.

With accelerator's you do have to be careful that they will work with some sidecar expansions so it's worth a google before getting one.

The GVP you have supports SCSI drives, I'd buy a mechware SCSI card reader and then you can use CF Cards for your HDD which makes it really easy to setup under WinUAE on your PC :-)

http://a4000t.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_79&products_id=243

With your GVP it supports up to 8MB and has 4 x 30 pin SIMM sockets so I'd get 4 x 2MB 30 pin SIMM's which would give you the max 8MB RAM.

[k4lmp]

I have the same controller on my A500+, and second the SCSI card reader from Mechware.  I also have an external CD-RW connected to mine.  It works great.  If I am not mistaken, the A500 HD+8 uses the 30 pin simms.  I have 8 meg in mine, which is the max, using 4 2 meg simms.  I have several 1 meg simms, however, with the 1 meg simms, you can only have 4 meg, as there are only 4 simm slots.  The 1 meg simms are pretty common.  I bought the ones I have on ebay, they were 4 1meg simms for like $13, so not bad.  The 2 meg ones would give you more ram, but are not as common, at least not as I have seen on ebay.  Also, If I am not mistaken, the A500+ only has 1 meg of chip ram.  Mine has 1 meg, and with the trapdoor 512K module plugged in, has 1.5 meg of chip ram.  At least that is how mine is set up.

[DutchinUSA]

I have 2 x 4mb modules in mine and it is reported as 8mb total

[k4lmp]

I have 2 x 4mb modules in mine and it is reported as 8mb total

Come to think of it, that is what I have in mine as well. :rofl:  I guess I am just nutso, so please don't listen to me, just kidding.  Seriously, though, that is the way mine is set up, not the 4 2 meg chips like I said.  I had a brain f@rt.  I think 8 meg is still the max, though.  I'm glad some people on here know what they are talking about, as I obviously am nuts.  :biglaugh:

[Lurch]

Yes 2 x 4mb would work also, but you still get stuck at 8MB.

[LaserBack]

I've just bought a GVP HD8+ hard drive from eBay for my Amiga A500 Plus. According to the eBay listing this has a 42Mb hard drive fitted, but no RAM is included,

Obviously, I could probably fit a larger hard drive, or even a second hand drive to this unit. What kinds of hard drives are compatible?

According to the details on http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/impact500mk2 , this unit will accept up to 8Mb of RAM, but I felt I should check on here exactly what types of RAM are compatible. I seem to remember that 9Mb RAM is the limit for an Amiga A500 Plus.  Where is this RAM available fairly cheaply?

just for curiosity
how many $$ you payed for ur GVP unit?

[k4lmp]

I know you were asking bruno, but thought you might be interested, I have 2 of them, and I think I paid around $80 each for mine.  I caught them on a 'buy it now' when they were just listed.

[AmigaBruno]

I have the same controller on my A500+, and second the SCSI card reader from Mechware.  I also have an external CD-RW connected to mine.  It works great.  If I am not mistaken, the A500 HD+8 uses the 30 pin simms.  I have 8 meg in mine, which is the max, using 4 2 meg simms.  I have several 1 meg simms, however, with the 1 meg simms, you can only have 4 meg, as there are only 4 simm slots.  The 1 meg simms are pretty common.  I bought the ones I have on ebay, they were 4 1meg simms for like $13, so not bad.  The 2 meg ones would give you more ram, but are not as common, at least not as I have seen on ebay.  Also, If I am not mistaken, the A500+ only has 1 meg of chip ram.  Mine has 1 meg, and with the trapdoor 512K module plugged in, has 1.5 meg of chip ram.  At least that is how mine is set up.

I've had a look at this SCSI card reader on your link as well as others in this topic, but I don't know how to fit it. I could be confused because it looks like it should be external, but the only place to put it may be inside the GVP case I've just bought. I know that I need 30 pin SIMMS, which I think can only be either 1Mb, or 4Mb each, but the time or refresh rate is also important and I may need to make sure exactly which model I've bought before choosing any. The eBay seller says he has no suitable RAM chips for this unit at the moment. The A500 Plus has the "obese Agnus" which can have 2Mb chip RAM. If you plug in a full 1Mb trapdoor upgrade such as the A502 (not A501 or compatible 512K expansion) or compatible unit (not many are available) then this brings it up to 2Mb chip RAM, but I don't know if any RAM fitted elsewhere would be counted as chip RAM.

I'm really amazed that you can plug in an external CD-RW drive to this unit! Please tell me what kinds of CD drives are compatible. This purchase will let me experience a whole new side to the classic Amiga, which I never went through before without a hard drive, any more RAM than 2Mb or a CD drive. I was persuaded to go the PC route to get online and set up a website. I got the PC on a year's credit, but when I checked recently in archived magazines I think I could have afforded the necessary upgrades to my A1200. I was also involved with a private club or association where they kept talking about PCs only and someone said to me "You don't really know about computers, only the Amiga!", but I had used other systems as well, including CP/M, other 8 bit computers, MS-DOS at a college and under an Amiga emulator, and MS Windows in cybercafes.

In the near future, I hope to get my ADF transfer kit working again, then my Amiga will be really flying with more games and applications, and I'll be creating more graphics, and programs! I hope to apply any knowledge I gain to Linux, AROS, and Aeros as well.

[AmigaBruno]

just for curiosity
how many $$ you payed for ur GVP unit?

I paid £70.01, including £10 for courier delivery. At the moment this is US$106.79.

I don't plan to buy any RAM chips for the moment, but the $80 mentioned earlier sounds quite expensive compared with some searches I've just done. One factor in the price may be the refresh rate or speed, given in ns. Does this GVP unit require an exact figure in ns for the RAM chips, or if it's higher or lower, would that work?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Bruno,

Congrats!  It's a great controller.    I took these pictures just a few days ago mainly to document how I'd mounted my VXL-30 along with Indivision ECS and MegaChip, but they show the GVP hard drive controller as well, which I've upgraded with 4.15 ROM ($10 from tjlazer on ebay), 4MB of 30-pin SIMMS ($10 on ebay), the MechWare card reader and 4GB CF card and "no PSU mod".  Everything fits fine with a little jiggling, I still need to either fill where that slider switch was or cram it back in there on mine.  But yes, everything fits and works great if you go with the card reader.  

Also nearly any external CD drive should work, as long as you get the right cable.  I got an external CD-RW drive for mine for $2 off ebay, but the 25-pin to 50-pin Centronics connector cable cost an extra $8!    Just FYI you may have to fiddle with the termination a bit if you go this route.  Search out some of my previous threads and learn from my frustration, LOL.  

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Also, If I am not mistaken, the A500+ only has 1 meg of chip ram.  Mine has 1 meg, and with the trapdoor 512K module plugged in, has 1.5 meg of chip ram.  At least that is how mine is set up.

For the A500+ you should get the 1MB trapdoor expansion (there's usually a ton of them for sale on ebay, look for ones that are specifically for "A500+").  This would give you the full 2MB.  

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I don't plan to buy any RAM chips for the moment

If you change your mind PM me.  I've got a couple spare 1MB chips that came out of mine when I upgraded to 4MB that you could have for the cost of shipping + 1 beer.  

Or hunt down a pair of 4MB chips on ebay, I see them all the time going for old Macs.  

[k4lmp]

I've had a look at this SCSI card reader on your link as well as others in this topic, but I don't know how to fit it. I could be confused because it looks like it should be external, but the only place to put it may be inside the GVP case I've just bought. I know that I need 30 pin SIMMS, which I think can only be either 1Mb, or 4Mb each, but the time or refresh rate is also important and I may need to make sure exactly which model I've bought before choosing any. The eBay seller says he has no suitable RAM chips for this unit at the moment. The A500 Plus has the "obese Agnus" which can have 2Mb chip RAM. If you plug in a full 1Mb trapdoor upgrade such as the A502 (not A501 or compatible 512K expansion) or compatible unit (not many are available) then this brings it up to 2Mb chip RAM, but I don't know if any RAM fitted elsewhere would be counted as chip RAM.

I'm really amazed that you can plug in an external CD-RW drive to this unit! Please tell me what kinds of CD drives are compatible. This purchase will let me experience a whole new side to the classic Amiga, which I never went through before without a hard drive, any more RAM than 2Mb or a CD drive. I was persuaded to go the PC route to get online and set up a website. I got the PC on a year's credit, but when I checked recently in archived magazines I think I could have afforded the necessary upgrades to my A1200. I was also involved with a private club or association where they kept talking about PCs only and someone said to me "You don't really know about computers, only the Amiga!", but I had used other systems as well, including CP/M, other 8 bit computers, MS-DOS at a college and under an Amiga emulator, and MS Windows in cybercafes.

In the near future, I hope to get my ADF transfer kit working again, then my Amiga will be really flying with more games and applications, and I'll be creating more graphics, and programs! I hope to apply any knowledge I gain to Linux, AROS, and Aeros as well.

What I did on mine, is took a longer SCSI cable, ran it out of the housing where the circuit board plugs into the A500+, along with a power extension.  I layed the SCSI card reader on top of the external CD-RW that I have.  Of course, you have the cable showing, but, it doesn't look bad at all.  It works great.  I am lucky enough to have an EPROM burner, so I downloaded the 4.15 ROM file, and upgraded the controller.  I originally bought the EPROM burner to use for copying chips for car computers, but, have used it more on my vintage Amigas and Apple computers than I ever did for those.

[AmigaBruno]

If you change your mind PM me.  I've got a couple spare 1MB chips that came out of mine when I upgraded to 4MB that you could have for the cost of shipping + 1 beer.  

Or hunt down a pair of 4MB chips on ebay, I see them all the time going for old Macs.  

That sounds great! I PMed you sometime last night my time, but I'm still waiting for your reply. Basically, I wanted to know how much money you want for "shipping +1 beer". BTW, I'm a home brewer and can give you some information about a fantastic new type of kit and my best results.