New owner (again).

[ravenpi]

Hey, all.  I bought an A1000 back in the day, and still consider it the epitome of home computing.  That being said, in '94, I went over to Linux, and that's been pretty much my thing since then.  EXCEPT... I just got an A500 for my birthday.  Going retro, here.  So a few questions:
* How do I get the old games onto floppy?  I'd love (say) Ballistix, and Lemmings, and that Defender clone that was pretty awesome.  Likewise, the FF disks.
* Does the A500 support stock parallel pinouts?  Pretty sure my A1000 didn't, and I'd like to hook it up to my Gemini 10-X.  (Or maybe I'm mixed up, and it was just the RS-232 that was Amiga-specific.)
* Any way to get it on Ethernet/TCP?
* Any way to get it to talk to an LCD panel?

Thanks for taking time to read the questions of a re-newb...

-Ken

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

All of these things are easy to do, depending on your budget.  Well, networking can be a bit tricky, but there's things out there like the Plipbox that work with the A500, although they're a bit slow...

If you plan on adding a hard drive, what you really want for playing old games is WHDLoad:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WHDLoad
http://whdload.de/

Floppies suck.  :lol:

And for connecting to modern displays, the Indivision ECS is pretty great.  I own three of them:    http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=918

[Arnuph1s]

Welcome back! Exciting times ahead for the A500 with the new Vampire which will solve a lot of your needs in one go. Bit of a wait for that though. In the meantime, you need to look into writing ADF disk images onto a floppy. I am guessing that some kind of serial link up to a PC may be the best bet as it would be easier than trying to find a catweasel or other flexible floppy drive platform.

LCD output would be by the way on the Indivision. Amigakit has them. I got one for my A2000 and it's a must buy. The only other option is to find an LCD screen that will sync down to 15khz.

Not aware of any ethernet solutions for the A500. I am guess you could get a Lantronix UDS-10 and connect that to the serial port. I defer to others here with greater knowledge.

[UberFreak]

If all you want to do is play games, the cheapest & quickest way is to get a Gotek USB floppy emulator.
Just put all disk images (.adf files) on a USB stick, plug it in the Gotek and off you go.

For an unexpanded A500, that's the best solution, IMO.

[ravenpi]

Well, no, game playing isn't -- by far -- my only thing, but it's certainly the thing I've perhaps missed the most.  Well, that, and all those awesome screen hacks.  Not only that, but I'd love to have some fun playing those games with my ten-year-old daughter.  I think that'd rock.  Would also be fun to immerse myself back into AmigaDOS; indeed, I still have the manual with me -- it's traveled from job to job over the years.

[Lord Aga]

Wait a bit for ACA500 Plus and have an awesome retro experience
Or wait a bit more and have a Vampire 500 for the ultimate power house Amiga

[rednova]

I have something to share.
I have an unaccelerated amiga 2000.
I have games on floppy disks, gunship and pirates.
They both run well on my amiga, and you can even install them
to hard drive. I believe you can play these games on your a500
if you can get them. They play well, are lots of fun and you can
install to hd.

[Sir_Lucas]

* Any way to get it on Ethernet/TCP?

Plipbox is the way to go. It's a good choice with Roadshow or MiamiDX TCP/IP stack.
http://lallafa.de/blog/amiga-projects/plipbox/

[paul1981]

Datastorm?

 
http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php?id=307

[magnetic]

Welcome back to the community! My advice is to do research online first. (all your questions are answered with StartPage searches) and then come here for specific help and advice.

[amoskodare]

@ravenpi

Welcome back to Amiga!

[klx300r]

@ ravenpi

welcome back!:hammer:  To get your A1000 running an LCD pick up an Indivision ECS with socket adapter

[magnetic]

@ ravenpi

welcome back!:hammer:  To get your A1000 running an LCD pick up an Indivision ECS with socket adapter

indivision is great but $100. My advice is just use the a520 adaptor (or similar) and use the composite out with an LCD. Most modern lcds willl work just fine like that and some of them even will Flicker Fix the image for you! If you dont have an A520 you can get one for around $25

[dovegrace]

I seem to recall the A1000 has colour composite out already (at least mine does), no need for an A520.

[gertsy]

If all you want to do is play games, the cheapest & quickest way is to get a Gotek USB floppy emulator.
Just put all disk images (.adf files) on a USB stick, plug it in the Gotek and off you go.

For an unexpanded A500, that's the best solution, IMO.

Welcome back!  Agree with the above.  If ur a Linux head you'll be able to flash a gotek for Amiga and then run adf files(available from the interweb) directly from it on usb key with no need for ugly floppies: https://cortexamigafloppydrive.wordpress.com/
Or you can by a ready flashed one for a bit more.

Secondly if you want to use a modern display an Indvision ECS will help there.

Some cheap options to move your a500 into a baseline modern position.