Received an Amiga 500 today, and have questions.

[scm2000]

Hi,
I purchased a tested Amiga 500, and it came in today...   I already knew there would be a missing keycap, but now I see it may be a broken key... So Hopefully that's repairable? It's the left amiga key.

Also it seems to have been modded. There is a toggle switch on the right side, so I'm wondering what that might be for...

the hatch on the bottom is missing the cover, but it looks like I can print one for it.   The hatch contains an AnRAM 540, with only the top row of chips populated. the ram chips are labeled 4c4256, so I'm assuming thats 256k.  The AnRAM board appears to have a battery on it.  ChatGPT is telling me that's probably for a battery backed up RTC... there doesn't appear to be any leakage from the battery

Both the computer and the keyboard have a musty smell, and of course that causes me allergy problems, so right now they are airing out in the garage, but I assume this is a common problem (My atari 800 arrived in the same condition)... so any advice on cleaning that up?

I'm looking for advice, after I hopefully get rid of the musty smell, what should I do before powering it up...   The seller said it was tested/working, but should I proceed more cautiously than just plugging it in and powering it up?

[scm2000]

Ok, so I just watched a video of doing a full disassembly and cleaning of a A500 keyboard...     It looks to me if worse came to worse, I should be able to salvage the switch part of the key and 3d print something to repair it.

Further questions: what's the best way to adapt the RGB out to an HDMI monitor, and also a way to adapt a modern mouse to it.

[AndyFC]

Great that you got an A500 and are bringing it back to it's former glory!

I can't answer all your questions but can help point you in the right direction for some.

To identify hardware try sites like The Big Book of Amiga Hardware (https://bigbookofamigahardware.com) and The Amiga Hardware Database (https://amiga.resource.cx/).

For the toggle switch first see what it is wired to. My suspicions are either a Kickstart switch (swap between versions of the Kickstart ROM for comparability) or enabling/disabling RAM. If either of these don't flick it with the Amiga turned on.

There are plenty of mouse adapters produced. AmigaKit list a USB adapter ( https://amigakit.amiga.store/amiga-mouse-adapter-p-12699.html). Or just search for Amiga mouse adapter in your favourite search engine. I bought one off eBay a few years ago (https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/retrobargains ) and use a Compaq PS2 mouse with it. Be careful if you buy a USB to Amiga adapter because some only support the PS2 protocol so not all USB mice work with them; the AmigaKit one doesn't have this issue.

[Boing-ball]

Further questions: what's the best way to adapt the RGB out to an HDMI monitor.

There are powered SCART to HDMI boxes for sale on EBay that will do that for you. You also need a a 23 pin + Phono to SCART cable for vision and sound from the Amiga to the powered SCART Box. Also a HDMI Cable.

I think Amigakit sell the RGB to SCART cable. But if not try Retro Computing Shack on Ebay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254623532468?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=47HsXjQYSm6&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=udhysnkvtsy&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

For The SCART TO HDMI BOX:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/394566981499?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=orHtcey-RXe&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=udhysnkvtsy&var=663115877415&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[scm2000]

Ok.. so I did power it up...   For one thing, I only could use the mono composite output because I don't have the RGB/SCART stuff yet.  I found I couldn't plug the composite cable all the way in and get a picture, had to have it out slightly -- so I guess that needs some work.   Next thing I found the floppy drive is problematic.    about half the time it won't boot workbench, gets almost to the end of the boot and says there's a disk problem..   If I pop the floppy out and back in, and try again , it works.....   SO I guess I'll have to get the floppy out and see what I need to do to get it back into working order.  The unit came with a copy of Battletech plugged into the drive.   If it sat there for decades I assume some of the magnetic material may have transferred to the head and made it dirty...    Hopefully a good cleaning will fix things up.    I found that the Battletech floppy is not working in my Greese Weazle drive on my pc... so for sure some deterioration took place

Also...   I really get an allergic reaction to the moldy smell...   even in a well ventallated room with an air cleaner going...   so as long as I have to get the floppy out, I might as well fully disassemble and clean the case thoroughly ..

But.. I'm very happy to have a working (sort of) Amiga again... 

[Boing-ball]

You may need to clean and re-grease up the drive spindle etc. whilst you are at it. The grease I. The drive has probably gone hard making the head movement stick when reading across the disk.

[scm2000]

You may need to clean and re-grease up the drive spindle etc. whilst you are at it. The grease I. The drive has probably gone hard making the head movement stick when reading across the disk.

thanks. first though i need to fully disassemble and clean everything because whatever the musty smell is im allergic to it

[fusionforty]

RGB2HDMI and a PI Zero could be your answer to connecting your Amiga video output via hdmi.

https://github.com/LinuxJedi/AmigaRGBtoHDMI

I’ve not used one in my Amiga 500 yet but do have one in one Amiga 2000.

[scm2000]

thanks. first though i need to fully disassemble and clean everything because whatever the musty smell is im allergic to it

I have a type of grease that I use for my 3d printers' z axis drive screw... "Super Lube-21030 Synthetic Multi-Purpose Grease"   do you know if that's the type of grease to use, or, I also have a light oil that I use to lubricate bearings.

[scm2000]

thanks. first though i need to fully disassemble and clean everything because whatever the musty smell is im allergic to it

It turned out there was no visible grease on the spindle. I cleaned it and put grease on it and also cleaned the heads, and now the drive works fine. Thanks!