Finally got an Amiga

[MontrealCL]

I finally got an Amiga, after years and years of bashing it (yes, I was a die-hard Atari user for many years during the 80's).  It feels good to be on the other side.

I was rummaging through a garage sale a few weeks ago, and saw an old Commodore monitor.  I really like Commodore monitors (I have a few already).  I asked the guy how much for the Monitor and he told me $10.  He then told me that he has an Amiga computer as well somewhere for sale for cheap.  So I told him to take it out, and I'd see if I wanted it.  It was an Amiga 500.  From what I remembered Amiga 500's were the low-end of the Amigas, so I didn't really feel like getting it, and would probably wait and try to find something that packs a little bit more punch.
But along with the Amiga 500 came a slew of disks (many which don't work anymore) and this little device, which I later learnt was a sidecar, and somewhat of a precious gem for A500 users.  A GVP 330 (might have the number wrong, too lazy to go check).  Basically, a 68030/40 processor, with 4 MEGS, a hard drive (A PUNY 65MEGS or so, which I later upgraded to 1.2GIG with an OLD SCSI hard drive that I had lying around from an old MAC) and an external SCSI port (can't wait to get a SCSI CD-ROM to see if it actually works!!!).

Anyways, a few days ago, a friend of mine after hearing that I got an AMIGA 500 offered me his old AMIGA 2000 with a bunch of disks (arrgh, more disks to sort through!!!).  Unfortunately, the AMIGA 2000 doesn't work.  After closer inspection, I realized that the battery had leaked all over the motherboard, and the 68000 CPU pins had turned green. There is more ACID corrosion elsewhere but it seems to be only aesthetic. Upon removal of the CHIP, some of the inside connections on the socket broke.  I'll try changing the socket and re-inserting the CPU later on this week and hopefully that's the only problem with this machine.

Anyways, I want to start using my Amiga, and have, but I feel like I'm getting nowhere, I'm simply using it to test out the disks that I have (over 300) to see if they boot up or not.

I'd really be able to use a NEWBIE guide to the AMIGA sort of FAQ right now, as I have so many "simple" questions, such as:

What's the most recent workbench/kickstart that I can use on my A500?  Do I need to upgrade any of the chips to use the newest OS?  In accelerated mode, what does my computer compare to?  Amiga 2000,3000?  I want to be able to store all of my disks on my HD so I can launch them from the HD and not have to insert the disks all the time, how do I do that with bootable disks?  ... how do I transfer images from PC to the AMIGA (ahhh, the famous question, you thought I wouldn't ask that one, eh?), what's the best terminal program on the Amiga.  I have one, but it looks kinda crappy, and the ANSI emulation isn't good.

Anyways, that's it for me,

MontrealCL

[artman]

Let me be the first to welcome you aboard here at Amiga.org. The folks here have helped me out many times, I'm sure you'll find answers to your pleas for help anytime soon.  Good luck with your A2000.  Mine started as a garage sale queen and evolved nicely, all it took was about $700 USD.  Hey, I concider it money well spent with the price of entertainment what it is nowdays.  Best regards...Art :-D

[jeffimix]

The 500 is the same motherboard as a 2000 minus the Zorro 2 slots and video slot(the side car slot on it however is the same as Zorro 2 digitally). With a 530 accelerator it's closer to a stock 3000 in power though. There are a slew of programs for serial based transers, using a normal 5pin crossover connection. Pc2Am for example. www.aminet.net, and it's mirrors are the best place so far for free software on amigas.  The usual 500 has KS 1.2 or 1.3 chips on it, you can run the 1.X workbenches on it. You need a better kickstart for later versions of the OS (at the cost of losing a few games). If workbench can't detect the files on a diskette that is self booting, it's doing some copy protection, not sure how to break that. Using the Workbench disks you can format the harddrive and install the OS. No clue on terminal programs.

[Jope]

The 500 is the same motherboard as a 2000 minus the Zorro 2 slots and video slot

This is true for the B2000 (A2000-CR).. If the OP has an original German A2000, then it's of A1000 heritage.

the side car slot on it however is the same as Zorro 2 digitally

It's the same as the A2000's CPU slot.

Zorro slots have a couple of signals more, that are not present in the A2000 CPU slot/A500 side expansion slot (AmigaBUS).

[Cyberus]

Jope wrote:

the side car slot on it however is the same as Zorro 2 digitally

It's the same as the A2000's CPU slot.

I don't think it is, as its missing a CLK signal? I dunno, perhaps someone can correct me...

Zorro slots have a couple of signals more, that are not present in the A2000 CPU slot/A500 side expansion slot (AmigaBUS).

As I say, I thought the CPU slot also had a signal that wasn't present in the Zorro slot.... The CPU slot and A500 expansion are not (electrically) the same are they?
I'm not saying you're wrong, its just this is how I understood it to be... Anyone?


Essentially, I was wondering what would be required to run an A2000 CPU card from the A500's sidecar slot. I assumed that I needed to add the CLK signal, perhaps using the CLK line from the A500 mobo and a clock multiplier....

[Karlos]

@MontrealCL

Hi and welcome :-D

How ironic, I actually find myself wanting to get an Atari after years of being an amiga user. I guess its that all over nostalgia thing. And those CT060 cards for the falcon look damn tasty too (not to mention the Hades (IIRC) set up) :-D

The A500 may be old, but assuming you get hold of Kickstart3.1 and a CD Rom (for installation purposes) theres no reason you cant run the most up to date 680x0 version of the OS (v3.9).

Comparisons are a little trickier. The 40MHz 68030 is faster than any "standard" 030 based machine released by commodore back in the day, so it is faster at code crunching than the A4000/030 and A3000 which used an 030 at 25MHz. Of course the A500 still has the original chipset which puts it graphically behind the ECS based A3000 and AGA based 1200/4000.

As for installing software on the HD, if its old "custom disk format games" that wont install, check out www.whdload.de where you will find a massive collection of HD installer / patches for old games and software.

[Matt_H]

@ MontrealCL

Welcome to the Amiga and Amiga.org!

That's the GVP A530 you've got there. I think it's the best peripheral ever made for the 500 during its heyday. Take good care of it - they're very rare now. ;-)

There's a bit of upgrade potential left in it, if you're interested - you can add another 4MB of RAM, swap out the processor for one with an MMU and upgrade the SCSI chip to a slightly faster one.

[MontrealCL]

Yeah, I heard it's a pretty rare piece of hardware for the Amiga 500.  I'd love to add more memory, but I heard that those SIMMs are very hard to find, I will keep my eyes open.

I know what MMU is (Memory Management Unit), but what exactly does it do, and how would it benefit me?  Is it worth looking into a math co-processor for the CPU?

The SCSI chip you are referring to, it's onboard right?  What kind of upgraded chip would work?  I have a few older SCSI controllers lying around.

Thanks for the advice, I'm starting off, and I feel overwhelmed with all of the AMIGA models out there.  I want to keep the spendings to a minimum (after all I'm doing this as a hobby, and already own 3 or 4 computers that can run circles around the Amiga, but they all lack one thing, the charm, support, and a fantastic group of users who still maintain and take care of the aging lady).

[Krusher]

Funny to read this as I'm finally selling off ALL my Amiga stuff. I've been thinking of doing this for about a year now and I guess I'm ready to depart from this old road. I'm tired of maintaining it, and frankly, I really need the space. I'm not using the real deal anymore, too much of a hassle to setup (moving about with monitors and such) and there's just the lack of software on the Amiga I use on a daily basis (not to mention the raw processor speed I need)

This does not mean however that I'll abandon all things Amiga. I'll keep a close eye on OS4 and see if it gets picked up with the major software companies.
And there's always UAE & AF for the legacy games if I have an urge play them (I've been playing Pinball Illusions the last few weeks *g*)

Not bitter, not angry, just dead tired waiting.

[SnowBord]

Find 'Term' on aminet.  Use the 020+ version.
Then patch it up to the latest version.

It's the best Terminal program I have ever used, on any platform.

I'd seriously consider updating the memory... infact I believe I have a bunch of old SIMMS lying around, possibly even 4mb ones!!  I'll see what I have and let you know.  A fiver (UKP) ex. pnp via paypal should cover the antique simm...

Then update the ROMs and get yourself OS3.9, update it to boing bag 2 and then install the unofficial boing bag 3.
install kingCON (the superduper shell turbocharger) - find it on aminet.

http://www.amibench.org  - look here for amiga stuff.

get yourself some quality software;
Final Writer 97 or WordWorth 7 (my fave) - great word processing software
PageStream (wait for version 5, from grasshopper) - GREAT DTP package, still developed.
Get STFax4 for a great Fax and answerphone / SOHO / BBS solution.. it recently got released onto Aminet and is now afaik FREE... a great piece of work...

DPaint5 - a MUST bitmap graphics package.. alternatively get PPaint (7 was it?) for free from Aminet, also excellent
ArtEffect4 and Photogenics are good but really require a graphics card.
ImageFX - maybe you can get away with not using a gfx card

get TurboPrint if you intend on printing
FXScan if you intend on scanning

Get DirectoryOpus Magellan II as this is the best ever file manager / OS turbocharger ever, destroys the PC version.  I'm sure many here will back me up on this.

get jabberwocky if you want to chat to msn / yahoo buddies. afaik its free.
try out reqattack from aminet.
try out executive (a multitasking scheduler)

browse through the workbench screenshots on this site to get a taste of what your WB can look like - people often say how they got them looking so.

feel free to complete my list...

where was that site with the unofficial boing bag 3 that included a ton of extras???  can anyone here help?

Isn't there any way to add a gfx card to an A500??  even something silly like a Graffiti?

[Hyperspeed]

I have a few 1mb and 2mb 72-pin SIMMs not to mention 4mb, 8mb etc.
I'll rummage around and see what I have.

Wouldn't the A500 stuff need 30-pin SIMMs or just plain old DRAMs?

Remember... EDO = Bad!

:-D

[redrumloa]

@MontrealCL

Hi! Welcome to Amiga.org:-)

Aaah the GVP A530, I know it well. I used an Amiga 500 with an A530 for a long time. The GVP A530 uses GVP SIMMS, not the industry standard PS/2 SIMMS. The SIMMS ware made by GVP and only work in GVP products.

About Kickstart ROMs and Operating systems. The Kickstart ROM is a DIP chip in the computer. Simply put, if you want to play old school games then Kickstart 1.3 hands down is your best bet for compatability. If you want to use the most modern OS possible, then you should upgrade to a Kickstart 3.1 ROM and you can use OS3.1 and possibly OS3.5 or OS3.9. Just keep in mind, switching the ROM to KS3.1 will break many if not most old school games. Of course once you are more familiar and comfortable with the system, there are degraders and ways to softkick older ROMS for game compatability.

Don't let your head swim.. Learn a little at a time and ask away! Amiga.org is the friendliest Amiga site, there will always be someone to answer your questions.

[redrumloa]

Hyperspeed wrote:
I have a few 1mb and 2mb 72-pin SIMMs not to mention 4mb, 8mb etc.
I'll rummage around and see what I have.

Wouldn't the A500 stuff need 30-pin SIMMs or just plain old DRAMs?
 

Actually none of the above. The A500 itself has a belly slot that only accepts an A501 512k memory expansion or similar clone. The GVP A530 uses GVP SIMMS, which are not standard PS/2 SIMMS.

[irishmike]

Hi there MontrealCL and welcome!

I am a newbie to the Amiga community as well.  This forum has been very good to me as I get up and running.

I think the platform has great potential for coming back and though it has lain dormant for low these many years (corporate-ly speaking), it is through people like those here that the platform has escaped computer exstinction!  I always admired Amiga users for their die-hard love of the platform (Mac users are only second in this catagory, but even Mac is no longer Mac, it is a FreeBSD UNIX with a really pretty front end and some propritory utilities.

It is my belief that Windows is not as popular as M$ would have us believe and they are losing people to alternative Operating Systems as fast as they may be gaining new customers.  It seems only those companies (not individuals) that have some solid need for ROI (return on investment) are the people supporting whatever M$ does right now.  We need a viable alternative that does not have the mighty redmond giant's hand somewhere in it, that leaves AmigaOS and Linux so far.

It is my hope, making this post a bit shorter, that Amiga takes its place as the competition... If Apple can take itself from 2% to 8% of the PC market since 1991, then certainly someone with a better idea can take another percent, I'd like to see a fair analysis and indeed would like to see companies like Vivendi (aka Sierra Online), Techmo, GeorgeLucas, and EA port for the new OS4 the best games... I know the platform can be every bit as good as Mac or Windows and I think more stable (IMHO).

This is why I in particular am switching over to Amiga starting with my A500 which I should obtain tomorrow evening.  It was delayed because the fellow that is bringing it up to me had to watch his kid at the last minute on this last Friday.  Since the unit is like new in a box, I hope to learn a great deal and be able to utilize it in place of my main windows machine which will either become a Linux box or be sold, haven't decided yet :-)

Welcome again and may you find friends in this forum, that is exactly my hope.  Also, utilize your local user group if one exists, much to my joy... the Kansas City Amiga User Group is still active and they are another resource locally for help!  This forum is also a very valuable resource as well!!!

Happy computing and may we help usher in the future of Computing which I can only hope includes AmigaOS!

[Steady]

irishmike wrote:
It seems only those companies (not individuals) that have some solid need for ROI (return on investment) are the people supporting whatever M$ does right now.

Unfortunately, that is most, if not all companies.

The way I see it, the biggest window of opportunity for a new platform is now... before the release of Windows Longhorn when all the hype and worry about a big brother operating system and hardware is worrying people. Amiga/KMOS/Hyperion need to take as much advantage of this as possible.

Sorry for being off-topic.

Welcome to all the new Amigans (there seems to be a lot recently). I hope that you will like the machine enough to eventually upgrade to the new platform... cheers!