The latest member of the family

[stephen_usher]

The A500 is a bit bulky but is reliable.

The floppies in A500s always sound to me like it's grating nutmeg.

No need for digital video. The internal RGB2HDMI have the major issue of not being able to add the stereo audio, which makes it a bit pointless as you still need external speakers as well as the telly and it's no use for capture. Far better to have an RGB SCART lead IMO.

[rubber_jonnie]

I really quite enjoyed learning about Amiga! It's a very nice system. I have an a1200 with an Indivision AGAMK3 for HDMI output, a PiStorm32 running Emu68 with RTG graphics. I use a tiny HDMI switch for swapping between RTG and standard graphics (when I boot games) It's really awesome!

For a500 you can get an RGBtoHDMI which sits on the graphics chip, so you can easily get HDMI output for it.

I had the 500 in my younger years so it's nice to have one again. I'm not keen on the A1200 but I do have an Indivision adapter though probably older than yours. Since you have also mention RGB2HDMI I may well take a look.

Not sure about the other stuff yet, we'll see. Appreciate the pointers though

[JezC]

Glad to see it reached you safely.

I'll be following this with interest to see what upgrades you plump for - some of the suggestions above are intriguing.

[rubber_jonnie]

I'm going to use my A1200 and EasyADF to create some disks, though I want to look at a Gotek and other storage options, but I do need something to get started with.

I now use my GreaseWeazle to write ADF images and thus don't have to bother with the PCMCIA anymore.

I have a TF1260 in my machine and it's PCMCIA friendly though...

Any pointers on getting GW to write ADF files would be appreciated, though I do have a Gotek coming.

I also think I need to clean the drive heads as I have on disk that works at present!

[rubber_jonnie]

Glad to see it reached you safely.

I'll be following this with interest to see what upgrades you plump for - some of the suggestions above are intriguing.

They are indeed.

[rubber_jonnie]

I want to look at a Gotek and other storage options

The best value for money storage for the A500 today (excluding building your own) is the Lotharek 8MB FastRAM + IDE controller @ ~£65 inc postage.

https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=415

Unlike the MrMkl IDE68k which replicated the Gayle IDE controller of the A600 (and required KS2.05+ to boot) this IDE controller contains it's own boot ROM and so works with KS1.3+ without using a hacked ROM.

Hmm, interesting.

[rubber_jonnie]

Good lord, using floppies again really feels like the dark ages...

Out of about 15 disks I've got one that works, yikes.

I have a workbench now though:

IMG20250129113046.jpg (292.25 KiB) Viewed 380 times

Though to add to my annoyances, it looks like the A1200 PSU is playing silly buggers with the accelerator card installed...

It never rains.

Gotek time.

[rubber_jonnie]

Yep, the A1200 PSU needs a recap.

As it goes, the A500 PSU has a higher power rating and powers the A1200 just fine.

It seems that the A1200 PSU can't start as the power light is flickering, so I'll get it recapped. At least the A1200 seems OK and that has already been recapped.

[JezC]

@rubber_jonnie I've seen a lot of people suggesting that the A500 PSUs also benefit from a recap or at least a check!

Don't want you to end up with it damaging the A1200 or A500...

One of the main reasons I got a Greaseweazle was to preserve the data on floppies - it's going to be good to hear how you get on with yours.

[rubber_jonnie]

@rubber_jonnie I've seen a lot of people suggesting that the A500 PSUs also benefit from a recap or at least a check!

Don't want you to end up with it damaging the A1200 or A500...

One of the main reasons I got a Greaseweazle was to preserve the data on floppies - it's going to be good to hear how you get on with yours.

I was surprised, the A500 PSU I got from you is rated higher than the A1200 PSU and drives the A1200 just fine.

As is typical, there are 3 caps I don't have in stock, 47uF 63V. I have every rating of that up to 50v, but not 63v. Ho hum, best get some ordered.

As for the GW I'm just finding it won't write ADF files at all. @HigashiJun if you have any pointers I'd be grateful.