In this part of the world Amiga 500 was probably the most popular one. I believe there are also the most games for that particular system. The only reason why I dislike the Amiga 500 is that it has a huge footprint especially combined with A520 RF modulator. Apart from that, it's great and I love it.

Another thing I've always wondered, do PPC "Amigas" bear any architectural resemblence to 68k Amigas at all? From what I've heard PPC Amigas have to resort to emulation in order to run 68k software, which sort of calls into question why PPC Amigas exist in the first place. Is it sort of like how early PPC Macs emulated 68k CPUs at a low level in the OS?

I'm more experienced with Macs than Amigas but as I understand it the PPC CPUs in classic Amiga upgrades were really more of a kind of co-processor that kicked in when called by specific applications. An Amiga with a PPC CPU upgrade still needs the original 680x0 CPU to boot and run the OS. Once a PPC app starts the main CPU hands processing off to the PPC CPU. At least that's the way it works in Amiga OS 3.x AFAIK.

Macs were quite different in that Apple wrote a library to translate 68030 calls to PPC code. A Mac with a PPC CPU could boot up an OS written for 680x0 Macs (with the correct enabler) without having an actual 680x0 CPU, but could run 680x0 software translated into PPC code in real time.

Amiga OS 4 moved to PPC code only as far as I know and employed a translator for 680x0 code the same way Apple did.

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:

Another thing I've always wondered, do PPC "Amigas" bear any architectural resemblence to 68k Amigas at all?

No.

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:

Is it sort of like how early PPC Macs emulated 68k CPUs at a low level in the OS?

Not really. The Mac had a pretty 'dumb' chipset. Besides, a lot of software was 'system-friendly' software, so it called libraries rather than accessing the hardware directly. This made it easier to just let it call equivalent PPC-libraries instead (similar to what eg Windows x64 does when running 32-bit software, or to a lesser extent using WINE on a Linux system).

In the case of the Amiga, the chipset *was* the machine. Aside from that, a lot of software bypassed the OS altogether, and programmed the hardware directly. So you need a much more sophisticated emulator to get software running on an Amiga than on eg a PPC Mac.
The OS uses an integrated derivative of UAE to run 68k software with full hardware support. In the case of AROS, there is also an x86-version of the OS, using the same UAE-technology to run 68k software. So you might as well use an x86 system if you're only interested in 68k software (or just run regular UAE from any host OS).

I was a classic PPC amiga user for several years, think of the PPC running at the same time as the 68k , depending on how the software was written it would either use the 68040/060 or the PPC. That "dual cpu setup" came at a cost though, namely speed. I don't believe the 603e/604e cpus were fully utilized (still way ahead of the co-running 040/060 cpu) and the lack of L2 cache was a huge deal IMHO.
It's all nice and cool to be able to use 3d accelerators, PCI cards and geeky stuff like that with a 040/060 amiga but in the end I personally couldn't justify keeping that stuff around.
I went A600/020 and 1200/030 and all the ultra-expensive A4000/A1200 ppc/pci stuff are a thing of the past for me 😁

kanecvr wrote:

Hi guys. I've been thinking of buying an Amiga computer for all those great late 80's early 90's amiga games witch great graphics and sound I missed out on - the question is - witch one to buy? I've only done a little research, and it seems I should look for an Amiga 500. Witch model should I look for?

So weird - I've had the exact same impulse for a while. Annoyingly I had one that I picked up in a charity shop for something ridiculous like £15 back in 2005, but I let it go because I didn't have the storage space (my wife at that time was less tolerant of my hobbies - my current wife is enthusiastic by comparison!)

I'm currently bidding on an Amiga 500+. I've read that there are some compatibility issues with this model because of its upgraded ROM, so maybe I'm getting into something complicated. 1200s are too expensive right now, like you say, and there aren't enough 600s around. I can guarantee that there are a host of Amigas sitting in people's lofts within a small radius of where you live.

There is also a lot of Amigas for collection only which are just round the corner from me: 2x 1200s and 1x 500s. No one has bitten yet, but there are 6 days left and bidding starts at £100. If I can get them for 100 I'll sell you one 😀

p.s. found this threaddiscussing the same topic previously

^ well you can get that A500+ , get a 1.3 kickstart and a gotek drive. Put all the disk images you want in a USB stick and play like it's 1988 😁

brassicGamer wrote:

I'm currently bidding on an Amiga 500+. I've read that there are some compatibility issues with this model because of its upgraded ROM, so maybe I'm getting into something complicated.

Yes, but the ROM can easily be replaced. If you install a Kickstart 1.3 ROM in the machine, it will work pretty much like an A500 with 512K extra RAM (except your ram will be chipmem instead of slowmem). There are kits to install two ROMs in a machine, with a simple switch to select them.
It is also possible to use a 'softkick' solution, where you load the KS1.3 image into memory from disk. This takes up 512K, so you end up with a stock A500 with 512K chipmem. In most cases that should be fine, since software with KS2.0+-issues generally is not designed for 1+MB Amigas either.
I've used an A600 myself back in the early 90s, which is pretty much the same as an A500+ in this respect, and I could run pretty much everything I wanted with the softkick-solution.

Amiga 500+ != complicated. Cheers for the advice!

Also check the Amibay for all things related to Amigas.

I currently own three but have two on sale as I rarely use more then one a couple of days a year.

A500+ and A600 are essential the same machines. The 600 does not have a full size keyboard as the 500+, yet with the 600 you will get 16-bit PCMCIA port and 44-pin HDD connector. Just be aware that out of the three kickroms ever released by commodore, the first version had no HDD-Functions.
You can identify them visually, by the sticker that say eighter A600-HD (eighter 20 or 40 written before or after "HD").
If the "HD" is missing, you can allways see the kickrom version, wich is written on the screen after a reboot (The one with a Floppy, telling you to insert one).

I would go for A600 or A1200. Only be aware of the clockport bug on the 1200, wich can be solved by some soldering work (can't remember exactly how/what), wich is documented throughout the internet. The advantage of the 1200 is that you get a hell of upgrading possibilities. Wich is only surpased by the 4000 model. With the 600 and the 1200, you can even load a kickrom changer disc. Kind of like a softmod. It need's to be used with the settings, found in the Amiga equivelant of the BIOS. You enter it, by booting the 600 or 1200 while holding down both buttons on the mouse.
Then you can set it for eighter OCS, ECS or AGA on the 1200 and OCS or ECS on the 600. The main disadvantage of the 600 is the lack of upgrade possibilities, as more was invented for the 1200 and even the 500.

Hope you can use these advices.

EDIT: (Forgot to add)
With the 600 and the 1200, you have this 44pin HDD adaptor inside and the PCMCIA port. With this you can use a simple 44pin CF-to-IDE adaptor, and read/write the filesystem on a Linux machine. You can even mount an Amiga HDD inside UAE on whatever host OS you like.
The PCMCIA port can be used for an extra drive, with the use of an 16-bit PCMCIA to CF adaptor, or the port can be used to drive a "SlowRAM" PCMCIA card, or even to be used with an SCSI adaptor if you can find one. I had one back in 2006, that was named something like "Squirrel". That I used with an external Plextor SCSI CDROM burner.

Thanks for the input everyone! I guess I'll try to get an 1MB 500 model - they seem to be the best option for me since all I plan to do is run old games off a floppy. Not interested in running an OS, wifi or other neat things they can do. I'll try to snag a 600 if I can find a complete on for less then 120$ shipped.

^ then get a gotek as well, writting amiga disks is no easy task without an amiga that you can transfer images to and write back to floppies.

keropi wrote:

^ then get a gotek as well, writting amiga disks is no easy task without an amiga that you can transfer images to and write back to floppies.

For some reason, I think a Catweasel is a more flexible choice. One advantage is that it can handle all sort's of drives and stuff.
Another way to do it, is to set up a null-modem cable link. Running software on both Amiga and PC (sort of server/client kind of approach) wich is a bit impossible without any amiga formatted discs with software in the first place.
Last but not least, there is a lot of homebrew stuff and open source solutions out there for the Amiga500 in general.
Perhaps one of them is an IDE adaptor for the Amiga. If there is, then great, as the GVP and other A-HDD's are SCSI.

I love Amiga's. One thing to remember if your getting vintage amiga gear is they want 15khz monitors by default. The 3000 had a scandoubler built in, and you can now get scandoublers for other machines from Jens via (amigakit, vesalia etc).

Im in the process (i work on it so rarely... 🤣) of building an amiga 1000 hybrid called a GBA1000 motherboard (its like a hybrid 1000/3000)...

as others pointed out, an accelerator is more or less required. If I was buying genuine hardware, Id look for a 1200 then a 600 or a 3000 desktop. Pretty much any 4000 your gonna find thhat comes not from amibay is going to have massive battery corrosion.

if I was going fpga style, I'd certainly go fpaarcade over mist or you can get the classic minimig with arm controller for disks (isntead of the one with the pic for disks)...

kanecvr wrote:

I guess I'll try to get an 1MB 500 model. I'll try to snag a 600 if I can find a complete on for less then 120$ shipped.

Keep in mind that if you wanna go with 600 or 1200, to catch a re-capped one. The generation of 600/1200 and 4000 are known for their worse capacitors on the mainboard.
Or you might wanna replace these yourself by desoldering and soldering the new one's. The more time will approach, the more any A600/1200/4000 will be damaged by these worse capacitors.

There are lots of videos on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrbF2QPcNTo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnl9KTQB_ik

I had also an A500 (with kick1.3) and 512kb extension when i was a young boy.. for me it was the deep entry into home computer gaming since the time with my C64 was too short..
Using only one drive (sometime as a diskjockey...) with most of the games i had really No trouble and run really well.
Only games 3D-games i played, like WingCommander or Elite2-Frontier were really slow on the standard 7Mhz 68000' CPU. I remember also UFO-enemy unkown was also really slow and the hell due to the amount of disks.

As already been said, speed (030+ CPU's) you need only really few (mainly 3D) games... so it matter of point of view, if you need these expensive hardware.
Only for comparison: Here is also the famous Sysinfo Benchmark on Amiga. Running these configuations:
1.) A600 1MB Chip - 0.55 Mips
2.) A600 1Mb Chip, 4Mb Fast - 0.74 Mips
3.) A1200 2Mb Chip - 1.91 Mips
4.) A1200 2Mb Chip, 8Mb Fast - 3.23 Mips
5.) A1200 (030@40) 2Mb Chip, 8Mb Fast - 8.03 Mips

keropi wrote:

all the ultra-expensive A4000/A1200 ppc/pci stuff are a thing of the past for me 😁

keropi: Why is amiga such a money pit? Classic supply and demand?

^ yep. Back in 2004ish a CS-PPC A4000 accelerator was ~500eur , nowdays it's 1500. Everything "exotic" nowdays demand exotic prices as well... seems that lots of hardware in all pc/amiga/etc worlds suddenly became "collector items" and demand collector prices or something. I don't have another explanation for this, it's not that suddenly new software got released that allowed a cs-ppc to do modern stuff and people want it more.

Might be a mix of everything, as to why it's becomming so expensive.

- Youtube, because of retro gaming.
- Old farts (like me) starting to get nostalgic and wanting what they had when they were young.
- Low on supply.
- Console prices on "wierd" consoles have skyrocketed and people starting to look for "substitudes" for 8/16-bit consoles.
- Amiga's becomming a hipster's-retro-show-what-I-got thing.

Might be other reasons, I don't know. These are just some of the things that came to mind.

brostenen wrote:

- Amiga's becomming a hipster's-retro-show-what-I-got thing.

Heh, I'd be surprised if hipsters even know what an Amiga is, let alone how to use one 😉