VOGONS


Amiga 500 workbench help kickstart roms

Topic actions

Reply 40 of 47, by vkcpolice

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Has anyone had any experience with these https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/313630707304
i bought one its now in the bin.
i had the original Amiga scart cable plugged into it and found that it would cause the Amiga to reset and it was sending voltage right down the scart cable into the amiga
i threw it in the bin as i was very worried about damage to my computer i would not use a cheap converter again.
anyone know of a good converter? i do know the oscc does a good job but these are expensive and not plug and play.
has anyone used a retrotink 2x scart does this work?

Reply 41 of 47, by MN_Moody

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

An external Gotek is a nice addition to a stock A500, but you need a special cable and a modified version of the Gotek running Flashfloppy and preferably with the rotary encoder and OLED display. You can buy both pre-modded and effectively plug and play.

The RGB2HDMI mod with a Pi Zero is a trivial process to install, but is far more useful and reliable than trying to find 15hz capable CRT displays and 23 - 15 pin VGA adapters, or a SCART setup.

To really modernize your A500 and make it MUCH simpler to use without a permanent mod, look at the ACA500Plus... it plugs into the side of the A500 and provides you with licensed switchable kickstart ROM's, 2 CF card "hard drives" that you can boot from including one that can be dropped into a PC/MAC to easily copy files to the other CF card that is acting as your Amiga hard disk. It includes 8 megs of RAM, an upgraded and overclockable CPU, 8 megs of flash ROM, a boot floppy selector option (make that external Gotek FD0), etc...

https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en/shop/product/ACA500plus.html

Reply 42 of 47, by mbliss11

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Question for some of you Amiga fans that have had your setups for a bit - does PAL/NTSC matter that much? I am noticing that I have a lot of hit or miss launching some ADF games. My Fat Agnus version is 8370 and I am running NTSC oscillator. Some games just refuse to boot (Alien Breed 1) and some have graphical artifacts (Sensible Soccer). My board is Rev5 Rock Lobster. I ordered an 8371 from Germany to try out and see if that makes a difference. I have heard of some programs that can be used to reboot your machine into different modes with Fat Agnus 8372 but I think you also need to do some board mods and have specific revision boards. Just wanted to get your opinions and see what setup you guys have and your experiences have been. Figure me having both 8370 and 71 wouldn't hurt and would still output a 60hz signal if I don't change the oscillator.

Reply 43 of 47, by vkcpolice

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Not sure i can help with the whole pal and ntsc stuff

if a game does not load for me i just find the same game from another cracking group.

Reply 44 of 47, by fxgogo

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

So way back in the early nineties, I bought a bunch of games in California (NTSC) while working a gap year job. When I returned to Cape Town in South Africa (PAL), they all worked fine on my Amiga 500+ with no modifications needed. I don’t know if any of them were running at 60Hz, but they all worked. Possibly all the games I bought had the ability to play both 50Hz and 60Hz, but that would be one incredible lucky purchase.

Reply 45 of 47, by mbliss11

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Thanks for the responses fxgogo and vkpolice. I feel like I am getting sucked down a rabbit hole with this and not entirely sure what the culprit could be. Will investigate more and wait for a few parts to come in from across the pond so I can test those out.

Reply 46 of 47, by mbliss11

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

UPDATE: Turns out my issues were related to region incompatibilities. I received the 8371 and put it in the board and every game that I had issues with now works fine. I have since gotten my hands on a revision 6a board and am going to do a PAL/NTSC switch mod to make these changes on boot with a new Agnus chip (8372a). Just wanted to share my experience in case any others are getting into an Amiga in the states and run into issues running PAL software on their NTSC machines. Having a lot of fun learning about all this stuff and playing with another old computer.

fxgogo - going from PAL to NTSC apparently does not have the same issues as NTSC to PAL. Relates to not only timings but also video dimension where PAL screens get cut off on NTSC but just smooshed the other way around.

Reply 47 of 47, by fxgogo

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Well that is a good ending to your current woes. Glad it sorted it out. Oh don't get me started on PAL/NTSC issues. I work in the broadcast industry and it continues to be a headache. It is better than the analog days though. I really need to revisit my games and test to see for any issues I would not of been aware of as young one.