HanSolo wrote on 2022-01-12, 20:26:
brostenen wrote on 2022-01-12, 18:43:
Just paid for a tested Amiga500 in board revision 8a.1, for aprox 157/158 Euro. It is in a cosmetically really good shape (by the looks of the pictures and near no yellowing) with PSU yet no extras. The seller stated that it is tested, so I am keeping my hopes high.
I'm not familiar with the Amiga's different board revision. Is it only rare or does it have special features? From what I've found with a quick search is that those revisions might contain an Agnus that can handle more Chip RAM, correct?
Depends on the settings of the onboard jumper pads.....
Basically speaking. The Plus came out, with full ECS chipset, however as the need for non-plus versions were still a thing, then Commodore released the last "normal" 500 that were based on the ECS/Plus machine. That means you have the ECS chipset, however in this configuration the trapdoor will be alocated as SlowRam. If you modify this board to Plus standard, the trapdoor will alocate the memory as ChipRam. Making it possible to have a 2mb ChipRam setup.
Now.... The downside.
A few games used eighter Slow of Fast Ram for stuff like samples. And because the 500 Plus (basically the same config as the A600) were not able to use the trapdoor-mem as SlowMem, then those samples would not be played. And the only way to get full use of the game, were to install a FastRam module in eighter the sidecard slot or sandwich between the CPU and Motherboard. Also, the Plus are unable to use any SlowRam at all. Any ram will be alocated as Chip, up to 1mb in the trapdoor, and everything above 1mb in the trapdoor will be ignored.
The rarity of this board is not in any way related to features and stuff like that. It is the production number that makes it rare. Also, it is not without compatibility issues, but in stick config, it is the best of a500 (OCS config) and a600 (ECS config) and it comes in the a500 form factor, making it possible to use sidecard expantions. Yes, sure there are no PCMCIA, but with the upgrade to Plus and an accelerator or Ram card, in the CPU slot, it is the best machine for golden-age Amiga gaming.
EDIT:
As far as I remember, the 8a.1 "normal" Amiga500, were only released in Europe. However one of the most rare Amiga's, were the Rev.7 board. There is only one post on the internet about this revision. As I understand it, then it was the last OCS. It is perhaps up there, with the Commodore branded Amiga4000-Tower (Aprox 200 build, only 100 sold. That globally)
Don't eat stuff off a 15 year old never cleaned cpu cooler.
Those cakes make you sick....
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