VOGONS


Amiga 500

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First post, by oldhighgerman

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I had an Amiga 600 years ago, came so dirt cheap. But I barely used it. I find myself wanting a 500 for sometime now. I like the form factor, like a Commie 128 on gamma radiation. But I find myself put off by the reliability factor. And the unobtainium nature of it's components. Yes I know there is a neverending supply of spares. I just wish there was a modern alternative, one that uses the original case or a modern reproduction. And preferably an actual Mobo, ot again a repro, but modern ic equivalents. I think I'm asking for too much.

Anyone have a spare system unit? US or otherwise.

Reply 1 of 6, by Jo22

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Hi, there's that Checkmate 1500 chassis that takes A500, A600 and 1200 motherboards.
The A500 and A2000 mainboard had been replicated, but the IC parts must be aquired by the user himself.
Or a Raspberry Pi or Mister FPGA board can be installed.
(There are also acrylic wedge chassis for A500, C64 etc.)

Alternatively, there's stuff like Amithlon (AMD) and MorphOS (Power PC) distros for modern hardware.
Or good old AROS, along with its forks/spin-off distros. Meow!

The attachment AROS_Dark_Kitty.png is no longer available

Last but not least, QNX 6.x with a modified UAE (Amiga XL)..
It used to be a very quick combo, because both platforms share same design (small threads).

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 2 of 6, by butjer1010

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oldhighgerman wrote on 2025-05-30, 23:19:

I had an Amiga 600 years ago, came so dirt cheap. But I barely used it. I find myself wanting a 500 for sometime now. I like the form factor, like a Commie 128 on gamma radiation. But I find myself put off by the reliability factor. And the unobtainium nature of it's components. Yes I know there is a neverending supply of spares. I just wish there was a modern alternative, one that uses the original case or a modern reproduction. And preferably an actual Mobo, ot again a repro, but modern ic equivalents. I think I'm asking for too much.

Anyone have a spare system unit? US or otherwise.

If You don't like playing with old hardware, isn't the best solution emulator? Like WinUAE or so? I'm sucker for all Commodore and Amiga hardware, and i have almost every model. I only play on those beauties, never liked the emulators, but that is just me....

Reply 3 of 6, by Joakim

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I first read you had an Amiga, 600 years ago. 🤣

I too am a sucker for the Amiga but the prices are wild. Using such old hardware is interesting but its kind of a hassle just to find a compatible screen and to install a game.

I bought one if them raspberry pi accelerators for my a600 as well but I had mixed feelings about it. cool and handy and so on but felt it kind of ruined the retro experience a bit.

Then I got a Mister and thats how I would recommend to play the Amiga if youre not a real enthusiast. My a600 gathers dust now but for me the retro pull comes in waves anyway.

Reply 4 of 6, by Nicolas 2000

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I have an A500. If you get the right motherboard revision, they are very reliable and don't even require a recap. I forgot which rev that is.

If you don't have a realtime clock card, there is little rhat can go wrong.

I have a new psu for mine, an 8mb expansion in the expansion slot, extra 1MB on the motherboard, optical mouse connector and gotek in mine. Works superb. Still an A500 so no super powerhouse, but it does have the best Lemmings. I have mine on rgb scart.

Reply 5 of 6, by Jo22

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I had an A500. I got rid of it, didn't like the wedge design.

Edith: I sold it, I mean. Despite it being an A500 and not an Atari ST, I didn't threw it away.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 6 of 6, by Nicolas 2000

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I use my Atari ST (mega 4) only for Cubase. For gaming, I prefer the A500.