What are the differences between an Amiga 500 and Amiga 500 Plus
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- čas přidán 28. 03. 2022
- With the Amiga 500 Mini due out any time now, I thought I'd look at the practical differences between the Amiga 500 and the Amiga 500 Plus. This isn't a video that has major detail about the onboard or circuit differences between the two, but simple game load time.
It's not exactly Amiga 500 vs Amiga 500+ but more like my thoughts about them both
I tested a popular game load speed on both machines and I tested whether a cover disk from The One Amiga magazine would load on both.
I also mention the RGB Scart TV Cable in this video, which is available from www.ami64.com/product-page/co...
Hope you enjoy this video, if you do, please like and subscribe!
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Floppy drives back then were industry standard commodity items, Commodore would buy whatever was cheapest on the market at the time and stuff 'em in, they all had their own unique sounds depending on their construction/design, head stepper motor (which is what produced the grinding noises) and so on.
You won't ever notice any performance differences between regular A500 and A500+; there were zero differences in loading speed especially since that was limited by the Shugart floppy interface. It's not like today where you would expect a newer computer to load stuff faster, have faster graphics and so on. A500+ was just a very slightly warmed-over A500, and equipped with what was called the 'enhanced chipset' (ECS) which had some minor capability differences compared to the original chipset (OCS lol).
Biggest differences off the top of my head included the DMA controller chip ("Fat Agnes") could address up to 2MB of "chip RAM" instead of just 512kB. So A500+ had no "slow ram" anymore - it was all "chip RAM" now. Other than that, I believe Agnus was unchanged, so no new blitter capabilities, blitter speed was unchanged as well so no faster graphics updates or anything like that.
The display controller ("Denise") saw the biggest improvements, and now had programmable/improved pixel output timing capabilities, so it could produce "flicker-free" VGA-resolution modes on a multisync capable monitor (no more interlace-induced headaches yayy!), but with very low number of simultaneous screen colors, since the overall system architecture of the ECS was unchanged compared to the original, and so did not have the memory bandwidth to support higher color depths in high resolution modes.
There was also a "super-hires" graphics mode which as standard produced 1280 pixels per line instead of the old hires mode's 640 pixels (max 4 colors compared to old hires' 16 colors, also very slow graphics speed, since most memory bandwidth was eaten up by video scan-out DMA accesses), and hardware sprites could be positioned horizontally with super-hires precision even in lower screen resolution modes (pretty nifty), or was that an AGA-only feature? I don't remember... lol Oh, and the border region of the screen could be blanked out to black color instead of always showing whatever color value which was loaded into one particular color palette register (#0, I believe.)
"Paula", the sound/disk drive interface controller was completely unchanged as I recall in the ECS chipset, and was also unchanged in the AGA chipset, which meant using HD floppies in the A4000 computer required a janky special floppy drive which spun the disc at half-speed compared to regular HD floppy drives in order to read/write the higher density tracks.
All this is from memory, I haven't used my old Amiga for over ten, probably going on 15 years now, so apologies if I screwed anything up. Everything turns to mush over time, including my brain... :P
While the A500 and 500+ are fairly identical, the 2 MB of (theoretical) CHIP RAM makes it worthwhile. If you just play games it made little difference, but for those of us that used our Amiga as a fully fledged computer the extra CHIP RAM was fantastic.
That is something that is overlooked all the time. In the OS the Chip RAM was nice as it allowed for multiple high colour hires screens but something that is severely overlooked is the sound. While Paula never received an actual update, being able to access more Chip RAM allowed for more samples at higher rates (i'm not even going to get into the 14-bit hack) . Even if you had the same piece of music done for a 512K Chip RAM system you could do that same piece of music with higher quality samples. I did this a couple of times, an OCS version (512KB) and a 2MB (I did it on the A1200 but it would work fine on an A500+) so while Paula never received a direct update Amiga architecture did.
my first own amiga was a 500+ with a custom hdd controller (cornelius?/Hungary) + 4 M fast ram, all the hardware hung out of the side expansion slot without a housing, I loved it.... an amiga with a lot of memory (compared to its age) and a 20 or 40 megabyte HDD, Windows 95 was not yet a thing... at that time PC games were getting better and better and there were already great and better games on PC........ but on this small machine. ... at startup, I set the eagle player to start automatically, so the machine started like a chip music player :) ...... it was an experience to use the machine.... I could finally start several programs at the same time compared to 8 bit machines single task days... they could even use a script to communicate with each other (arrex)..... if I went to a friend who had a PC, most of them sat in front of a singkle task dos shell with a file manager and yes the 3D games ran mercilessly fast or they had games like Ultima..which would have been too much for this small a 500, but on amiga while you were drawing with deluxe paint and switched to devpac on a graphical interface and forgot that the drawing program was running ..... it was a completely different experinece than super gaming PCs ..... on this machine I first encountered the C language... so thanks for kickstart 2.04 (?) and workbench 2.0 it was a great system :)
With Lemmings, keep in mind it will use as much RAM as you have free on initial load.
For instance, my A1200 for 2mb chip and 4mb fast loads the entire game into RAM at start up and never needs to load again. If the 500+ has more RAM, the longer load may be it loading additional data into the extra RAM to make later load times shorter.
That's really interesting and I hadn't thought about that before. Which also makes sense since my A500 only has the stock 512k RAM.
Thanks for watching the video, I'd really appreciate a subscribe if possible please 🙌
As soon as I saw the amiga in the shops and played on one and a mate also had one I thought I somehow had to get one for myself so when I was 14 ish maybe I found a used 500 in a shop with a big selection of games and joystick i saved up paper round money and birthday and everything else i was able to get my hands on, i sold the other things other tech i had that was worth money and i eventually had enough, it was the greatest purchase i made i have loved the amiga ever since.
Thank you for your comment and I completely agree about the Amiga, I honestly don't think anything has surpassed it since for technology ahead of its time.
Really found your vid interesting, keep them coming.
I bought an A500 back in the day, 1.3 ROM and 512Mb RAM. By the time the A500+ came out most Amiga owners, like me had upgraded to 1Mb. The amount of memory most games of the day demanded. If you only had a 0.5Mb system I recall Team17 games (Alien Breed series) instead of loading, showed an image of a RAM expansion, asking you if you have seen one of these. If not it told you to buy one. I deliberatly took my expansion board out of the trapdoor just to see what it would do to discover this.
My Amiga 500 had the Fat Angus chip that supported 1Mb chip RAM but it wound not address my 512Mb trapdoor expansion, so it was slow RAM, I was stuck with 512Mb chip RAM. Positive, I had 1Mb and Amiga games did not mind what type it was, as long as it was there.
I would imagine few A500 owners would have upgrade to the A500+ if they knew the system well enough. It was mainly a memory and OS (ROM chip) upgrade. The extra memory and new ROM chips could be added to the A500. Although the ECS (Enhanced Chipset) in the A500+ (and A600 that followed) did offer 2Mb chip RAM, that was an upgrade that would be put to use mainly on the AGA (Advanced Graphics Architecture) in the A1200/4000 systems. I think most owners moved onto those 32-bit Amiga systems (or the PC/Consoles).
Thank you for your kind words and watching the video. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I vaguely remember seeing the buy RAM expansion screen 🤣 I love all the little Easter eggs in games like that
I had the same A500, with KS1.3 and 1MB Fat Agnes, there was a way to use the Trapdoor RAM expansion as Chip RAM instead of "Slow Fast RAM" , it involved cutting a track or two on the PCB. I did it with zero issues.
Wow!! 512Mb of Chip RAM? 😜
@@CollinBaillie Salt 'n' Vinegar not included. 🙃
Hard drive does not = floppy drive but I know what you meant 🙂👍
Yeah sorry!! I'm quite embarrased that I even said "Hard Drive" Thanks for watching the video!
Nice to see this, used to love Fire and Ice as well 😊
I'm getting my 500 + repaired soon, just hope it wont cost a fortune lol.
Great content dude.
Thank you for the kind words and glad you liked the video. What repairs are you having done on your 500+?
@RetroGamesRediscovered Think it's a ram chip problem, it powers up as the green led lights up, but nothing else happens?
Could be, does it show anything on the screen?
@RetroGamesRediscovered No nothing at all mate?
There is quite a few Amiga A500 games that will not load on a 500 Plus . You need to make or get hold of a Relokick Boot Disk which puts the 500 Plus in 1.3 Kick start mode then your non working games will work . There will still be a very small percentage of games that will still refuse to work. Update : Come to think about it i might be thinking of the A600 . I'm sure someone will mention it in the comments ? lol
Thanks for your comment and for watching the video.
From your comment, I remember I do have a boot disk (somewhere) which provided that type of functionality. Just need to track it down! 😂
Thanks for watching the video, I'm trying to build my channel and would really appreciate a like and subscribe if possible please 🙌
No. You are right. There were the same issues between 500 kickstart 1.2 and 500 kickstart 1.3 and again between 500 and 1200 machines. No Amiga are 100 percent compatible with all games. You could even buy a reconfigured plus, sold as 500, because Commodore realised that people still asked for a non Plus. It is a Plus without clock, with 512k chip and kick 1.3 and a new case badge. The ECS Non-Plus have revision 8a.1 and revision 8a is the 500-Plus. The most rare 500 is the revision 7, and are only sold in an extremely low numbers. So low that nobody really have posted anything about it. Most sold are the OCS revision 6a.
@@brostenen
I had one ECS 500 1.3... (later upgraded to 2.04 I think) and from what I can recall (as you said) the machine was not called plus when I bought it in 87.
The only difference for me was that the machine was a couple of hertz faster then my friends 1.2.
I had a 500+ back in the day. You are correct. My two wealthy friends had a 1000 and a 2000 all upgraded. They would make fun of my 500+ all the time for this exact reason.
@@Hasse.Andersson The 1.3 ECS is the Revision 8a.1 board. The A500+ is the Revision 8.1 board. Basically. When Commodore found out that people did not want the Plus. Then Commodore did a last "normal" 500 model. But they used the Plus board as the platform. All ECS 500's can be fully upgraded to Plus model.
I did that with one of my 8a.1 boards, and the other is still stock non plus specs. Or factory default specs if you like. The downside with upgrading the 8a.1 board to 1mb chipram, is that the trapdoor will only be configured as ChipRam memory. And those few games that for some reason are hardcoded to expect slowram, will not fully work. On the other hand, then a 8a.1 board, upgraded to 1mb Chip and 1mb Chip in trapdoor, will be great for WHD Loader, if you give the machine a TF-536 card.
The loading time of 'The Lemmings' to the menu on A500 ca. 00.47.17 (2:37) and on the A500+ ca. 00.49.23 (5:26). So, in your test the A500 v1.3 loaded faster.
BUT Mr Guru wrote here about the real difference between these 2 machine types.
Floppy Disk Drive, NOT Hard Drive, not by a long shot.
What do you mean?
@@RetroGamesRediscoveredyou appeared to have said, “hard drive” on the clip..
My Amiga 500+ battery lasted 32 years.
Saw it was just starting to leak slightly when I recently installed a 8mb fast ram and ide card. Have now removed the battery.
Thanks for your comment and watching the video, 32 years is impressive for the battery!
Safest and easiest way to de Yellow is to leave them out in the sun a few days. Obviously bring them in at the end of the day and watch for rain.
Thank you, I did plan on doing that this summer but we're now in October and I didn't get round to it! Next year!
Thanks for watching the video 🙌
It is called Retro Brightening.
You put the shell in a bath of Hydrogen Peroxide, while the bite is illuminated with UV light.
It is possible to put it outside, if you have a place where it can stand in peace and in direct sunlight.
I recommend you search on CZcams and find the method that suits you best.
Thank you for your comment and for watching the video
Boring? Yeah. You must remember back then it was fun amazing animation! Being played on your Amiga in real time. Quite the thing! I always try to frame my channel’s videos with “set your brain back 30+ years.” ;)
Yes, it's strange isn't it? Boring in today's standards but stunning back then!
That's a good idea about starting your videos that way. How times have changed!
Thanks for watching the video ❤️
Amiga 500 Specifications:
Catalog type
Desktop computer
Manufacturer
Commodore
Release Date
April 1987
Processor
Motorola 68000 @ 512kB
Memory
512kB
Storage
3,5" FDD
Operation System
Workbench 1.2
The Amiga 500 was sold for a much lower selling price, and being more stable because of the newer Kickstart version next to the new Workbench software.
There are two versions of the A500. The first versions having an OCS-chipset, which was almost identical to the chips used in the Amiga 1000. Later models are equipped with an ECS-chipset, that is a slightly different upgraded version of the OCS ones.
The Amiga 500 is unique because most of the chips are off factory placed in a socket. So upgrading was very easy.
The Amiga 500 has an expansion board on the bottom where you can i.e. place a memory expansion card with a real-time clock, that was backed-up with power coming from a Varta battery. Nowadays, many of these batteries are leaking, causing extremely damage to the mainboard, and it's components and electrical traces.
On the left side of the Amiga 500 there is another expansion slot, most of the time that is used to plug in a CD-rom drive (A570) or an external hard disk drive.
The next Amiga that was released would be the Amiga 500+, where an onboard real-time clock (RTC) would be standard built-in instead of having to use an expansion card as the biggest difference with the "normal" Amiga 500.
Amiga 500+ Specifications:
Catalog type
Desktop computer
Manufacturer
Commodore
Release Date
November 1991
Processor
Motorola 68000 @ 7,09 MHz
Memory
1MB
Storage
FDD
Operation System
AmigaOS 2.04
Although officially introduced in 1992, some Amiga 500 Plus units had already been sold by the end of 1991 (disguised as Amiga 500 models and without prior notice). It has been speculated that Commodore had already sold out the remaining Amiga 500 supplies. To make enough A500s for Christmas, Commodore used stocks of the new 8A revision motherboards destined for the A500 +. Many users were unaware that they were buying anything other than a standard Amiga 500.
While the Amiga 500+ was an improvement over the Amiga 500, it hasn't sold much. Sales and production were discontinued with the introduction of the Amiga 600 in the summer of 1992. This makes the A500 + the shortest sold of all models.
Thanks for sharing these detailed specifications and historical insights! The Amiga 500 and 500+ had some interesting differences and unique features.
The original Amiga 500, released in April 1987, came with a Motorola 68000 processor, 512KB of memory, and a 3.5" floppy disk drive. Its use of the OCS chipset, later upgraded to the ECS chipset in newer models, made it quite versatile. The socketed chips and easy upgradability were standout features. The bottom expansion slot for memory and the real-time clock backed by a Varta battery were handy, although the battery leakage is a known issue.
The Amiga 500+ improved on the original with a standard 1MB memory, an onboard real-time clock, and the AmigaOS 2.04 operating system. It was released in November 1991, though some units were sold earlier disguised as regular Amiga 500s. Despite these enhancements, the A500+ had a short market life, being replaced by the Amiga 600 in 1992.
Your detailed overview highlights the evolution of these classic machines and the challenges faced, like battery leakage and market transitions. If you enjoyed this discussion, please consider subscribing to my channel, Retro Games Rediscovered, for more retro computing insights and content!
Cheers,
RustyIngles
Cool video! Yellowing can be tackled by using the retro brite method (peroxide and sunlight) there is info online on how to do it.
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed the video. I'm a little scared about retro briting, knowing my luck I'll end up melting the plastic! 🤣
@@RetroGamesRediscovered
I've tried a few times. It also depends on the case (USA, Germany, China...). The yellow sets in again and the plastic can become streaky. There is a CBM museum in Germany. These professionals lighten Amiga cases very carefully and durably.
I'd love to go to the CBM Museum.
I think I'm going to give retrobriting a go this summer in the UK.
Thanks for watching the video. I'd really appreciate a like and subscribe if possible please
It will go yellow again.
@@RetroGamesRediscovered a lot won't do it right and will wreak it. This of course increases the value of one untouched
Some games are not working on the Amiga 500+ because it has no fast memory. It took me some time before i figuring out why my friends Amiga 500 could play the games, but i couldn't even if i have more memory (2MB Chip). After installing a Supradrive with 52MB HDD and 1MB fast memory i could play the games. So, it is not always how much memory you have, it is what type of memory it is too.
Thanks for watching the video and the information. It was always puzzling when A500+ couldn't play certain games!
Un'ottimo video sullA500 e A500 plus.un bel lavoro
Grazie per il tuo commento e le belle parole. Sto cercando di far crescere il mio canale e apprezzerei davvero un mi piace e iscrivermi se possibile per favore 🙌
@@RetroGamesRediscovered sono felice di dirti che mi sono iscritto,il tuo canale mi piace,ed essendo un patito dell'AMIGA,ho apprezzato molto questo video
@@giuseppelavecchia775 Grazie! Ho molti altri video in programma!
The A500 and A500+ may look identical from the outside they are different machines essentially. The A500 has an OCS chipset running Kickstart 1.2/1.3 and had 512k RAM whilst the A500+ has the upgraded ECS chipset; shipped with Kickstart 2.04 and had 1MB.
Some of the later 1.3 ROM A500s of which I had one did have the ECS "Fat" Agnes but still only had the 512kB of Chip Ram.
Marginal differences I'd say
Thanks for your comment! You're absolutely right-the A500 and A500+ may look identical on the outside, but they are quite different under the hood. The A500 features the OCS chipset with Kickstart 1.2/1.3 and 512k RAM, while the A500+ comes with the upgraded ECS chipset, Kickstart 2.04, and 1MB of RAM.
If you enjoyed this discussion, please consider subscribing to my channel, Retro Games Rediscovered, for more retro computing insights and content!
Cheers,
RustyIngles
8-bit guy has many videos on how to retrobright a computer
Thank you, I'll take a look!
Thanks for watching the video, I'd really appreciate a like and subscribe if possible please 🙌
The Best thing about the Amiga was the Loading times. You where never sure if the thing freezes or the 27 Minutes Loading time are legit. A thrill every second.
Do you have a copy of that disk? I'd like to try it on my modded 500. Thanks!
The only disk I have is the one I've got I'm afraid
@@RetroGamesRediscovered I meant to make an ADF file from it. :)
5:03 were you talking about the Hard Drive? or did you mean Disk Drive?
My mistake! Yes I said Hard Drive, I meant floppy drive! Well spotted! 😂
As an Amiga500 is not just an Amiga500 because of the many revisions. That also spanned the actual chips and board as the 500-Plus, and the Plus only were one revision and only sold with one type of chips. Well... Then the differences are not that many. I would say that the two main reasons are the plus can not use slowram and then the plus being released with kick 2. And yet again, a regulair 500 were also sold with kick 1.2.
Thanks for your comment and yes, you're right, the A500+ was just a revision.
Thanks for watching the video, I'm trying to build my channel and would really appreciate a like and subscribe if possible please 🙌
@@RetroGamesRediscovered I will subscribe.... I have no issue doing that. 🙂
@@RetroGamesRediscovered Yup. I have two revision 8a.1 were one is converted into a Plus model without the clock circuit and the battery. The other is still a stock fake-plus model. The reason being that the Plus can not adress any slow or fastram in the trapdoor, yet the stock 8a.1 fake-plus can adress slow ram in trapdoor. Some games expect slowram.
A500+ usually have leaky varta battery that can damage the PCB - got to remove it to avoid risk
Yes, completely agree. Some old memory upgrades for the A500 had vartas too. Got to get them out as quickly as possible!
Thanks for watching the video, hope you enjoyed it
VARTA - Destroyer of worlds
@@werre2 😂
I have both machines, an Amiga 500 model ( from the Screen Gems Pack ) and an Amiga 500+ ( from the Cartoon Classics Pack ).
However neither have been turned on or used since 2006/07 and back then the last time I did try to turn them on the power lights would flash briefly and then it would show an error leading me to suspect something was up.
Fast forward to 2022 and Im wondering whether I should remove the batteries that are onboard the mb. I am not expert on the hardware side of things especially mb's for computers, but I have read and watched countless articles and vids that say the batteries begin to decompose and leak etc
Going on what I've just told you, what would be the first thing you'd do if you were in my shoes and owned these two faulty old Amiga rigs ?
About the floppy drive being crunchy, I always assumed that was hardware but on my A600, if I use relokick to drop it to 1.3, then the drive sound crunchier. Ive often wondered what could cause that.
That's interesting, wonder why that would do that? The crunchy sound takes me straight back in time, sitting in my childhood bedroom! Thanks for your comment and for watching the video
There seems to be a slightly cleaner sound on the A500+ compared to the original A500
I've never thought about that before. Thanks for watching the video and your comment. I'd appreciate a subscribe if possible please 🙌
I just want to play pga golf I played as a kid on my Amiga 500+
I looked at emulators and the Amiga mini , but it all looks to complicated and destined to not work for me lol, so looking at the easiest way of just buying a used Amiga 500+ and a copy of pga off eBay
BUT just wondering if I could buy a 600 or 1200….. if there is any extra benefits ? I know nothing about them really .
Would the copy of pga golf that works on 500+ work on the 600 or 1200 ? .
Thanks for your comment. The A600 and A500+ are very much the same thing, albeit different sizes, they both used the Enhanced Chip Set (ECS). The A1200 is a much better machine and has the Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA). If I were you, I'd go for the A1200 but make sure you get the capacitors replaced (known as recapping). Good luck and let me know how it goes!
@@RetroGamesRediscovered thanks for the info mate
If there hadn't have been an A500+ we'd have seen the A600 as a Godsend. It's a pity for Commodore that the two were on the market at roughly the same time.
Thanks for your comment! You're absolutely right-the A600 would have been much more appreciated if it hadn't been overshadowed by the A500+. The timing and market overlap certainly affected its reception. It's interesting to think about how things might have been different for Commodore.
If you enjoyed this discussion, please consider subscribing to my channel, Retro Games Rediscovered, for more retro computing insights and content!
Cheers,
RustyIngles
My old Amiga 500 when i opened it had a Amiga 500 Plus board with half the RAM sockets being empty.
I think my dad bought it for me like half a year to a year before the 500 Plus came out
My original one from my childhood was the same. Commodore ended up putting 500s out that were filled with 500 or 500+ plus parts at one point, was luck pot luck! Thanks for taking the time to comment
Hey hope you can help me make a decision lol
I want to buy a amiga and everyone i ask online or most of them say 1200
And while i can scrape enough money for one its still alot
All i want to to is play games so not interested in ither capabilities the 1200 has
Its just games...also i want to use floppy discs and play games as they were meant to be
Hell i have a Amstrad cpc and use tapes as i love it and loading is way longer lol
Do you think i should just get a 500....500+ or 1200
I do understand the earlier ones can not play the later aga games but not sure if that will affect me or not
Hey there! Great question, and I’d be happy to help you decide.
If you're mainly interested in playing games using floppy disks and enjoying the authentic experience, the Amiga 500 or 500+ might be perfect for you. Both are excellent for classic gaming and will give you that nostalgic feel you love with your Amstrad CPC.
The Amiga 1200 is more powerful and can play AGA games, but if the extra cost is a concern and you're primarily focused on older games, the 500 or 500+ should suffice. Plus, the 500 and 500+ are more true to the original experience you're looking for.
Ultimately, if AGA games aren’t a priority, the Amiga 500 or 500+ would be a great and more budget-friendly choice.
Hope that helps! And if you haven't already, consider subscribing to my channel, Retro Games Rediscovered, for more retro gaming insights!
Cheers,
RustyIngles
Hello, I ask myself this question, the PCs that we have, are they based on the Amiga, the identical keyboard, except that the Amiga is a window,
the keys are based on a standard uk qwerty type keyboard i am not sure if amiga were the first to use this.
Thanks for your comment! The Amiga had a significant influence on early personal computing, but modern PCs evolved from a different lineage, primarily the IBM PC. While the Amiga's keyboard layout and GUI features were ahead of their time, today's PCs follow the IBM PC's architecture with operating systems like Windows.
If you enjoyed this discussion, please consider subscribing to my channel, Retro Games Rediscovered, for more retro computing insights and content!
Cheers,
RustyIngles
Sorry, but that's NOT an A500 vs A500+ comparison.
I would have expected 500kB vs. 1MB RAM, OCS vs. ECS chipset, Kickstart 1.3 vs. 2.0, no realtime clock vs. embedded real time clock and therewith the pros and cons.
Thanks for your feedback, I'll bear that in mind for future videos
Best asteroids type game for Amiga- Stardust.
I've never heard of it, will try and track it down now! Thanks for the recommendation
If I buy Amiga 500 plus, does it come with old kickstarter or i need to install old kikstarter myself?
It will come with the Kickstarter rom, but you'll need WorkBench discs if you want to load Workbench. Also, buy one! You won't regret it!
Thanks for your comment!
@@RetroGamesRediscovered which one to buy better - 500 or 500+ ?
I had the A500 Plus with Kickstart 2.
I used to have Kickstart 1.3 on a floppy disc (bought from a shareware advert in Amiga Format) and would load that in first, then load up the 'Kickstart 1.3 only' game.
It always worked perfectly. This did mean that the machine no longer had the normal amount of free memory however.
If a game needed only 512KB, then a standard 1MB Amiga A500 Plus was fine. If it needed more, then increasing/upgrading the memory was the only solution.
But almost all games that needed >512KB were compatible with Kickstart 2. So it was rarely an issue.
So what ARE the differences between a A500 and an A500+ exactly? Still none the wiser!!
yeah, good point. I think I need to revisit this and do another video showing the actual differences! Thanks for the comment and for watching the video.
Newer workbench and kickstart (plus has 2.04),support for up to 2mb chip ram
Newer "AV chipset" Ecs was also used in later a500
My A500+ has 2MB chipram and a broken floppy drive.
My 500 has a Gotek installed
I've been toying with the idea of a Gotek
Thanks for watching the video.
I'd really appreciate a like and subscribe if possible please 🙌
1987. original amiga 500 price £499 (call it 500)
just found out in todays price that's a whopping £1,762!!!
Crazy prices, although £1762 seems very pricey!! Which country did you see that advertised?
Yelp looks interesting, though I didn't really understand it :) Microbes looks really fun too. I remember playing a demo of Humans, it looked like a decent puzzle game but puzzlers were never my forte (apart from Lemmings! We too got the Cartoon Classics pack :)).
Thanks for your comment. Humans was a great game, but you're right Lemmings in THE puzzler for the Amiga
I put a switchable ram chip in my 500+ , give me both kick-start 2.0 and 1.3 worked great
That's a great idea, does it take up a lot of space inside with the additional chip?
@@RetroGamesRediscovered no you removed the 2.0 kick start chip and had a dual socket that plugged into the place were the 2.0 chip sat. Both chip sat side by side . Took about 20 mins do
I might give that a go! Might make a good video don't you think? Thanks for the comment.
The Amiga to me was a world above and beyond the C64 that was our family computer for Christmas 1991. I always wanted the Amiga 500+ Cartoon Classics, but we couldn't afford the £399.99. What was more powerful out of the Amiga 500/500+/600 and the Mega Drive? I know there are similarities with both of them having the Motorola 68000.
Thank you for your comment and for sharing your nostalgic memories of the Amiga and C64!
The Amiga 500/500+/600 and the Mega Drive have unique strengths. The Amiga excels with its versatile frame buffer, Copper for raster effects, and blitter for graphics. Meanwhile, the Mega Drive's dedicated VDP memory, tile-based graphics, and Z80 processor for audio make it perfect for 2D games.
In short, the Amiga is better for general computing and complex graphics, while the Mega Drive is optimized for fast, 2D gaming.
If you enjoyed this, please subscribe to my channel for more retro gaming insights!
Cheers,
RustyIngles
A 68010 cpu helps more than people think as well because it has more instructions 🙂
Thanks for watching the video and for your comments.
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A500 plus had the same 68k CPU as the old non-plus A500. 68010 was never used in Amigas.
@@betterbeavailable I'm pretty sure I remember buying a 68010 at the World of Amiga Show in NYC and dropping it into my Amiga 500. However no Amigas were ever shipped with one.
@@petersachs764 Surely you could buy the chip separately and drop it to a500 for some marginal gains but it never officially came with it.
Soak the case in Hydrogen peroxide to remove the discolouration there are plenty off instructional vids on how to do it.
Thank you, going to give that a go this summer
If you buy a cheap UV you'll get a better fin it can sometimes marble when using sunlight plus it's a whole lot faster
Nice one, thank you! I'll have a look for one 👍
I love the floppy drive noise! That's so much hardware pr0n! ❤
I completely agree, such a great noise. Thanks for your comment
just give the amiga 2 weeks outdoor sun and miracle happend witout any cream, just sun :)
Thank you, I'll give that a go, although a bit wary with English weather 😂
@@RetroGamesRediscovered Yes same here in Norway :D
I'll definitely give that a go, thanks for the tip
My A500+ have 2.MB Chip, 6.MB Fast RAM, 3 x Zorro Slots, 20A PSU, 1.7.GB HDD, 3 x Kickstart Switcher, 68020 CPU + FPU. Mitsumi CD Burner etc.
It has Kickstart 1.3, 2.04 and 3.1. My 500+ is basically a Amiga 1200 without AGA.
That's a seriously pumped up A500+!! Good work, lots of customisation. Thanks for your comment and for watching the video
@@RetroGamesRediscovered Your welcome and Thank you. I went a bit overkill, but it were great for a few years. :)
I worked at a Amiga company back then and got access to everything. I never bought Picasso gfx card, but tried it on my A500+.
I own an Amiga 500 and Lemmings detects my old 1 meg expansion ram, dont know for what. In Walker, if u had 2MB ram (1 MB is mandatory) suposely u see and hear many other things than with 1 MB.
Thanks for your comment and watching the video. Some games detect Fast RAM and preload as much of the game (from floppy) as possible, so the game doesn't always need to be loading from floppy.
The drive noise of A500 sounds more like Kickstart 1.2. But the screen says 1.3. Normally 1.3 was not so noisy.
I think it's just a crunchy drive. Such a great noise though, would you agree?
@@RetroGamesRediscovered I had an A500 with 1.2 and I liked it more than the 1.3 of my friend. 😁
Those disk loading sounds take me back... The 500+ was a fail alas...less compatible but with no extra grunt that couldn't be gained with a ram expansion
Yeah, the disk noise was the best. the A500 will always be my favourite. A500+ should have been more compatible.
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@@RetroGamesRediscovered there was a boot disk called 'Relokick' that you could use to spoof kick 1.3 that fixed some of it..but still just another story of Commodore repacking old gear in new boxes..
Yes, sadly the management of the company was their own downfall
That is why we had kickstart switcher installed in the Plus.
@@RetroGamesRediscovered Yes and no. There are many reasons. One is not even Commodores fault, and that is Intel making better CPU's than Motorola did, and why the Amiga platform switched to PPC. Yet many see Doom as the last nail in the coffin.
wear the yellowing with pride.. it makes it genuine a retrocomputer!
That's very true. Thanks for your comment and for watching the video
'72 here. My first computer...
Thanks for taking the time to comment, hope you liked the video. Amiga was such a good machine and I'm sure you have as many cherished memories of it as I do
All of my computers, including my Speccy and my Amiga had to be sold to fund the next thing. How come all these Retro Computer CZcams channels seem to have been able to keep and store all their childhood computers?
Sadly my original Amiga 500 was stolen from my parents house, so I've had to buy the ones I have (apart from my Atari 2600s) from eBay including my A570
I bought my Amiga 600 30 years ago in April 1994 and loved it, I use it regularly.. I still do art on it. The Amiga is an eternal computer
Thanks for your comment, and yes I think you're right, it's one of those machines that still looks as good today as it did 30+ years ago
Checkout the 8bit guy and how he retro brights old computers using hydrogen peroxide
I'll check it out, thanks for the info
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The A500 Plus was a miscarriage. A rarity from today's perspective, since the self-destruct battery has made many disappear.
I've never thought about it like that, but what you're saying does make sense. I think Commodore was sadly the destruction of itself.
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Not really a miscarriage. It is as bad as 500 revision 5. And the revision 8a.1 is basically a reconfigured plus without the battery.
@@brostenen
Thanks for this information! I did not know that. This version 8a also allows for previously unforeseen upgrades, I heard.
@@rikpeol3612 Not really. It can be operated as a non-plus or modded to a plus. Or you can see it as old style standard 500 with ECS chipset.
@@brostenen
I think I got it. The A500 plus was a development in the direction of the A 3000, but never really complete, and not entirely compatible with the OCS.
This a question i have wanted to know for 30 year's
Thanks for your comment! I'm working on another (similar) video too
Don't some games require 1 meg of chipram like in the A500+? Didn't the A500+ have the ECS chipset. I though the A500 only had 512mb of chipram like the A1000? That's where the major problems with some games would lie. Speaking as an A1000 owner, I wish I could increase my chipram and not just my ram which is at 128mb at the moment.
Thanks for your comment! You're correct, some games do require 1MB of Chip RAM, which the A500+ provides. The A500+ also has the ECS chipset, whereas the original A500 typically came with 512KB of Chip RAM, similar to the A1000. This difference can cause compatibility issues with certain games. It's great to hear your A1000 is upgraded to 128MB of RAM! Increasing Chip RAM would indeed help with compatibility for some titles.
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Cheers,
RustyIngles
the PLUS was the 1st step of the END of Commodore - Bottom line the old games didn't all play even with Degrader to 1.3 the gameplay was the same all for a shittie 2.0 workbench and then when the a600 came along that was the final NAIL. shame as A1200 with backward compatibility would have added 10 years to the commodore theme
I completely agree. It's a real shame how Commodore managed Amiga. It could have been such a success for many more years (and who knows what the home computer market would be like now).
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Have to disagree there. Workbench 2 and above were superb operating systems. Modular in their designs making them very flexible. The fact that someone wrote a driver in 2023 for a pcmcia cd drive that was developed decades after the amiga was in its heyday and it's installed simply by putting files into folders and modifying a config file is just astonishing. Wb 1 was a good start but it lacked many features from the desktop experience. By the time the A600 was out you can't be holding back your designs based on backward compatability of games. Holding onto to old tech for too long was a massive reason for their downfall. Mismanagement is right. They hobbled themselves.
The reason a lot of the early games didn't work on later kit was due to them doing funky stuff directly with hardware becuase it was faster than using amiga OS calls, it it wasn't possible. But by that reckoning you can't ever change your hardware.
@@squeakonline you might have liked it but it was the begining of the end
@@herbertchapmanafc1246 it's not about me liking it really. (though I did) in terms of timing you're right, the A600 was a miss step and the downward spiral started then. but not becuse of its lack of backward compatability (which was very minimal. I've only ever come across one or two games that didn't work and relokick fixed it) the reason for the downfall if anything was holding onto the backwards compatability for too long relasing an amiga in 1993 that was hardly any better than the original a500 from 1987 meaning PCs caught up and took over in terms of capabilities. Coupled with some disastrous decisions with the timing of releasing the a1200 and add on cd drives for the a1200 and cd32.
Workbench 2.0 wasn't shite. It was natural evolution of the AmigaOS. The problem was that Commodore released few models of the Amiga that were basically repackaged technology. There was A1000, A2000, A500, A500+ and A600, all of them with almost the same capabillities out of the box.
Retrobriting, hydrogen peroxide and uv lights gets rid of yellowing!
Thank you
he way it works, the PC like an Amiga, OS, Worknench, Windows, when I use the PC, I have the impression that it's an Amiga these days except that the name has changed.
Thanks for your comment! It’s interesting how the modern PC experience can feel reminiscent of the Amiga days with its OS and Workbench-like interface. The influence of those early systems is definitely still seen today in how we interact with computers.
@@RetroGamesRediscovered Thank you, indeed, when I play on the PC, I say to myself Amiga, a mac would not suit me, a mac it looks like Atari, pc mac, vs Amiga St, strange, the apple colors are those of the St,
battery leakage on the +
Thanks for pointing that out! Battery leakage on the A500+ is indeed a common issue, and it's something every owner should be aware of. It's important to check and, if needed, remove the battery to prevent damage to the motherboard.
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Cheers,
RustyIngles
The "hard drive" is a little less crunchy? You are banned from making computer videos sir! Especially Retro Ones.
Yeah I did say "hard drive" instead of "floppy drive" in this video, apologies. Not sure if I'm banned though... I'll carry on making them but thanks for your kind words 🙄
@@RetroGamesRediscovered My Grandma calls 3-1/2 floppies "Hard Drives". If you are going to claim to be Retro, talk the talk and walk the walk and don't get "triggered" if you get called out.
The irony is you're the one who got "triggered" by my mistake 🤣
I know 1 test you can do!!
Test Dragon Ninja.... the amiga 500 won't have the women enemies
Really?! I never knew that! Now that's a test I'm going to do! Thanks for letting me know, watch this space...
RETROBRIGHT!!!
Yes, I'm going to do it this summer on both machines! 🙌
Retrobrite
Check out the *8 Bit Guy* for retrobrighting.
Thanks, I'll give that a watch. 👍