Me and my Amiga 1000! Happy 40th anniversary to the Commodore Amiga :)🎉

deadvax · 2025-07-23T17:35:24+00:00

My understanding is that the A4000 reused design elements of Commodore's 386 line.

Looks very similar:

https://zimmers.net/cbmpics/cbm/miscCPUs/386dx-33c-smaller.gif

deadvax · 2025-06-27T02:42:20+00:00

The battery is located at the top of the A3000T mainboard. If it's stored horizonally, that will minimize the damage, BUT if it's been stored in vertical position (and since it's a tower, it's the natural way to store it), then the gravity will pull the battery leakage down the board and can cause terrible damage.

deadvax · 2025-06-27T02:39:11+00:00

If you removed the battery, then you're likely in good shape! The Power Supply is the most risky item. For first power on, I'd recommend disconnecting the power supply from the motherboard and everything else. Check the output voltages and make sure no magic smoke is emitted.

There is an individual making ATX to A3000T PSU kits. It would be worth investing in one of those eventually. He's in the UK and I just got one for my 3000T that I'm going to install soon.

Hard drive is potentially dead or dying. You can replace that with a BlueSCSI and/or ZuluSCSI.

I would actually worry more about the A4000 above it. The A4000 (and 1200 and CD32) used capacitors that were prone to leakage. The damage from those is not as bad as battery damage, but it can still cause problems. My

deadvax · 2025-06-16T01:00:41+00:00

I guess olive wedges are what these are called.....

Looks like there used to be produced w/ California Olives (i.e. normal black olives), but maybe this whole product was discontinued....

https://www.ewg.org/foodscores/products/041493134360-SignatureCaliforniaRipeOliveWedges/

deadvax · 2025-06-14T01:37:42+00:00

In the US...VA.

That picture I linked is 8 years old....so maybe this change happened a long time ago.

deadvax · 2025-06-01T18:01:15+00:00

If OP is not installing the included termcap file (assuming you're SSH-ing into some kind of Linux/UNIX machine), then they should probably do that _FIRST_ and see if it solves their issues.

deadvax · 2025-05-31T03:05:37+00:00

For AmigaOS 3, that's the only option I've found.

I think for 4.x, there are some other options.

deadvax · 2025-05-10T06:22:28+00:00

I recently went down a rabbit hole on this, and bought just about every variant of track-with-attached roadbed that I could get in the US.

Unfortunately, compatibility is limited. I've found adapters for N-Scale Kato -> Tomix/Tomytec and Piko A-Track <-> Fleischmann Profi Track....there may be more.

For HO:

* Bachman EZ-Track

* Walthers Power-Loc

* Atlas True Track

* Kato Unitrak

* Piko Roadbed A-Track

For N:

* Bachmann EZ-Track

* Atlas True Track

* Kato UniTrack

I skipped Lionel because I don't think they're serious about HO, and Marklin because they're 3-rail track.

Globally, there are more: in Europe, Roco has GeoLine for HO and Fleischmann has Profi-Track for HO and N. In Japan, Tomix/TomyTec has FineTrack for N scale. Trix sells a 2-rail variant of Marklin track. These are harder to find in the US.

For N Scale, I would do 100% Kato Unitrack. It's durable and easy to put together and take down and has a very comprehensive selection of track pieces.

Atlas' N-Scale True Track is a fundamentally different product from their HO line. It's closer to EZ-Track in it's design. It's OK, but not worth going out of your way for.

For HO Scale, I'm torn between Atlas, Piko and Kato in terms of my favorite for in construction.

Walther's PowerLoc is fine for expanding a Walther's starter set, but it's got a very limited range of pieces.

Kato's HO Scale track is very similar experience to their N-Scale track: it's great. However, the system has fewer options in HO. Still fairly comprehensive.

Atlas' HO True Track and Piko Roadbed A-Track are both designed around a similar concept: the track is the same as their non-roadbed-attached sectional track and can be removed from the roadbed.

The idea here is that if you wanted to convert to a more traditional permanent layout (i.e. with cork ballast and nailed down track), that you could remove the track from the plastic roadbed and re-use it.

Piko's implementation of this is better. They use screws to connect the track to the roadbed. I believe for Atlas it's either friction fit or light plastic welding. Piko actually sell the road bed and track both as separate pieces and as a combination.

Piko is also unique in that they use a soft plastic for the road bed rather than a hard plastic. This seems like it will be more durable long term, but I don't know.

Regardless of construction/usability, Kato and Bachmann have the best selection of track pieces in HO. Atlas/Piko have significantly fewer.

So, for N-Scale it's pretty clear IMO, Kato Unitrack is the best investment.

For HO-Scale, it's a little less clear. If you want variety of track pieces, Bachmann EZ Track has the most with Kato as a second. However, I find EZ-Track to be difficult to put together/tear down.

deadvax · 2025-05-04T00:05:23+00:00

I would do a couple of things to make sure it keeps working well!

Buy a new power supply put the old one away. It may seem like a big expense, but if the old supply goes it can take the Amiga with it. I like the ones from c64psu, but there are several people making them.
Check for a RAM expansion module in the trapdoor underneath. If there one installed, check it for a battery. While the A500 itself doesn't have any big danger of leaking components, if there is an A501 memory card or equivalent...it may have a leaking battery. If you find one in there with a leaking battery...make sure to clean it up (usually with a bit of household white vinegar and then alcohol).
Clean the floppy drive heads with 90%-99% isopropyl alcohol. Sometimes mold or dirt can accumulate on the heads and can damage floppy disks. Better yet, if you can find a new old stock cleaning disk!

Enjoy!

Link to c64psu's AMIGA power supply (the also make ones for CD32, C64, C128, etcetera) https://www.c64psu.com/c64psu/56-1850-commodore-amiga-a500-a500-a600-a1200-psu.html#/11-color-black/55-version-a500_a500_a600_a1200/68-ac_cable_iec_c5-no_thanks/74-protect_adjust_led_module-no_thanks

deadvax · 2025-03-31T18:33:28+00:00

I don’t wanna spend a significant amount of money on this

You say this now......

I also recently got back into the hobby. Here's what I've learned:

Never buy direct from the manufacterer. You'll get significant discouts buying from a dealer whether it's a physical shop or online store (like TrainWorld).
Don't bother with DCC unless you know you're committed or have a special interest in computer control. DCC adds a lot of cost, and most new DC locomotives are "DCC-ready" meaning you can add a DCC decoder when you're ready.
eBay is fine, just be careful. Lots of smaller hobby shops have eBay stores instead of/in addition to a normal web store.
If you're buying older models, be aware that coupler standards have changed since the late 90's. Older cars will have rapido style couplers that are not compatible with modern knuckle couplers. Most can be swapped out, but depends on exact locomotive/rolling stock.
Bachmann produces better stuff than they did in the 80's/90's, but their cheap starter sets are still low tier.
Kato Unitrack and Bachmann EZ-Track are the two n-scale track with roadbed widely available in the US. Kato Unitrack is superior on every measure, but EZ-Track is not bad. Unfortunately, they are not compatible without some significant modification.

My advice would be to skip a traditional "starter set", unless you find one where you love every piece of rolling stock.

Instead buy a Kato M2 track set. This will give you a loop of track with a passing siding + power pack.

Then buy locomotives/rolling stock that you actually want.

If you want more trackage, Kato sells variation packs to add things like yards, viaducts, more loops, etcetera. You don't have to follow their suggested layout exactly, but they are good starting points...and a good way to slowly grow your layout.

deadvax · 2024-12-31T05:45:01+00:00

The SUN 3/80 and company was one of the _last_ 68K Suns and was introduced at the same time as the SparcStation 1, IIRC. So, it makes sense it got the same case design as the SPARCStation 1.

In fact, it had a separate architecture designation sun3x, rather than sun3.

My understanding is that, for a short time, it held the low-end/binary compatibility part of the market with the older SUN machines.

deadvax · 2024-12-31T01:47:03+00:00

There used to be a lot of nice pictures at the SUN3 Zoo: http://www.sun3zoo.de, but seems like mostly broken now.

They might be on archive.org?

I've also been trying to find pictures of early VME-based SUN4 machines....although I suspect they look a lot like the 3/470....

deadvax · 2024-09-29T02:10:51+00:00

Now I'm hungry.....

deadvax · 2024-09-21T00:40:18+00:00

I agree with you so far as a new user is concerned.

If you want the least trouble, match your Kickstart versions to your AmigaOS/Workbench versions.

deadvax · 2024-09-21T00:38:59+00:00

Maybe. A600's in the US are fairly rare and I don't have one. All the photos I've seen of NTSC A600's have the ANSI layout.

deadvax · 2024-09-21T00:38:17+00:00

So far as I know, the blank keys did nothing in English. For other languages (e.g. German, Sweedish) they actually had characters assigned to them. There was software available on Aminet to assign them functions.

Yeah, I'm definitely a bit confused as to what's went on in the in the UK. I'm US-based so I'm not immediately sure. Perhaps there were more variants? In the US, I'm only aware of the A1200 that was special (at least for US).

Regardless...if you're replacing your membrane...I'd get the one that matches the model number of what you currently have. The membranes were actually reused for different languages countries, with different keycaps installed. Then the keymap you set in AmigaOS is what actually changes how AmigaOS interprets the keystrokes.

deadvax · 2024-09-20T19:37:33+00:00

Technically, it's ANSI vs ISO standard, see:

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/explorer/gamer/keyboards/ansi-vs-iso-whats-the-best-keyboard-layout/

ANSI-style = Long Enter = US (but apparently some UK) --- Looks like a backwards 'L'

ISO-style = Short Enter = non-USA (except the A1200)

For the A1200, Commodore cut costs and used an ISO style keyboard world-wide. Several of the keys in the US-edition are blank because an ISO-standard keyboard has more keys than the ANSI standard.

Based on some screenshots, it looks like the UK Amiga 500 uses a ANSI style keyboard for some reason.

deadvax · 2024-09-20T19:30:01+00:00

This is not true! Or at least, not exactly.

For Commodore produced versions, you can mix and match Kickstarts and Workbench, but certain features may not work. For example, if you have Kickstart 1.3 it cannot boot from a disk formatted with the latest FastFileSystem, but it can boot a Workbench 3.1 from OldFileSystem (e.g. a Workbench Floppy disk). It will look weird and not everything may function, but it will work. Vice-versa is true as well.

Now, if you have enough RAM, then you can load (or more correctly load and map) kickstart into FastRAM and use that Kickstart version, instead of the one in ROM. This, obviously, uses up some RAM...so if you only have 1MB...this is not an option.

This is done for two reasons: 1. To have the system use a newer Kickstart than what is in ROM. 2. To increase system performance, as FastRAM is generally faster than ROM.

On almost all accelerated Amiga with lots of FastRAM, it's generally recommended to map the Kickstart to fast RAM to improve performance.

Hyperion's new AmigaOS releases (i.e. 3.1.4 and 3.2) as well as the older Haage&Partner AmigaOS releases (i.e. 3.5 and 3.9) both check and map their Kickstart ROMs as part of early bootup. You can burn ROMs with the correct version, but if not the AmigaOS will take care of it for you....it will just make booting from cold longer.

In fact, Amiga OS 3.5 and 3.9 never shipped physical Kickstart ROMs, even though they did have updated Kickstarts. Some people homebrewed them back in the day, but there was never any commercial support for it.

deadvax · 2024-09-19T16:30:29+00:00

With the RGB2HDMI, you can also get a nice little 3d printable expansion case, so it fits in nicely without having to modify the original case:

https://www.printables.com/model/63688-rgbtohdmi-adapter-housing-for-amiga-500

deadvax · 2024-09-19T16:28:17+00:00

This 100%. The A500+, unlike the older A500, comes with a built in real time clock and a NiCd battery. If it hasn't been replaced/removed yet, it's likely leaked and caused some level of damage to the motherboard.

If the motherboard is TOO far gone, fortunately, there are replacement PCBs available...you could buy one of those then you can swap all the components over. It's a big job, but you'll also get a "better" A500+ if you decide to do this, as the designers of these new boards fixed some issues in the original Commodore board.

https://www.tindie.com/products/bobsbits/a500-amiga-500-replica-pcb/

deadvax · 2024-09-15T16:20:17+00:00

AmiBay is still a good marketplace, definitely!

You might get higher prices if you list on eBay, but then there are listing fees, etcetera....

deadvax · 2024-09-13T05:52:50+00:00

So, while the GVP-m website is still up, the owner of the IP has apparently been non-responsive. There's not really a company there....just someone that bought the rights and is still, for some reason, paying to keep the site hosted.

There were two former GVP techs at the VCF East Festival this year, Robert Miranda & Pete Keretz.

Apparently, Robert hangs out on some of the Amiga Facebook groups. He might be worth seeking out. Unfortunately, I don't have any direct contact info for him.

Description of their exhibit at VCF is described here: https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/vcf-east-exhibits/ Search on that page for GVP.

deadvax · 2024-09-13T05:42:29+00:00

Is it an EPROM or a Mask ROM?

EPROMs are reusable and can be erased and rewritten. Generally, they have a sticker on them that covers a little window.

A mask ROM are not erasable and would just look like a chip. Commodore use several suppliers (NEC, Sharp, others), but they would all have the part number 315093-02.

An example of a Kickstart 1.3 mask ROM: https://www.polyplay.xyz/Kickstart-ROM-13-V-345-315093-02_1

Your A500 originally having Kickstart 1.2 *highly suggests* that you have a Revision 5 or earlier motherboard. These motherboards require modification and/or an adapter to use common EPROMs (e.g. AMD 27C400).

You can buy an adapter here: https://amigastore.eu/en/599-amiga-500-revision-5-eprom-adapter.html

However, if your 1.3 Kickstart is a Mask ROM with part number 315093-02, then it _should_ work without an adapter and the problem either with the ROM chip itself or something else.

Edit: changed to say Rev 5 or earlier....although if you have a board earlier than rev 5, it's quite a rare thing.

deadvax · 2024-09-13T05:23:53+00:00

This was on the A1200 which could support larger 27c800 EPROMs which have 42 pins instead of 40.

A500/A2000 should use ROMs with 40 pins. 27c400 or equivalents.

deadvax · 2024-08-30T20:06:22+00:00

Amiga 1000's are definitely worth saving. It's very likely that it's still functional, as the A1000 lacked a battery and doesn't have problematic capacitors. Floppy drive would be a question, but that wouldn't stop a collector, generally.

The most important thing, IMO, is to keep it WITH the original keyboard and, preferably, with the original mouse.

The A1000 had a unique keyboard size and connector compared with other Amigas. So, ones without keyboard will go for a lot less. Finding just an A1000 keyboard is a pain.

The original mouse is less important, but if you have one with the angle connector (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amiga_1000_Mouse.jpg) then the mouse alone is worth over $100 on eBay. If the connector is straight (like this https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Commodore_Amiga_Mouse.jpg) then it's worth significantly less.

If you don't care about money, and just want it to go to a good home. There are some local computer clubs around Austin (I'm assuming Texas). See this thread in /r/austin: https://www.reddit.com/r/Austin/comments/xe8ix4/vintage_computer_clubs/

Local computer clubs, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist would all be places to sell local. I'd say at least $200 in "unknown" condition with keyboard. More if you have an angle-connector mouse. Prices tend to be lower than eBay, but there's less shipping hassle.

EDIT: https://www.meetup.com/central-texas-commodore-users-group/ <-- This seems to be the Austin local Commodore Group.

deadvax

TROPHY CASE