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Commodore Amiga 500+: let no one go offended

The hearts of all the "computer scientists" of the post-Soviet space were given to the legendary and beautiful ZX Spectrum - this is an absolute fact. Nevertheless, in the mid-late nineties on the domestic market, albeit with a significant delay, Commodore Amiga computers appeared.

Their graphics, music, games, and, importantly, just working features were amazing: compared to the ZX Spectrum and its advanced clones, Amiga looked like a queen among the mobiles.

However, this computer only relatively recently began to gain real popularity in our country. This is partly due to the transition of Amiga to an extensive retro-pc camp, partly due to the fact that international trading platforms have appeared, where you can almost without extra charges find both Amiga itself and a lot of accessories and spare parts for it.

Today we, having secured the support of one of our colleagues, whose collection, among other things, has the Amiga 500+, will try to tell you what it means to be a user of this computer in 2020.



Before going directly to the point, it’s worth taking a couple of steps back and telling a little about Amiga’s “biography”.

Commodore, already known and loved by many for the release of the 8-bit Commodore 64, was in search of fresh ideas for a new computer that was designed to replace the 64th in the growing market for personal machines. The difficulty was that the company’s engineers were not able to develop a fundamentally new device on their own in the shortest possible time and an external injection was required.

The creators of the Amiga startup - Jay Miner, Ergie Mikel, Dave Morse and Karl Sasenres - just had similar developments, but suffered from a lack of funds. It even came to the presentation of Apple's Amiga. The far-sighted Steve Jobs refused to innovating engineers, but, returning to the workplace, ordered to speed up the release of the first Macintosh.
A little later, the Commodore was completely bought by Amiga, and the story of one of the most beautiful computers officially began.

You can find out more about the ups and downs of Amiga’s appearance in the video by Dmitry Bachilo , and we move on to the story directly about the computer and its modifications today.

The first machine, the Amiga 1000, 1985 was based on the Motorola 68000 processor, and several coprocessors were assigned a number of additional tasks (graphics, mathematical, peripheral tasks). On the one hand, such an architecture made it possible to implement very ambitious projects, on the other hand, it was difficult for programmers to master. Nevertheless, the market made its choice, and the Commodore Semiconductor Group until 1993 was the undisputed leader in the sale of personal computers in the world. The subsequent series of failed decisions (for example, the release of the Amiga console Amiga CD32 based on Amiga, which we will talk about a little later) in the mid-90s led the company to bankruptcy.

Well, the "historical" part of the story is over, and we can safely begin to talk about what it means to have Amiga in 2020.

Of course, it is not possible to check all the accessories, extensions and accelerators: the cost of some of them can very sensitively hit the lover of retro technology. Nevertheless, we will tell you some practical information obtained from our own experience.

Amiga Acquisition


The range of these computers can be globally divided into two groups: the models 500, 600 and 1200 were supplied in a monolithic case with a keyboard. Connectors for power and peripherals were located on the back of the computer. More serious 2000, 3000, 4000 already more reminded system blocks, classical for modern computers.

Full-size cases, of course, are much more functional from the point of view of modernization: you can not save scarce internal space, add large accelerators and conveniently connect peripherals.

Nevertheless, for most users, Amiga is associated with a piano in the bush type of case. There is something unusual and attractive in it. Something that sets Amiga apart from all other computers.

Today we will consider a very specific computer from the collection of one of our colleagues who wanted to keep incognito.

Meet the Amiga 500+ rev. 8, released in Hong Kong in 1991. The computer has a PAL region and spent most of its life in Germany. Some components could be replaced by the seller as part of pre-sale preparation, but this is unlikely. The keyboard layout is the usual QWERTY. The course of the keyboard is softer than that of the usual mechanics, you need to press the keys confidently, bringing the press to the end.



Under the "hood" of the machine is (or rather, previously was) the simplest processor of the family: Motorola 68000 at a frequency of 7.14 MHz. The ROM slot is standard for the Amiga 500+ Kickstart 2.0 (37.175).

Compared to the regular Amiga 500, the plus version, a bit later, has several undeniable advantages:

  • 1 MB ChipRam versus 512 in the version without a “plus”,
  • this notorious megabyte can be doubled with a special expansion card;
  • ECS chipset.

There is only version 1200 “fatter” from Amig in such a “horizontal” case. But, as practice shows, buying an A1200 can cost a disproportionately large amount (1.5-2.5 times more expensive), and an AGA chipset, its main advantage , partially leveled by modifications that can be set to 500+. But more on that later.

This Amiga was sold on Ebay at a very seductive price. The kit includes a branded mouse, a joystick (monstrously inconvenient, but also branded), a homemade SCART adapter and an original power supply. As a free add-on to the computer, a big box of a copy of the Starlord game from Microprose was attached. Most likely, the seller put it down only to demonstrate the performance of the computer, because by the standards of our time it (and, by the way, many of its colleagues in the publisher) is completely unplayable, in particular, due to the lack of one of Amiga’s important "tricks": in the game completely there is no sound. Generally.



The only more or less serious drawback of this Amiga, which an honest German seller did not fail to declare in the announcement, was a leaked RTC battery. Fortunately, the substance that poured out of it corroded only the top layer of varnish and slightly greened the legs of the resistors, all the tracks turned out to be intact, and the matter was limited to preventive rubbing with alcohol. The hero of the occasion was solemnly removed from the board and went to the nearest battery delivery point. So the first advice is if you are going to purchase Amiga, and the seller is getting dark and does not show high-quality photos of the board, maybe he has something to hide.

Now let's go through the rest of the devices and the options for their modernization.

Drive and its successor


The floppy drive, after almost 30 years from the date of its manufacture, still happily clicks and reads 3.5 '' floppy disks without any problems. But, no matter how much one wants to maintain authenticity, it becomes quite difficult to use its services in the age of victorious IBM.

Pay attention to an interesting fact: unlike our usual drives, the Amiga floppy drive does not have its own face. The function of the front panel is taken over by a part of the computer case: it contains a cutout for inserting a diskette and a hole for a button.


Amiga floppy drive, the-liberator.net

Floppy disks for Amiga cannot be written to a PC by regular means due to the fundamental difference in approach. In short, both drive controller devices and track formats differ. Of course, there is a relatively simple way to burn disks for Amiga on a regular PC. It consists in connecting a conventional drive to a computer’s LPT port using a specially made loop and using special programs for recording. Quite a good way out for those who are in no hurry.

However, to date, Amigi's drive is of exceptional museum value, so it was carefully removed from the case, cleaned from dust and transferred to an antistatic bag until the best of bad times. His workplace was taken by a Chinese citizen, a Gotek drive emulator.

This small, soulless piece of iron, unlike the warm and tube original drive, is able to read .adf images from an ordinary USB flash drive. Moreover, especially for retro purposes, someone keirf wrote a separate firmware and put it in free access for everyone.

Gotek reflash is extremely simple: you just need to buy or make a dad-to-dad USB cable yourself, connect a couple of jumpers on the board and use a couple of easy-to-use utilities to write the firmware to the “drive”.
To configure Gotek for the most comfortable use in Amiga, you need to open the FF.CFG file and register the necessary settings in it. A detailed wiki with a description of all the possible parameters is present in the author's repository, for which special thanks to him.

After initial setup and verification, an emulator ready for operation can be installed in the housing. With the help of a dremel and accurate measurements, it turns out that the emulator fits quite well in place of the old drive, is securely fixed on Amiga's native legs, and the USB socket can be located at the level of the cutout in the computer case. You will only have to part with the upper half of the Gotek's case. Space inside a little, have to save.

Nevertheless, Gotek has one significant flaw, which, in collaboration with some features of Amiga, becomes completely unbearable: two microscopic buttons are used as controls, which can be pressed only with something thin and long, and in a very uncomfortable position. Fortunately, the Amiga community of fans is really great, and this problem also has a solution.

On the same Ebay you can order a small addition to the floppy emulator: do you see a white ledge with a screen and a pen on the top of the case in the photo?



This is a replacement for Gotek’s own controls. Flashfloppy firmware allows you to flexibly configure the rotary knob (including by pressing it), and the name of the currently selected diskette and information on the sector being read are displayed on the miniature display.

Considering that many interesting games on Amiga were shipped on several floppy disks (the same Simon the Sorcerer included 9 disks and another disk for saving), and the firmware supports navigating folders on the drive, the acquisition is very worthwhile.

Disclaimer for those who can’t tolerate modifications to the appearance of Amiga: the owner of the computer this option seems quite aesthetic and convenient. Everything else is a matter of personal taste.

The ventilation grille with careful installation is not damaged, the only difficulty is threading the wires. However, the plastic housing was flexible enough and never cracked during installation.

Mouse and joystick


When buying Amiga, be sure to ensure that at least a mouse is included. This will allow you to put a mean nostalgic tear on the ball mice that have sunk into oblivion, and it’s quite convenient to navigate through the Workbench interface. In addition, the same Cannon Fodder without a mouse is almost unplayable.

A “complete" mouse is quite good for its age. It has two buttons, different in functionality and a pleasant move. The rug and periodic washing of the ball are required.



An alternative to a mouse is an adapter for PS / 2 or USB (the second, of course, is preferable). There are adapters only for connecting a mouse, as well as more interesting modifications that recognize USB joysticks and gamepads.

But with the joystick, everything is much sadder: either the hands of the players of the eighties were tenacious, or their knees were more bent to clasp this eternally striving to jump out, naughty unit. A person who is used to controllers from NES-SNES-SEGA to hold this miracle in his hand will be uncomfortable. In addition, the very essence of the joystick device is the four buttons that the player presses in turn or two together, tilting the stick, does not have the ease of character control. Add here that the jump in most games is assigned to the “up” movement (not a film’s advertisement, but a depressing fact), that is, from oneself, and it will turn out completely uncomfortable. Again, the opinion of the author may differ from the opinion of readers. If you like the classic competition-joystick, why not, use it to your health, and we will go the other way.


Photos from open sources

The scheme of joysticks for the vast majority of retro computers is simple and effective. The wiring may differ for different computers, but the essence is approximately as follows: earth, + 5V, four directions and two fire buttons, with rare exceptions duplicating each other. Buttons or contacts closed by the membrane are located inside the controller, when they are closed, voltage is applied to the corresponding pin.

Accordingly, nothing prevents in view of the high cost (4-6 thousand rubles) of the only "official" gamepad from CD32 to solder something similar to a convenient gamepad. The best available option is a cheap six-button controller based on SEGA.
Some models connect directly "out of the box", others require minor modifications. In addition, if you do not like the jump to the up button, you can branch the wire and assign it to one of the six buttons of the controller.

The only serious (besides the lack of authenticity) drawback of such a solution is the frankly hacky quality of the controllers. If you are lucky enough to find an "old-school" gamepad, playing on Amiga will be much more comfortable.

Again, there are external controllers-adapters that allow you to connect almost any USB gamepad or joystick to Amiga, so it is better to use them if possible. And there are less worries, and it becomes possible to play on an already familiar device.

Image and sound output


As you remember from the beginning of the article, the monitored Amiga is equipped with an RGB VIDEO to SCART cable. This allows you to get a very decent picture on most TVs, including LCDs of past generations. However, this is not the only one, albeit a fairly convenient option for connecting a computer to a monitor . Using the link (carefully, extremely slow site) you can familiarize yourself with the options for displaying images and common problems.

Of course, compact LCD TVs with a small screen size and high-quality CRT monitors such as Sony PVM are best suited for image output. On a conventional CRT TV, the image quality, especially close up, is poor. Work in the Workbench completely turns into hard labor.

Motherboard


Before us is the holy of holies Amiga 500+, the motherboard. Pay attention to it.


The metal shield is temporarily removed to demonstrate the motherboard.

The first thing that catches the eye of a person who has not met Amig before is strange signatures near the chips. Denise, Fat Agnus peacefully coexist with the more or less familiar CPU and ROM. In fact, several Amiga chips had their own names (or proper names?) And performed their narrow tasks. You can read about the purpose of each microcircuit here . The author of the 1996 article examines the computer device as a whole in sufficient detail.

Another “noteworthy” chip is Amigi ROM. In the earliest Amiga 1000s, it was missing, and the first “half” of the operating system, Kickstart, booted from a floppy disk, after which it was necessary to replace the disk with Workbench.

The A500 + is equipped with a 512 KB permanent memory chip. This is stock firmware 37.175, the version of the final operating system (Kickstart + Workbench) is 2.04. ROM can be changed at any time (the author is just waiting for a package with version 3.1) and "update" the operating system. There are also “dual” ROMs with a switch. They allow you to have on board two operating systems at once (1.3 and 3.1) to support both old and new programs and games.

Nevertheless, with all its advantages, the Amiga 500+ lacks the standard ability to connect a full hard drive. This is only possible thanks to more serious modifications than those that we described earlier. And here we come to the most painful and interesting part of the article: the choice and installation of the accelerator.

Accelerators for Amiga


It is common for any person to desire the best. In the case of Amiga, the "best" is a machine with the following characteristics:

  • CPU frequency: the more the steeper. At least 30 MHz.
  • Chipset: AGA.
  • Operating system: AmigaOS 3+, ideally 3.9.
  • Hard drive from 1 GB.
  • RAM: the same paradigm as with the processor. The larger the better, but at least 4 MB.

The latest models 3000 and 4000 have the maximum possible characteristics, but, firstly, they are like Boeing flaps, and secondly, they don’t have that beautiful “keyboard” form factor that many Amiga fans like so much.
Accordingly, the models 500, 600 and 1200 remain in sight. The price of the latter, despite the improved processor, the presence of a hard drive and an AGA chipset is “biting”, but you still have to upgrade. The result is an absolutely indecent amount for a geek hobby.
Model 600 does not have a numpad, the chipset is the same ECS. The most inferior, despite the presence of a hard drive, is a classic model. Even Commodore employees have repeatedly acknowledged that its development to replace the A500 + is a waste of time and money.

Thus, it turns out that the most comfortable model in terms of price, features and room for modifications is the Amiga 500+. For these reasons, our colleague, who repeatedly cast languid glances at the A1200, stopped at the 500+ model.



Currently, the computer is equipped with the following modifications:

  • +1 MB ChipRam thanks to trapdoor expansion card.
  • Motorola 68030 processor with a frequency of 40 MHz as part of the TerribleFire TF534 accelerator.
  • Mathematical coprocessor at the same frequency (TF534).
  • 4 MB FastRam (TF534), a total of 6 MB.
  • Drive emulator with display and image knob.

Expected in the near future:

  • Kickstart 3.1 ROM + CF card with pre-installed Workbench 3.1 system
  • Adapter for connecting USB sticks and mouse

Terrible fire


The TF534 is a really good one, and an open-source accelerator board for Amiga. There are new CPUs and FPUs on it, additional RAM is soldered, there is an IDE interface (44 pins). The accelerator can be bought on Ebay, in an overseas amiga store or soldered and flashed by yourself. Unfortunately for all A500 owners, without the appropriate OS version (2.05 and higher), it will not be possible to use the IDE interface on it. The computer will refuse to see your HDD (SD or CF card connected via an adapter).


Accelerator Terrible Fire

Despite this, the increase in speed is really felt in games such as Frontier or Citadel. Yes, and Workbench works a little more lively than on the stock processor.

The accelerator is installed quite simply, directly into the CPU slot. We gently pry the "old" processor out of the block and install the relocator board in its place, and the accelerator itself is already placed in it. On the Amiga 500+, unlike the Amiga 500, there is a C816 capacitor at 16V, 100uF. It makes it difficult to install a relocator board, so you have to either bend its legs so that it lies parallel to the motherboard, or if the legs are too short, solder to a longer leg and bend it anyway. You just can’t solder it. In the surveyed Amiga there is a very high-quality accelerator, made not artisanally, however, the risers connecting the accelerator and the relocator failed: two legs “hung in the air”.

Perhaps someone will have enough of this, in general, solid configuration, but ...

I'll suck your money and then eat the condensers


However, this is not all that can be squeezed out of the old A500 +. The most ambitious and expected modification that a satisfactory amigo driver can afford is the Vampire V2 + card, available for models 500, 600, and more recently for 1200.


Vampire 500 V2 +, pbs.twimg.com

In short, it gives any Amiga unheard of opportunities: Software AGA, processor-equivalent M68060 at a frequency of 100 MHz, 128 MB of RAM, the ability to connect a hard drive, Internet access and firmware update "over the air" (!), Video output via HDMI, screen resolution up to 720p, the ability to install the latest version of AmigaOS and some other systems, the ability to run Apple II emulators and other machines ... The cost of the accelerator excluding forwarding is 300 euros for the A500 and A600 and 450 euros for owners of the A1200.

This is not an advertisement, the author of the article and, especially, the owner of the Amiga described above are not connected in any way with the accelerator developers (which is a pity!).

In all this barrel of honey there is a harsh fly in the ointment: the list of people who want to buy a "vampire" is so large that the boards are sold in a live queue. To express interest in the purchase, you need to leave your email address on the developers website and patiently wait for the “letter of happiness”. After receiving a message that the board is ready and reserved, the buyer is given seven days to pay, otherwise his place in the queue will be canceled, and his accelerator will go to the next person from the list.

It is quite reasonable that for the fifth month the owner of the article’s heroine has been standing in line and waiting for her Vampire. Any other modifications compared to it seem to be a compromise, but this does not weaken the desire to upgrade the computer with what is available.

Of course, even in the case of such a powerful accelerator there are many pitfalls: for example, you should take care to replace all the capacitors and purchase a more powerful power supply. Optional - replace the standard video output connector with a neat HDMI jack. But this is all particular. The main thing is the process. What you learn by communicating closely with retro iron. What you feel when Amiga's POST colors light up on the monitor screen and an invitation to insert a floppy disk appears.

War has never been so much fun!

PS If the article will please the Habr audience, we will write even more detailed material as soon as our colleague brings his Amiga again, but with new modifications.

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