Getting an Amiga 500 off Craigslist, what should I need to know?

[Soviet Conscript]

tac-3 YUK. i think i would prefer useing a half functioning 5200 controller to a tac-3

if you do go the upgrade path you may want to look into a kickstart switch as well

not to sidetrack the thread much but what everyone is saying in order for me to get these pal games running through whdload to run at the correct speed i'm going to have to switch my system over to PAL since the degrader program isn't fixing it? i end up useing whdload even when i have the origional disks and since all of the amiga disk images out there seem to be pal anyways....

[Ze_ro]

I am planning to pimp out the A500 sooner or later.

Honestly, it's probably not worth while. As long as you've got 1MB of RAM in there and a second floppy drive, you've already got pretty much the perfect A500 setup for playing games off disk.

If you really want to get a better system going (say, to run WHDLoad), you're better off starting with an Amiga 1200. It's far more practical, being that most of the things you'll want to get for the A500 already come as standard options on the 1200 ('020 processor, hard drive controller, 2MB chip RAM, etc), as well as some options that simply aren't possible on the 500 (AGA graphics, PCMCIA, etc)

--Zero

[HyperDuel]

Yet 1200s are going for stupid money on ebay. If I can find one locally for cheap then I'll get it. It took me awhile to find anything Amiga-related on Craigslist. I just lucked out on the A500 lot for $40.

For me it would be easier to get the HD for this and just make it more useful.

[Tempest]

Is there an easy way to rig a switch for NTSC/PAL mode? I have a 1200 with WHDLoad, but I never knew that there was a region issue with the Amiga (I must not have hit any PAL only games). If I'm using a monitor is there any reason to run in NTSC mode at all? If not, which pin do I have to tape?

Tempest

[98PaceCar]

Is there an easy way to rig a switch for NTSC/PAL mode? I have a 1200 with WHDLoad, but I never knew that there was a region issue with the Amiga (I must not have hit any PAL only games). If I'm using a monitor is there any reason to run in NTSC mode at all? If not, which pin do I have to tape?

Tempest

Just hold down the right mouse button when you boot up and a menu will come up that lets you select NTSC or PAL. Some games only run in PAL, some only in NTSC. I used to always run PAL just because of the slightly bigger workbench.

On the 500, you have to do an Agnus upgrade which involves a few trace mods. Not necessary on the 1200 though.

Depending on which version of the OS you have, you can also set the video mode from Workbench, but it may or may not work in games.

[Tempest]

Wow I never knew that before. Good to know.

I'm using ClassicWB and Workbench 3.1.

Tempest

[HyperDuel]

I check the mobo (besides the dead ant) and the version is 6a.

[Soviet Conscript]

I check the mobo (besides the dead ant) and the version is 6a.

be glad an ant is all you found. i found several dead roaches in an amiga 500 once.

[Soviet Conscript]

Just hold down the right mouse button when you boot up and a menu will come up that lets you select NTSC or PAL. Some games only run in PAL, some only in NTSC. I used to always run PAL just because of the slightly bigger workbench.

On the 500, you have to do an Agnus upgrade which involves a few trace mods. Not necessary on the 1200 though.

Depending on which version of the OS you have, you can also set the video mode from Workbench, but it may or may not work in games.

hmmmm, the menu didn't come up for me and i have a 1200T

[Ze_ro]

You have to hold BOTH mouse buttons while booting to get to the boot menu.

Keep in mind that games can still force the computer into whatever video mode they want. Some of them will try to play nice, but others will just blindly choose a PAL video mode and run with it.

--Zero