User avatar
3D-vice
Germany

Posted Sun May 26, 2019 5:26 am

Hello all,

since I am now ready to start my Amiga 500 Workover & Upgrade Project, I thought about documenting the progress here. I have no clue about how long this journey will last, but since haste makes waste and I am not in a hurry, I'll take all the time I need to do it properly.

LOAD"STEP01",8,1
SEARCHING FOR STEP01: "Purchase all parts required."
LOADING
READY
RUN

I've got all the parts I'll try to incorprate into my Amiga 500. Here's a short summary of the stuff I got, in addition to my original unmodified Amiga 500, which includes an external secondary Floppy Drive:
  • - Modern Power Supply Unit for Amiga 500
    - New Insulation Layer for the Mainboard
    - Terrible Fire 530 Accelerator (incl. relocator socket)
    - DF0 - DF1 Switch (for booting from either DF0 or DF1)
    - 512k Memory Expansion (RC512K)
    - IDE Compact Flash Adapter
    - True IDE Board (with two switchable Compact Flash Card-Sockets)
    - GOTEK USB Floppy Emulator (black HxC Firmware Version)
    - Indivision ECS V2 VGA-Adapter
    - ACE2 2MB ChipRAM Extension
    - Micromys V5 PS2-Mouse Adapter
    - Kickstart 3.X ROM for Amiga 500
    - Workbench 3.1 (on CF-Card and Floppy Disks)
Amiga500_ProjectStart.jpg
LOAD"STEP02",8,1
SEARCHING FOR STEP02: "RetroBright treatment for case and mouse."
LOADING
READY
RUN

As previously shown in my members introduction, I've already given the case a successfull brightening treatment. The next step is to apply this treatment to the original Amiga mouse, as well as cleaning the original dust cover. After that, the real fun begins... ;)

User avatar
obitus1990
USA

Posted Sun May 26, 2019 7:34 am

Looks to be a very fun project. Great photos, btw! Why did you opt to buy the TRUEIDE card? I ask because I had bought one years back, only to have it not work with anything Amiga related (Jens even asked me "why the hell did you buy that to use with an Amiga" or something similar :) ) when I contacted him for support. Does the TF require it?

User avatar
3D-vice
Germany

Posted Sun May 26, 2019 1:31 pm

obitus1990 wrote:Looks to be a very fun project. Great photos, btw! Why did you opt to buy the TRUEIDE card? I ask because I had bought one years back, only to have it not work with anything Amiga related (Jens even asked me "why the hell did you buy that to use with an Amiga" or something similar :) ) when I contacted him for support. Does the TF require it?
Thanks, man. :) Well, I got the TrueIDE card because I like that it runs 2 CF-cards simultaneously as Master and Slave units, and that the master-slave-mode can be interchanged by hotkeys. Since I found the TrueIDE card in the "Amiga" category in Jens' shop, I assumed that it would be compatible to an Amiga computer. The TF530 does not require it, nope, but I've read that it shall run smoothly when plugged into the TF530. So, I still have hopes to get it going. :D

User avatar
3D-vice
Germany

Posted Thu Apr 30, 2020 9:18 am

Hello all,

well, it's been quite a while since I've worked on my Amige 500 project, but now I finally got my hands on a beautiful Checkmate 1500 Plus case. Now I am ready to go and I hope to get this project done faster.

LOAD"STEP03",8,1
SEARCHING FOR STEP03: "Checkmate 1500 Plus Case accquired."
LOADING
READY
RUN
Amiga_Checkmate1500_01.jpg
Unboxing at its best.

Amiga_Checkmate1500_02.jpg
I decided to go with the black edition.

Amiga_Checkmate1500_03.jpg
The rear panel, A500 version.

Amiga_Checkmate1500_04.jpg
The keyboard case.


User avatar
3D-vice
Germany

Posted Thu Nov 12, 2020 5:28 am

Hello all,

I know Halloween is over, but ... VAMPIRES !!! :o :twisted:

After a long time of patiently waiting, I finally got my Vampire 500 V2+ from Apollo Accellerators. I am very curious to experimenting with this neat little device.

LOAD"STEP04",8,1
SEARCHING FOR STEP04: "I've been Vampirized!"
LOADING
READY
RUN
Amiga_Vampire1.jpg
The box.

Amiga_Vampire2.jpg
The board.

Also, I have decided to leave my originally sealed Amiga 500 untouched and start building up a "new" Amiga 500 from one of my other old A500 mainboards.
Amiga500.jpg
The untouchable.

The only problem is: Since I've stumbled over those neat new boards from Retrofix, I think about accquiring one of those, insead of using one of my old original boards. They are quite expensive though, at least those which are completely populated.

The journey is the reward ...

User avatar
3D-vice
Germany

Posted Wed Mar 08, 2023 1:43 pm

Good evening!

Gee, it's been over 2 years since I had worked on my "New Amiga 500" Project... time flies by waaay too fast. Anyway, it's time to revive this thread and continue the work! So, here we are again, and an important milestone has been reached: I've finally managed to get my hands on a "brand new" Amiga 500++ PCB, fully populated. :boing: Have a look:
NewAmiga500-Project_AmigaPlusPlus-PCB1.jpg
NewAmiga500-Project_AmigaPlusPlus-PCB2.jpg
NewAmiga500-Project_AmigaPlusPlus-PCB3.jpg
NewAmiga500-Project_AmigaPlusPlus-PCB4.jpg
NewAmiga500-Project_AmigaPlusPlus-PCB5.jpg
NewAmiga500-Project_AmigaPlusPlus-PCB6.jpg
NewAmiga500-Project_AmigaPlusPlus-PCB7.jpg
NewAmiga500-Project_AmigaPlusPlus-PCB8.jpg
I've also got a brand new Hard Keyboard PCB Membrane Replacement from Sordan Electronics, as well as a set of black Amiga Keycaps from the guys at A1200.net, which corresponds nicely with my black Checkmate1500 case:
NewAmiga500-Project_Keyboard-PCB.jpg
NewAmiga500-Project_NewKeycaps1.jpg
NewAmiga500-Project_NewKeycaps2.jpg
I am happy that I am finally back at working on this project. :D

User avatar
3D-vice
Germany

Posted Sat Apr 01, 2023 9:03 am

The next item for my black Checkmate 1500 Amiga 500 project has arrived: A wireless black Tank Mouse! :)
Amiga_TankMouse_02.jpg





Return to “Hardware”