What to Do When Buying 500 Model Vintage Mainframes
The Commodore Amiga 500 was first released in 1987. The machine was designed as a follow-up to the Commodore 64 computer. This computer can be found among other home computers from this company but you must look at what you are getting out of it.
Review the Parts
Check on the parts of your Amiga model to see that it is intact before you play Amiga games or compose music with your unit. The features in the Amiga 500 should include the following:
- Floppy Disk Drive - The floppy drive should support an Amiga disk at 880 KB in size and work at around 250 KB/s for loading a game. This floppy disk unit must be connected with a DB23F port.
- Sound - The sound system must feature a 4-channel 8-bit system with a stereo output.
- Joystick Support - Two ports should be included for joysticks or a mouse.
- ROM Support - The A500 should have 256 KB of ROM on its hard drive. This is regardless of which version of the Workbench operating system is being used.
- Printer Link - The DB25F Centronics port should link your A500 to a printer.
- Power Supply - An outside PSU is needed for your power supply. A +5V, +/-12V supply is used for powering up the machine.
How Much RAM?
This computer comes built-in with 512 KB of RAM its base form. You can expand the memory to up to 9 MB. An 8 MB Fast RAM module can be added. A 512 KB Slow RAM module should be included. Look when finding a model that you know how much RAM was added. A good model should have all of its memory modules added already.
The main Agnus chip inside your Commodore computer should link the chip RAM features together. This is a standard chip that was used in the hardware set on the CDTV among other Commodore models.
Getting a Monitor
You might be able to find an A500 with a monitor. Commodore packaged many monitors with its consoles for gaming use. This part of the mainframe is vital for projecting your game programs and other things on your system with all the right colors intact. But you must be aware of what might happen when finding an Amiga monitor for displaying a game on:
- Connector - The monitor must work with the DB23M video connector.
- PAL or NTSC - Your unit must feature a monitor that can support PAL or NTSC displays. The A-500 can handle both of these systems, something you cannot get out of the A-1000.
- Size - The screen does not have to be too large. A low-end screen can be around 13 inches but you may find some 25-inch models when finding the hardware you need.
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