Amiga 500 HDD/CF solution

[Vesko]

HiAmiBayers

Recently I bought an Amiga 500 and I wonder whether it's worth getting a hard disk for it. I don't plan to upgrade the Kickstart ROM which is version 1.3. I've read that 1.3 can autoboot from hard disk. I considered few options, but still can't decide what to buy:

• Alfa Data AlfaPower AT-Bus is the one I consider buying because it uses IDE drives and they are quite easy to find and very cheap. I can also use IDE-to-CF adapter and use CF cards instead.

• ACA500 is a great device but I don't like ACA500 Configuration menu. It just doesn't look retro like the rest of the system

• A590 is another possibility but I've read that GVP Impact A500 HD8+ is better

• GVP Impact A500 HD8+ is a great device and has the same shape as the Amiga. The only problem is that SCSI drives are difficult to find and quite expensive
• Kipper2K 4MB/8MB memory expansion board - I don't like it particularly because I would have to open the Amiga and it won't autoboot under Kickstarter 1.3

I have few questions regarding the mentioned devices:

1. Which interface - IDE or SCSI - does Kickstarter/Workbench 1.3 work better with?
2. What are the hard disk capacity limits for IDE and SCSI under Kickstarter/Workbench 1.3?

Thank you for your answers.

 

[mjnurney]

my personal view is that the ACA500 is the best hdd , cf & accelerator solution for the a500.

1.3 boots cf hard drives and you can set up a nice workbench in that. if you use the 3.1 rom on the ACA you can use classic workbench with 1.3 theme.

you don't need to use the aca500 menu at all after initial setup.

its faster and quieter than any other solution and a1200 accelerators can be added.

just my opinion & I've used most A500 solutions over the years.

 

[ElectroBlaster]

The only thing that lets down the ACA500 is not having a proper case. Some just do not want to be faffing about trying to mod or make something fit! If there was a real case in the same colour and shape of an a500, so it looked the business... I would be on it like a shot and would bet others would too.

I have an ACA500. They are brilliant

 

[Zetr0]

@Vesko

If you are looking for retro feel, then I would suggest a side-car expansion, while the CBM 590 (or even 570) is a delight, the GVP HC8 steals it for me in this regard.

The latter can handle up to 8MB FAST RAM along side Fast SCSI II (DMA) Hard Disk - Combined with a Guru ROM you do have a delight indeed, only uses about 5% (stock 68000) CPU time to access , retrieve and save data - very responsive indeed!

However I would be amiss if I didn't let you know that Kippers K608+CF/IDE can work with a modified Kickstart 1.3 ROM. With 8MB FAST + 16GB CF Card running under PFS3 and Classic Workbench 68k (Workbench 1.3 theme) - you can even use Kick 3.1 and be very pleased indeed -

With more memory comes the bounty of WHDLoad Games, but you will need a CHIP RAM upgrade (to atleast 1MB) to make use of WHDLoad - to be honest to get the best out of it, I would humbly suggest 2MB.

If you want to keep it all stock, then I suggest a Gotek USB FDD drive as an external disk drive but seen by the system as DF0. once you have a flashed drive its quite easy to use and it will just load games as it would back in the day.