Amiga 500 rev.3 motherboard and Datel 2MB expansion

[SkyLarkEire]

I am in a process of bringing back to life my Amiga 500 and I have some doubts about RAM expansion card.

The motherboard is rev.3 with kickstart 1.2 and works pefrectly well. I have DATEL RAM MASTER II expansion for Amiga 500 extracted from rev.6 motherboard which adds 1.5MB of SLOW-FAST RAM (not the chip ram).
Before I put that together I would like to hear your opinion about my idea - will it work?
I am just affraid that I can damage the motherboard because of incompatibility...

Do you know something that I should know about rev.3 motherboards which could be a big NO-NO for using that or any other above 0.5MB expansion cards?

All opinions are welcome.



http://www.bboah.com/index.php?action=artikel&cat=78&id=3578&artlang=en

BTW
The case is embossed Commodore logo. The keyboard is missing!!!
I am looking for a HI-TEK UK Keyboard... I posted a wanted thread for it.

 

[BLTCON0]

I am in a process of bringing back to life my Amiga 500 and I have some doubts about RAM expansion card.

The motherboard is rev.3 with kickstart 1.2 and works pefrectly well. I have DATEL RAM MASTER II expansion for Amiga 500 extracted from rev.6 motherboard which adds 1.5MB of SLOW-FAST RAM (not the chip ram).
Before I put that together I would like to hear your opinion about my idea - will it work?

Yes

I am just affraid that I can damage the motherboard because of incompatibility...

Do you know something that I should know about rev.3 motherboards which could be a big NO-NO for using that or any other above 0.5MB expansion cards?

All opinions are welcome.

No incompatibility - of course this being a non standard slowRAM expansion, you must also transfer the Gary adapter + cable it comes with.

But you're highly advised to replace the 8371 Agnus the rev3 has for a later one (8372A) because the Datel uses 1Mx4 chips, so with the older Agnus RAM refresh becomes an issue. This may lead to weird crashes/gurus over time.

If you install the 8372A, remember to mask off its pin#41 with a thin bit of insulating tape, so it doesn't make contact with the socket's pin#41.
Rev3 boards ground this pin, this would cause the 8372A to switch to NTSC timings.

 

[SkyLarkEire]

Thank you for your opinion.

I want to keep all original chips and motherboard without mods. I am thinking about 0.5MB expansion only, too - to keep the Amiga as close to original setup as possible. Maybe I should give up with the large memory expansion. I have to think it over, especially that I have other members of the Amiga family in my collection, so I do not have to make this one the best possible - but as I mentioned as close to the original setup as possible.

Is the A501 the best memory expansion for revision 3 or are there better models of 0,5MB ram expansion?

 

[BLTCON0]

Thank you for your opinion.

I want to keep all original chips and motherboard without mods. I am thinking about 0.5MB expansion only, too - to keep the Amiga as close to original setup as possible. Maybe I should give up with the large memory expansion. I have to think it over, especially that I have other members of the Amiga family in my collection, so I do not have to make this one the best possible - but as I mentioned as close to the original setup as possible.

Is the A501 the best memory expansion for revision 3 or are there better models of 0,5MB ram expansion?

Yeah the A501 is fine. Even in its 4-chip iterations, it includes the necessary fixes to work OK with the older Agnus. So does the new A512.

Equally fine will be any 512 KB expansion with 16 DRAM chips.

 

[SkyLarkEire]

Thank you for your help. Now I have to think twice before I make my decision.