Upgrading my A600 - some questions

[twh3rd]

Hi guys,

I'm new to this forum. Now I want to be back to the Amiga scene since I ended my active use of Amiga computers somewhere in 1999. Back than I had a really nicely upgraded A500 (HDD, 68EC020, 5 MB, Modem) which I loved so so much. However when I started to study I sold it. In this period I got a A600 for real cheap from a friend but I never started to use it and I also almost forget about it.

Now many many years later I still have this neat Amiga600. Almost untouched. This unit looks so wonderful. Now I'm very excited to see that there is so much activity around the A600, A1200 and the wonderful world of WHDLoad. So I plan to dust off the good old A600 and ugprade it and then dive back into Amiga after all these years.

What I want to do is this

* Easily play WHDLoad games
* Easily "toy around" with good old applications (tools, serious apps, music players, programming)
* Not use any floppy disks (i have no floppy disks and I don't want them anymore)
* make it as kid friendly as possible (to let my boys play 16bit games on their own)

Current state is simple: Kickstart 2.04, HDD (120MB *g), old A500 Mouse

Now I want to upgrade it with:

* Furia EC020
* A604n
* AmSide 2.1
* SD2IDE44 SD Card Adapter

But I need help

* Can anyone recommend me a good mouse replacement / usb adapter?
* Do I need to replace the Kickstart OS ROM to 3.x ? (Or is Furia enough?)
* How do I get all those WHDLoad games into the Amiga once the SD card is built in? -> I guess I need some kind of PCMCIA-SD/CF mass storage adapter?
* Do I need floppy disks / Gotek and one point or do you think I can avoid floppy disk at all?
* What else would be recommended? (New Power Adapter? Capacitors?)

Looking forward to get some tips from you. I really want to give my A600 finally the place it deserves. (Btw next to my first true love the Atari 130XE).

thanks!!

Edit:

Depending on what revision mainboard is in the A600, here's a couple of helpful capacitor guides ..

So turns out my Amiga 600 is a Rev1. If I'm not mistaken. (According to the positions of C821 and C822)
Is there any other way to determine for sure what revision the mainboard is?

Edit: Unfortunately after opening the case that three keys are not working anymore. This is "#", "+" and "´" ...

I hope I haven't damaged the ribbon cable from keyboard to mainboard..?!
Any suggestions how I can isolate and fix the issue?

View attachment 2552675

 

[Boing-ball]

Okay first things first. Has the A600 had a recap done? If not those lovely cheap Chinese SHOEI caps may already started to leak. So get that done first before exploring the upgrades.

The Power supply is the original? Then maybe look at replacing this with a modern solution. This too can be a ticking time bomb.

As for KickStart ROM. Which version of 2.04 do you have? The early versions would not allow for the IDE side to work with a HDD/CF or SD card solution. You can easily upgrade this now to the latest AmigaOS which is Version 3.2.3. Or if you want originality then upgrade the 2.04 to something later. But you will be restricted to Workbench version 2. Or if going 3.1 then you can use workbench 3.

Upgrades are a little limited for the A600. Personally I would stay clear of the Furia. As a few of us have had issues, whilst others haven’t.

There are other options, such as PiStorm, Vampire V2 or 68030 upgrades.

The 604n is a good option for the 1MB extra Chip RAM (Recommended). But I had an issue with the 604n with the Version 2 A600 (2D?). Was okay with V1.3 and 1.5 Motherboards.

 

[twh3rd]

I did not check the capacitors yet and I have no clue in what state the might be. Is there a good guide somewhere to what capacitors are typically to be replaced and where I can get to buy those easily?

Power supply is the original one. The device was not used very intensively though. What replacement is recommended and where can I get to buy one best?

AmigaOS 3.2.3 is a must I guess? As explained, I want it to use WHDload and combine it with some kind of 020 / 030 upgrade. I only thought that I don't need a physical one if the CPU upgrade solution like the Furia has an option to "soft load" the rom.

So 604n is approved then

 

[Boing-ball]

A quick Google search and I found this on Capacitor replacements:

Capacitor Lists – iKod.se

www.ikod.se

For power supply replacements. Then there are plenty out there. Have a look on here or on different Amiga Shops like Amigastore.eu, Alinea computing etc…

You may still need a physical ROM in place on the mainboard depending on which Accelerator you choose.

 

[miggymad]

Depending on what revision mainboard is in the A600, here's a couple of helpful capacitor guides ...

 

[twh3rd]

A quick Google search and I found this on Capacitor replacements:

Capacitor Lists – iKod.se

www.ikod.se

For power supply replacements. Then there are plenty out there. Have a look on here or on different Amiga Shops like Amigastore.eu, Alinea computing etc…

You may still need a physical ROM in place on the mainboard depending on which Accelerator you choose.

Excellent summary. Helps a lot thank you!!

 

[twh3rd]

Depending on what revision mainboard is in the A600, here's a couple of helpful capacitor guides ..

So turns out my Amiga 600 is a Rev1. If I'm not mistaken. (According to the positions of C821 and C822)
Is there any other way to determine for sure what revision the mainboard is?

 

[twh3rd]

Unfortunately after opening the case that three keys are not working anymore. This is "#", "+" and "´" ...

I hope I haven't damaged the ribbon cable from keyboard to mainboard..?!
Any suggestions how I can isolate and fix the issue?

 

[miggymad]

Try reseating the keyboard cable - you might have accidently moved it whilst reassembling the A600.

Failing that, check the cable for any splits or wear and tear. Also pay attention to the end which goes into the main board. The leading edge should be smooth and not rough or ragged.

Look to the left of the edge connector. It will state which version of main board you have there.

 

[twh3rd]

OK - Thanks .. When you know where to look its rather obvious Turns out I have a "Rev 1.5" so I guess it is considered "Rev1" then..

 

[miggymad]

Oh and if you need FAST RAM to go with that A604n, I recommend you having a chat with @go0se about his 9.5MB FAST RAM upgrade for the A600.

 

[Bladejack]

It not uncommon for the Membrane to need replacing in the 600, I have 3 and they have all been changed now. Also as above unless you have a lot of patience and experience stay away from the furia, ;-)

 

[twh3rd]

Oh and if you need FAST RAM to go with that A604n, I recommend you having a chat with @go0se about his 9.5MB FAST RAM upgrade for the A600.

ok thats interesting. I can see there a lot of lot concerns rgd. the Furia upgrade.

Two questions here:

1) Do I really need a cpu / speed upgrade? (-> WHDLoad, Classic 16 bit games) Or is it just a nice but useless "power" upgrade given it is the year 2025.
2) What would be the next best alternative for Furia given its attractive price range ( ~ £106.56 / 115€ )?

Also what I have not yet understood is how I can easily transfer data from my PC to the A600 when the SD-card is build internally in the case.

I think I should use a PCMCIA / CF Card adapter. But are there solutions that support FAT32 ?
What is the right hardware here?

Like this?

Compact Flash PCMCIA+Software+ CF SanDisk - AMIGAstore.eu

This solution is the easiest way to transfer files between PC/MAC and Amiga. It also works like an External Hard Disk for Amiga.

amigastore.eu

 

[miggymad]

I would recommend at least a kickstart 3.2 upgrade. That will give you the latest Workbench and best experience.

WHDLoad can utilise FAST RAM and use it to preload game data so that's another bonus.

That PCMCIA adapter combo is fine but go for at least an 8gb CF card, or 16gb if you want to keep loads of music modules on there to listen to.

Accelerator wise? A pistorm is a great addition- has its own FAST RAM (won't need a separate FAST RAM card onboard) and runs blindingly fast

Easiest way of getting stuff to and from the PC and onto your A600 is to install WinUAE and plug your CF card into it via a USB card reader. There are lots of how-to's online and it's easy enough to guide you through things if you get stuck.

 

[Boing-ball]

Plenty of options out there. If you want to keep closer to the 68K mantra then this is better than a Furia:

A630 Rev.3 MMU Turbo Card for A600 - AMIGAstore.eu

Accelerator card for Amiga 600. The A630 Rev 3 comes with a full Motorola 68030 CPU (including MMU) clocked at 50 MHz, FPU/40Mhz, and 64 MB of RAM. It is fully compatible with the Amiga 600's PCMCIA slot, and works with any CF or SD card solution

amigastore.eu

Or as @miggymad has mentioned a PiStorm. But be aware that the PiStorm uses its own HDMI output so you would need some sort of monitor switcher for native ECS Amiga graphics for WhDload games to work.
The world is your oyster.

As for file transfers. Then get one of these with a decent SD Card formatted as FAT32. This is what I use:

https://a.aliexpress.com/_Ewd5CEy

For reading FAT32 on the Amiga then you need both a PCMCIA device driver and a FAT filesystem. These can easily be downloaded from Aminet!

Aminet - driver/media/CFD133.lha

aminet.net

Aminet - disk/misc/fat95.lha

aminet.net

 

[fpmpaolo]

Well. it's up to you.
It depends on what you would like to do and how much you would spend.
If I were you, I'd choose a Furia, which is a good compromise between price and speed.
Should you need a brand new PSU, you can make your own MeanWell-based PSU, or buy a CA-PSU or a PowerShark or lots of other PSUs.

Try to read something from Amiga WORST HW experience , it can be helpful.

And remember this please: A600 is very, extremely delicate. I mean it's something like "one shot one kill": choose your accelerator and setup, install everything and close everything again.