Amiga 500

"Alien Technology Near Your Neighbor"

Released in April 1987, the Amiga 500 is a legendary multimedia home computer manufactured by Commodore until 1992. The A500 offered the same CPU and chipset as the original Amiga 1000, but at a considerably lower price.

• Initially sold for $699 ($1,780 in today’s money)
• A500 was the most successful Amiga model ever sold (especially successful in Europe)
• The Amiga series of computers was used by artists all over the world

THE AMIGA AT A GLANCE

• AmigaOS version 1.2/1.3
• Mouse-driven graphical user interface (GUI)
• Preemptive multitasking
• 68000 CPU running at 7.16 MHz (NTSC) or 7.09 MHz (PAL)
• 512 KB of RAM, easily upgradable to 1 MB
• OCS graphics / 12-bit color palette (4,096 colors)
• Built-in blitter
• Hardware graphics (sprites & scrolling)
• PCM stereo sound (4 channels)
• 880K 3+1⁄2-inch floppy disk drive
• Compatible with the Amiga 1000

Colors & Graphic Modes

The Amiga 500 offers OCS graphics with up to 4,096 (HAM) colors on-screen. It has the unique ability to display multiple resolution modes at the same time by splitting the screen vertically.

Pal Modes

• Up to 32 colors on screen (without tricks) -4,096 colors on screen (HAM)
• Hardware sprite and hardware scrolling
• Planar graphics, with up to 5 bitplanes
• A500 graphics can be upgraded to ECS (Amiga Enhanced Chip Set)
• 320×256, 640×256, 640×512 (interlaced), and up to 704×576 (overscan)

NTSC modes

• 320×200, 640×200, 640×400 (interlaced), and up to 704×484 (overscan)

Special Modes

• Extra HalfBrite (EHB) mode
• Hold-And-Modify (HAM) mode, which allows all 4,096 colors on the screen

Sound Capabilities

The Amiga's sound capabilities were far ahead of its time, as it offered four hardware-mixed audio channels (two to the left and two to the right).

• 2 stereo channels (4 × 8-bit PCM)
• 28 kHz DMA sampling rate, and up to 57 kHz
• The hardware channels have independent volumes (65 levels)
• Software controllable low-pass audio filter

I/O Ports

• 2 DE-9 ports for mouse and joystick
• RGB video out (DB-23M)
• Mono video out (RCA)
• Audio out (2 × RCA)
• RS-232C compatible serial port
• Centronics style parallel port (DB-25F)
• 2nd disk drive (DB23F), and up to 3 extra floppy disk drives
• Trapdoor expansion slot (inside the machine)
• Side expansion port (Zorro)

Monitors

The Amiga 500 can be connected to TVs, RGB monitors, 15-kHz VGA monitors, or even modern HDMI monitors (with video upscaling hardware).

• Commodore monitors (1084, etc.) and other RGB monitors (Philips CM 8833, etc.)
• 15 kHz VGA monitors with RGB to VGA adapter (monitors such as BenQ) 
• TVs via modulator or a SCART cable (RGB to SCART)
• Modern VGA/HDMI monitors via video upscaling hardware

A500 Upgrades

A Zorro expansion (86 pins) on the left of the Amiga 500 can accommodate peripherals such as a hard disk or a CD-ROM drive. An inside expansion slot is also commonly used for a memory upgrade.

Memory Upgrades

• 0.5 MB of extra RAM + RTC via the trapdoor expansion slot (easy upgrade)
• All A500s can be upgraded to 2.5 MB of RAM (by fitting the 8372B Agnus chip)
• The A500s can have up to 138 MB of RAM by using expansion techniques {2 MB of Chip RAM + 8 MB of 16-bit Fast RAM + 128 MB of 32-bit Fast RAM}

CPU upgrades

• The CPU can be directly upgraded to a 68010
• The CPU can also be upgraded to 68020, 68030, or 68040 via a CPU socket adapter or the side expansion slot
• Vampire 500 v2+ (powerful but expensive accelerator)
• Powerful and cheap accelerators based on the Raspberry Pi

Storage Upgrades

• A hard disk can be accommodated in the left Zorro slot (for example, the old GVP hard disks)
• The A570 CD-ROM was available from Commodore
• Up to 3 extra floppy disk drives (external DD)
• Modern upgrades include CF/SD hard disks
• A Gotek USB drive can replace the internal A500 floppy disk drive

Upgrading the Graphics

• The A500 can be upgraded to the Enhanced Chip Set (ECS)
• HDMI output upgrade

Related Models: A500+ (Amiga 500 Plus)

Released in November 1991, the A500+ is an enhanced version of the classic Amiga 500. The A500+ offered a new operating system (2.04) and improved ECS graphics.

• Sold for £399 (Cartoon Classics pack)
• Amiga 500+ was discontinued in mid-1992 and replaced by the Amiga 600.
• 1 MB of RAM
• Operating system 2.04
• ECS (enhanced) graphics, including a new version of the Agnus and Denise chips
• Built-in Real Time Clock (the battery leaks)

A500+ Incompatibilities

Due to the new Kickstart, A500+ users faced many incompatibilities with classic Amiga software. This issue can be addressed by:

• A Kickstart switching board that includes both 1.3 and 2.04 ROMS
• Relokick is a software that loads the Kickstart 1.3 ROM image into memory and directly boots to 1.3 (offers decent compatibility)

■ The A500/A500+

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