Amiga 500 Rev. 8a.1 - Turbo Edition

Intro....
So... Back in February of 2018, I had sold a couple of vintage hardware and one vintage 486 PC, and I used the money to buy this lovely Amiga 500 on eBay. It was not that expensive at that time, and to my surprise, it was in excellent condition. Shure it needed some cleaning, and after a damp cloth and a bit of alcohol, it turned out to look nearly brand new. The floppy drive was halfway dead. Other than that, it was working perfectly. So yeah... Happy Amiga500 owner here. The machine came with one mouse and the power supply. It turned out that the mouse was dead as well. I contacted the seller, and they shipped a replacement mouse with no further questions asked. Great service, great seller.

The motherboard in this 500, is the Revision 8a.1 and is a Plus motherboard, downgraded to 512k Ram, Clock circuitry removed, no barrel battery and sold with KickStart 1.3 so this is basically an fake Amiga 500 Plus.  It has the full ECS chipset, so it can actually be modified to an Amiga 500 Plus if I want to do that.

I thought that I needed to do some upgrades, so I searched for what was out there, which might make this an even sweeter machine. The IndevisionECS scandoubler was all sold out, so I sourced a different one. And then I thought why not do a Chip Memory upgrade as well, and heck, why not just go the entire way and do a fast Amiga 500 upgrade? So I went on and upgraded the shit out of this machine, yet still retaining a somewhat old school configuration.

ChipMem upgrade...
For this, I went for a Boobip upgrade kit. This kit has an Gary adaptor, and with a simple JP2 mod on my mainboard, and the adaptor installed, it adds 512k to ChipMem and 1,5mb is located as SlowMem. As this is an Revision 8a.1 motherboard, then the installation is straight forward. All I had to do, was to insert the mem module in the trapdoor, then install the Gary adaptor and solder in the jumper wire. The jumper wire goes to JP2 on the mainboard. And is 3 solderpads. I had to remove the solder blob that was present, and solder the wire to the middle pad on JP2. The connect the wire straight onto the memory module.

If the board had a lower revision number, then I had to do some more modifications, like cutting a trace on the mainboard and possibly something more.

Scandoubler....
As original CRT monitors, produced by Commodore are too rare, too expensive, too old and too unreliable these days. And because TV's with Scart plugs gives a lower quality than original Commodore monitors. I decided to buy an scan doubler for my 500. Initially I wanted a scan doubler from Indevidual Computers. It is a product that are called IndevisionECS by the way. Well... Since that one was sold out, and no new ones was in the making at that time. Then I had to find a different solution. And I found one that is named ScanPlusECS. It is a bit cheaper, not by much though, than the IndevisionECS. They provide nearly the same result, and only the IndevisionECS can do some 62hz refresh rate. However the IndevisionECS need that selected in the settings and has a bug, that results in the IndevisionECS not booting in 62hz on every cold boot. It will boot in 50hz, and the ScanPlusECS is only 50hz. Sooo... I just went for the ScanPlusECS instead. It was only a question of finding a monitor that can do 50hz. My Sony monitor can do 50hz and with absolute stunning results. No ghosting on my Sony, and both vertical and horisontal scrolling are completely smooth. Man... 19 inch smooth scrolling, with no tearing and perfect color reproduction. Yeah... I love this solution.

The monitor is an Sony SDM-X95K, with speakers build in and DVI-D input as well. And I can switch between them two DVI and VGA on a button on the front panel. As I said. It is just working perfect with my ScanPlusECS. If someone want the settings I made in the monitor-menu, then please ask for the values I have set.


The way to install the ScanPlusECS is straight forward. Remove the Denise chip, move the jumper on the ScanPlusECS, so it will know what Denise chip you have. Insert Denise into the socket on the scandoubler and insert it all into the socket on the mainboard. Connect the ribbon cable to the scandoubler and the other end to the VGA plug. Finished. Now it can do 50hz VGA output straight out of the box.

I wanted to install the Scandoubler's VGA plug internally, and I made a little error. So I crafted up some way of fixing the hole. First I cut some plastic pieces into pieces that would fit into the hole. Then I did a cement paste, using some old ABS plastic, dissolved in acetone. I painted it all over, and after some time, it only need some sanding down. As for the VGA plug, I managed to install it just the way I wanted to do it in the first place.

 Accelerator... The TerribleFire TF-530...
This is perhaps the most expensive upgrade that I will ever buy for this Amiga500. Yet it gives some nice features. And makes the 500 really fast, when compared to stock Amiga's from back when Commodore was around. Here is a picture of my card, benchmarked with caches on. Nearly 10 MIPS with all caches on. Sweet... That is around a 50mhz 386dx. (if they were ever produced or overclocked to that)

At first I just wanted a Wicher500i, yet they were no-freaking-were to be found. And another 68000-33mhz solution was the same as an TF-530. The Wicher comes without CPU and memory and still more expensive than the TF-530. So the choice was obvious. Loose 6mb FastRam and go for lower price and faster CPU. It even has an FPU. Mmmm.... Yeah. TF-530 was ordered from Germany (I think) and it came really fast. This is hand soldered from a user on Amibay. And it looks great.

It came as a kit. The accelerator board/card it self, then an IDE ribbon cable, CPU relocator at a 90 degree angle, CF Adaptor and a power splitter cable. And the yes... Solder work looks super professional. The CPU is actually an 40mhz low power Chip. Yet with low power, it can be clocked to 50mhz without any issues.


Floppy Cable? Yes, yes.. But not your average cable and drive.
As the original Floppy Disk drive was beginning to die, I wanted to make it a bit more future proof. I love Floppy Disks too much to just go for the Gotek solution. Yes, I did it on my C64, using a SD2IEC drive, yet Amiga is a totally different kind of beast. I just want them Floppy Disks... All right!!!.... Hehe.

What I did, was to buy a floppy converter cable, that I found on eBay. And the idea is that the cable will send the correct signals from the PCB on the cable. What exactly is going on, I do not know. Yet the Amiga recieves disk change and drive ready signals, as well as the cable selects the drive as DF-Zero and not DF-One. This is awesomme, and it just works.

This way, I can take a standard PC Floppy Disk drive, a custom 3D-Printed eject button, and just mount the drive in the Amiga, using this cable. It works with all Commodore Amiga's. NOT the Escom/Amiga technologies Amiga 1200/4000 models. I still had to cut the top shield on the drive it self, in order to make it fit in the machine.


Future of the this Amiga 500?
Well... I wanted to install one of those 2-in-1 KickStart Eprom chips. It is working in this machine, and will give me Kick 1.3 and Kick 3.1 though, sadly, the CPU relocator is in the way of the chip it self. The chip is seated on top of a PCB that switches between the two banks in the chip. It is the corner of the relocator, that goes over the top left corner of the KickRom Chip. If it was seated a bit lower, then I had a chance of using it. If I use more socket raisers on the CPU-Relocator, then the TF-530 will be unstable. So my best choice is to save up for a complete kit of AmigaOS 3.1.4 wich contains Workbench Disks and a single KickStart chip. And then I have to boot with the Relokick 1.3 boot floppy if I want to play games that require Kick 1.3

Last but not least, I want to install a Boot-Selector. This way I can use an external Gotek drive, mounted in an external drive case. That way, I can use both Floppy disks or ADF files, as I personally choose. And I do not have to cut more than I already have in the case.

It is now December of 2018, and this project of upgrading my Amiga500 has taken me some 10 months and some days. I really have hoped that I had more money, yet I have to settle with what I got. Taken the money perspective in, and the fact that I have actually sold 3 or 4 vintage 386 and 486 computers, in order to make this machine happen. Then I think that I have done fairly well. The best part, is that I now, have more space in the closet. And that ain't so bad after all.


The finished result....
Below here, I am just going to flood this blog entry/post with pictures of my Amiga 500 Turbo Edition. Or 3000-Vedge-Edition. Or Amiga500 on steroids.... I have not decided what exactly I am going to call it yet.
Perhaps A500-TF? Naaahhh... I just call it my upgraded Amiga500 for now. The good part, is that I can have the case closed on this machine, and there are still a couple of millimeters of space between the CPU and the top part of the case. And it is beginning to become my dream Amiga500 in 1990/91.

If anyone want links to any of the upgrades that I have used. Then please ask for a link. I will be happy to help out.

A little update on this machine. It turns out that the way I have done the ChipRam upgrade, then the 512k extra ChipRam  will be alocated in the space were the TF-530's FastRam are located. This means that I have to do the "Plus-Conversion", bumping the onboard chipmem up from 512k to 1024k. I have found a page, describing how to do it, and all I need, are one Logic IC and 4 Ram chips. And yes, 5 sockets too.... I will keep posting about that later on. So keep watching for a new blog post in the future.

It has been some time now, until I had a chance to do some more work on this machine. I bought the parts from China, through eBay. And found a link to a guide online, with instructions on how to upgrade or convert an Amiga500 Revision 8a.1 board from 512k of ChipRam to 1mb of ChipRam. Hopefully this will allow me to use the TF-530 board without any issues at all. Remember... The BoobBip ChipRam upgrade conflicted with the TF-530, because of the ram being adressed in the same space.

The parts that I used was as following:

 MC74F139N
 TMS44C256-10N
 20pin-DIP-IC-Socket
 16pin-DIP-IC-Socket

And the guide that I followed was the following:

 Kipper2K ChipRam Upgrade for 8a.1 Boards

It all went well, and I only made one single mistake. I ripped the middle solderpad on JP2, yet it was an easy fix, as there are hole through for soldering. So I use a small blue wire to fix my mistake. The reason for it becoming unstable, was that I had soldered onto that pad before, when I installed the BooBip memory upgrade. Luckily it was only the middle solder pad, and luckily Commodore had designed the board with a hole through.


I started bu removing all the solder blobs. Then I bridged the correct pads. Finally I removed all solder from the hole through, in were the sockets had to be installed. I started by testing it with only the logic chip. It gave a clear green screen. That told me that I was on the right path, and that it will not boot until all on board memory are installed. So I soldered in the sockets for the memory chips and inserted them. The machine booted first time. I was happy. Only one error, and that was easy to fix.

I tested it without any memory in the trapdoor, then tested it with the BooBip inserted in the trapdoor, and without the use of the Gray adaptor. BAM.... 2 freaking megabyte of ChipRam. Sweet bungo of the mongo. 👍👍👍

(Sorry about the blurry pictures, it was tested on a CRT television)

Then I turned my attention towards a boot selector that I had found online, for a fair price that is. Not really expensive, not really cheap. The price was just right. I only have one tiny complaint about this selector. That is, whenever I use any Kickstart 2.0 and up (37.300 and up), then it does not work the intended way. Only on Kickstart version 1.3 as the newer ones, will disregard the selectors settings and boot on both DF0 and DF1. No big issue, as the intended way of running my 500, is to have 1.3 and boot from Gotek on DF1 if I choose to not boot any real floppy disk. The reason is that I want to keep a real drive internally, hence keeping it original on that point.

Regarding the TF-530 and testing of memory conflict. Then I have ordered a MeanWell RT-65b Power Supply. It is so popular these days to use such, and after some investigations, it is revealed that the RT-65b have excellent regulation and all that on the 5 volt line. Perfect for the 500/TF-530 and perfect for my 600 as well. Then I have discovered that someone on Amibay makes these CPU relocators that have space for a higher sitting Kickstart rom. Solving exactly the issue that I have with the relocator that I recieved with my TF-530 accelerator. I have declared interest in such a relocator as well. Because I really want to run WB 3.1 on the harddrive, and 1.3 for boot without harddrive, because I want to see that 1.3 logo, before inserting a disk.

I bought one of these new CPU relocators. I just have to wait for it to arrive. It is being hand soldered by a guy in Turin Italy. If anyone reading this, are interested in one such, then the sales tread at Amibay are: Here...

The new relocator was in the mail box today, and I am finally able to put my 500 Turbo together, and have a really beef'ed up machine. The relocator is well done, and arived without any pins bent. It was well packed and by the looks of it, I am pleased. Looking closer at the PCB, there is a website and information about the origin of it. And it states that it is open source. Solder work are great. Nothing to complain about, regarding this thing.

I installed a second switch in the case. Yeah, I know drilling and cutting are not that great, yet I do want to have upgrades like those in my teenage years, so I will do a few modifications to the bottom case. And then I reinstalled my accelerator yet again, using this new relocator. As mentioned earlier, then it is a special one, that will allow me to have the 2-in-1-chip KickStart switcher with KickStart 1.3 and 3.1 in one chip. And behold... It just works and fits perfectly. Even the scan doubler are not affected by the revised design of the relocator. This is just awesome.... Awesome, awesome and yet again awesome. Love it.

And finally, I did a tiny bit of cable management, in order for it to look good. I am really surprised that there are so much room or space between the relocator and the kickstart socket.

I reinstalled the floppy drive, and started to fire her up, checked that the boot selector and the kickstart switcher was working. Both worked perfectly, and then I loaded up Systest, in order to test if the Ram was behaving good this time. It ran through first cycle without any issues. No errors. No nothing bad. So now I have 2mb ChipRam and 2mb FasRam that are not conflicting. I would love to have more memory, yet it is not really to any use at all. 4mb on an Amiga 500 with 030 and harddrive, is so plenty enough for basic tasks. And if I want to test WhdLoader in the future, then more ram is not really needed.

Ram issues out of the way, and everything that I want in my 500 installed. Then it looks like this without the keyboard. And everything is working now.

I am pleased with the switches as well. The KickStart witch is the one farthest at the back, that can be flipped back and forth. The BootSelector is the switch that are towards the front. It can be flipped up for internal disk drive, and flipped down for booting on external device.

So... This is how it looks like with everything installed. Keyboard as well. And finally I have a picture in were you can see that scandoubler, relocator and accelerator are just fitting together. It is a real tight fit. Yet there are room for everything, and nothing touches anything. Like all these parts were crafted to fit together. This is like really cool. Now I only need to take some pictures of the machine closed, and then this blog will be finished.

Final touches, and pictures of the closed machine...
As a final touch, I gave my machine a couple of "new" case screws. They are the kind that have been refurbished. They are as close to NOS as possible. I really do not care if they are refurbished or never used screws. The important thing is that they are clean and without rust.

Next up, I did the usual shots of the finished machine. I think it turned out good enough. It is far from perfect, yet it is the best that I as an amateur can do.

From a stock Amiga500 configured, revision 8a.1 machine. I now have a decent looking Amiga500 with the following configuration.

   - Revision 8a.1 motherboard.
   - Full ECS Chipset.
   - 1mb ChipRam on the motherboard.
   - 1mb ChipRam in the trapdoor expansion bay.
   - ScanPlusECS Scandoubler.
   - Open 68000 CPU Relocator.
   - Terrible Fire TF-530 accelerator card.
   - Compact Flash to IDE adaptor.
   - Cloanto Dual 1.3/3.1 Kickstart Switcher.
   - Boot Selector.
   - PC Floppy Disk Drive adaptor cable.
   - Stock PC floppy disk drive.


Hope you enjoyed reading this rather long post. It was a joy writing about my machine, and I hope there are someone out there, that can be inspired by my mod/upgrade of this Amiga500.....

Thanks for reading.