A500 hard drives

[RobertB]

     For the last few weeks, I've been in communication with Seth Sternberger of 8-Bit Weapon.  He needed a hard drive for his Amiga 500 with OS 1.3.  Well, I found a couple of "sidecar" drives in storage, but I haven't found their external power supplies (the A500 buss is not strong enough to drive them).  This weekend when I'm back in Stockton, I hope to find the p.s.'s.  If worse comes to worse, I may have to get Duncan of TOGA the job of scrounging up the units from his many sources or even build the units.

               Truly,
               Robert Bernardo
               Fresno Commodore User Group
               http://videocam.net.au/fcug
               The Other Group of Amigoids
               http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
               Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
               http://www.sccaners.org

[Paul]

It is possible to attach the A500's power supply cable to a strong PC power supply, then modify the A590 so it draws its power from the Amiga 500.  I recommend doing the PC PSU mod anyway, as most A500 power supplies aren't only weak, they're also quite old and likely to fail anyway.

[RobertB]

...as most A500 power supplies aren't only weak, they're also quite old and likely to fail anyway.

After having several A500's, I do not find that to be the case.

               Truly,
               Robert Bernardo
               Fresno Commodore User Group
               http://videocam.net.au/fcug
               The Other Group of Amigoids
               http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
               Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
               http://www.sccaners.org

[Paul]

...as most A500 power supplies aren't only weak, they're also quite old and likely to fail anyway.

After having several A500's, I do not find that to be the case.

Hmm...perhaps I push my retro computers to hard, then.  I should learn to treat them more gently.

[RobertB]

I should learn to treat them more gently.

  The only time an A500 p.s. didn't work for me is when I dropped it on the concrete sidewalk.  I jarred loose some components inside which had to be repaired.

               Truly,
               Robert Bernardo
               Fresno Commodore User Group
               http://videocam.net.au/fcug
               The Other Group of Amigoids
               http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
               Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
               http://www.sccaners.org

[Paul]

Mine failed after loading my A500 up with a couple of external disk drives, sidecar and belly slot expansion, and then running it in a room that hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures.  I'm fairly certain it's the second external disk drive that pushed it over the limit, and probably did more damage than a concrete sidewalk.

[RobertB]

...and then running it in a room that hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures.

I've always used mine in an air-conditioned house here in hot California.

I'm fairly certain it's the second external disk drive that pushed it over the limit, and probably did more damage than a concrete sidewalk.

I've never had good results with a second external disk drive.  My A500s always liked one external disk drive.

               Truly,
               Robert Bernardo
               Fresno Commodore User Group
               http://videocam.net.au/fcug
               The Other Group of Amigoids
               http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
               Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
               http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

     At VCF East last weekend, I picked up a GVP A530 (hard drive plus '030 accelerator) for $40.  That didn't go well in my carry-on luggage as I tried to go through security at the Newark International Airport on the way back to California. 

              Yes, it was swabbed,
              Robert Bernardo
              Fresno Commodore User Group
              http://videocam.net.au/fcug
              The Other Group of Amigoids
              http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
              Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
              http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

     At the TOGA meeting today, I showed off the GVP 530.  The members were interested, especially tech Duncan.  I gave him permission to open it up for the first time.  Inside the unit, we found a 286 daughterboard for running a PC emulator on the A500, an EC '030 chip (Duncan remarked that it could be probably replaced with a full '030), two SIMMs of GVP RAM, and a Quantum hard drive mech.
     When I told him the price I paid for it, he was amazed, because he said that on eBay bidders were paying more for an A530 than an Amiga 4000.

             In other words, 10x the price I paid,
             Robert Bernardo
             Fresno Commodore User Group
             http://videocam.net.au/fcug
             The Other Group of Amigoids
             http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
             Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
             http://www.sccaners.org

[Paul]

I'd give you 2x what you paid for it.  Keep this in mind if you happen to scoop up another one.

Of course, on the customs forms, I'd need you to declare the value at <$20...

When I told him the price I paid for it, he was amazed, because he said that on eBay bidders were paying more for an A530 than an Amiga 4000.

That's because the Amiga 500 was the coolest computer ever in the history of computers, that became only more cool after adding something like an A530.  Even the lowly A590 does remarkably well on eBay.  I'm looking forward to your results on your SCSI to IDE to SD card interface hack, just to add an SD card slot to my A590.

[RobertB]

I'm looking forward to your results on your SCSI to IDE to SD card interface hack, just to add an SD card slot to my A590.

Oops, maybe I gave the wrong impression.  On the A1200 Tower it's from the Blizzard SCSI to IDE to Compactflash.  And it works (though it is not hot-swappable)!  The SCSI-to-IDE converter board was bought from

http://cgi.ebay.com/IDE-to-SCSI-Converter-Board-for-CD-DVD-Drives-R-IDSC-E_W0QQitemZ330359637392QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4ceaf80590

     Then the IDE-to-CF converter was found locally.

                  Trying to finish up the A1200 Tower before
                  the October 16-18 AmiWest Show,
                  Robert Bernardo
                  Fresno Commodore User Group
                  http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                  The Other Group of Amigoids
                  http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
                  Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
                  http://www.sccaners.org
                 

[RobertB]

At VCF East last weekend, I picked up a GVP A530 (hard drive plus '030 accelerator) for $40.

On a visit to Weird Stuff ( http://www.weirdstuff.com ) yesterday after yesterday's TOGA meeting, I was looking through the old Amazing Amiga magazines that were there.  From 1992 issue, I found an advertisement for the GVP A530.  $969 for one with a 52-meg hard drive!  $1,099 for one with a 120-meg hard drive!

                 Amazing!
                 Robert Bernardo
                 Fresno Commodore User Group
                 http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                 The Other Group of Amigoids
                 http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
                 Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
                 http://www.sccaners.org

[RobertB]

Months ago,

At VCF East last weekend, I picked up a GVP A530 (hard drive plus '030 accelerator) for $40.

Darn, though I was in the Los Angeles area yesterday for the Firefly/Serenity convention, I didn't have time to see SCCAN member, Joe May.  He has a A530 working on his A500, too, and we could have compared drives.  Oh, well, I'll hopefully see him at the next SCCAN meeting in a few weeks.

                I did get the autograph of the lovely
                Morena Baccarin of Firefly/Serenity/Stargate Atlantis/V,
                Robert Bernardo
                Fresno Commodore User Group
                http://videocam.net.au/fcug
                The Other Group of Amigoids
                http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
                Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
                http://www.sccaners.org

[Rorshach]

Robert if your club has an extra working A500 hard disk that can be used I am interested.  that would be something that coudl get me using the 500 much more.

[RobertB]

...if your club has an extra working A500 hard disk that can be used I am interested.

I was in the storage a few weekends ago, and I thought I saw an extra A590.  I'll have to look again... but I won't be at the storage again until next weekend.

               It's in a different city 3 hours away,
               Robert Bernardo
               Fresno Commodore User Group
               http://videocam.net.au/fcug
               The Other Group of Amigoids
               http://www.calweb.com/~rabel1/
               Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
               http://www.sccaners.org