Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    The main (and most irritating) difference between the 1000 and the
    500 is the location of the expansion buss; on the 1000, it is on
    the right side, but the 500 brings it out the left side.  The buss
    is electrically identical on both machines.  The same 86-pin buss
    is also present in the 2000.
    
    This means that all the expansion devices designed for the 1000
    will need to be manufactured as a mirror image for the 500 version.
    Either that, or adaptor cables could be built, which seems messy.
    
    It looks like the 500 is selling so well that it will soon overtake
    the 1000 in installed base, so it makes sense that third parties
    will quickly adapt their products to the left-handed buss.  However,
    don't ever make a buying decision based on 'promised' hardware;
    if you need a hard drive TODAY, then the 1000 is the only sure thing.
    
    As far as hard drives go, prices have finally come down to sensible
    levels.  A 20 meg drive with a SCSI controller can be had for around
    $730, mail order ($900 retail). I think 6 or 7 vendors are shipping
    Amiga drives now.
    
    Memory expansion seems to run around $430 per 2 megs.  The most
    common configuration I see these days is a 2.5 meg machine (base
    512K + 2 megs expansion ram).
    
    One thing you should know about the 500; the 1 meg version does
    not use what is known as true 'FAST RAM' for the upper 512K.  The
    extra 512K resides on the custom chip buss, not the 68000 buss.
    This issue has been, and still is confusing to newcomers.  Essentially,
    when the Amiga 1000 was designed, they put in sufficient lines for
    the custom chips to access 2 megs of memory, but the chips themselves
    can only address the lowest 512K.  So, if I locate memory in this
    region, the 68000 can indeed get to it, but it may have to contend
    with the custom chips for clock cycles.  This will cause a slight
    slowdown in some cases, usually with lots of bitplanes in hi-res
    mode.  The actual slowdown will never be any worse that any base 512k
    Amiga (either 1000 or 500) since in these machines, all program
    code hunks are in memory locations on the chip buss.
    
    When FAST ram is added, all programs automatically try to load program
    code into FAST ram and code that the custom chips need into CHIP
    ram (the lowest 512K).  
    
    Like I said, this is pretty confusing (at least to me) and others
    here can probably explain it more elegantly than I.  
    
    One other point, the 1000 seems to be available at very good prices
    these days.  Check some of the mail order houses; I think I've seen
    512K systems with monitor for $899; add $200 for an external floppy,
    and you've got a real bargain.
    

    	Check the latest Computer Shopper Magazine, there is a mail
    order house selling A1000's for $699 (additional 256k = $80), and
    A1000R's for $499.  The R means it has been refurbished by Commodore,
    or so the ad states.
    
    brad
    

    
    Who are some of the memory vendors? And does anyone have good/bad
    stories about them?
    
    Is there anything special needed to expand either a 500 or a 1000
    beyond 512K? Other than a board and some chips, I mean. Are there
    any problems with power supplies, cooling or anything else?
    
    Thanks for the input so far, it's extremely helpfull!
    
    -Ray
    

    The Starboard by MicroBotics is a very popular unit for the A1000. It
    is the same height as the Amiga, is about 1.3 inches thick, and comes
    in a very sturdy metal case.  It can be populated in several ways... .5
    or 1.0 megs on the main board, and one can add a second full meg on a
    small daughter board.  In addition, there is room inside for a small
    card called the 'multifunction' board.  This board is not yet shipping
    (to my knowledge) but is claimed to contain a battery backed
    clock/calendar, and a socket for a 68881 FPP chip.  One can install
    an optional SCSI interface in place of the multifunction board.
    
    The Starboard draws it's power from the A1000 supply, but the maker
    claimes up to two fully loaded Starboards can be safely added to the buss.
    The unit passes the buss for additional add-ons.  I've had mine for
    about 6 months now, with no problems whatsoever.  This board can be
    ordered mail order for $430. 
                                                             
    One of the beautiful features of the Amiga hardware/software is
    the ability to autoconfigure any device on the buss that conforms
    to CBM's standards.  This means no dip switches, no funny setup
    menus from within a specific software package.  You turn on the
    machine, boot, and all the devices are recognized.
    
                                       

    The Mail order house is called MCS in Livonia Michigan.  I bought
    my A1000R from them on December 26 1986.  Even though it was the
    day after Christmas and New Years was rolling in quick, they still
    had the machine on my doorstep on January 2.  Anyhow, Since then
    both of the 8520's chips on my machine have gone bad.  I have no
    idea what the problem was before it was refurbished.  Other then
    the two chips going bad I have had absolutely no problem with my
    machine.
    
    I suggest a refurbished machine over a new one to anyone who is
    looking for a new machine.  Even though I had to pay more for the
    two chips that went bad (at seperate times) it will still less ten
    a brand new machine.  The refurbished machine comes packaged exactly
    like a new machine except for a sticker on the box and on the bottom
    of the machine which says refurbished by Commodore.  The warranty
    was the same also.
    
    'Nuff said.
    
    Mike

    I have looked at the 500 and will stick with the 1000. The packaging
    of the 1000 has many advantages over the 500. First, you need a
    much wider workspace for the 500. The internal drive is located
    on the side which means you need that much extra space to insert
    a disk. The front loading drive of the 1000 is a real convenience.
    The system box of my 1000 also provides a convenient platform for
    my second drive and my modem. And, the parking garage for the keybaord
    is handy.  

    
    The 500/2000 are too new for much in the way of 3rd party add-on
    devices.  For the near future, the 1000 is a better buy.
    
    I've always felt that real computers must have detachable keyboards,
    so the 500 didn't appeal to me other than as a laptop computer.
    
    I thought the 2000 was the right way to go, until CBM marketing
    jumped the price to $2000.  A slot box without cards isn't much
    fun.  The "PC compatibility" is an additional $500.
    
    The main drawback with the 1000 is the non-DEC style keypad.  It
    appears that with an adapter, the 2000 keyboard can be connected
    to the 1000 - a keymap for the extra keys was distributed over
    usenet.  That would provide a full keypad for use with EDT.
    The default mapping of keys in Dave Wecker's VT100 emulator takes
    a little getting used to, but now i'm not so sure i'd want to
    add the 2000 keyboard to my 1000.  I like the keyboard feel
    of the 1000 a lot more that of the 2000.  
    
    -dave

    The new keymap is available on:
    
    AUTHOR::USER:[MACDONALD.PUBLIC.AMIGA]USA1.UUE
    
    
    Use UUDECODE to decode.