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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:AMIGA NOTES
Notice:Join us in the *NEW* conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:HYDRA::MOORE
Created:Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5378
Total number of notes:38326

5103.0. "A500-Plus in UK NOW!!!" by VIVIAN::D_VISTUER () Fri Oct 04 1991 07:03

    Anyone in the UK can now get hold of the A500-Plus. This is available
    from Diamond computers in Tottenham Court Road, for the same price as
    the older A500 Screen Gems price of 399 quid.
    
    It comes with a 2-Meg Agnus that allows SuperHires of 1280 x 512, 1Meg
    of chip memory and Kickstart and W/Bench 2.04 and 4 quality games.
    
    That's all for the moment, suffice to say I'm upgrading...
    
    Dave.
     
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5103.1DEFOE::JAMIEThunder knows all things.Fri Oct 04 1991 07:251
    What does it cost to upgrade ?
5103.2Two Meg Chip A500 now possibleARRODS::GOLDSTEINSteve G DTN: 847-5416/5455Fri Oct 04 1991 19:0213
    
    	And Soon to be released is an A501+ which is to be a 1 meg ram 
    upgrade so when pluged in to the A500+ A501 slot you get a 
    		TWO MEG OF CHIP MEMORY in an A500.
    
    I've now seen the A500+ at Diamond.....the only thing missing is a 
    FlickerFixer port........Looks like a standard 23-way D-Type RGB
    conector on the back of the A500+.
    
    
    
    
     
5103.3Would my soft still work?FORTY2::CADWALLADERRifle butts to crush you down...Mon Oct 07 1991 09:0216
Hi,
	I have heard much about 1.3 fallback mode etc. regarding the Amiga3000,
	and also such as using SETCPU to get around '030 incompatibility
	problems.

	I assume the A500+ has a 68000 so SETCPU does not apply... but is there
	provision for support of older software with the A500+ i.e. is the
	fallback mode a feature of v2.0x or of the A3000 system and the fact
	that you boot 3000s from disk?

	I wondered since I obviously do not want to upgrade to find 90% of my
	software will then not work.

	Cheers.

								- JIM CAD*
5103.4IAMNRA::SULLIVANLife gets mighty precious when there's less of it to waste!Mon Oct 07 1991 10:5820
>  is the fallback mode a feature of v2.0x or of the A3000 system 

It is an A3000 feature only (unless you are a developer). The A500+ only 
comes with a V2.?? ROM (currently 2.04). 

>  I wondered since I obviously do not want to upgrade to find 90% of my
>  software will then not work.

I think if 90% of your software is of such a hack variety that so normally
breaks the published rules about programming the Amiga then you would not
want to upgrade. Noone is forcing you to... Your 1.3 ROM will not break.

You could also purchase a 1.3 ROM for an A500+... sigh.

My experience is that almost all of the software I used with 1.3 has either 
been upgraded to work with 2.0+ or just does or is not really important to
me anyway (some old hack games). It is generally the exception when a program
has problems with 2.0+, not the rule.

	-SES
5103.5What is the PRICE ?DUCK::NONDEPMon Oct 07 1991 11:323
    Yes..... What is the price for the upgrade ?
    
    Patrick just too exited.
5103.6SOS HI RESBAHTAT::WORRALLMon Dec 09 1991 11:4710
    
    Having just pick up a brand new 500+ I need to consider a monitor that
    takes advantage of the new screen resolutions, all the dealers say the
    Philips CM8833 MK2 is the one but Ive seen it advertised as a CGA and
    the dot size is aprox .42 seems poor compared to a VGA screen at say
    .28, and what about flicker fixers are they redundant ? can I stick a
    multscan on ? help help don't panic a few days before Christmas I can't
    face using the TV !!!!.
    
    Trev
5103.7Get a multisyncTLE::RMEYERSRandy MeyersMon Dec 09 1991 21:0539
Re: .6

>the dot size is aprox .42 seems poor compared to a VGA screen at say .28

You are right.  A monitor with a dot size of .42 will look very crude.


>all the dealers say the Philips CM8833 MK2 is the one but Ive seen it
>advertised as a CGA and

I don't know anything about the Philips CM8833 MK2, but to use the new
productivity display modes, you will need a monitor capable of displaying
a VGA frequency signal.  I suspect that the dealers have screwed up and
are recommending a monitor capable of displaying the old standard Amiga
graphics modes, which are at CGA frequency.

>can I stick a multscan on ?

Yes.  In fact, if you want to be able to see the old graphics modes
as well as the new ECS graphics modes, you must get a multisync monitor.
The old modes and the enhanced modes are at different frequencies.  Therefore,
a fixed frequency monitor is not capable of displaying both.

It's good advice for anyone to get a multisync monitor these days.  It
gives you some leeway if you get a new computer or enhance the display
hardware in your current computer.

See other notes in this file on multisyncs.  Be careful when shopping.
High end multisyncs may not support frequencies as low as the standard
Amiga display modes.  Really high end ones may not support even VGA.

>and what about flicker fixers are they redundant ?

Sadly, no.  The new non-flickering display modes have a smaller color
palette than the old display modes, and they cause the graphics chips
to cycle steal (cause the CPU to stall when it accesses graphics
memory, which is called chip memory in the Amiga).

A flicker fixer like device doesn't have these drawbacks.