Amiga 500 Plus
The updated A500, with ECS, 1 MB of Chip RAM and Kickstart 2.04. And some games that stopped booting.
The Amiga 500 Plus replaced the A500 at the end of 1991, with the ECS chipset, 1 MB of Chip RAM, an on-board clock and Kickstart 2.04. The change of system caused compatibility problems with older games.
More memory, new system
From the outside it is almost impossible to tell an A500 Plus from an A500: the difference is in the sticker. Inside, the revision 8A board has the 1 MB ECS Agnus, the ECS Denise, 1 MB of Chip RAM as standard and a battery-backed clock soldered to the board.
The Kickstart moved to version 2.04, with the A3000's Workbench 2. For anyone using the computer for work it was a huge step forward: a better interface, better file management, simpler hard drive support.
The compatibility problem
Many games had been written to rely on Kickstart 1.3, some jumping straight to ROM addresses. With 2.04, a number of them stopped booting. The magazines of the day filled up with complaints, and solutions appeared such as Relokick, a program that loads a copy of 1.3 into memory before the game, and ROM switchers.
In 1992 Commodore replaced it with the A600, so the A500 Plus had a short life, despite being, technically, the best of the A500s.
Trivia
- 10 REM
In the UK the Cartoon Classics bundle sold in large numbers, with Lemmings, The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants, Captain Planet and Deluxe Paint III.
- 20 REM
The trapdoor takes the A601, with another 1 MB, which brings the machine to 2 MB of Chip RAM.
- 30 REM
The clock battery comes soldered to the motherboard. It is the first thing to remove: when it leaks, it destroys traces near the processor and the chips.
Try it
An Amiga running right here in your browser: press Switch on, wait for it to boot and explore the desktop with the mouse. It's the same kind of machine we have on the bench, only emulated.
It runs AROS, a free operating system compatible with AmigaOS: Commodore's original Kickstart ROMs are still under copyright and can't be distributed.
Emulation by vAmigaWeb (GPL-3.0).
AROS · vAmigaWeb
The family: Commodore Amiga
- 1985 Amiga 1000
- 1987 Amiga 500
- 1987 Amiga 2000
- 1990 Amiga 3000
- 1991 Amiga CDTV
- 1991 Amiga 500 Plus
- 1992 Amiga 600
- 1992 Amiga 1200
- 1992 Amiga 4000
- 1993 Amiga CD32
Compared with the other models
| Model | Year | Processor | Memory | Video | Sound | System |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amiga 1000 | 1985 | 68000 · 7,16 MHz | 256 KB | OCS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 1.0–1.3 (disco) |
| Amiga 500 | 1987 | 68000 · 7,09 MHz | 512 KB | OCS / ECS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 1.2 / 1.3 |
| Amiga 2000 | 1987 | 68000 · 7,09 MHz | 1 MB | OCS / ECS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 1.2 / 1.3 |
| Amiga 3000 | 1990 | 68030 · 16 / 25 MHz | 2 MB | ECS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 2.0 |
| Amiga CDTV | 1991 | 68000 · 7,09 MHz | 1 MB | OCS / ECS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 1.3 + CDTV |
| ▶ Amiga 500 Plus | 1991 | 68000 · 7,09 MHz | 1 MB | ECS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 2.04 |
| Amiga 600 | 1992 | 68000 · 7,09 MHz | 1 MB | ECS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 2.05 |
| Amiga 1200 | 1992 | 68EC020 · 14 MHz | 2 MB | AGA | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 3.0 / 3.1 |
| Amiga 4000 | 1992 | 68040 · 25 MHz | 6 MB | AGA | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 3.0 / 3.1 |
| Amiga CD32 | 1993 | 68EC020 · 14 MHz | 2 MB | AGA + Akiko | Paula · 4 × 8 bit + CD | Kickstart 3.1 + CD32 |
Let me know when one arrives: Amiga 500 Plus
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