website/content/museum/commodore-amiga-500.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Commodore Amiga 500	Computers	Home Computer	U.S.A.	1987	Motorola MC68000	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts hardware emulators links videos related oc_id source Amiga 500 /media/museum/photos/commodore_amiga-500.jpg /companies/commodore Commodore label value NAME Amiga 500 label value MANUFACTURER Commodore label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR April 1987 label value END OF PRODUCTION 1991 label value KEYBOARD Built-in keyboard, 95 keys label value CPU Motorola MC68000 label value SPEED 7.09379 MHz (PAL)\ 7.15909 MHz (NTSC) label value CO-PROCESSOR OCS based chipset: 8370/8372 Fat Agnus (memory controller and blitter), 8362R5/8362R6/8362R8 Denise (video control chip), 8364 Paula (sound & I/O), 5719R2 Gary (I/O) label value RAM 512 KB Chip RAM (expandable to 9MB : 512 KB Chip RAM + 512 KB Slow RAM + 8 MB Fast RAM) label value ROM Kickstart 1.2: 256 KB (Early models)\ Kickstart 1.3: 256 KB (Later models) label value GRAPHIC MODES 320x256, 320x512, 640x256, 640x512 label value COLORS Palette: 4096\ On screen: 16 in 640 modes, 32 in 320 modes, 64 in EHB, 4096 in HAM label value SOUND 4 channel 8 bit PCM, stereo output label value SIZE / WEIGHT Unknown label value I/O PORTS RS-232 serial port, Centronics parallel port, external disk interface, 2x RCA audio, cartridge interface, expansion interface, 2x Atari joystick/mouse ports label value BUILT IN MEDIA 3.5'' floppy disk drive label value OS Workbench 1.2 (Early models)\ Workbench 1.3 (Later models) label value POWER SUPPLY External PSU label value PRICE £599 (UK, 1987), $595 (U.S.A., 1987), £369 (UK, 1990) photos adverts hardware emulators links videos 81 title subtitle text image BOX /media/museum/photos/commodore_amiga500_box.jpg title subtitle text image BOX #2 /media/museum/photos/commodore_amiga500_box_2.jpg title subtitle text image UK ADVERT November 1987 ...This elegant little machine takes family computing into new dimensions of creativity, excitement and productivity. It outruns and outguns office PCs as a business multi-tasker, performing a deskful of different jobs simultaneously at over 7 million steps per second in realtime... /media/museum/pubs/commodore_amiga500_pub_1.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH AD (DEC. 1987) /media/museum/pubs/commodore_amiga500_pub_pour-faire-fort.jpg title subtitle text image 520 - RF MODULATOR Amiga A520 RF Modulator for the Amiga 500 RGB Port. This device enables an Amiga 500 to run off an ordinary TV. It also comes with the audio cable, which enables audio through the TV as well. /media/museum/hardware/amiga_520_rf_modulator.jpg title subtitle text image KCS POWERBOARD PC emulator Hardware PC emulator for the Amiga 500 (NB Not A500+, which has its own version). Includes battery backed up clock, 1MB of RAM and Soundblaster/Adlib emulation. 512K of RAM is accessible by the Amiga with the other 512k only being available as a recoverable ram disk. /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga500_kcs-powerboard.jpg title subtitle text image MIDI GOLD 500 by Golden Hawk Technology This is a MIDI interface for the Amiga 500, 2000, or 3000... It features :\ - one MIDI In\ - two MIDI Out\ - one switchable Out/Thru\ - one MIDI/Serial Switch\ - one Out/Thru Switch /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga_golden-hawk-midi-interface.jpg title subtitle text image AMIGA 1300 Genlock /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1000_1300-genlock.jpg title subtitle text image MEMORY EXPANSION BOARD 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 MB expansion card here fitted with 2 MB. /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1500_memboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image VIDEO BOARD This board featured 2 MB of RAM and allowed the Amiga to be connected to a standard VGA monitor. All the video modes could be displayed, including the interlace one. /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1500_videoboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image A570 CD-ROM Thanks to David Griffith for this picture /media/museum/hardware/amiga_cdrom_a570_1.jpg title subtitle text image HARD DISK CARD 40 MB SCSI card from SUPRA CORP. Additional SCSI devices could be connected in chain trough the back connector /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1500_hdboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image FLYER HARD-DRIVE /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga-500_flyer-harddrive.jpg title subtitle text image EXTERNAL HARD DISK GVP 8 MB /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga500_exthd_1.jpg title url platform text Amiga Forever http://www.amigaforever.com/ Windows Complete but commercial Amiga emulator title url platform text AMIthlon & AmigaXL http://amigaosxl.haage-partner.de/index-e.html Windows Powerful commercial emulators title url platform text WinFellow HTTP://FELLOW.SOURCEFORGE.NET Windows Probably better at some games than UAE, but not as versatile. title url platform text WinUAE http://www.winuae.net/ Windows The best Amiga emulator ? :-) title url platform text Max UAE http://maxuae.de/ Apple UAE for Mac OS X title url platform text AmigaSYS http://amigasys.fw.hu/ Unix / Linux AmigaSYS is a pre-installed full Amiga OS for WinUAE title url platform text Pocket UAE http://pocketinsanity.sourceforge.net/ Other platform Amiga Emulator for Pocket PC title url platform text Experimental UAE http://www.rcdrummond.net/uae/ Multiplatform Standard UAE enhanced with features from WinUAE. title url platform text MESS http://www.mess.org Multiplatform MESS now emulates the Commodore Amiga title url platform text UAE http://www.freiburg.linux.de/~uae/ Multiplatform (Ubiquitous Amiga Emulator) for BeOS, Mac OS, Linux, NextStep, MSDOS, OS/2 and Win95/NT : Homepage. title url text Amiga animations http://www.randelshofer.ch/animations/ A collection of Amiga Animations. This is the only site where you can see them online! title url text Amiga Interactive Guide http://amiga.emugaming.com/ Excellent site ! A lot of very interesting infos there. title url text Amiga Island http://www.virtualpast.de/ Excellent site with ROMs to download! title url text Amiga Web Directory http://www.cucug.org/amiga.html title url text AMIGART.COM http://www.amigart.com Nice site with Amiga news title url text Back to the Roots HTTP://WWW.BACK2ROOTS.ORG/ Amiga culture, guides, huge collection of legally downloadable software, and much more. title url text Lex Site - Amiga Hardware Database http://amiga.multigraph.com/ The website title says it all! title url text NetBSD-Amiga http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/amiga/index.html title url text Old Computer Mags http://www.old-computer-mags.com/ Scans of old computer and videogames magazine title url text Recorded Amiga Games http://www.recordedamigagames.org Speedrun, longplay and misc videos of Amiga games and more. title url text RetroPack http://www.retropack.co.uk/ Website dedicated to selling original Amigas, CD32s and Amiga/CD32 Games. title url text The Amiga Monitor http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/MikeWebb/amhome.html title url text The Big Book of Amiga Hardware http://www.amiga-hardware.com/ Pics & info (pinouts, jumpers etc.) for just about every piece of Amiga related hardware there is title url text The English Amiga Board http://eab.abime.net/ Community site for Amiga fans title url text World-Wide Amiga - Online!! http://www.amiga.org/ title url text Web Wiz CAPTCHA http://www.webwizcaptcha.com Reviews of Amiga software, hardware title url text Commodore Amiga commercial - EXIT http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8721405286052618769&hl=fr Length: 41 s title url text Commodore Amiga 500 commercial http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5737538578208665725&hl=fr Length: 29 s title url text Commodore Amiga 1000 commercial http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5356507595228759374&hl=fr Length: 32 s title url text Commodore Amiga 600 italian commercial http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-768109352967297990&hl=fr Length: 19 s title url text Commodore Amiga packs commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdaMq8JLyHA Length: 21 s title url text Commodore Amiga TV Ad - Celebrities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEFoj6sbDjU Length: 29 s title url text Commodore Amiga 500 promotional video http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=9038863557655975739&hl=fr Length: 15 min 06 s title url text Computer Chronicles: Amiga & Atari (1985) http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8978343825632445107&hl=fr Length: 29 min 18 s /museum/commodore-amiga-1000 /museum/commodore-amiga-1200 /museum/commodore-amiga-1500 /museum/commodore-amiga-2000 /museum/commodore-amiga-2500 /museum/commodore-amiga-3000 /museum/commodore-amiga-4000 /museum/commodore-amiga-500-plus /museum/commodore-amiga-600 /museum/commodore-amiga-600hd /museum/commodore-cdtv 65 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230605232441/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=65 2023-06-05

Commodore's Amiga 500 was the low-end version of the Amiga 2000 and the main competitor of Atari's 520/1040 ST range. The A500 was superior in almost every area, apart from its MIDI capabilities and the disk drive, which was not only slow but very noisy as well and a bitter feud quickly developed between owners of these rival machines.

Hardware wise, the A500 is very similar to the Amiga 1000, the main internal differences being an increase in memory fom 256 KB to 512 KB and the addition of another custom chip named "Gary" (the only Amiga chip with a male name). This is a new I/O chip that controls the disk drive and also performs address decoding. This chip is also used in the high-end A2000.

The A500 was easier to upgrade than both the ST and big box Amigas, thanks to an expansion port located in the bottom of the case. Owners could simply insert a small board which contained an extra 512 KB of Ram and a battery-backed clock. The popularity of this upgrade meant that more 1 MB software (both 1 MB versions of 512 KB software and 1 MB only software) was released for the Amiga than the ST, which had to be taken apart to expand the memory.

Over the course of the A500s lifespan several different packages were available, the most basic of which included only the computer, TV modulator and Workbench disks. A number of bundles were also sold, such as the best selling "Batman Pack" which was released in 1989 and included 3 games and Deluxe Paint 2.

The A500 was discontinued in 1991 and replaced by the short lived Amiga 500 Plus.

Pandy comments:
The Amiga 500 is a "cleaned" A1000, "cleaned" means plenty of TTL glue logic was replaced by custom IC which was named Gary. A500+ it is a new generation of custom IC's so called ECS (A500 have OCS). A500+, A3000, A600 have new graphics modes (1280 dots in line without overscan and 31Khz scanning similar to VGA - limited to 640 pixels in line with 4 colors).