PDA

View Full Version : Will it boot? :)



AD-RS1600i
26th September 2010, 22:19
Hi Everyone,

After reading some much interesting stuff on here I finally got round to digging my A600 out, I wonder if it will boot after 13 years since the last time I fired it up?!:)

Unfortunately my box of disks looks long gone after checking at my family home, thankfully I have some a friend gave me so I have something to try!

I'm really excited

:thumbs:

Adrian

---------- Post added at 22:19 ---------- Previous post was at 20:41 ----------

Well I am pleased to say it is alive and kicking!! - just been playing Chaos engine for the past hour no problem at all!

Really pleased :)

Also stumbled across my friends old colleague work from when we did a BTEC Nation in IT Applications from 1995 to 1997 - really really spooky....!

Harrison
27th September 2010, 14:53
That is great that it still works after so long.

Does it have an HDD installed? If not, you could look at added a solidstate HDD to the A600, using a very cheap solution. An IDE to CF card adapter, which is about £2 on ebay, and a 4GB CF card. This can be hooked up to the internal IDE port of the A600, formatted and Workbench installed, then you can use all that 4GB space to install all your favourite games using a program called WHDLoad. Then it becomes a great retro Amiga gaming system with all games on tap and the click of a button. Great way to breath new life into the old system.

AD-RS1600i
27th September 2010, 16:28
Hi Harrison,

Thanks for the advice :)

I think I will probably end up going a little mad to be honest as I really like the look of the Individual Computers 1mb upgrade trap door card + Flicker Fixer... and I also would really like their 030 card if they end up producing them eventually, to replace the Viper 630 I sold years ago :(

It is ironic, I really like the disks and the disk drive now, although I hated disk swapping back in the day :unsure: lol Which does pose a problem if I end up getting the Flicker Fixer... ho hum!

Thanks

Adrian

Harrison
27th September 2010, 17:47
Losing the floppy drive to fix the flicker fixer in is definitely an annoying compromise. You can get CF/SD card floppy emulators, which you can ft in the floppy drive slot, and inserted memory cards can be accessed and disk images selected, so the images appear to the Amiga as a floppy disk. An interesting idea if you do go this route and remove the floppy drive.

You could always also connect an external floppy drive to maintain access.

AD-RS1600i
27th September 2010, 18:55
That sounds really clever the floppy emulation idea, to be honest I would rather just stick with the old skool floppy as for me it has to give me the retro feel :)

Thanks for the idea though!

I think I will either try and move the flicker fixer or attempt to create an external data plug for the original disk drive and mount that within a 3.5 hard disk caddy on its own power supply with some hacksawing..! :) Long way off though!:)

Can you remind me what the 3 key sequence is for the Amiga? Is it CTRL+ the two Amiga keys? Cannot believe I have forgotten that one :rolleyes:

Harrison
27th September 2010, 22:26
Yeah, that's the famous 3 finger salute. Ctrl + A + A

AD-RS1600i
28th September 2010, 09:37
Thanks! I must just have a dodgy keyboard as that does not work with mine! Never mind :)

Really strange,

Thanks for your help :)

Harrison
28th September 2010, 13:22
On the A600 the keyboard is connected via a ribbon cable. Maybe it has just come a little lose. You can easily remove and then reseat it to see.

AD-RS1600i
29th September 2010, 00:18
Cool, I will give it a ago - certainly the three keys were not working on mine!

Thanks for all your help

:)

Harrison
29th September 2010, 01:08
No problem.

When opening the A600 case, remove the screws and then turn the A600 back up the right way. Carefully lift the front of the top up and the keyboard will still be held in place and come up with the top half. They will be a wire connected to the motherboard that needs to be unplugged from the righthand side just in front of the floppy drive. Once disconnected you can then lift the top as if opening a laptop. This is because the keyboard ribbon is connected to the motherboard at the back of the case. Once fully open you will easily see the green ribbon cable and the white connector holding it in place. Just gently lift the white connector up to release the cable and disconnect the keyboard. Reverse to reseat the cable and make sure it is fully connected.