Puni/Void

Turbocharging the Amiga 600 in 2011


Who would have thought years ago that new accelerators would be released for the classic Amiga range in 2010? I know I wouldn't. Especially NOT for the Amiga 600.

It turns out that a company called Individual Computers (Jens Schönfeld) released a brand new accelerator for the Amiga 600 a short while ago. The board goes by the name ACA 630/25 and can be purchased through Online retailers like Vesalia in Germany and Amigakit in the UK.

The specs are very interesting. Have a look:

- 68030/25 mHz CPU
- 32MB of RAM
- MapROM function
- PCMCIA friendly

This is the Rolls Royce of turbocards for the Amiga 600. With a 68030 under the hood and 32MB (!) of RAM, the old and weaker brother of the Amiga 1200 becomes a serious contender. Playing WHD-Load games will work like a charm and the responsiveness of Workbench will be completely different from a bog standard machine. Even though the Amiga 600 doesn't have AGA, it will be fine machine with this card.

aca630-25.jpg

It doesn't stop there. Have you heard about the Indivision ECS card? No? This card allows you to hook your Amiga 600 up to an LCD screen for example, just like you do with a normal PC. This allows for more choices when it comes to purchasing a suitable screen for your computer. Having a big screen is no longer a problem. A big plus is the inbuilt flickerfixer. Now you can run those interlace-modes without having to visit an eye doctor afterwards. Great stuff.

How about storage? Well, these days you can get cheap IDE to CF adapters on eBay or from retailers. These adaptors allow you to make use of CF (Compact Flash) cards as harddrives for your Amiga 600. You can plug the adaptor onto the IDE-controller in the Amiga 600 and connect the memory card. Then you will have a completely silent system with lot's of storage space. No need for those noisy old harddrives anymore.

Last but not least, I'd like to mention something about using the Internet on the Amiga 600. If you've purchased the new accelerator from Individual Computers, you could go for a PCMCIA WLAN card. These can be found at sensible prices on the Internet. By plugging in such a card in your Amiga 600, you can actually browse the web, send e-mails and chat with your friends. Isn't that something? Be warned that the performance when it comes to browsing is rubbish, but... it can be done! Things like IRC and FTP works like a charm.

So.. who would have thought that the Amiga 600 could still be used today, in 2011? I must say, when I think about it, that I'm surprised myself, even if I've followed the Amiga for years now.

Thanks for reading.