Amiga 500+ vs Amiga 600

valdermar · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 7:50 pm Post subject: Amiga 500+ vs Amiga 600

I owned the former but what was the difference exactly they had the same speed processor and the same 1 meg memory apart from the actual size I dont see much difference.

woody.cool · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:00 pm Post subject:

Well, tech spec is almost identical for the A500+ and the A600.

Back in the day, I owned the A500+ and still think it is superior to the A600.
The main differences are the size, lack of numeric keypad (on the A600), the internal IDE (on the A600) and the PCMCIA side slot on the A600 instead of the older propriertry connection on the A500+

I did find a few issues with a very small amount of games on the A600 that I didn't on the A500+ .... this was caused by the ROM differences - A500+ had 37.175 aka 2.04 and the A600 had 37.300 or 37.350 aka 2.05 (with some exceptions) - the presence of scsi.device and carddisk.device (which powers the PCMCIA port) took some RAM away, especially if devices were connected to these ports.

On a whole though, the A600 and A500+ are pretty much identical as far as base/core specification is concerned - both have 68000, both have ECS, both have 1MB CHIP RAM and no FAST RAM as standard.

One thing I will mention, some rev 1 A600s (referred to as A300) had 37.299 ROMs (stil considered 2.05) but these lacked the PCMCIA and IDE device drivers in the ROM - these have the same software compatibilty as the A500+ as far as I know.

Another difference is, the A600 did not have an internal clock circuit & battery (somebody please confirm this to me?)

valdermar · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:38 pm Post subject:

Very interesting woody.cool some of the tech talk I dont understand but interesting non the less. Cool

valdermar · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:03 pm Post subject:

woody.cool · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:05 pm Post subject:

MIK UK · Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:26 pm Post subject:

I have to use ReloKick on my A500+ to play Ikari Warriors and I think even my copy of Zeewolf would not load without it... Strange as it's an original shop bought copy and listed was A500+... Rolling Eyes

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A1200T, Apollo 1260, 32MB RAM, 3.1 ROMS, 4GB HD, Z4 Board, Picasso II, IOBlix (Serial/Parallel), Squirrel SCSI, 2X CD, IDE 100MB Zip Drive, OS - DOpus Magellan II. Plus an A500+ Yum.

Predseda · Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:42 pm Post subject:

These days A600 is much more valuable, BECAUSE of internal IDE and mostly PCMCIA. The GREAT advantage over 500 plus. Onboard RF modulator is also good, but not much needed today.

The lack of soldered battery on board in A600 is also advantage these days, as a lot of 500 plus mobos were killed by leaked batteries. A600 had battery backed up clock in A601 memory upgrade in trapdoor bay.
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woody.cool · Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:52 pm Post subject:

Agreed, Predseda, there's a lot more benefits to an A600 nowadays, but back in the day, I much preferred the A500+

Really, the only reason I still like the A500+ over the A600 now is down to pure nostalgia - I had an A500+ in 1991, it was my main machine.

In real terms, I use my A600 more than the A500+
The PCMCIA slot with a CF adaptor is a great way of transferring date between PC and Amiga. Cannot do that so easily on an A500+ (I have a GVP HD+ but the only way to transfer PC<->Amiga is via CrossDOS & 3.5" floppy)

Predseda · Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:59 pm Post subject:

Topic moved to more suitable thread.
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lukasSid · Newcomer Joined: 08 Apr 2010 Posts: 12 Location: London

I recently got myself A600 simply coz its so small and fits everywhere.

MIK UK · Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 7:09 am Post subject:

2 things that won me over with the A500+ over the A600 back in the day after my A500 died which was not long after the A600 came out.

The numeric keypad was great with Protracker to call up your samples, I used to mess around with PT alot! Very Happy

Dungeon Master & clones, the placement of cursor keys, DEL & HELP allowed you to move about in the Dungeons without ever using the mouse to move and freeing up your mouse for the important stuff. Way, way faster to play like this too.
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A1200T, Apollo 1260, 32MB RAM, 3.1 ROMS, 4GB HD, Z4 Board, Picasso II, IOBlix (Serial/Parallel), Squirrel SCSI, 2X CD, IDE 100MB Zip Drive, OS - DOpus Magellan II. Plus an A500+ Yum.