Mini Amiga nostalgia

nands

nands

nands

Soldato
Joined
16 Mar 2006
Posts
4,327
Location
Wirral
I got one of these at the weekend and am loving it!

Already bought a joystick for more authenticity (while the supplied pad is serviceable it just doesn’t feel right).

Anyway, I am making my way though Another World and playing a bit of Speedball 2 (although my son beat me in a two player game - never has the expression ’beaten at your own game’ felt so apt!).

I will investigate getting some of my absolute favourites on it soon but am enjoying the starting line up.

Any tips?
 
nands said:
I got one of these at the weekend and am loving it!

Already bought a joystick for more authenticity (while the supplied pad is serviceable it just doesn’t feel right).

Anyway, I am making my way though Another World and playing a bit of Speedball 2 (although my son beat me in a two player game - never has the expression ’beaten at your own game’ felt so apt!).

I will investigate getting some of my absolute favourites on it soon but am enjoying the starting line up.

Any tips?
Click to expand...
Is this the Retrogames TheA500 mini released in '22 Or something else?
 
I thought about getting a mini amiga but isnt it limited to very specific config?
(and not running accurate a500/a1200 cycles)
Is it running workbench rom 1.2 / 1.3 / 3.1 or other?
Can do do anything like adding a hard drive to install workbench and other apps, games and whdload?

I was mostly put off by it not being cycle exact and therefore probably being issues in games with accuracy like glitches, sound issues and collision problems.
 
It is an emulator, the installed games just appear on a selectable screen rather that workbench or anything real.

Apparently you can load additional games on but I have not tried that yet.
 
nands said:
It is an emulator, the installed games just appear on a selectable screen rather that workbench or anything real.

Apparently you can load additional games on but I have not tried that yet.
Click to expand...
Yep, I know but was trying to establish the emulator being used (and accuracy)

Its clearly not WinUAE and probably (I expect) a cheap Raspberry Pi board running an out outdated version of PUAE 2021 or uae4all.
 
Last edited:
Guest2 said:
Yep, I know but was trying to establish the emulator being used (and accuracy)

Its clearly not WinUAE and probably (I expect) a cheap Raspberry Pi board running an out outdated version of PUAE 2021 or uae4all.
Click to expand...

I believe it's Amiberry with some form of custom front-end; https://thec64community.online/thread/971/thea500-mini-specs.

I don't own the A500 Mini, but I am intrigued by the THE A1200 coming in June. I know it's not FPGA, but it's still a fairly quick and convenient way to load Amiga software. Also having the full blown case etc. is cool.
 
Timber said:
I believe it's Amiberry with some form of custom front-end; https://thec64community.online/thread/971/thea500-mini-specs.

I don't own the A500 Mini, but I am intrigued by the THE A1200 coming in June. I know it's not FPGA, but it's still a fairly quick and convenient way to load Amiga software. Also having the full blown case etc. is cool.
Click to expand...
Interesting you can add your own WHDLoad games (and load/save), meaning it must have a form of Workbench installed on the 256mb hdd. It would be good if they let you access that to configure it as you like and test some of the old classic Workbench apps such as Say, DPaint and Octamed.
 
Guest2 said:
Interesting you can add your own WHDLoad games (and load/save), meaning it must have a form of Workbench installed on the 256mb hdd. It would be good if they let you access that to configure it as you like and test some of the old classic Workbench apps such as Say, DPaint and Octamed.
Click to expand...

No it didn't include Workbench which I suspect was down to licensing. The A1200 will ship natively with Workbench unlike the A500 Mini, but there are ways to get Workbench on the A500 Mini. And unless I'm mis-remembering I think WHDLoad had to be added to the A500 Mini.

All of these RGL ARM-based computers are pretty mod-able now in-terms of community software. But even with the basic stock-dash getting an image of Workbench on there shouldn't be too difficult.

Whether these are as easy, or feature rich as something pre-configured like AmiKit,or PiMiga is up for debate I suspect.
 
Last edited:
Timber said:
No it didn't include Workbench which I suspect was down to licensing. The A1200 will ship natively with Workbench unlike the A500 Mini, but there are ways to get Workbench on the A500 Mini. And unless I'm mis-remembering I think WHDLoad had to be added to the A500 Mini.

All of these RGL ARM-based computers are pretty mod-able now in-terms of community software. But even with the basic stock-dash getting an image of Workbench on there shouldn't be too difficult.

Whether these are as easy, or feature rich as something pre-configured like AmiKit,or PiMiga is up for debate I suspect.
Click to expand...
I wonder why WHDLoad had to be added to the A500 mini. I thought WHDLoad was there to speed up loading (mult disk games) and do other things like enable/disable cheats and skip intros. Hardly seems like it had to be added.
Half the 'fun' was Amiga was waiting 15 minutes for a game to boot after going through 4 disks... then for it to crash to a Guru Meditation error :D

'The A1200' certainly intrigues me with its full size usable keyboard.
 
Last edited:
Guest2 said:
I wonder why WHDLoad had to be added to the A500 mini. I thought WHDLoad was there to speed up loading (mult disk games) and do other things like enable/disable cheats and skip intros. Hardly seems like it had to be added.
Half the 'fun' was Amiga was waiting 15 minutes for a game to boot after going through 4 disks... then for it to crash to a Guru Meditation error :D

'The A1200' certainly intrigues me with its full size usable keyboard.
Click to expand...

I remember buying Monkey Island 2 with its 11 disks (I think). Also having to buy a box of floppies just to back those up. Killed my pocket money and even worse I had no 2nd external disk drive!

Not sure on the WHDload front for the A500 Mini. I might be wrong as some of the reviews mention it being included and then some didn't (at launch). But there is this package on RGL site to get full functionality; https://retrogames.biz/support/thea500-mini/whdload/.

But I suppose either way she can do it now. I think the A1200 will be a pretty easy way to play Amiga stuff. I did bump into a recent Amiga release and although you can add it to a MiSTer, or emulator it can require a bit more effort.
 
I have the A1200 pre-ordered but can't decide whether to cancel it or not. I like the idea of it, especially as I never had an Amiga as a kid and only played on some friends and family ones.

But I have a mini pc which can run Amiga stuff and moreover a Mister with AmigaVision which is pretty amazing and just works flawlessly.

Unlike the Minis it's gonna take up quite a bit of space, I think I'll be excited to open the box and set it up, play a few games and side load a bunch of games etc. and will then end up back in the box and stored away in a cupboard...
 
I was just thinking about The Lost Patrol the other day, with that really atmospheric soundtrack and the general feeling of hopelessness and misery that the game created for me back when I first played it. Feels like a really left field inclusion in their game list (but a nice one). Shame it didn't come with the original James Pond or Turrican 2 (or even something left-field like BSS Jane Seymour or Captive)
 
I really need to figure out how to add games as I need Bubble Bobble, Xenon 2, Gods and James Pond 2:Robocod at least.
 
Every time someone mentions the Amiga I find myself browsing the ads....I want one so much lol. It has to be my favourite machine from my childhood.


But I suppose emulators will have to do... for now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom