That's very kind. I need to crawl into the attic to retrieve my disks. Buried there along with the A1000.
THEA500 Mini has been announced via Retro Games Ltd. and distributed by Koch Media
- Thread starter Neil79
- Start date
That's very kind. I need to crawl into the attic to retrieve my disks. Buried there along with the A1000.
Soldato
Well screw me I guess because I just ordered one for £115 for a ready set up Amiga gaming experience.
Loving mine! I added a retro-usb keyboard (styled like an IBM Model M) and honestly it feels much more like a real Amiga. I just want ADF and Hard disk emulation so I can use it as a 'real' Amiga. Oh and fixed button mappings for the C64 stick and USB Comp Pro.
All that stuff you mention is available in WinUAE. A 3d printed A500 would surely be better that an A500 mini. Im not finding it hard to justify why I wanted an A500 mini when WinUAE can be used with a 15Khz monitor and Zipstick. This way to get access to way more power, peripherals of choice, ADF support HDF support and enless expansion support
I've got WinUAE on my PC, had it for years. I've also got an Amiga 1000 stored in my Attic, but I still find a use for the A500 mini as something that just works and lets me indulge in some retrogaming without hassle.
I tried Raspberry PI emulation before and found it a bit of a faff to setup compared to the Snes Mini, C64 Mini/Maxi, and A500 Mini that I have, plus the mini consoles look good in their own right.
Also not everyone has access to a 3D printer, and last time I looked at Etsy to buy some 3D printed accessories they weren't cheap.
This is the thing, prior to the A500 mini I used WinUAE and it was constant faff changing disks and changing options for games. I wanted the A500 mini for the same reasons as you, however I also know that my main gaming machine is my PC and the TV in the lounge is mainly for TV/movies. The amount of additional cables plus device would take up space too.
I then looked into setting up workbench on WinUAE and making the setup seem as authentic as possible whilst still having the power if needed.
To load a game now it's really not faff, probably less so than the A500 mini...
Double click WinUAE shortcut, click Load on the config already selected, click start.
This fires up a fullscreen, 50Hz native and RTG Workench screen on my second monitor as seen below.
Double click iGame to access list of games
Perpherals, I've got an original good condition ZipStick and original Amiga tank mouse coming next week
The added benefit is having full access to Workbench and games which will not work on the A500 mini. High end RTG games, PPC games and generally higher end stuff. Plus the programs I had on my Amiga - Dpaint and music software like trackers. You also get endless configuration options and save/load slots if required
Edit. for those interested that own an A500 mini. This would be an excellent addition for the A500 mini - https://www.reddit.com/r/amiga/comments/u4b5tn/8bitdo_controller_with_8bitdo_bluetooth_dongle
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That's a nice setup!
The thing is the A500 mini is not really meant for hardcore Amiga enthusiasts who either own real hardware, or who have time and patience for setting up WinUAE or Amiberry.
It's just easier to setup and use and add games to the Mini. I've played more Amiga games in the last few days than in the decades since I last had my A1000 setup.
ADF (and likely Workbench support) will be coming soon too. I imagine soon it'll be possible to use the A500 mini as a 'real' Amiga, plus I hope there will be other performance and other improvements as there were with The C64 mini and maxi.
The mouse that comes with the A500 Mini is also a nice touch. It's much closer to the feel of the original tank mouse, though it's a bit smaller. You can of course use that mouse on WinUAE or Amiberry and it can be bought seperately.
The thing is the A500 mini is not really meant for hardcore Amiga enthusiasts who either own real hardware, or who have time and patience for setting up WinUAE or Amiberry.
It's just easier to setup and use and add games to the Mini. I've played more Amiga games in the last few days than in the decades since I last had my A1000 setup.
ADF (and likely Workbench support) will be coming soon too. I imagine soon it'll be possible to use the A500 mini as a 'real' Amiga, plus I hope there will be other performance and other improvements as there were with The C64 mini and maxi.
The mouse that comes with the A500 Mini is also a nice touch. It's much closer to the feel of the original tank mouse, though it's a bit smaller. You can of course use that mouse on WinUAE or Amiberry and it can be bought seperately.
Thanks. It did take a bit of setting up but was quite nostalgic installing Workbench again.
Out of interest, do RTG games work on the A500 mini? E.g. Quake and Wild Flying.
ADF and Workbench support will be a big bonus. I'm sure someone will make it work with an external HDD / mod and internal HHD to it so it can support HDF
Out of interest, do RTG games work on the A500 mini? E.g. Quake and Wild Flying.
ADF and Workbench support will be a big bonus. I'm sure someone will make it work with an external HDD / mod and internal HHD to it so it can support HDF
Soldato
I'm definitely enjoying my time with the A500 but it's also definitely not perfect from a usability perspective - from someone not very amiga-technical, i.e. who it is aimed at. If it's designed to be expanded with USB WHLOAD games why does it have 3 USB ports - mouse, joypad and keyboard will use them up leaving no space for the USB stick. At the moment I've got it plugged into my monitor which acts as a hub with 2 ports for one connection (this actually works quite well as I can swap my keyboard dongle between PC and Amiga quite easily).
I wish I could bring up the controls in game instead of only being able to view them before I launch the game. It would have been nice if the game manuals were included too instead of me having the manuals on my tablet next to my monitor to find out what I am meant to doing!
I hope that the ability to load disk files is added so I can mess around with Workbench and some non-gaming applications.
I can't work out if the 'console' itself feels cheap/toy like or feels really nice. The keyboard bit looks great but the ports and button are pretty naff...
I wish I could bring up the controls in game instead of only being able to view them before I launch the game. It would have been nice if the game manuals were included too instead of me having the manuals on my tablet next to my monitor to find out what I am meant to doing!
I hope that the ability to load disk files is added so I can mess around with Workbench and some non-gaming applications.
I can't work out if the 'console' itself feels cheap/toy like or feels really nice. The keyboard bit looks great but the ports and button are pretty naff...
Associate
'The A500 Mini is the fastest-selling Home Computer Remake (based on week 1 sales) and is already the No.2 all-time seller.'
https://twitter.com/KochMediaUK/status/1517458199917613058
https://twitter.com/KochMediaUK/status/1517458199917613058
This is great news…now make a maxi with joystick and Workbench support
Associate
Hopefully. It certainly feels like it's more likely to happen than not. Particularly after their comments about doing an A600 (due to cost).
It's also good to see any of these retro products do well. Just shows there is a market for it, particularly when done well.
Yup… but just imagine the sales if it was a maxi, or better yet an A600 which was a working A600 keyboard with similar power as the 500 mini. That would be perfect.
adf, workbench, rtg and hdd support would be nice and the inclusion of a proper joystick!
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Associate
Actually I wonder if it is the other way around. The THEC64 Maxi has sold less than the THEC64 Mini, based on the attached GfK UK data. So it sounds like the cheaper Mini's do fill a need for a mainstream audience and then the more expensive Maxi is the more specialised product, purposely released afterwards. Although maybe the Amiga version changes that pattern and the difference can be explained by the THEC64 Mini being a £40 product and 3 times cheaper. Which is unlikely to be the case with any Amiga Maxi.
Having had the C64 Maxi since release I would agree it's definitely a more niche product, really appealing to those who want the most authentic C64 experience without having to deal with the hassle of using the original hardware and physical tapes and disks. Basically it was designed to appeal directly to me. 
The C64 Mini has been massively discounted - originally released at £80, but now £40 means it's got that impulse buy appeal for casual retrogaming, plus it's a much better product now than on release due to firmware updates.
Also the thing with the C64 is it really needs a proper replica keyboard to use properly, as the layout is non standard, and there are special PETSCII characters printed on the front of the keys, so the maxi makes a lot of sense.
The A500 had a much more modern keyboard layout, and a PC USB keyboard is very similar, so using a USB keyboard feels pretty close to using an original Amiga (I'm using a membrane USB keyboard based on the IBM Model M design which looks and feels really like an Amiga keyboard).
I'm not sure a Maxi will be massively better other than being neater in terms of wires and looking cooler. The biggest issue with the A500 Mini is it really needs an extra USB port so you can plug a keyboard, mouse, joystick/gamepad and a USB stick at the same time, though mini hubs work really well - I'm using one on mine, with no extra power and it works great.
Would I buy an A500 maxi though? Of course I would! But it'd have to be more like a 1200 in size - an A500 full size replica is simply too big.
The C64 Mini has been massively discounted - originally released at £80, but now £40 means it's got that impulse buy appeal for casual retrogaming, plus it's a much better product now than on release due to firmware updates.
Also the thing with the C64 is it really needs a proper replica keyboard to use properly, as the layout is non standard, and there are special PETSCII characters printed on the front of the keys, so the maxi makes a lot of sense.
The A500 had a much more modern keyboard layout, and a PC USB keyboard is very similar, so using a USB keyboard feels pretty close to using an original Amiga (I'm using a membrane USB keyboard based on the IBM Model M design which looks and feels really like an Amiga keyboard).
I'm not sure a Maxi will be massively better other than being neater in terms of wires and looking cooler. The biggest issue with the A500 Mini is it really needs an extra USB port so you can plug a keyboard, mouse, joystick/gamepad and a USB stick at the same time, though mini hubs work really well - I'm using one on mine, with no extra power and it works great.
Would I buy an A500 maxi though? Of course I would!
But it'd have to be more like a 1200 in size - an A500 full size replica is simply too big.
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Associate
I'd buy a 1200 maxi especially if you had the ability to add an ssd. I have some spare 60gb 1st gen ssd drives that would be great. If sata support was included we could even get cd32 support via an emulated squirrel cd (pcmcia).
New firmware released!
V1.1.0
Update the firmware
Upgrade THEA500 Mini to the latest firmware to benefit from the latest features
retrogames.biz
V1.1.0
- Adds ADF (floppy) file support
- Adds Playlist support
- Adds Hot-Crop
- Adds Keyboard control of the user interface
- Allows the Virtual Keyboard to be accessed at all times
- Allows controllers to be physically swapped during play
- Swaps THEJoystick (THEC64 Joystick) fire buttons
- Fixes the Virtual Keyboard Cursor-Right button.
Soldato
Very glad about the ADF and keyboard being used to control the UI!
They have removed the firmware update, as it had a few bugs and broke some functionality. A fixed version should be up soon.
The ADF support works well, and you can even set the Amiga model now, which fixes some games which didn't work or ran too fast.
The only issue is ADF loading takes longer, and you could really do with drive noise to go along with the drive light being on to give you an idea if it's still loading.
The ADF support works well, and you can even set the Amiga model now, which fixes some games which didn't work or ran too fast.
The only issue is ADF loading takes longer, and you could really do with drive noise to go along with the drive light being on to give you an idea if it's still loading.