Amiga A500 Upgrade: Mouldy to Marvelous

Last year I cleaned up one of the most unpleasant smelling machines I've ever been near, a very mouldy Amiga 500. Having used it for a year it's time to pimp my A500, and my tank mouse.
The aim of the Amiga A500 Upgrade is to get a good looking gaming machine, rather than somthing targeting the most power hungry Amiga applications, and games ported from other platforms.
If you're interested in the Terriblefire TF536 I'd have a look at the Terriblefire YT channel / @terriblefire , you'll learn a fair bit about electronics and the inner workings of the Amiga, and also about one Scottish band in particular.
The pervious A500 video where you can discover the vital role dentists played in the birth of the amgia is here • The Amiga 500, the Ami...

[@jameslangridge8849]

Easiest way to paint small things that move too easily is to Blue Tack them to a piece of cardboard. It also makes it easier to rotate and spray them from all angles, and take them inside while drying, specially if it threatens to rain. Im really enjoying your content, please keep making it 😄

[@RetroBytesUK]

I really should have thought to use blue tack 🤦‍♂️still you live an learn. Glad you're enjoying the videos.

[@imalebowski]

The way you deadpand "amiga 500" in the pimp my amiga bit has me laughing again and again. Well played!

[@SirRigbyBaconKaiser]

You've gone from 4 to 50k subscribers. Congratulations! It's well deserved.

[@derekchristenson5711]

I was skeptical about painting the keys, but really the final look is great! Nice job!

[@ihartmacz]

Love this channel! Thanks so much for the content and for doing something original with your Amiga!

[@Matt_matt1]

To recap your recap of the recap, nice work.

[@thezood]

This confirms what I have long suspected - nerds of the 90s all loved that color.

[@giuseppelavecchia775]

Hai fatto un lavoro stupendo all'A500,sia la lavorazione che il colore.una buona scheda la terrible fire,ottimo

[@KipIngram]

You did a REALLY good job with that. It's gorgeous.

[@Dr.Logistik]

a recap of recapping :), the only recap we ever needed

[@RobSchofield]

Really enjoyed this - and gave me ideas about what to do with mine. Thanks!

[@dog61]

I just found your channel and it's so much better than other similar channels.

[@Roskjaer79]

Cool makeover 👍🇸🇪

[@RetroBytesUK]

Thanks Christian

[@fattomandeibu]

The 68030 upgrade is all you need. My 1200 has an '030 board with FPU and 8mb fast RAM, and run everything I threw at it. Doom Included, though at no higher than 320x240 or the framerate tanked. Even 320x256 was just enough to tank the framerate at just the right time to get you killed due to excessive action causing a performance spike. The only thing I can think of that something like an '060 would let you run would be Quake, and by that point you'd be cheaper and better supported on PC.

[@Ululukiful]

It's so strange to hear someone speaking about history of SCSI so elegantly touch on FC, SDS, and modern (and insane!) Ethernet technologies

[@banks3388]

You should have put the stickers down and then top coated (assuming they're paint resistant), that way you'd have a more uniform look on the DIY keys... I hope you do the CRT next cause it definitely looks cool

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

The Big Blue Amiga! :) Lovely job!

[@RetroBytesUK]

I thought big and blue might be your thing 😁

[@Pott_AV]

Great Video!

[@gtrdriver27]

Thats a neat and fun video 👍

[@RetroBytesUK]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@iangreenhalgh9280]

I put an a500 into an AT PC case back in about 1993, I already had an a2000 with a hard drive, 8meg upgrade and Grass Valley 33mHz 68030 accelerator, but I obtained the a500 free and decided to turn it into a dedicated graphics machine for my first year at university.

[@bazza5699]

bit of a bodge tip for those stickers.. run a black felt tip around the edge of each sticker - the stickers won't be as visible to the eye.

[@RetroBytesUK]

Oh that's a nice Idea, that will help them blend with the keys a bit better. There have been some really great little tips in the comments so far. I think I might add a pinned post with a summary of them, I'll wait a little while see if any more crop up in the comments.

[@paveloleynikov4715]

But... The red Amiga clocks faster😅 Nice result

[@RetroBytesUK]

I was hoping an sgi colour ment fast 😅

[@paveloleynikov4715]

@@RetroBytesUK i think it means more "crazy powerful". Cat yellow of computer world🙂 It is sad that it doesn't mean that anymore

[@JenniferinIllinois]

Ooooo, now that's an Amiga 500 pimped out. Hehehe...

[@draggonhedd]

Hey i feel you on the SGI thing, I found a can that is the exact shade and texture of SGI purple. Looks fantastic on my 486

[@RetroBytesUK]

You don't happen to have the RAL for that paint, or a link to where I could buy some do you?

[@draggonhedd]

@@RetroBytesUK I dont know what RAL is but the color is Valspar Spray Flat Sumptuous Purple 84205 Although, I don't know that its available anymore, I cant seem to find it.

[@PondersRetroGoodness]

That looks TIDY!

[@grey5626]

Nice! For the chip RAM part, I am guessing that A500 didn't have a Fat Agnus? Wouldn't that be another way to get to 1MB of chip RAM? I remember that was one of the first upgrades I made to my Amiga 2000, way back when. A 50MHz 68030 isn't too shabby! My A1200 is basically stock, but I've been contemplating what upgrades might be well suited to it.

[@RetroBytesUK]

There are some boards that let you get upto 2mb with the correct 2mb agnus. These boards plug into agnus's socket, then to agnus chip goes into the socket on the add-on board. There is 1mb on the add-on board, then you modify the mother board like I did (or add more ram chips to the board) then you have the maximum 2mb of chip ram. Those 2mb Agnus's are getting much harder to find these days.

[@ameriscm7351]

if only there was a way to paint the keys without needing to use stickers

[@RetroBytesUK]

I really wish there was too. I did back the new keycap kickstarter ages ago so I could get some new keys in different colours. Still waiting for that one to workout, the cheeky sods started a new A500 case campaign before even fishing the keycap campaign.

[@elamriti]

i cant find 1 amiga 500 they are getting expensive not shure why

[@peterjantzer4767]

Spraying keycaps?........ double stick tape.

[@SnabbKassa]

Great content. But it's spelled marveLLous

[@richardtwyning]

I'm sure there's a channel devoted to cricket fans and they do literally watch paint dry 😉

[@miinyoo]

Amiga keyboard is wack. 104 4 lyfe :P

[@armandorivera186]

God that computer was the slowest ever built and so BOOOOOOORING! by that time. Good video though and love the turquoise with black!