Unboxing the Commodore Amiga 500 |

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In this video, we dive deep into the Commodore Amiga 500! Please like, subscribe, and stay tuned for fresh content and all the latest information about the Vintage Geek museum.
Hosted and produced by Aaron Ishmael.
Technical work by Joseph William Lewis.

[@ReaderOfThreads]

The Amiga 500 is the most aesthetically pleasing computer I’ve ever owned. This video filled me with nostalgia and melancholy.

[@SecretOfMonkeyIsland784]

The 520 ST was also nice looking and didnt need that ugly modulator or power brick but suffered in other areas.

[@NarcFreedom]

Same. Mine was taken from me. Really sad.

[@plechaim]

@@SecretOfMonkeyIsland784a stripped down Os in rom is nice too, being able to do simple tasks without having to boot from a floppy

[@RigidAudio]

same here. ohhh.. memories (not only good though due to disk read/write errors and a lot of guru meditations) :D

[@andersemil5541]

I was 13 yo when I had finally saved up enough memory for this wonderful computer. Thank you for helping me relive that moment when unboxing it. Gorgeous machine.

[@stevecleaver8933]

Great to see this video & bring back so many memories. I purchased my Amiga 500 almost as soon as they were released in the UK (May / June 1987) and went on to spend an absolute FORTUNE on it. I started by purchasing the external 3 1/2" Drive & then the additional 512kB "trapdoor" memory expansion (though i don't remember the trapdoor being soldered so I suspect the previous owner / dealer did that in order to stop anyone "fiddling"). After a while I then managed to get hold of the 1MB "trapdoor" expansion taking my Amiga up to the dizzying heights of TWO MEGA BYTES OF RAM !!!!!! As time went on I then further expanded it by adding the external (sidedoor) 8MB RAM expansion & then I also got the 100MB (sidedoor) HDD (as I recall, I think each of these cost about £1,000 - so all in all I must have spent close on £3,000 on it). I never had the Commodore monitor, instead i had a "Fergusson TX with RGB" TV/Monitor which was one of the few TVs to have an RGB input. I made the RGB lead myself having found the schematics for the Amiga's pinouts & the Fergusson's RGB pin-ins so that I could connect the Amiga's RGB output to the Fergusson TX's RGB input and make the most of it's output rather than using the composite output & then had a pair of speakers (one each side of the TV for the sound direct from the Amiga's sound outputs). Ahhh happy days !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Cyberstormxiii]

All original A501 512KB expansion cards were exactly like that, soldered on three points, with LOTS of solder - so a real pain to unsolder, but not something a regular owner or dealer could make to make it “impossible to break into or stop fiddling with”

[@Pinman1973]

I remember set mine up back in the day. One of the best days of my life !

[@HoldandModify]

I love seeing folks new to Amiga checking it out and making videos! Good stuff sir!

[@whimsicalcellbooster]

Wow. So many „Back-in-the-days-vibes“ … thank you for this Time Machine 😍

[@andysatticradio]

I ran my first BBS on an Amiga 500. At the time the games were amazing. I also got my first virus. I went to Amiga "parties" and we traded games. Who knew what a virus was back then. lol

[@brookskelley]

In 1993. I flew to France to take a business French class. I bought an Amiga 500 to take with me along with a small printer ( note: I already had an Amigo 2000 with lots of software ). Both the printer and the Amiga were multi voltage, so I had no problem there. When I arrived in France, I obtained a monitor that did not sync up with the Amiga quite yet, but I could see the screen in the scrolling monitor. Because I know the OS so well, I was able to adjust the monitor settings with the monitor quickly and get it to work perfectly. I then was able to write papers and do homework for my class on the Amiga 500. Surprise, surprise. I have been using Linux for over 20 years as my OS instead of Windows. I took to it like a duck to water simply because of AmigaDos was so similar to a Unix command set.

[@fattomandeibu]

I think it may need a new OS ROM to boot from an external floppy. It works on my A1200, but has the OS 3 ROM. The ROM chip is socketed for easy replacement. Of course, you'd need an A500 specific ROM, but there are Cloanto(the company that currently owns the rights to the Amiga) licenced sellers on Ebay.

[@gjwestonable]

Glad your Amiga 500 worked when I got mine in 1987 (UK) my PSU was DOA. Still the best computer I ever owned. I had an Amiga 1500 for my 21st. Just bought a CD32 which I never owned great machine. My 500 definitely didn't come with a service manual or a Ram expansion or 2nd drive. I eventually got those. You can buy a board that allows you to boot from an external drive or a Gotek drive too. Great video brings back great memories.

[@Tech-geeky]

Amiga CD32 was my "dream machine"... And it still is today :(

[@jerrygibbons7666]

Does anyone have more info about this? Or a link?

[@bblblp]

You probably already figured this out, but the RAM expansion should be easily removable by sliding it away from the expansion slot without removing the shield. To service the expansion and remove the battery, the shield will need to be de-soldered and removed. Jan Beta (and I'm sure there are others) has a couple of videos about removing the battery and replacing it with a coin cell. Thanks for the video!

[@NarcFreedom]

And use plastic spudgers and trim tools! Using a screwdriver on old brittle cases is super cringe.

[@mercster]

My favorite computer that I ever owned as an Amiga 500. The computer I first had a modem on was the Amiga... so many games, so much online (back then, online was text based)... great memories.

[@mercster]

Oh hey, I thought I recognized this channel... I'm in Knoxville! I'd love to come visit sometimes but I'm disabled on fixed income to it's a bit rough... anyway, thanks for the museum and video.

[@DonSolaris]

Haha I had very similar experience with my Amiga 500 that I purchased 10 yrs ago form eBay, it had a busted floppy. So I check out local ads and see Amiga listed, thinking it's a good opportunity to find a donor unit. I came to this elderly woman's house to end up in shock. It was the Amiga 500 special edition (1 millionth manufactured unit) plus 8833 monitor both in mint condition, both for something like $50. It belonged to her son who moved abroad back in the 90s. Of course, that Amiga did NOT end up as a donor. I fixed everything and now both work flawlessly. 🙂

[@paultompkins4061]

I enjoyed the A500 and A500+

[@doctorsocrates4413]

I own 3 amiga500s myself...nice to see a brand new one..Last time i saw one of those was when i was 15 in 1988....thank you for the video.

[@TheSudsy]

You dont need to desolder the expanson, it will slide off the edge connector inside the Amiga. A spudger may help. From the A500 plus onwards holding down both mouse buttons allows a boot menu. Not sure if that is available on A500. (it was on may 1200). I would go through the basics. Open it, check the internal drive cable is correctly plugged in. Remove the memory expansion. Clean the internal drive heads. Drive failure would most likely be dried up grease, so try forcing the worm screw back and forth, or clean and re grease.

[@PaulAndBiscuit]

Love the ringing the support line part.

[@LawrenceHubbard-o2i]

Good to see you got a Amiga 500 in decent condition. If was new in the box all the floppy drives would have a cardboard spacer to protect the drive head.

[@Khaos969]

BEST computer ever made!!! Man i got one when I was 11 ….. the fun I had on that machine was legendary!!!! graphics music games were all top notch for its time!!! Populous , Megalomania , Lemmings, Panza Kickboxing , Power Monger , supercars 2, Syndicate …. And a million more…. My Amiga is still in my cupboard throwing it away would be blasphemy

[@dave4shmups]

Great video as always! There’s a British magazine called Retro Game that Barnes & Noble sells, and in one issue, they talked to Jeff Porter who designed the Amiga 500. He now works in digital signage.

[@Thorsten369]

Did own almost all Commodore Computers back then, only i still have is the Commodore Amiga 500 with a KCS powerboard, original monitor, mouse, trackball, MIDI interface ,EXT. FDD, Joysticks and some games. Was a great time and still miss it to be honest.

[@Christianpreaching]

I unboxed one of these brand new in the late 80s It was the best Christmas gift my Dad ever got us. Our monitor was a different model and our external disk drive was the larger one. Just seeing that work bench image gives me feelings of great fun awaiting! Unfortunately all that stuff is long gone though. I was probably about 12 or so when my dad got it for us I had been using the apple IIe in school and told my dad that I wanted a computer ( because of it). I was expecting another Apple for Christmas. I'd never seen one of these before because they were new and when we turned it on and used that software I was completely blown away and so we're all my friends. I thought the Apple was a laughable joke after that.

[@alrassias5048]

Great video! Please note that Kickstart V1.3 can not boot from external drive. You can upgrade it to V2 and it can boot from any drive

[@leftestali]

I have the same Amiga all working, my brother had bought it since launch.now its sitting in storage room.

[@ScoopexUs]

This is not an original item, but just someone's used Amiga with some accessories. The unit would have come without an external drive, and with a PSU, mouse, RF modulator, and Workbench 1.3 disks. The manuals would all be smaller than letter size, with black and white print and glossy color covers. The A500 manual would be a ring bound manual. Further a thinner AmigaDOS manual, and a leaflet with the RF modulator. External drives and memory expansions were sold (and boxed) separately. It's important to have known good *bootable* disks which don't have Workbench 2.0 or higher executable files on them. Even in the Workbench 1.3 disk package, some are extras disks which are not bootable. It helps to know a little about a system in order to use it. Basically what you need is a tested set of Workbench 1.3 disks, and you're put on the spot by the seller/provider not including them. Such a set of disks was included with every single Amiga shipped. I would at the very least spray some air into the drive before concluding that the drive is faulty. But it's a used unit, so...

[@shan2752]

Get an ACA500Plus from Individual Computers. This will add CF storage as HD (actually comes with WB installer in rom), the ability to use WHDLoad for games, and the ability to switch the boot drive to DF1 without a hardware switch. There are other features too such as mapping kick roms to flash, increasing 68000 speed, and the ability to use other ACA 68030 accelerators. It’s really a great product.

[@Leofwine]

Yes. I got my ACA-500plus last year and it is a *pleasure* to use my Amiga 500. So much so that I type my short stories on it (since nobody else will touch it, the data is safe).

[@Tech-geeky]

If i undestand correctly from my Amiga days, my Amiga 500 Plus expands it to 1MB Fast in the expansion +RTC (Real Time Clock) I also know Commodore has Kickstart1.3 in mine, (Rebranded), because they couldn't sell enough stock A500's Dunno how true that was, but it makes sense, othwise my machine would have had KS2.04

[@Leofwine]

I got one of these in 2019 - no box, no manuals, just the Amiga, the mouse and the power supply (and the monitor later). What Viktor Frankenstein did to his creation, I had to do to my Amiga (I had to swap everything, except the case) - and when it finally came back to life a year later, I had about the same reaction. In the meantime I had bought the appropriate manuals, just to be safe. The case may be as yellow as the monster's skin, but the machine is a Pygmalion and works like a charm.

[@Tech-geeky]

Every time i look at these my mouth foams. Particularly the magazines.. While i do have everything in emulation, PDF's etc like CU Amiga, i always liked walking into my local newsagents and seeing an issue with disk on the front cover. You just cannot beat that no matter how much digital *try's* and make it However, i wouldn't owning all ROMs neither..if it was not for digital.. I guess i'm "half-and-half" of this

[@kvitoroulis]

Man! you took me back to the early 90s! Thank you!!

[@sirgwaine2695]

Try cleaning the Floppy drive heads

[@av_79]

I never owned an Amiga but my friend did and it was sweet machine.

[@James_T_Quirk]

When I see those boxes, I Groan remembering having to unload from truck for Sales 50 @ time, but I also remember the Joy of Owning One .. However this Unit has been used & Packed away nicely, but the Service manual did not come with it, just a Amiga 500 Manual, but if Ram Expansion was Installed is biggest clue it has been used...

[@MiguelXisto1]

i´ve own many Pc´s and consoles over the years but i gotta say the Amiga was definitly the one that made me more excited to own. I still remember the first two nights after my dad bought it to me that i couldnt sleep due to how excited i was. Btw, who also conviced their parents that we musy have the Amiga cause it was the most powerfull computer to date and we absolutely needed it for school projects and ended up never doing anything else with it apart from playing games?

[@SuperJoey73]

You need at least Kickstart 2.0 to be able to boot from the external drive.

[@S.Y.S.64738]

I am a bit late to the party, but to boot from DF1 you need a boot selector. Basically an adapter you place under the disk-controller chip and is operable via an external switch that lets you select between DF0 and DF1. Not sure if you can even buy this anymore, but at least you have something to Google now.

[@giuseppe74921]

The Amiga 500 (with a 512k trapdoor expansion that almost everyone had) was "THE" Personal Computer of late 80's - early 90's, lots and lots of people had an Amiga 500 (in a good big part of Europe), you could do word processing, programming, music, painting and play awesome games). Commodore was MAIN part of personal/home computing history at last from the C=64 (1982) until early 90's (1994), despite today history seems to be rewritten in favour of apple (tv and movies just dont talk of Commodore, Stranger Things being a nice exception in showing an Amiga 1000, also in the Nteflix mini-series on the Challenger disaster you can see in some frames a newspaper advertisment of the new, by then, computer Amiga 1000).

[@helldog3105]

Remember, the victors of war get to write the history. Here in the U.S. the Amiga was just not that popular. It was used extensively with the Video Toaster when that came out and it was a popular piece of hardware, but people owning things like the Amiga 1000, and other models was just not super common. IBM dominated here in the 80's and then the clones took over in the 90's. And it sucks for someone like me. I love my amiga computers. I have at least one of every model type including the towers which are kind of superfluous since my desktop A3000 and A4000 are kitted out as well. To this day I don't feel like I fully understand why Amiga just didn't catch on. I understand that Commodore really dropped the ball in many ways, but that doesn't account for everything. It was multimedia before the term even existed. But you didn't really see them in computer stores, you didn't really see them in departments stores around where I grew up in the Midwest. I did know someone who had one while I was growing up though and we had a great time with it all of the time. -edit- I agree that it's strange that Apple is always shown as being the most popular computer of the 80's. It was used in schools, but marketshare wise it did okay, but other companies had more of a marketshare than they did.

[@dougjohnson4266]

The floppy drive probably needs cleaned and lubricated? Very cool to find such a lightly used Amiga 500.

[@user-ml6yi5nz2h]

Kickstart 1.3 (= your machine) can not boot from the external drive. Also, you can not boot a "Workbench 2" floppy using a machine with Kickstart 1.3. So you need some more bootable floppys to test with and try to boot from the internal drive. If it's not working, the internal drive needs some service. Another option would be to replace the internal Kickstart ROM with a Kickstart 2.05 or newer ROM chip, but that will also lower the compatibility with older games.

[@bigmaxy07]

Had this exact setup back in 88. 1Meg expansion, DF1: drive, 1084 monitor. The greatest times! Shame it got sold. However I have another one now with a Gotek.

[@ALKASHIF-]

you have a good collection of nice old memory

[@veganjones8985]

The first disk put magnetic powder on the drives heads. Anyway old video so I guess you figured out how to use an Amiga by now and how to put a df1 switch on it

[@TonyvdGraaf]

Don't know if you got the 500 working yet but if you boot the Amiga while holding down both mouse buttons you should be able to select your boot device (hopefully this works in 1.3 as well). Good luck and great vid! 👍

[@Tech-geeky]

I had an Amiga 500+ back in the day, not the original like you demonstrated. Mine was also v1.3 Kickstart, so i can only assume Commodore couldn't sell enough Amiga 500's so they must of rebranded some, added the 1MB chip and sold it as the 'Amiga 500+' Similarly, the original Amiga 500 comes with kickstart 1.2... because my mate owned one and it was defiantly 1.2 the power LED was red, unlike my Amiga 500+ where the power LED was green and the drive light Orange. fyi, only DF0: can boot, unless you have memory resident, or a hardware switch (hack) at the back toggle df1: or df1: boot Some eBay sellers bought this up after i questioned what the switch was for on the back. Obviously it was modified, and he said it was to toggle boot drive. Handy feature, but i'd rather a switch to toggle kickstart better :)

[@nassimabed]

I never had the monitor: I had an RF modulator, the size of an old fashioned remote control, that let you connect to a TV by changing the signal to a UHF signal. Then you searched for the computer like a TV channel on an old ariel antenna 😊

[@bigmaxy07]

That was my C64 life. For the A500 I managed to save up for a 1084.

[@AS-ly3jp]

Maybe the disk drive need a little bit of grease on the rails. After all this years it may just be stuck or can not go all the way back and forth. In order to use an external floppy, you need to install a drive selector, there is no way around. DF0 is the internal, DF1 the external drive. A selector will come in handy in a combination with a gotek drive. I don't really think it's new in box, but sure looks damn nice!

[@antonysnook4932]

You need to open the PC and check the drive. It may be dusty or dirty inside. You need to have Workbench run as it had all the drivers in it. I have heard you can run a Rasbery pie small board inside it. Allowing you to use USB and more modern stuff like that.

[@PromoVisionNZ]

There is big chance it is nothing wrong with internal floppy drive. It just needs service- clean head and clean and re greased rails. There is also good chance that diskette is faulty. They are old and if they are not kept in dry environment they will die. Mold will attack them and if mold etches into magnetic coating it will kill it.

[@kevinkemp8133]

Hello, this was a cool video. When booting up the Amiga without a floppy, it will display the Work bench needed to boot. A V2.0 will not boot, but a 1.3 or 1.2 should work if you have one of those. I don't remember how to boot up from an external drive though. I thought is was possible.

[@d_vibe-swe]

No, kickstart 1.x can't boot from external drives. I know 3.x can do it, but I suppose also 2.x does aswell.

[@tecnociclista5342]

The A500 does not boot from an external drive afaik. It might have done later on with a newer ROM. There are also update kits available that come with a switch that allow you to pick the boot drive. I have just recently rediscovered my A500 which I originally bought in '89 I think. There are so many new cool upgrades and accelerators available, there is a whole new world to explore! Now I just need to find the time to do it :)

[@Dunbar0740]

Slide the 501 RAM expansion to remove (might be a bit stiff after 30 years). It's not possible to boot from external drive without opening up the case and installing a switch on an internal chip. Alternatively, some CPU and RAM upgrades installed on the side expansion slot allow a simple software switch which can be accessed before booting from disk. As for the internal drive, could be an internal power issue, or, a dead controller chip.

[@Tech-geeky]

Next would be an Action Replay MKIII, and A590 Cd Rom drive

[@AllensTrains]

If the Amiga won't boot when the disk is good, a likely explanation is that the elderly Power Supply is not delivering enough juice. Order a modern replacement Amiga PSU from eBay. The older A500 Amiga Models will not boot disks intended for Amiga A600 and A1200 which use the FFS (Fast File System), and Workbench 2.0 and later. Since the disk requester says 1.3, you need a Workbench 1.3 disk to carry out your initial test.

[@WC0125]

Another great Saturday with a VG un-boxing. No, it doesn't look NOS and, no, they didn't come with a service manual in the box. It is a cool find regardless. You will get it booting with little work. The drive can be fixed quite easily, less work than changing the finals in a radio transmitter. Thanks for sharing.

[@yeraysantanaaday6827]

I have the same problem as you and i decided to open the amiga and change disk drive..or maybe conect external disk drive in the position of the internal disk drive....for me the amiga is not past, is present!!

[@christianjosephkarner]

So exiting! I bought mine and the power supply was damaged. Tooks 3 weeks to receive a new one to fire this beast up! 😢

[@christophermaynard1902]

I had one and endless games for it.

[@EnglishPolishOnline]

That was fun to watch.

[@Tech-geeky]

a trip down memory lane. I should really stop watching these videos. I think i'm getting addicted again..

[@BilisNegra]

Could this be a display unit? Often stores will keep the package for some time in case they see it fit to sell those at a discount.

[@rafaelhiguera5183]

Won't boot from external floppy witth wb 1.3, You may need to service the internal drive, old dry Grease could prevent it to load an easy fix, the memory module needs to be Open asap ando remove the old leakey battery it Will eventually reach anda damage the a500 mobo if not already, Nice content will keep following the series , greetings

[@MHMajid-yi8iu]

Hi! When I bought my A500, that's in 87 if not mistaken. I'm in a SEA region, the box is colourful but the content is pretty basic. A500, manual and power brick. Nothing like in this video, I assume this installment is for US region. I have to buy monitor and memory expansion separately. I did bought tv modulator first before I bought a generic Monitor for it.

[@ianfleetwood8804]

I had a amiga 500 and can tell you, here in thd uk the external drive was nit included.

[@1teamski]

That computer had to be a return.

[@ms-ex8em]

is it worth buying old hardware? just wondering because i was going to purchase an Amiga 500 ??!!?? thanks.............

[@Daveyk021]

Where the heck did you come up with a NOS A500 and 1084S ?

[@REZZA2020]

WOW!!

[@gilbertvera1678]

You may need to replace the rom. It's likely a original. The a2000 has a later version of the kickstart rom chip.

[@PaulAndBiscuit]

Likely the elastic belts on the drive are gone, they have a certain lifespan.

[@Corsa15DT]

my favorite computer, that I never owned

[@Caddy666]

have the belts in the drives rotted?

[@ms-ex8em]

can a new pc (custom build) - i want to install a Catweasel mk4 board into a brand new pc (custom build) is this possible?? thanks...................

[@ms-ex8em]

some rom files are 513 kb ? why ? why do they still work? they should be 512 kb in size or 256 kb in size !! thanks...........

[@ms-ex8em]

do u know anything about hard discs?? the seagate exos x18 terabyte disc drive?? does it work with the Dell Inspiron 3881 ?? does any 1 know?? can any 1 help me out here?? thanks......

[@auses007]

Can I buy this from you guys?

[@HaveAniceDay2450]

In 1991 i worked as a dishwasher to buy Amiga 500

[@MarkusBrunnhofer]

this Video is in HD ! 🙂

[@gody5523]

I have an old Commodore Amiga 500.It's 36 years old and works.I'm going to throw it away

[@jukesters123]

What about GEOS O/S?

[@gilbertvera1678]

To be able to boot externally you made need to re

[@Tech-geeky]

You lucky bastard

[@dysnomia-anarchia]

So glad I never bought one of these, but stole a Macintosh instead... The Amiga was just hadware MDMA, but a Macintosh was pure software heroin... Light years ahead of everything else An MDMA just would not do for my level of crack addition... I can't believe now I paid $350 for a floppy drive... which in 2022 dollars is about $1200. Yep. 1541. Infinite storage. woot. How did that work out for ya... One of my friends had a garage full of PC hardware her geek pack rat husband had left behind... comically someone had put an Amiga 500 on the top of the mountain of computers as King of the computers. I could literally have anything in the room I wanted. I passed on the Amiga and instead took some Core2Duos, which I maxed out with 4gb of RAM, a Core2Quad Q6600... and could yeah run Linux and Firefox... and get on the internet.

[@Tech-geeky]

I can't believe i payed $600 in k-Mart in 1993 for one of these.... (Lay-by as a xmas present) just the Amiga.. (I had to supply my own monitor/TV ..) 😟 I think i understand why now people hated that pesky RF Modular..

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

DOOD!

[@backinthegame34]

Made in USA !

[@graemeking7336]

Disappointing. Should you not have waited with posting until the solution was found..?

[@MechaFenris]

I remember those boxes! I still have my Amiga... but not the boxes unfortunately. :)

[@dixienormus6941]

How old is this man? Like he could be 32 or he could be 65

[@plechaim]

Does it matter?

[@PromoVisionNZ]

There is big chance it is nothing wrong with internal floppy drive. It just needs service- clean head and clean and re greased rails. There is also good chance that diskette is faulty. They are old and if they are not kept in dry environment they will die. Mold will attack them and if mold etches into magnetic coating it will kill it.