Amiga 500+ - The GVP Challenge
What looks like an old Amiga 500.
Complete with the ribbon keyboard cable.
Revealing an Amiga 500 Plus motherboard.
And some of my handy work.
Battery has long long gone.
Bits a slight powdery residue.
The 2.04 ROM and revision 8A board.
Check for rust on the fat lady.
Check for corrosion on the port pins.
The case is broken sadly.
It's the computers battle scar.
The keyboard is pretty clean. Ageing well.
The second A-500 Plus
Small switchable RAM card.
And not a ribbon keyboard cable.
Again the battery has been removed.
That 2.04 ROM chip. Important having the
best ROM for all situations when not knowing
what is actually on the sidecar.
Again checking for depreciation round the fat lady.
Checks for battery damage residue.
Up to you if you want to clean all the
corrosion off pins. Me I leave well alone
and just check every so often. Following
my first rule... ' Aint broke don't fix it '.
If the battery is going to eat anything
it will be U12, C12, the edge of the port
pins and the large strip up to JP9. Those
are the killer tell tail damage positions.
Always make sure the keyboard cable isn't
trapped by the side of the knife like shielding.
For me age is a thing of beauty. Also remember
when you Retrobrite an Amiga, you no longer have
an original Amiga. The original coating is lost.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
This keyboard and case show the years
of use being sat in front of a window
I am guessing. Was there a long time.
Any discolouration does not affect the computer.
For me it is very important.
You can see clearly here the way light
has yellowed the keys . It has not yellowed
where the surface was in shade from other keys.
And trust me I would never like ever be so
silly as to destroy the surface of the original
machine. I am in the possession of an old computer.
I have no desire for it to be scraped and defaced
just to satisfy a desire to make it somehow new again.
The surface coating has within it an in-tumescent
substance which is designed to prevent the surface
spread of flame. Over the years the light has
reacted with the in-tumescent and turned it yellow.
To get at the yellow in-tumescent you must scrape
or remove by chemical the actual surface of the
computer keys and facework, leaving it exposed and
without any protective coating. And more importantly
does not stop the yellowing process which in truth
may well have now been accelerated.
Anyway.. I don't destroy my Amigas just cus I have
a problem with ageing machines. I mean what is retro?
The mouse is the original colour. So funny.
So the first computer is working.
And so is the second.
Just look at the red light illuminating
below the keys.
Sorry to go off on one about the damage of
surface removal. It's just that the the biggest
threat to the Amiga is actual users. I read
so many threads on EAB, Amiga Org, Reddit etc
that start with the words... just got an Amiga
and I am going to pimp it up. ... Sadly that is
what I have been reading since 1995 when the
first wave of killer Amigans destroyed the 1200
by hacking them into towers.
Now we have CDs, floppies being cut into cases.
I can understand why folk want to upgrade but
sorry these computers are never going to compete
in the modern world. They are what they are. Pretty
ancient technology.
All I will finally say is that when they are
all gone, and cut to ribbons and hacked and scraped
to death. Someone may unearth the lost scuzz
treasures and be grateful that some survived.
The computer has a serial number, it is unique.
Do anything you want but please don't lose the
valuable unique machine that you own. She
deserves better.
Remember the girl in Matrix just before she has
her plug pulled she says ' No ... Not like this '.
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever. Cherish.
