Back Original

Pimped Amiga 500

Back in the early ’90s, I had an Amiga 2000 with just one expansion card: a SCSI controller paired with a massive 290 MB hard drive. Getting software and games to run from the hard drive—with only 1 MB of chip RAM—required a lot of tricks. But it was fun, and it taught me a lot about computers.

A few months ago, I stumbled upon a cheap Amiga 500, and I couldn’t resist. I decided to restore it from the ground up and add a GottaGoFast RAM + IDE controller to finally build what would have been my dream machine in 1990: an Amiga running OS 1.3 with fast RAM!

This is the story of my pimped Amiga 500: 1 MB chip RAM, 8 MB fast RAM, and 512 MB of storage. Quite a beast for its time! 🙂

Used Materials

Here is the hardwares pieces I used:

First boot

At first, I had a hard time getting a Workbench disk to boot properly — even though the game disks I tested worked just fine. (They probably have better error correction routines.)

Each time I tried to start Workbench from different floppies, I ran into either “Read/Write Error” or “Please insert disk in drive 0!” messages. After several attempts and a few frustrating retries, I finally managed to reach a command prompt.

That’s when I noticed something strange: the system was reporting 1 MB of chip RAM. Wait a second — this is an Amiga 500, not a 500+! Even with a memory expansion, it should normally show 512 KB chip RAM and 512 KB slow RAM. This means my A500 must have been modified to convert the slow RAM into chip RAM. (For reference: “slow RAM” sits on the same bus as chip memory, but it’s not directly addressable by the custom chips.)

Inside

Of course, I found a memory expansion installed: a SupraRam 500 Rev.2 (details here), identifiable by the four DIP switches. It’s a very neat card — the battery uses a standard coin cell, which is much less prone to leaking than typical NiMH batteries.

The motherboard is a Rev 6A, which is internally ready for 1 MB of chip RAM but only has 512 KB installed. Judging by the setup, this Amiga seems to have been modified to provide 1 MB chip RAM: the JP7A jumper is fully open, and JP2 has pins 1 and 2 shorted!

Inside, there’s a fat Agnus 8372A (capable of addressing 1 MB chip RAM) paired with a Denise R8 (OCS) rather than a SuperDenise (ECS). While it’s not an ECS setup, this combination at least allows Extra Half-Brite (EHB) mode.

Hardware restoration

Plastics

The plastics on this Amiga were just a bit yellowed — nothing too severe. I was able to recover them easily using the same Retrobright box I used for my pimped Amiga 600.

The power supply, however, had a noticeably stronger yellow tint compared to the other parts. I applied Retrobright to all components, and for the power supply, I gave it a longer exposure. It hasn’t fully returned to its original color, but it’s much improved.

On the left: before cleaning and Retrobright; on the right: after treatment:

Metallic shield

Both the upper and lower shield parts were in poor condition, showing some corrosion. While these shields aren’t strictly necessary for the Amiga to function, I wanted to keep my A500 as authentic as possible.

I treated the metal with Ambro-Sol spray (98% zinc) — a kind of metallic paint that also protects against corrosion. Before painting, I lightly sanded all corroded areas to ensure a smooth finish. The paint has a matte finish, which I actually prefer over the original look.

On the left: before painting; on the right: after treatment:

Keyboard

The keyboard was covered in dust and had a noticeable yellow tint. I removed all the keys to thoroughly clean each part and also subjected them to the Retrobright process.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos of the cleaned keyboard on its own, but the results should be visible in the overall photos of the restored A500.

The mouse

The mouse wasn’t working properly and showed several issues:

I replaced the right button with a new one — slightly more “clicky,” but it didn’t require any extra pressure to use.

Next, I cleaned all internal parts using alcohol and some Q-Tips, and I retensioned the spring by gently pulling both sides at the same time.

The final result: a cleaner interior and a fully functional, “like new” mouse.

Floppy drive

The floppy drive in my Amiga 500 is a Matsushita JU-253-031P, recognizable by its plain black top cover over the mechanism. While it gives a clean look, it also makes dust removal more challenging compared to other drives.

I carefully used Q-Tips to remove as much dust as possible, paying special attention to the read/write heads, which are still easily accessible and crucial for reliable disk reading.

Additionally, I had to resolder the wires on the small floppy detector button, which had been causing the “Please insert disk in drive” errors during reading.

Here’s a look at the drive during cleaning and after reassembly:

Motherboard & Memory card

The motherboard was in pretty good condition. I simply applied some FACOM Contact Spray, which helps remove dust, humidity, and oxidation. It’s said to also provide some protection for the circuits — well, it certainly can’t hurt!

I did the same for the memory expansion card. Additionally, I replaced the soldered battery with a battery holder, making the setup cleaner and allowing the battery to be easily swapped in the future.

Here’s a look at the motherboard and memory card after cleaning and the battery upgrade:

Extentions

I installed the IDE68k + GottaGoFastram combo along with the patched Kickstart ROM that allows booting directly from an IDE device. I also picked up a 512 MB CompactFlash card, which provides more than enough space — considering that back in the mid-80s, even 20 or 40 MB felt enormous.

Booting from the IDE interface requires two signals: /INT2 and /OVR.

Both signals are actually available on the Zorro II 86-pin connector next to the 68000 CPU (see: mklboards.fi).

Here are the tests I ran before finalizing the modification:

At first, the CF wasn’t powering up. Pin 20 of the IDE connector should provide +5 V for powering CF cards, but I measured 0 V.

To simplify things, I modified the CF adapter, removing the bottom power connector and adding only the single required +5 V pin on top.

I slightly modified the A500 case to fit the CF card reader under the floppy drive, making card swaps extremely convenient without reopening the machine each time.

Then I placed the Cf card reader to calibrate the hole needed for the compaq flash to be inserted. It first made some small holes with a drill and I finished the job with a dremel.

Because of the new placement, I needed a longer ribbon cable between the CF adapter and the IDE controller.

Finaly I added a red led to monitor IDE drive activity in addition to the floppy drive. In fact I used two 3mm leds glued between the two original ones of the Amiga 500. the mod is fully reversible. I used some aluminium adhesive to both isolate power led from the red light and better diffuse the red light on the original drive led. As you can see, there is one resistor for both leds.

Finally, I added a red LED to monitor IDE activity, complementing the original floppy LED.

The result looks great and gives clear feedback: IDE activity, floppy activity, or both at once.

On the left: no IDE or floppy activity — on the right: IDE activity.

 

Now: left = floppy only — right = both IDE and floppy working simultaneously:

With the hardware restored and the extensions fully installed, it was finally time to move on to the next step: preparing the operating system.

Preparing OS Install

Amiberry configuration

To make the installation process easier, I prepared the system using Amiberry first. I used a Kickstart 1.3 ROM patched with IDE controller support, similar to the physical ROM I purchased from Amigastore.eu. The version I used can be found here: https://www.uprough.net/releases/Amiga_Roots_Music_Tools_Beta_2/

Below are the Amiberry settings I used to replicate my Amiga 500 hardware as closely as possible:

These settings allow Amiberry to behave almost exactly like the upgraded A500 hardware, making the OS installation straightforward and 100% compatible with the real machine.

HDToolsBox 

Nothing particularly unusual here, except that I first had to free some space on the “IDE Setup” floppy (I honestly don’t remember where I originally got it). Without doing so, HDToolBox refused to save the new drive-type definition.

Once that was sorted out, here’s what I essentially did:

These steps allow HDToolBox to correctly recognize and handle the CF card as a proper fixed drive under Workbench.

Partitions

Below is the partitioning scheme I chose. I generally prefer to separate the operating system, its accompanying utilities, applications, games, and user data — essentially the Amiga equivalent of a “/home” directory.

For all partitions, I used FFS with a maxtransfer  value of 0x1FE00 .

format DRIVE DH0 name Workbench FFS QUICK 

Workbench 1.3 install

Installing Workbench 1.3 is fairly straightforward: it simply involves copying the contents of the Workbench and Extra disks onto the bootable partition, then editing the startup-sequence.

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copy workbench1.3: to dh0: all clone

copy "extra 1.3:" to dh0: all done

rename DH0:s/startup-sequence DH0:s/startup-sequence.FD

rename DH0:s/startup-sequence.HD DH0:s/startup-sequence

edit DH0:s/startup-sequence ; replace the call "Execute s:Startup-sequence" by "Execute s:Startup-sequence.FD"

I also copied HDToolBox from the “IDE Setup” disk into DH0:/Tools for convenience.

After removing all floppy disks and resetting the virtual machine, the Amiga immediately booted from the hard drive.

Here’s the Workbench 1.3 booting directly from the CF card:

Installed Software

In this chapter, I’m going to give an overview of all the software I installed on the A500, along with their sources — and no, it’s not always from Aminet.net!

Sources

Where I got it

Before diving into the software itself, here’s a quick overview of the main sources I used to gather everything described in this chapter

Installed Tools

Software Purpose Source
DiskMaster 2 File manager Archive.org – compilation
CygnusED 2.12 Full features tet editor Archive.org – Neck utilities
PowerPacker Compression and tool to read compressed content Aminet
DMS 1.11 Disk imager Aminet
TSGui Graphical interface for ADF and DMS Aminet
LHA 1.38 Amiga’s default archiving tool Aminet
Mostra 1.06 Image viewer ftp.funet.fi
Sysinfo Hardware and system informations Aminet
X-Copy Pro 3.31 Disk copier Archive.org – Neck utilities
SuperDuper Disk copier Aminet / fish-0488
Bootx 4.5  Antivirus Aminet / fish-0641

Workbench enhancements

Software Purpose Source
ARP 1.3 Better AmigaDos commands Aminet
WShell 2.0 Better shell Archive.org – original software disk
MyMenus Allow to make custom menu entries Aminet / fish-0225
Fkeys Key shortcuts for windows and screen switcher Aminet / fish-0532
Dmouse 1.20 Screen and mouse blanker + windows management Archive.org – Neck utilities
MSClock Clock on title bar Aminet
Setclock v34.3 Y2k patch for setclock Obligement

Applications and games

For applications, I simply installed a few classic programs from the era, mostly for fun. By today’s standards, these tools aren’t particularly productive, but they give a great sense of how software worked back then. All of them were sourced from archives.org and ftp.funet.fi (see the “Sources / Where I Got It” section for links):

As for games, I only included those that are natively installable on the A500. I didn’t see the point of using JST, since I can rely on WHDLoad on my other Amigas. The games I chose come from my personal list of best Amiga titles, curated over time:

Configuration & customizations

This section describes the steps I followed to customize my A500, presented roughly in the order I tackled them. Some steps are explained in more detail than others, depending on the level of customization involved.

Bare minimum for a usable OS

A file manager with OS 1.3 feeling

First, I installed DiskMaster 2 — a must-have if you want a proper file manager on base Workbench 1.3, which can’t even display files and directories that have no associated icons.

Here’s what I did to set it up:

To launch DiskMaster, I run: dm s:dm.conf either from the shell or via a custom menu, as explained later.

Below is the full configuration file for reference:

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Reset

AddMenu Project, Printer Setup, SetPrinter

AddMenu Project, Change Command, ChgCmd

AddMenu Project, Save Config, S, SaveConfig

AddMenu Project, About, About

AddMenu Project, Quit, Q, Confirm "Are you sure you want to quit?" Yes No;Quit

AddMenu Tools, Run Selected, Single;External run %s

AddMenu Tools, Execute Script, Single;External run Execute %s

AddMenu Tools, Swap S<->D, Swap

AddMenu Tools, Run DM Script, Single;Batch %s

AddMenu Archives, Lha Add, StdIO "CON:0/12/640/100/Add Window";Extern "Lha <* -r a";StdIO CLOSE

AddMenu Archives, Lha Extract, StdIO "CON:0/12/640/100/Extract Window";Extern Lha <* x %s;StdIO CLOSE

AddMenu Archives, Lha List, StdIO "CON:0/12/640/160/List Window";Extern Lha v %s;Wait;StdIO CLOSE

AddMenu Archives, DMS Write, StdIO "CON:0/12/640/160/List Window";Extern DMS write %s TO DF0:;Wait;StdIO CLOSE

AddMenu Disk, Format, Format

AddMenu Disk, DiskCopy, DiskCopy

AddMenu Disk, Format DF0:, Confirm "Are you sure?";Format DF0:

AddMenu Disk, Format DF1:, Format DF1: VERIFY "WorkDisk"

AddMenu Disk, Clear  DF0:, Format DF0: QUICK INSTALL VERIFY

AddMenu Disk, Copy DF0: DF0:, DiskCopy DF0: DF0:

AddMenu Disk, Copy DF0: DF1:, DiskCopy DF0: DF1:

AddMenu Control, Lock as Source, Lock S

AddMenu Control, Lock as Dest, Lock D

AddMenu Control, UnLock, UnLock

AddMenu Control, UnLock all, UnLock All

AddMenu Control, Toggle Expand, Expand

AddMenu Editors, Textra, T, Extern run Textra %s

AddMenu Editors, CygnusED, T, Extern run Sys:Utilities/CygnusED %s

AddMenu Editors, EditPad, T, Extern run Sys:Utilities/Notepad %s

Button "Parent"

SetFormat "NS T DMY A"

BarFormat "DiskMaster     Chip:%C   Fast:%F      %T  %D.%M"

TitleFormat "%B/%F %I/%C"

OpenScreen 2

Color 05A FFF 002 F80

Font topaz/8

OpenWindow 278  11 84 245 CMD

AddCmd Root, 10, Root

AddCmd Parent, 10, Parent

AddCmd All, 30, Select *

AddCmd Clear, 30, Deselect *

AddCmd Select, 30, Select

AddCmd Exclude, 30, DeSelect

AddCmd Copy, 20, ReqPattern;Copy %s %d

AddCmd Cp New, 20, Copy %s %d NEWER

AddCmd Move, 20, ReqPattern;Move %s %d

AddCmd Delete, 30, ReqPattern;Confirm "All selected files will be lost.";Delete %s

AddCmd Rename, 20, Recurse OFF;Rename %s

AddCmd Protect, 20, Recurse OFF;Protect %s

AddCmd Comment, 20, Recurse OFF;Comment %s

AddCmd Find, 20, ReqPattern "Please enter search pattern";Find %s

AddCmd Read, 20, Read %s

AddCmd HexRead, 20, Read %s HEX

AddCmd ShowPic, 20, ShowPic %s

AddCmd MakeDir, 20, MakeDir

AddCmd Size, 20, UnMark OFF;Check %s

AddCmd Version, 20, extern c:version %s; Wait 2

AddCmd Playmod, 20, extern run APPS:Protracker/backplay %s

OpenWindow 362  11 278 245

OpenWindow   0  11 278 245

AddAutoCmd FORM????ILBM,ShowPic %s

AddAutoCmd FORM????ACBM,ShowPic %s

AddAutoCmd FORM????8SVX,ShowPic %s

AddAutoCmd FORM????ANIM,Extern View %s

AddAutoCmd ??-lh,StdIO "CON:0/12/640/100/Extract Window";Extern Lha <* x %s;StdIO CLOSE

AddAutoCmd TEXT,Read %s

AddAutoCmd DEFAULT,Read %s HEX

Text editors

Once you have a proper file manager, the next thing you’ll do most often while configuring and customizing Workbench 1.3 is editing configuration files. For this reason, I installed two excellent text editors — far superior to the default NotePad or ED.

Both editors complement each other: Textra for speed, CygnusED for advanced editing.

Better shell

If, like me, you’re used to Bash or Zsh, the original Amiga Shell — even in the 3.x releases — feels quite limited, missing some “basic” features we take for granted. Fortunately, two tools make the CLI interface far more user-friendly: ARP 1.3 and WShell.

For ARP, I simply followed the installer and opted not to install the ARP shell, keeping the setup minimal.

WShell, on the other hand, comes with an installer that can be run directly from the CLI: Wshell-install 

It doesn’t create an icon, so it’s invisible from Workbench by default. I made several customizations to integrate it better:

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CONSOLE=CON:20/15/580/150/WShell/CLOSE

FROM=S:WShell-Startup

NAME=WShell

I also tweaked the FComp configuration ( SYS:s/Config-Fcomp) to get more familiar key usage:

Here is the full configuration file for reference:

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; Options record: SORT/S,GROUP/S,NOPATH/S,NOTOOLTYPES/S

OPTIONS nopath ; notooltypes

; FILETYPE records: `FILETYPE/K,FMT/K,REMOVE/S'

FILETYPE TEXT   FMT "E %a"

FILETYPE ILBM   FMT "sys:utilities/display %a*N"

FILETYPE DOC    FMT "sys:utilities/more %a*N"

; Command records: `COMMAND/K,PATH/K,PAT/K,FMT/K,REMOVE/S'

COMMAND EXecute PATH S:                       ; an argument PATH

COMMAND DELete  FMT "%f%0 %1 %2 %3%l"         ; multiple files

COMMAND REName  FMT "REName FROM %0 TO %0"    ; command-specific rewrite

COMMAND tex     PAT "#?.tex"

COMMAND DVisw   PAT "#?.dvi" FMT "%f%r0%l"

COMMAND wait    FMT "You're waiting ... %0"   ; input context example

COMMAND VERsion PATH "libs:,devs:"

; Hotkeys: `KEY/K,QUAL/K,PATH/K,PAT/K,FMT/K,AUTO/S,REMOVE/S'

KEY 66 QUAL 0 ; TAB key for completion

KEY 29 FMT ";Choices: %0 %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9"

; Input keys: `KEY/K,QUAL/K,NAME/K,PATH/K,PAT/K,FMT/K,AUTO/S,REMOVE/S'

KEY 76 QUAL  8 NAME CTRL-UARROW        FMT "*E[101]" ; search up

KEY 77 QUAL  8 NAME CTRL-RARROW        FMT "*E[100]" ; search down

KEY 62 QUAL 0 NAME KPUARROW FMT "*E[103]" ; line up

KEY 30 QUAL 0 NAME KPDARROW FMT "*E[102]" ; line down

KEY 31 QUAL 0 NAME PGUP FMT "*E[113]" ; page up

KEY 63 QUAL 0 NAME PGDOWN FMT "*E[112]" ; page down

KEY 61 QUAL 0 NAME HOME FMT "*E[99]"  ; session top

KEY 29 QUAL 0 NAME END FMT "*E[98]"  ; session bottom

KEY 79 QUAL 16 NAME LALT-LARROW FMT "*E[79]" ; skip left name  alt-control-O

KEY 78 QUAL 16 NAME LALT-RARROW FMT "*E[73]" ; skip right name alt-control-I

KEY 79 QUAL  8 NAME CTRL-LARROW FMT "*E[85]" ; del left name   alt-control-U

KEY 78 QUAL  8 NAME CTRL-RARROW FMT "*E[89]" ; del right name  alt-control-Y

I also customized the WShell prompt in S:WShell-Startup  to make it more informative and visually clear: the time is displayed between brackets in black (color 2), followed by the current path in orange (color 3).

Here is the content of SYS/s:WShell-Startup :

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prompt "%2[%t] %3%c%1>"

Additionally, I modified SYS:/s:ENV/titlebar to display the shell number, free fast memory, and free chip memory: 

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%w %n - %mc chip / %mf fast

Finally, I set WShell as the default CLI by adding it somewhere in the startup-sequence.

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; WShell

assign remove CON:  ; is replaced by the next line

C:DHOpts CON: PIP:  ; set the new display handler

C:FComp             ; enable completion and history navigation

C:SetExecute        ; use wshell for Execute command

Custom menu for quick access to most usefull tools 

The final touch for a more usable Workbench 1.3 is customizing the system menu to include shortcuts to the most frequently used tools, such as DiskMaster, Textra, and NewShell.

To achieve this, I installed MyMenu following the official documentation:

The full configuration file is as follows:

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color 2

menu <D> Tools DiskMaster | CLI SYS:c/dm SYS:s/dm.conf

menu <S> Tools NewShell | WB SYS:NewWSH

menu <B> Tools BootX | WB SYS:System/bootx

menu <T> Tools Textra | CLI SYS:c/Textra

menu <S> Tools CygnusED | WB SYS:Utilities/CygnusED

menu <A> Floppy Dms-Adf | WB SYS:tools/tsgui

menu <D> Floppy SuperDuper | WB SYS:tools/SD

menu <X> Floppy X-Copy | CLI SYS:c/xCopy

Workbench enhancements & tools

The following software is not strictly necessary, but each clearly enhances the Workbench 1.3 experience. They are easy to install, require little to no configuration, and bring useful improvements to everyday use. I’ll go quickly through them:

Software Purpose Comment
FKeys keyboard shortcuts to switch between Windows and screen  Copied to a new Commodities  drawer on SYS: and run from the startup-sequence.
Dmouse Fine-tuned mouse accelerator and screen blanker Executable to SYS:C, handler to SYS:L launched via startup-sequence: dmouse -a1 -t0 -A0 
Msclock Displays the time on the menu bar Same installation logic as DMouse: executable to SYS:C , handler to SYS:L, then run from startup-sequence: msclock -d -m -o .
PPnew  Powerpacker tools & libraries (required for some packed programs and mods) Copied PPMore/powerpacker.library  to SYS:libs , pp  and PPMore to SYS:C , PPMore.doc to SYS:docs , same for ppShow and ppAnim  
LHA Default file archiver on AmigaOS Ran LHA_e138.run to extract files, then copied lha, splitlzh , and joinlzh  to SYS:C 
BootX Up-to-date antivirus for OS 1.3 On my setup it crashes often, but it can detect viruses in memory, bootblocks, floppies, and files. Installation: libs/reqtools.library.13 to SYS:libs, all BootX files to SYS:system , BootX.doc to SYS:docs, latest recognition file to SYS:system. Adjusted colors for a Workbench 1.3 look: color1=blue 05A, color2=white FFF, color3=black 002, color4=orange F80.
Setclock v34.3 Y2K-compatible clock for OS 1.3 Prevents year misinterpretation (e.g., 2000=1979).
Mostra 1.08 Image viewer Copied to SYS:Utilities

These tools improve daily usability, add visual polish, and ensure compatibility with classic file formats and archives.

Floppy disk Tools

Even though I can manipulate Amiga floppies on my other machines, sometimes it’s quicker to work directly on the A500 when it’s connected. The following software makes floppy management much easier:

Software Purpose Comment
X-Copy Well-known floppy disk copier Copied to SYS:C 
DMS amd TSGui Floppy disk (un)archiver and associated GUI Ran dms1111.run to extract DMS, and unlha for the TSGui archive. Then copied: dms to SYS:C, DMS.doc to SYS:docs, tsgui to SYS:Tools
SuperDuper Another floppy disk copier Copied sd to SYS:Tools and documentation to SYS:Docs.

Tested but removed

I also tried installing and using some other interesting tools and hacks, but ultimately removed them because they caused crashes or unexpected behavior on my setup:

Sometimes, stability wins over flashy features, especially when working with a vintage machine like the A500.

Startup-sequence

It’s now time to share my startup-sequence. Of course, everyone has their own rules and preferences, so I’m simply presenting mine as an example.

My approach was guided by three main goals:

  1. Simplify the default OS 1.3 naming conventions: instead of juggling startup-sequence, startup-sequence.FD, and startupII.
  2. Consolidate everything related to my base but customized Workbench into a single file for easier maintenance.
  3. Create a user-startup, similar to OS 2.0+, mainly to handle application-specific assigns and personal tweaks.

The full startup-sequence file is provided below for reference:

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SetPatch >NIL:

SetPatchMrgCop >NIL:

SYS:System/FastMemFirst

SetClock load

Addbuffers df0: 30

; faster text rendition

FF >NIL: -0

; preload most used commands

resident c:Resident pure

resident c:List pure

resident c:CD pure

resident c:Mount pure

resident c:Assign pure

resident c:Makedir pure

resident c:dir pure

resident CLI L:Shell-Seg SYSTEM pure add; activate Shell

; assign

assign sys: dh0:

assign c: SYS:c

assign L: SYS:l

assign FONTS: SYS:fonts

assign CGFONTS: SYS:CGFonts

assign CGCACHE: SYS:CGFonts/CGCache

assign S: SYS:s

assign DEVS: SYS:devs

assign LIBS: SYS:libs

; Ramdisk config

makedir ram:t

makedir ram:env

makedir ram:clipboards

assign t: ram:t

assign ENV: ram:env

assign CLIPS: ram:clipboards

copy S:env/ ENV: QUIET

copy S:Ramdisk.info ram:Disk.info

copy S:ram.info ram:.info

; Mounts

mount speak:

mount aux:

mount pipe:

; WShell

assign remove CON:  ; is replaced by the next line

C:DHOpts CON: PIP:  ; set the new displaz handler

C:FComp             ; enable completion and history navigation

C:SetExecute        ; use wshell for Execute command

; set keymap

SYS:System/SetMap F

;set path for Workbench

path ram: c: sys:utilities sys:system s: sys:prefs add

C:dmouse >NIL: -a1 -t0 -A0

C:msclock >NIL: -d -m -o

SYS:commodities/Fkeys >NIL:

execute s:user-startup

; load workbench

LoadWB delay

C:MyMenu

endcli

ScreenShots

To produce cleaner and more polished screenshots, I captured them using Amiberry / UAE rather than the real hardware.

This allows for crisp images that clearly show the Workbench, tools, and customizations without the glare or color inconsistencies that sometimes appear on a CRT display.

Below are several examples illustrating my setup and configurations:

See it live on real hardware

If you want to see the fully restored and customized Amiga 500 in action, here’s a video showing it running on the real hardware. It demonstrates the Workbench, tools, and all the tweaks described in this article.

Related posts:

  1. Game gear : from trashed console to brand new with TFT display
  2. Game Boy Color : IPS display and new shell
  3. Pimped Amiga 600
  4. PSP Go : screen replacement and microSD storage