Amiga n00b user question

[robert_sissco]

Alright, my Amiga 500 came in the mail today, but because it is a German model, the workbench disk it included is in the same language.

Looking on line for a copy that is in English, I am seeing ROM chips and floppies for it.

Do I need both, and if so do both need to be the same version, or would I be able to jus get the ROM and have the system book straight into Workbench from the ROM without the disks?

And if I need both, do the versions need to match?

 

[twolazy]

I dont think the rom matters for workbench, I think you just copy over the keymap to the storage drawer. At least it works that way for british/portuguese to american english. Not sure about german, but I would imagine its the same. So just use your workbench american diskette, and you can copy the keymap over.

 

[robert_sissco]

I do not have an American workbench diskette, I came upon the ROM and/or disk options when I was looking to procure a copy when I hit my confusion.

I know it is possible to change the keymap within the software itself, I am just curious if I just go with the ROM if that will be fine.

Ultimately I plan on going with a Gotek for it, but until I can acquire one I was curious how the OG software works.

But I do thank you for the input, like I said I am not where as familiar with the Amiga line as I am with Commodore's 8-bit systems, so I appreciate learning all I can.

 

[Timo W.]

The ROM is always the same, no matter of the language. (no difference between PAL/NTSC either with 1.2 and up)

WB 1.x had no support for localization. You can change the keymap, but not the language itself. For that, you need the ADFs of the Workbench in your language as you already know.

 

[dmac]

Non-plus A500 will ship either an 1.2 (33.something) or 1.3 (34.5) kickstart ROM.

There's no variants (for ntsc/pal, country, motherboard revision, etc). It's gonna be either of those ROMs.

You can tell which one you do have by looking at the floppy displayed on screen on power on or reboot. It's gonna say 1.2 or 1.3.

Archive.org has kickstart and workbench images. Search for either with "amiga" and filter results by software.

You could also buy them, but who owns AmigaOS is disputed.

Most Amiga 500 software is compatible with both 1.2 and 1.3, but has issues with newer kickstarts. The best ROM to have in the socket is therefore the 1.3 one.

Since you just got your A500, you should open it up and figure out motherboard revision, and whether there's any evidence of modding. Also check the trapdoor for expansions. If there's one, chances are it has a varta barrel battery; these need to be cut out of the board as soon as possible to prevent damage.

You will need a trapdoor expansion if you don't have one. There's a common open source hardware one that several specialized amiga shops do carry, with maxes out chip ram to 1MB and slow ram to 1.5MB, besides providing the RTC.

With such a trapdoor expansion, you can use mkick to load newer kickstarts into the end of slow ram, when you need to run modern Amiga software.

 

[dmac]

I know it is possible to change the keymap within the software itself, I am just curious if I just go with the ROM if that will be fine.

English workbench floppies will load English keymap by default.

Otherwise, Extras disk has a bunch of keymaps for a lot of languages. The desired keymap can be copied into the workbench disk, and s:startup-sequence can be edited to load your keymap of choice (e.g. setmap de).

Ultimately I plan on going with a Gotek for it, but until I can acquire one I was curious how the OG software works.

A good solution is an adapter for the external floppy port (in the rear of A500), combined with a "DF0 Switch", which allows you to make the external gotek appear as the first (boot) drive at will. This way, you can keep your Amiga's floppy drive as-is.

I recommend reading FlashFloppy's wiki before buying anything. You'll probably want an OLED display, a speaker and a rotary encoder in your Gotek. Some shops will even install FlashFloppy for you.

But I do thank you for the input, like I said I am not where as familiar with the Amiga line as I am with Commodore's 8-bit systems, so I appreciate learning all I can.

The Amiga can be quite overwhelming. Take it at a slow pace and you'll get there and enjoy it.

 

[RetroNinja]

What are the steps to load a new keymap? Where do you add it in a startup?