How To Restore A Musical Amiga – Hackaday
Despite the huge strides in computing power and functionality that have been achieved in the past few decades, there are still some things that older computers can do which are basically impossible on modern machines. This doesn’t just include the ability to use older hardware that’s now obsolete, either, although that is certainly a perk. In this two-part restoration of an Amiga 500, [Jeremy] shows us some of these features like the ability to directly modify the audio capabilities of this retro machine.
The restoration starts by fixing some damage and cleaning up the rest of the machine so it could be powered up for the first time in 30 years. Since it was in fairly good shape he then started on the fun part, which was working with this computer’s audio capabilities. It includes a number of amplifiers and filters in hardware that can be switched on or off, so he rebuilt these with new op-amps and added some new controls so that while he is using his MIDI software he can easily change how it sounds. He also restored the floppy disk drives and cleaned up the yellowing on the plastic parts to improve the overall appearance, as well as some other general improvements.
These old Amigas have a lot going for them, but since [Jeremy] is a musician he mostly focused on bringing back some of the musical functionality of his childhood computer, although he did build up a lot of extra features in this machine as well. These types of audio circuits are not something found in modern computers, though, so to get a similar sound without using original hardware you’ll need to build something like this NES audio processing unit programmed in Verilog.
I still have a 500 in the back room. Perhaps it’s time to blow the dust off of it.
And send it straight to e-waste bin.
… to sample its sounds and use it in some good old Protracker productions
Thanks for sharing my son’s two part series on Restoring the Amiga 500. I am Jeremy’s Dad and My comments are on both parts.
I wouldn’t have made a comment like that.
Begone sharlatan!
Stop using my name you gumstain.
Yes, please do! The Amiga community is very active these days, with lots of new software and hardware available. For me it was nostalgic to play the old games again, but interesting to learn about the modern aspects of using and upgrading a piece of computing history. Very satisfying!
Cool. It would make a nice show piece in a glass showcase. Like in a museum.
Btw, I had an A500, too, which I cleaned and gave away a few years ago, when I planned to upgrade to an A2000.
Still kept the original workbench software and a kickstart floppy, among other things.
Whenever I feel nostalgic, I run Fellow on my 486 PC these days.
That PC has a real CRT VGA monitor and I don’t need an extra flicker-fixer, as with the physical thing.
Btw, it makes me wonder why flicker-fixers (deinterlacers and/or scandoublers) are no longer a thing.
Sure, LCD monitors don’t flicker, but they don’t handle the awkward video signals of old home computers and game consoles very well, either.
Back in the late 80s/early 90s, Amiga enthusiasts seemed to be very attracted by proper PC VGA monitors and the required flicker-fixers (those which have built-in scan doublers from 15Khz to 31KHz). 😉
I’ve been restoring and exploring my old Amiga here too. I went straight from using AmigaOS to a very brief stint with Windows 3.1 at university, leading quickly to early Linux. Going back to the Amiga has been a real treat with the knowledge I’ve acquired since those days. I’m coming to really appreciate what a cool OS AmigaOS is, and realising I never really needed a windows PC at all.
Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
By using our website and services, you expressly agree to the placement of our performance, functionality and advertising cookies. Learn more