So, I Found an Amiga...

[DavidD]

While cleaning out the storage room in my school, I stumbled across an Amiga.  I neglected to take a picture of that (I'll do it on Monday) and I didn't note the model, but I had two quick questions...

 

1) What's the cheapest way to get a power supply for a random Amiga?

2) Did most units have an integrated disk drive, or is that a missing element I'd need to track down?

 

I was hopeful there were more bits and pieces around, but it appears to be just one unit...

 

 

[bluejay]

1) This might not be the cheapest but it is the best: one of those brand new aftermarket PSUs on ebay. They're $50 and work a lot better than the old original power supplies.

2) All Amiga models apart from things like the CD32 and CDTV and whatnot had an integrated floppy drive. If you want to actually use the Amiga though, I'd recommend you buy either a Gotek or an SD/CF to IDE adapter depending on what model you have.

Edited February 19, 2021 by bluejay

[bbking67]

Yeah as mentioned by bluejay the aftermarket supplies are actually far better anyway as the old ones can fail and take out other stuff.

 

If the Amiga has a battery, carefully inspect for leakage and damage (and remove the battery)... I got an Amiga 500 that had a bunch of damage to the memory expansion from one of those crappy Varta batteries... luckily the Amiga worked fine without the expansion (which needs extensive repair).

 

Post some pics and the model!

[Daedalus2097]

To be fair, unlike many PSUs for 8-bit machines, the original Amiga PSUs rarely fail and take the machine with them. Typically they just become unstable (resulting in crashes), or stop working altogether. But the modern PSUs based on off-the-shelf modular supplies will work just fine, and will be cheaper to find than an original.

 

Not wanting to scaremonger, but it might be worth checking a new PSU with a multimeter before plugging it in - the other day there was a report in one of the Amiga groups of a guy who bought a PSU from someone who was building and selling them, and the 5V and 12V outputs were swapped in error. That motherboard is most likely a writeoff, and those machines are getting expensive...

 

As for the floppy drive, as already said, most models have a built-in drive. A Gotek or similar is a good substitute for ease of use. Some models of Amiga also have an internal IDE port, which makes for a more convenient experience, but also needs a RAM expansion to get the most of.

 

Finally, as well as the battery check, some Amigas have capacitors that tend to leak and damage the motherboard. The A600, A1200, A4000 and CD32 are all in that category. If it's one of those models, I strongly recommend getting the capacitors changed by someone competent with that sort of work. If they're not leaking already, they will.

[amiman99]

To make it easier and to give any recommendations we need to know what you have.

[rpiguy9907]

The only danger is accidentally getting a Commodore 128 power supply, which looks identical but will fry your computer...

[DavidD]

On 2/23/2021 at 8:57 AM, amiman99 said:

To make it easier and to give any recommendations we need to know what you have.

Sorry -- I've been weirdly busy doing inventory and haven't logged in in a bit... I'll double check on the Amiga when I'm at the school tomorrow!