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ScuzzBlog: Diaries December 2018

Entry 28th December 2018: Post 01: Amiga 500 - GVP Challenge Part II


Amiga 500 - GVP Challenge Part II

OK Part II of the GVP Challenge using the Series II A500-HD+. If
you read the blog yesterday I had dragged two A500+ machines to
the bench with a view to testing five GVP side cars... or as I
call them 'sidekicks'. Problem with the Amiga now is the status
of hard drives. It really has gotten like that old stage act
where the guy balances all those plates on sticks and has to
try and keep them going round. With me its testing and firing
up hard drives and keeping them alive. If I don't they die.

And so to the five drives and I will give you the status as I
recall the last time I used them.

GVP 1 - Turbo working but the hard drive locked up six months ago.
I was able to Parnet the drive across before the failure. Happens.

GVP 2 - Basic unit and working last time I formatted and Installed OS.

GVP 3 - Mega GVP with loads of stuff on it. Not my installation.

GVP 4 - Hard drive has failed. Pretty sad but hey.

GVP 5 - My beloved GVP on the 500 in the Workshop. Working.

I have a boxed GVP that has a working hard drive. I also have another
GVP that is not working with a broken side interface connector. But
for now lets see how these five get on today.

GVP Challenge Part II

The GVP Turbo works but the hard drive
sadly has fallen over. Never mind.

See yesterdays blog regarding this A500/A-500 Plus.

The power supplies becoming quite rare now.

This is the GVP Turbo power supply.

Speed test on the GVP Turbo in the Plus.

Memory test.

Installed cards on the sidecar.

And no discs on the register.

Smell the rubber.

Not bad for an A-500 Plus.

Memory being pulled off the Turbo.

On to the next of the GVPs

This unit was formatted and the OS installed.

Seems to be working just fine.

Just your basic Workbench and nothing else.

The drive appears to be a 44mb.

OK I can tick that GVP as working OK.

GVP Sidecar Number 3

Unit fires up with no problems.

And a very odd coloured Workbench
which is not of my making.

GVP Sidecar Number 4

No hard drive activity sadly.

GVP Sidecar Number 5

This I know works as it is attached
to my A500 in the Workshop that I use
for general purposes.

Has a virus checker. I use this computer
for checking Demo disks and the like so having
a block on possible intrusions from dodgy disks
is a sensible precaution. Not a very serious one.

And there you have it, five out of five working
with two having failed hard drives. I could always
rig something else up but it really isn't an issue.

That GVP in the box.. Just in case.

All done for today... Quite a marathon

In respect of the GVP and maybe also the A590, I do
like the concept of the sidecar on the A500. I do
have an internal drive on an A500 but I have to say
the swapping out of the drive and plugging into another
A500 just is so appealing. They are no real problem
other than for the odd noisy fan in the case. The
drive sizes tend to be more than adequate for the A500.

The problem is the power supply and the actual
hard drive. Both of which have a tendency to fail.

One extra added bonus is the SCSI which on the
Checkmate means I have two external hard drives.
I do love external drives I have to say. They
are much easier to deal with when you get a problem.

Only the one blog today. Took me quite a while
to check all the sidecars and put them all away.
The camera battery died on me so I called time
for today.

Back to League of Legends... As you do !! Happy days.


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Last updated 28th December 2018

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