🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi Martin,

On 31 Mar 1996, Martin Johnson wrote:

> My sister was given an old A500 and wants to write a thesis on it.
>
> Q1) It's lacking a monitor.  Will a VGA or SVGA PC screen do the job?
>

To _just_ do the job you could use a TV and a A520. But the next better
bet would be to use a 1080 or 1084s monitor (RGB). Or perhaps a VGA.

> Q2) Is there an A500 Word Processor program somewhere on the net?
>

One comes to mind... EdWord. It can be found at...

ncftp wuarchive.wustl.edu:/.archive02/systems/amiga/aminet/text/edit/

...there are many others. If you want something more "packaged", you can
try calling Software Hut (info... 1-610-586-5703 (USA)) and ask them too.
However you live in a ideal place, so you should be able to find a local
Amiga dealer of some kind. At least it seems that way to me.

If spell checking is not important, you can always just use ED. From a CLI
prompt type...

ed <filename> <buffersize in bytes> (default buffer size is 40000 bytes)

...another window will open and just start typing. I used that to create
a list of all 400+ video tapes and what was on them. It was fast and easy.

> Q3) If so and I download it on my PC, would the A500 be able to read a PC
> format disk?
>

I'm not sure about OS 1.3, but on OS 2+ and a DD disk drive you can read
IBM at 720K. If you are lucky enough to have a HD disk drive then 1.44M.

Since you didn't mention which OS the A500 has, I will base the rest of
this on a A500 with DD disk drive and OS 2 or higher.

If the DOSDriver is already installed then your set. You can check by
loading WorkBench and then open the Devs, then DOSDrivers drawers. There
would be a icon called "PC0". Or you could just stick the disk in the
drive and see if an icon appears on the WorkBench screen that _doesn't_
have questionable writing under it.

If the icon isn't in that drawer, leave it open, then check the drawer
Storage/DOSDrivers for it there. If you find it there then you have to
make a choice. First you could grab the icon (held left mouse button over
icon) and drag it into the Devs/DOSDrivers drawer. This would move it to
the other drawer and the A500 would always be ready to read IBM disk
(720K) everytime it was turned on. This means some memory would go to
using that whether or not you needed it. To use, just re-boot or
double-click the icon. The drive will make a noise and you are ready to
use it.

The other way is to just double click on the icon and use the DOSDriver as
long as the power is left on, with _no_ resets.

BTW, this only lets you read the data on the disk, it doesn't let you run
IBM programs.

Sometimes when I'm on the PC I will save many programs/text files
relating to the Amiga that I receive from the Internet and place them on a
formatted 720K DD disk. Then transfer them to the Amiga for storage/use.
This is much faster then having to use the Amiga to go back and get them.

> Q4) Is there anything I should know about the A500, or can anyone point me to
> some background info on the net?
>
> Thanks in advance for any info.
>

IMHO some would count the A500 out, but I run a A500, though it's not
stock, I am writing this message to you, seems to work okay :)   .

If the Amiga came with some manuals I would read them first. They
offer the best in the way of basics. Then maybe do a search with Yahoo,
Lycos, Search, etc and see what develops.

You did the right thing leaving a message here. There are many good people
with all kinds of experience out here and in other Amiga Newsgroups. Mine
isn't even good advice, but I hope this helps some :)   .

If I can help further, please send E-Mail to the below address.

CUL8R


Michael (shotgun@slip.net)

Founding member of S.A.D. (Slipnet A Disappointment)

Now with new members!!

Martin Johnson (martin@nildram.co.uk) wrote:
: My sister was given an old A500 and wants to write a thesis on it.

: Q1) It's lacking a monitor.  Will a VGA or SVGA PC screen do the job?

No.

: Q2) Is there an A500 Word Processor program somewhere on the net?

Probably. Amiga software can be found on Aminet. Since you're in the UK, 
that would be sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk.

: Q3) If so and I download it on my PC, would the A500 be able to read a PC 
: format disk?

Depends how old it is. If you've got OS 2.1 or better, you've got CrossDos, 
which allows you to read double-density MS-DOS floppies. Double click on 
the PC0 icon in storage/dosdrivers, or place it in devs/dosdrivers to 
make it active after reboot. Note: Double-density only.

: Q4) Is there anything I should know about the A500, or can anyone point me to 
: some background info on the net?

Pretty broad question. Can you be more specific?

: Thanks in advance for any info.

You're welcome.

Jeremy
jeremyn@injersey.com
jeremyn@well.com