A500-IDE [Commodore Amiga]

The A500-IDE is a simple IDE interface for the Amiga 500. It is a circuit board designed to fit into the slot on the left-hand side of the computer. An IDE-CF adapter is then plugged into the interface. The package I received with this delivery contained a CF card with some software pre-installed, as well as a boot disk. This is essential for booting the system; it is not possible to boot from the CF card. The CF adapter does not require a separate power supply.

The rather brief instruction manual states that the jumper block must be set as follows:
1 – off; 2 – off; 3 – on; 4 – off; 5 – off; 6 – on; 7 – off; 8 – on; 9 – off
The manual does not explain exactly what the jumpers mean or what other settings are available here.

The boot process is quick and uneventful; once it’s complete, the floppy disc (used to make a backup) is no longer required. You should also make a copy of the CF card using, for example, Win32DiskImager. The contents of the CF card can be modified using, amongst other tools, WinUAE.

Conclusion
At the moment, I’m not entirely sure how this interface can be put to good use. As there is no integrated memory expansion, using, for example, WHD Load doesn’t make much sense. For example, ADF files can be created and written using the tools on the CF card. I think it’s better to invest a bit more money and get a more versatile solution for the A500.