The Amiga Mini

DoctorEdgeWild

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118878994#Comment_118878994

Yeah, absolutely the best bet. Thanks Skerries. 😀

MSVforever

I also pre-ordered one from Smyths for home delivery.

Has anyone received an email yet re shipping since Friday is the release date?

MSVforever

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118868704#Comment_118868704

That's correct. However there are loads of whdownload games available. I have already prepared an usb stick with all the classics.

StereoSound

Anyone remember Virgin Mega stores in the early 90's with all the Amiga software ? It was on the second floor in the middle. The C64 section was much bigger because of popularity I would imagine. I remember mostly big box software the Amiga games came in, not the little cassette packs like the C64, Spectrum and Amstrad stuff came in. Lots of booming music playing in the background as I walked around with my hand stuffed into a bag of crisps. Usually we bought a game when we went in there.

So tomorrow is the big day (the 8th), lets see how good this Amiga mini is going to be.

Steve X2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118885155#Comment_118885155

I got the email this morning from Smyths with the tracking code. Should be here tomorrow or Monday.

McDermotX

Delivery for tomorrow from Smyths here as well. Forgot I'd actually put in for one, and only remembered what with all the reviews of late. Just for the curiosity/box on the shelf like all these things, but seems a nice enough little tribute.

Re: Pi400 with PiMiga.......Had a mess with that a while back. Nice little diversion, but haven't touched it in months. Might have been on the 1.5 rev I think, but I think the creator had released a rev 2.0 last time i checked. Clearly a bit of work went into it. Lot of stuff running better than others, some stuff set NTSC, some PAL etc

Just so many options for running Amiga stuff nowadays from the real deal, Vampires, MiSTer etc

MSVforever

Thanks guys. I received the e-mail with the DPD tracking code as well. It would be great if the box arrives tomorrow for the weekend :)

Steve X2

The mini floppy USB stick was a nice surprise addon included in the box. It was in the shipping box rather than the main device box. So keep an eye out for it in case it ends up in the bin :)

Inviere

Got mine aswell, likely to remain on shelf duty permanently. Nice to have, like all the Mini's really

McDermotX

Aye. Nice dinkie little thing, and it's not a completely terrible selection of titles by any means, and of course, the WHD Load feature opens it up well. Probably too much to expect an A500 Maxi this time, perhaps an A600 Maxi is more realistic, but neither would be feasible if the mini doesn't find a market in any case.

Gamepad is a bit crap alright, so will try out a Speedlink USB, or even the second revision of the 64 stick, at least before it ends up back on the shelf :)

Not sure what the USB stick thing is, (Smyths bonus maybe considering it's not in the box ?? Certainly the USB provided for the YouTubers was just for testing), haven't stuck it in a PC yet anyway, or the Mini.

DoctorEdgeWild

Even as an expensive ornament it's cool! Hoping the one I ordered from Amazon arrives for my brother this weekend, as I just so happen to be home in Dublin next weekend, what a coincidence!

Steve X2

The USB stick is 4GB and just has a readme pdf doc in a few languages. All that's in the doc is a link to grab the whdload package.

StereoSound

I got mine earlier, it's pretty tiny. it kinda makes me want a full size Maxi version like they did with the C64 Maxi. The controller feels fine to me, it's very 90's looking and feels of the era. I like the mouse in particular, a real throw back. in saying all of this I don't really think it's worth the 130 I paid for it. Nice you can add your own games but I think having a non functioning keyboard will cause problems for some games you may want to add. Maybe I will change my mind further down the line about the value of it. It is a lovely little shelf ornament though, looks cool for that purpose. I would probably suggest to people to wait and see if it comes down in price. Guy in Smyths said they had loads of them there so it's a given they may be reduced after the short lived hype dies down.

Steve X2

I made a simple stand for the A500 mini as realistically it's going to sit on a shelf pretty soon 🙂

The design is based off someone else's stand for the full size Amiga 500, so not fully my own work.

Link for those with 3D Printers that might want it:

https://www.printables.com/model/165599-amiga-500-mini-a500-mini-display-stand

mondeo

I picked this up the other day, Its not bad and I do like the mouse and gamepad. It fits with the early 90s flare. Im not sure I would recommend it for €130 though as I think it's over priced. I kinda wish I bought the Rasberry pi 400 and put pimiga 2.0 on it. It would have been a better buy and cheaper believe it or not. I had the Amiga back in the day, two of them actually. This is just an emulator in a fancy little shell. It works and it is what it is but it's over priced.

Inviere

@mondeo "This is just an emulator in a fancy little shell."

That's all any of the mini consoles are, cheap low end SOC's that offer the bare minimum needed to emulate the relevant games. A Pi is no different, albeit more capable depending on which Pi (which isn't really relevant for Amiga games anyway). At the end of the day, neither are real Amiga's are are cheap ways on emulating the games.

StereoSound

You can buy the tank mouse and the controller separately in Gamestop, just incase someone loves this thing for the mouse and controller only. They both work on my PC perfectly. I managed to get lots of extra games to work on this through WHD along with a USB keyboard to work. It is growing on me alot more this system.

CiDeRmAn

Might be handier to buy those and use them with a RPi 400, mine is still in the box!

mondeo

That's what I should have done.

Firefox11

I noticed some of the games run a little fast. I tried to play Buggy Boy on it and it ran way too fast!!

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118924084#Comment_118924084

I've actually noticed that with that game even with pc based higher end emulation (out of two emulators, one plays it perfectly, the other is too fast). I keep meaning to investigate it, but gut tells me it's because its being forced ot 60Hz when it should prob be at 50Hz.

Steve X2

It was missing something 🙂.

I grabbed the label from someone on the Amiga Facebook group who made a similar, but more basic mini floppy the other day. Just need to tweak the design a little and I'll stick it online for anyone who wants to print it.

Edit:-

Link to files: https://www.printables.com/model/170947-amiga-500-mini-a500-mini-mini-floppy-disk

Tork

Very nice!

But wouldn't it be more accurate if the label resembled a blank floppy disk, with a pirated game on it and a teenager's scrawl?

Steve X2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118929177#Comment_118929177

What'd be more accurate for me would be a magazine cover disk. I'll probably print off a mini CU Amiga cover disk label at some stage 🙂

Steve X2

This is more me back in the day.

Also made a tiny insert so it looks like the disk is fully pushed in 🙂

Andrew76

I was just going to say, having the disk sticking out would wreck my head. 😂

Have not read anything about this latest mini but presumably that’s a fake drive? No satisfying clunk when it clicks in or hearing the metal tab slide across as the disk is read… Do those Power and Drive lights work? I don’t get the attraction of these devices I must say. Especially for seasoned retro enthusiasts on here. 🙂

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118937678#Comment_118937678

All fake, a lump of plastic with a cheap SOC inside.....yet I too bought one 🤔 I didn't buy it to use even, like most of my Mini's it's still and will likely remain sealed up in its box. I think for me anyway, the appeal is it's like a little tribute to a machine that holds a special place for me...as I said above, I was never able to own an Amiga back in the day, pure unobtanium. Having a little replica on a shelf is just nice to have for me, thats really all there is to it.

brokenangel

Really interested in this, I guess you can then just buy games like Syndicate etc online and put onto USB to play?

Anyone selling a joystick for these? Thanks

Andrew76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118937698#Comment_118937698

Fair enough chief, I did notice you got one alright. Did you get rid of your 1200? We were lucky to get a second hand A500 one Christmas, remember the parents saying it was mad expensive. Going from a C64 with it's tape deck to the Amiga and disks was mind blowing. Also the ability to back up your legally obtained games using X-Copy was a god-send. 😉 Although it wasn't without issue - the keyboard on ours went a bit flaky over time and you'd have to press down hard to get some to work. Fantastic machines though.

Steve X2

The A500 mini is getting a lot of hate from people, especially within the toxic Amiga community which seems 90 full of just the worst kind of people. But for me its a nice little thing, sure it is overpriced by quite a bit(should be €89.99 max). There's probably not many who are into the "real" Amiga stuff as much as myself(since the 90's), but its just great to see something like this come out at all! A new Amiga anything sitting on a shelf in Smyth's in 2022 gives a me a chuckle 🙂

I will be honest though, my one is not sitting on a shelf in my office after playing with it for a day and I doubt it will be used much. Still looks great on that shelf though 😀

Dublinandy3

Likewise what has been echoed, I will buy one eventually, especially now I know they won't sell out will wait for a sale price.

I have most of the mini systems and they are all sealed up just to collect. I have a few duplicates flashed for when I want to play one, but they don't get played.

The last real Amiga I owned I butchered it a bit and it needed some tlc so I gave it away for someone to fix. Should have kept it really.

Even the cd32 with terriblefire I had didn't get much play. I've found the older I get the harder some of the games got.

sam t smith

The new episode of Derry Girls has an Amiga 1200 onscreen for a few seconds.

SuperBowserWorld

My family could never afford a 8 bit computer, never mind an Amiga or Atari ST.

Aaahhh,.boo boo.

But the Amiga looked like some alien technology to me at the time.

Also, the PC Engine seems like magic for its size, 8 bit + custom chips.

The Amiga mini just looks wrong to me. No interest at all.

But I'd still like a real PC Engine.

Tom Mann Centuria

I'm surprised the man behind the mini isn't going after the Pimiga image, if there's one thing he knows it's protecting his intellectual properties (however he gets them).

I'll wait for them to appear in Brand Max for peanuts. Still have my 12 euro C64 mini from there, gathering dust.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118937967#Comment_118937967

Oh I went a bit bananas last year, got bitten BADLY by the Amiga bug. I bought a 500, a 600, a 1200, AND a CD32 😬 Think I'm done buying Amiga's at this stage 🤔🙂

brokenangel

We bought our original A500 at the end of the summer of 1989(I think)

We saved for it by working the majority of the summer, myself and two brothers. I think my parents put in 100 pound and we put in 400. It was around 500-550 pound. We had 100s of games and it was given away for free year later. Madness now

I am just looking to buy something and play as many of the old games as possible. Syndicate/Sensible soccer/Cannon Fodder/Beast/etc

Will this provide what I am looking for or better off with an alternative? I dont have home PC etc

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118939998#Comment_118939998

Plug and play this is probably the easiest option, with a nice little plastic replica case, you can add additional games via USB stick.

I'd rather with go the Raspberry pi 400 and the pimiga 2.0 image (couple of videos on what that is, but it has thousands of games demos the whole shebang contained within) if you don't mind a very small bit of intial set up.

sam t smith

I initially had a 500 Plus (1 MB of RAM), the ‘Cartoon Classics’ pack as a Christmas present. After a few years I sold that (on Buy and Sell magazine I think) and got an Amiga 1200 with the proceeds plus savings. I think they had 2 MB of RAM. I also had a second floppy drive which cut down in disk swaps.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940013#Comment_118940013

Looking now, it was the Cartoon Classics we got as well :-)

I am thinking 1989 might be wrong

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940012#Comment_118940012

Thanks, Do they sell them already prebuilt etc? so I can just buy

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940026#Comment_118940026

The Amiga mini they do, it's plug and play. 25 games installed.

The Raspberry pi 400 is an actual computer in its own right, you download the pimiga image, burn it to your memory card, stick it in your pi 400 and turn it on and away you go. Leepspvideo on YouTube has videos on the Amiga Mini and the pi 400 with Pimiga image. He likes both but it'll give you an idea.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940041#Comment_118940041

I might go Amiga Mini, trying to set up the Pi etc I don't have time.

If I could actually buy the Pi all setup etc it might be a better job but pre-packged is easier. Going to try the young lad playing the games as well.

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940800#Comment_118940800

That's fair enough. Personally don't think the set up is particularly taxing or time consuming for the Pi and it functions as a nifty alternative to the PC you don't have (as simply as swapping SD cards) but undeniably the Mini is more straightforward and you can be gaming straight away, plus it has the nice case (as well as authentic mouse and controller)

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940816#Comment_118940816

Ahh I don’t have home PC and my MacBook is a work one so USB locked down….I guess I would need laptop etc

StereoSound

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940018#Comment_118940018

I remember seeing the Cartoon Classics pack in Toy Master in Nutgrove shopping centre D14 back in the day. The shelf behind the counter was where they kept the computers and consoles. They had the NES with included Mario brothers 3 sitting beside it. This was 1992'ish.

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118946570#Comment_118946570

I have a memory of playing Sensible Soccer on the Amiga with a friend during the summer, we used to turn it off to watch the Dublin v Meath marathon of games that summer. That was 1991 so that why I think it was a few years before :-)

Of course memory is bad and it could* have been my mates who just brought with him as I know he got before ours....anyway good times

CiDeRmAn

I never owned an Amiga or an ST.

I had a Spectrum, then a hiatus for a couple of years, in 1991 I bought a C64, a Gameboy and a Megadrive, later a SNES and so on.

I completely missed the Amiga and NES/Master System scene.

I have a CD32, and it can load most Amiga games from collections burned to CD.

I must look and see if there is a SD card solution for it, make it even easier to use.

I have a floppy drive doo-dad on it, that I never use, might sell it on if it is worth anything

brokenangel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118947187#Comment_118947187

I had the ZX Spectrum as well, the Amiga replaced it. No idea what happened the Spectrum, I expect it was thrown out 😫

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118947208#Comment_118947208

Dr Bob

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118947208#Comment_118947208

Yeah , if there was one things Parents did in the late 90s/early 2000s was chuck old computers out.

Worst thing is my first computer was a Sord M5 , which I'd love to have now , but was either thrown out or given away .

it sells for crazy money sadly