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      /  THEA500 Mini is coming!
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PosterThread
AmigaOldskooler 
THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 10:44:02
#1 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 7-Mar-2015
Posts: 282
From: Unknown

Hi everyone,

THEA500 Mini was announced today. Wrote quick post on my blog about it here:

THEA500 Mini is coming!

Some of the games to be included at launch is The Chaos Engine, Kick Off 2, Speedball 2 and Simon the Sorcerer.

Anyone here going to get one?

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amigang 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 11:12:29
#2 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 12-Jan-2005
Posts: 2018
From: Cheshire, England

@AmigaOldskooler


Kind of hope they make this available to buy on its own, painted black it be perfect CD32 controller! it is odd that a product called A500 has AGA games and a Cd32 controller. But still cool

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g01df1sh 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 11:58:38
#3 ]
Super Member
Joined: 16-Apr-2009
Posts: 1777
From: UK

Does this mean the court case with Hyperion and CLoanto has been sorted. If they have a full license then who is issuing the license ???

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Elbox empty Power Tower
RPi3 Emulating C64 ZX Atari PS BBC
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g01df1sh 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 11:59:26
#4 ]
Super Member
Joined: 16-Apr-2009
Posts: 1777
From: UK

Will it have a working keyboard a Amiga without a working keyboard will be crap.

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Elbox empty Power Tower
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number6 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 12:03:53
#5 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 25-Mar-2005
Posts: 11540
From: In the village

@AmigaOldskooler

the news is spreading

You can change the search parameters. I chose to include text and videos and only from the last hour.

Beware early reports that have done no research.

Quote:
Amiga Corporation is no more, but some of its trademarks are held by Amiga, Inc. According to Popular Science,

etc.

It seemed obvious that after Retro Computers Ltd. secured/registered the trademark that we would see an announcement on the heels of that.

#6

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number6 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 12:06:50
#6 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 25-Mar-2005
Posts: 11540
From: In the village

@g01df1sh

This has nothing to do directly with Hyperion.

It was Amigakit that was fighting over the trademark registration with Retro Games Ltd.

#6

Last edited by number6 on 12-Aug-2021 at 02:49 AM.

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amigang 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 12:18:48
#7 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 12-Jan-2005
Posts: 2018
From: Cheshire, England

@number6

Just updated my AmigaNG website with the details, this was a Prototype / Guess page I had up before this drop of news, I just check the number, its had 380 hits today, just in the last few hours, looks like there interest in Amiga Mini!

https://amigang.com/amigamini-thea500/

Last edited by amigang on 11-Aug-2021 at 11:07 AM.

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number6 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 12:26:32
#8 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 25-Mar-2005
Posts: 11540
From: In the village

@amigang

I'm already seeing this in news reports referred to as "Amiga Mini" "THEA500" "THEA500 Mini" all in a rush to publish news, so be aware.
Most of these folks know nothing of the history and are just grasping at google links to tell the story before the next guy.

#6

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Rose 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 12:52:14
#9 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 5-Nov-2009
Posts: 982
From: Unknown

@number6

Quote:
It was Amigakit that was fighting over the trademark registration with Retro Computers. Ltd.


Thing is that this time it's going to be hard for em to bully with bullshit claims since distributor is 500M USD/year company which has proper legal department which with IP experience (Koch media which is part of Embracer Group).

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number6 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 13:09:49
#10 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 25-Mar-2005
Posts: 11540
From: In the village

@Rose

No worries.

I already reported that Retro Games Ltd. secured their trademark. It's registered.
I don't think many friends were made for the future here by Amigakit.

#6

Last edited by number6 on 12-Aug-2021 at 02:50 AM.

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pavlor 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 14:39:32
#11 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 10-Jul-2005
Posts: 9578
From: Unknown

@AmigaOldskooler

Nice!

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number6 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 15:26:36
#12 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 25-Mar-2005
Posts: 11540
From: In the village

@thread

If you have plenty of time on your hands:

hundreds of posts at RetroGames Ltd.

#6

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hotrod 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 15:53:01
#13 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Mar-2003
Posts: 2993
From: Stockholm, Sweden

@AmigaOldskooler

A dream come true and a must have! Would be nice if both the gamepad and mouse where sold separatly.

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number6 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 16:35:08
#14 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 25-Mar-2005
Posts: 11540
From: In the village

@thread

utube vid

#6

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matthey 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 18:11:16
#15 ]
Super Member
Joined: 14-Mar-2007
Posts: 1968
From: Kansas

Quote:

A dream come true and a must have! Would be nice if both the gamepad and mouse where sold separatly.


The gamepad looks nice but also looks cheaply made (the CD32 controller was low quality too). The tank mice were terrible and bring back bad memories for me. How about a CBM 3 button pregnant mouse instead? Does the quality even matter? Does it matter that these are likely USB devices?

Nice eye candy and good games selection but that is about all it offers. No functional keyboard, no internet connection, only plays games and limited number of games, price is high for only playing 25 games (hardware is cheap and profit margin should be at least 50%). It should have been possible to create a full sized Amiga 1200 with functional keyboard, the ability to use unlimited Amiga games and productivity software and a connection to the internet for that price. The eye candy is likely good enough to invoke a nostalgia emotional response for impulse buying that it will sell tens of thousands of units but my initial reaction is that this is a cheap one off toy. I don't think it helps Amiga markets or the user base much either. Maybe it generates some Amiga publicity and excitement and embarrasses the current Amiga companies into creating more affordable and better quality retro Amiga products.

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Mobileconnect 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 18:16:12
#16 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 13-Jun-2003
Posts: 478
From: Unknown

@matthey

Apparently it will play whdload images off of a USB. What I want to know is if it can boot into Workbench properly.

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amigadave 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 18:47:04
#17 ]
Super Member
Joined: 18-Jul-2005
Posts: 1731
From: Lake Shastina, Northern Calif.

@number6

I couldn't find any info about what is inside the A500 Mini case running this emulation? In fact, I had a hard time finding the company's website, but then I wasn't going to waste too much time looking through page after page of search results, when it didn't pop up within the first two pages of results.

I guess if you really want a bit of plastic that is molded to look like an A500, then this is the product for you. I'll pass, as there are many better ways to do Amiga emulation, as well as several cheaper ways.

Last edited by amigadave on 10-Aug-2021 at 06:47 PM.

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number6 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 19:07:47
#18 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 25-Mar-2005
Posts: 11540
From: In the village

@amigadave

Regardless, the company link was in the facebook link I posted above:

https://retrogames.biz/thea500-mini

#6

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BigD 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 19:13:20
#19 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 11-Aug-2005
Posts: 7307
From: UK

@Thread

It's made the IGN news section!

A500 Mini News on IGN

... it's a shame that they've never heard of Alien Breed Breed 3D anyone?

In my view any publicity is good publicity.

Q: Do I want one?
Answer: Not really.

Q: Is it the easiest way to suggest ex-Amiga owners get back into playing Amiga games with their kids?
Answer: Yes, I think it is!

Overall: Good news!

Last edited by BigD on 10-Aug-2021 at 07:14 PM.

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matthey 
Re: THEA500 Mini is coming!
Posted on 10-Aug-2021 19:50:36
#20 ]
Super Member
Joined: 14-Mar-2007
Posts: 1968
From: Kansas

Mobileconnect Quote:

Apparently it will play whdload images off of a USB. What I want to know is if it can boot into Workbench properly.


It's more open ended than I originally thought then. I wonder if they licensed kickstart or used AROS. Booting into a GUI would reveal AROS or suggest a license for the AmigaOS and kickstart.

amigadave Quote:

I couldn't find any info about what is inside the A500 Mini case running this emulation? In fact, I had a hard time finding the company's website, but then I wasn't going to waste too much time looking through page after page of search results, when it didn't pop up within the first two pages of results.


I don't know either. For low end hardware, it makes sense to leave everything in FPGA as simulation is more accurate than emulation. The FleaFPGA Ohm sold for $45 without mass production. A $5-$15 more expensive FPGA would be adequate for the Mini hardware. Mass production could bring the board price below the price of the FleaFPGA Ohm while still using a FPGA. A commodity ARM SoC isn't going to make the board much cheaper and more CPU performance is not needed. A custom SoC could drop the board price significantly but requires mass production.

amigadave Quote:

I guess if you really want a bit of plastic that is molded to look like an A500, then this is the product for you. I'll pass, as there are many better ways to do Amiga emulation, as well as several cheaper ways.


The A500 Mini is probably more appealing to ex-Amiga users. It is a hardware downgrade for most current Amiga users. Existing Amiga users want a hardware upgrade with good compatibility, modern I/O and an affordable price. The right Amiga product would appeal to both ex-Amiga users and current Amiga users. It would invoke nostalgia feelings with functional eye candy and be cheap enough for impulse buying and gifting.

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