oh goody! my Amiga 500 Plus starts!
I'll need to write out some disks to get farther and do some more diagnostics, but at least we've got life.
(mono output only, too, because I don't have the right adapters yet)
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I have no idea what software I'd use to do diagnostics on an amiga 500+ so any suggestions would be appreciated
@foone Do you ever think about how many of your posts would still look perfectly normal if they were posted on a Usenet forum thirty years ago.
(Sorry I don't have any actual advice, I was just having a laugh)
I'm writing some disks but I can't believe how often these poorly maintained cheap floppy disks from 1990 keep dying on me
come on, can't this mass-produced media last a mere 36 years?
@foone My knees and back are telling me this mass-produced person from 1990 is having a hard time holding together 36 years
@foone Uh, yeah, back in the day I didn’t trust them for 36 HOURS…I always had at least one physical backup copy (2, if it was something actually important to deliver/print…)
Floppy drive seems very... Iffy. Or maybe it's just my floppy. But I booted into workbench, then loaded AmigaTest.
Well, I can't get into the keyboard test, because my F2 key doesn't work. But this at least does tell me something about my keyboard, I guess
I was specifically told the battery was already taken out of this A500+
which is funny because WHAT IS THIS
The majority of the damage seems to be to the Gary socket. The Gary chip itself looks fine, though
@foone
REQ:> Please tell me that Gary socket and Gary chip are technical terms
@foone I've got many dozens worth from the 80s that are still going strong, but yeah, most ones newer than that have been rapidly dropping like flies.
@foone I remember seeing a youtube video of someone trying to manufacture their own floppy disks. I don't think I watched it, though.
I wonder if you could cut strips of magnetic tape (such as minicassettes or VHS tapes), glue them on to a thin plastic disk, and install it in a floppy disk case (either original or 3D printed). It's a similar technology, but is it similar enough to actually work, and would it be a problem if the tape overlapped or would you need to cut it into wedges?
@foone I'm sure others will be suggesting it but 'Amiga Test Kit' is available as a self booting floppy and is what I used while repairing my A1200. The fun part is of course writing it to a physical disk
@thomasfuchs and in even more extreme cases boing balls may be detected 😱 
@foone are the gurus still happy?