Neil from the Rertro4u channel wraps up his Amiga 500 Plus build by completing the custom A501 memory expansion and fitting everything neatly into a retro case. This episode takes viewers through final assembly, testing RAM upgrades, restoring a keyboard, and installing a TerribleFire 536 accelerator card. He’s clearly been busy—and it shows.
Installing and Testing the Custom Expansion
The episode opens with Neil soldering in the final header to support the A501 chip RAM expansion, which he assembled in the previous episode. With the board now seated in its case, and a freshly restored keyboard in place, he powers on the machine using DiagROM to confirm that the full 2MB of chip RAM is detected. And it is—so far, so good.
Adding the Accelerator
Next, Neil installs the TerribleFire 536 accelerator. This board includes a Motorola 68030 CPU, 64MB of fast RAM, and an IDE interface. After installing a relocator to make room, the upgrade goes in cleanly. The system boots again through DiagROM, showing off the new specs: 2MB chip RAM and 64MB fast RAM—a strong result for any Amiga 500 build.
The Keyboard and Case Restoration
Neil also walks through the cleaning and reassembly of the original keyboard. A thorough scrub and some retro-brighting work wonders, transforming it from a grimy yellow to clean and functional. The keyboard fits into the Amiga case (even though it’s not the original A500 Plus case), and everything connects nicely.
A Boot Issue Emerges
However, the episode doesn’t end on a perfect note. When trying to boot using a Kickstart ROM, Neil runs into a frustrating yellow screen. DiagROM works, and the ROM works in a Mini-ITX setup—but not here. He swaps chips, reprograms ROMs, and checks connections, but the issue persists. Neil ends the video asking viewers for suggestions.
