Initially I had thought about gutting an A500 and installing an Atom based mini PC to provide an emulator in an original case. As it happens at the moment I am trying to keep my ‘collection’ to a minimum. So with that in mind I’ve come up with an alternative strategy. I have installed Kubuntu on the Atom PC, hung it off the back of a 1280×1024 19″ monitor and installed FS-UAE. The PC boots directly into the Amiga emulator, full screen and the display is exactly 2x the original PAL workbench size which makes for a very pleasant experience.

Front of the ‘Amiga PC’ – an Atom based MicroPC running Kubuntu and FS-UAE

The Atom PC hanging off the rear of the monitor. Cables are as tidy as they can be (for me!)

I am still toying with the idea of using an original Amiga keyboard with this set up by interfacing it using an Arduino as documented here but this will depend on me being able to purchase a keyboard for a reasonable price. The Amiga keyboard layout isn’t that different to a standard PC keyboard so, apart from a more immersive retro-experience, there isn’t a great deal of benefit. I’m not planning on playing many games – which might be where a using an original keyboard/mouse might have more of an edge.