ACA500plus Firmware

The ACA500plus features an 8MByte flash ROM with a rich set of software: The menu system, Kickstart ROMs, Action Replay ROMs, HRTmon, OS3.1 install files, and an OS and a network installer. On this page, you will mainly find software updates for the menu system, but also recovery files for other parts of the flash ROM.

Menu update

Unpack the archive to the root directory of a PC-formatted CF card.

Download: Media:aca500+menu0.148.lha Media:aca500+menu0.148.zip (17-Apr-2024)

Copy the unpacked file to a FAT-formatted CF card. Insert that card into the AUX slot of your ACA500plus, then launch the menu. Press F8 and F to launch the flasher, which will read the update file from the AUX card. Follow the instructions on screen to install the update. If something does not work right away, you may need to reset the computer to launch the flash process.

The unpacked file is an ADF image that can also be written to a floppy disk. You will only need to do this if the flash ROM has been garbled - in that case, the bootable floppy will serve as a recovery-disk.

(old versions: Menu system V0.146 (30-Jun-2022) Menu system V0.141 (December 28th, 2021) Menu system V0.135 (september 30th, 2019) Menu system V0.127 (october 31st, 2018), Menu system V0.126 (october 26th, 2018), Menu system V0.125 (october 23rd, 2018), Menu V0.98 (April 3rd, 2017) )

Installer update

The automatic ACA500plus installer will partition and install your CF card with OS3.1, using a 64-bit compatible file system where applicable, and make preparations for installing WHDload, getting you started the easy way. Use with menu system v0.146 or higher; launch by pressing F7 in the main menu.

Download: Media:aca500+installer1.5.lha, Media:aca500+installer1.5.zip (30-Jun-2022)

Notes:

• For CF cards bigger than 16GB, you need an accelerator card which provides additional memory.
• OS 3.2: You can install OS 3.1 with our installer and install OS 3.2 over the OS 3.1 system.

(old versions: Installer V1.1 (2018) Installer V0.8 (september 19th, 2017) )

Network installer update

The ACA500plus network installer will install AmiTCP and required drivers for the X-Surf-500 automatically. It comes with DHCP support, a graphical configuration tool, example configs, tools, and a huge amount of documentation. It is recommended that an operating system is installed on a CF card (minimum Kickstart/OS 2.04).

Download: Media:aca500+netinstall.lha, Media:aca500+netinstall.zip (30-Jun-2022)

OS3.2 notes: If you want to install the X-Surf-500 while running OS 3.2, you must use a 3.2 ROM file, because otherwise OS 3.2 causes a reboot, ending the Network install mode. In the expert menu, also choose 'Net Install' as a virtual disk. You can also install OS 3.1, then install the network, and then install OS 3.2 over the 3.1 system.

HRTmon update

This is an update that you will only need once in order to use HRTmon with any version of the menu system that you install *after* the delivery version. The actual HRTmon remains the same (and will never be overwritten with a menu software update), but the checksum and header are adapted to what the new menu system software expects. This update can ONLY be used with the flash updater from the menu. It cannot be written as ADF to a recovery disk, despite its file name.

Download: HRTmon

CAUTION: This one is only good for menu systems V0.99 or higher. Older menu systems are not recommended, and older HRTmon versions won't be supported any longer.

OS installation files

This archive will restore Kickstart and OS3.1 install files, in case they got garbled. Only use on ACA500plus. Unpack to a FAT-formatted card in root directory. Insert card into AUX slot and remove any card from Boot slot. Start computer with F1. Only use this archive when instructed to do so. This is not an update!

Download: ACA500plus OS installation files