SidecarTridge® Kickstart Multi ROM for Amiga 500 / 2000

Hot-swap Kickstart ROMs on your Amiga 500 or 2000

The SidecarTridge Kickstart Multi ROM replaces the original Kickstart chip on an Amiga 500 or Amiga 2000 with a programmable board that holds dozens of Kickstart images in onboard flash. From the Amiga's point of view it looks and behaves like a stock ROM. From your point of view, you pick which Kickstart boots through the SWITCHER tool, copy new images over USB and never have to swap a chip again.

Ships from Spain. Amiga 500 and 2000.

Key features

• Drop-in ROM socket replacement: seats directly in the Kickstart socket of the Amiga 500 or 2000. No case modifications, no external boxes, no extra cabling.
• 16 MB onboard flash: store up to 31 Kickstart images on the board itself and switch between them in seconds.
• SWITCHER from the Amiga: a small Amiga utility lets you pick the active Kickstart right from your machine, with no flashing tools and no extra hardware.
• USB mass storage workflow: plug the board into a host computer over USB and it mounts as a FAT drive. Drag in new Kickstart images, eject, plug it back into the Amiga.
• Custom and diagnostic ROMs: works with official Kickstarts, patched builds, DiagROM and EmuTOS, or any Kickstart-compatible image you can produce.
• RP2350 bit-banged emulation: the Raspberry RP2350 and its PIO engines serve ROM cycles with the timing the Amiga expects.

What you can do with it

• Boot Kickstart 1.2, 1.3, 2.04 or 3.1 from the same physical board, no chip swaps.
• Keep your original Kickstart chip safe on the shelf. Everything lives in flash on the board.
• Drop in DiagROM or EmuTOS to diagnose a sick Amiga or to play with open-source firmware.
• Test patched Kickstart builds before committing them to a real EPROM.

Installation

1. Open the Amiga and remove the RF shield to expose the Kickstart ROM area.
2. Pull the original Kickstart ROM if it is socketed, or fit a socket if it is currently soldered.
3. Seat the Kickstart Multi ROM in the socket, respecting orientation. Pin 1 on the board lines up with pin 1 on the socket.
4. Close the case and power on. The Amiga boots straight into the selected Kickstart, no external power required.

If your original Kickstart ROM is soldered, you will first need to desolder it and fit a socket once, which takes soldering skill and basic electronics experience. Step-by-step photos and troubleshooting tips live in the Kickstart Multi ROM documentation and the quickstart guide.

Compatibility

About the Amiga 500+ and Amiga 600: those motherboards can address 1 MB Kickstart ROMs, but the Kickstart Multi ROM only supports 512 KB ROM images. The hardware works, but the experience is limited. We leave it up to you to decide if that fits your use case. Check your motherboard model against the compatibility guide before ordering.

ROM images and sizes

• Supports ROM images up to 512 KB, covering Kickstart 1.2 through 3.1 builds that fit in 512 KB plus most custom images. 1 MB Kickstart 3.x ROMs are out of scope.
• Stores up to 31 images on the 16 MB onboard flash. Delete and replace them freely through USB mass storage and the SWITCHER tool.
• No Kickstart ROMs are included. Kickstart is copyrighted material, so dump the ROM from your own Amiga or buy a legal copy from an authorised vendor.

Kit content

The kit contains:

• SidecarTridge ROM Emulator Board.
• SidecarTridge Amiga 500/2000 Carrier Board, with the ROM Emulator Board soldered onto it.
• RESCUE cable and push button.

You will also need:

• A USB-C cable to connect the board to a computer for firmware updates and Kickstart transfers. You can buy a USB-C to USB-C or USB-A to USB-C cable in our store if you do not own one.
• The SWITCHER application, downloadable from our downloads page and also included inside the USB mass storage volume.

Good to know

• Designed, tested and supported on Amiga 500 and 2000 machines in their original stock configuration. Memory expansions, CPU accelerators, custom logic replacements, bodge wires and aftermarket ROM adapters are out of scope and not covered by warranty. If your Amiga is modified, contact us before ordering.
• This is a homebrew product for hobbyists who are comfortable opening the case to seat a ROM, or fitting a socket if the original Kickstart is soldered down. It is not a sealed appliance and it is not a plug-and-play upgrade for a stock Amiga with soldered ROMs.

New to the device? Follow the quickstart guide.