MicroMemories: Commodore Amiga is 30-Years-Old Today!

RE: MicroMemories: Commodore Amiga is 30-Years-Old Today!

shabaz — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 03:14:04 GMT

.. and the underside, for those interested:

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x407/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-aa3d186f-a943-44b2-9bda-cd2067833d5a/4520.contentimage_5F00_181366.jpg:620:407]

This side had a lot of DC-DC converters on the right side, and the rest is mainly empty. The connector at the bottom is for debug (serial interface etc). The empty space in the middle was for controlling an LCD, but I wanted to get the CPU up and running before soldering that in. The long strip on the left side was for expansion (PCMCIA-like interface).

RE: MicroMemories: Commodore Amiga is 30-Years-Old Today!

shabaz — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 02:55:46 GMT

I really liked the Motorola 68000 CPU - I never owned a Commodore Amiga, it was quite expensive, but frequently got to use it at a friend's home.

However a few years back I obtained a 'Minimig' which is a reimplementation of the Amiga, still using a physical 68k processor but replacing the majority of the other integrated circuits with an FPGA. I've not used it yet, I might dig it out and try it someday.

(Snippet, source: Wikipedia)[View:/resized-image/__size/584x310/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-aa3d186f-a943-44b2-9bda-cd2067833d5a/8726.contentimage_5F00_181364.jpg:584:310]

Also about 10 years ago I tried building my own 68k computer - I got reasonably far, I recall the monitor program functioned enough for a basic menu via the built-in serial port.

I recently found my prototype, another thing maybe worth powering up one day! Unfortunately the CAD files are in Altium DXP format, which I don't have a copy of any more.

The large IC on the right is the 68k processor - the Motorola 'Dragonball VZ' which was a popular choice for PDAs at that time. The other two large ICs from left to right are 4Mbyte Flash and 4Mbytes SDRAM respectively.

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x364/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-aa3d186f-a943-44b2-9bda-cd2067833d5a/8738.contentimage_5F00_181365.jpg:620:364]

RE: MicroMemories: Commodore Amiga is 30-Years-Old Today!

balearicdynamics — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 06:50:31 GMT

micromemories : Celebrating Amiga 30 y.o.

What is better to celebrate this 30 years than a micromemory ?

I was one of the five developers that received from the Commodore Italia the first 5 Amiga 1000 arrived in Italy to make testing and try to develop something. Immediately fascinated and enthusiast for this machine, the first thing I've done in the next few months was to organise a small import business of accessories from UK; there was small independent companies in England developing and searching for distributors for stuff like External hard disk, graphic tablets, the historycal Amiga genlock for video applications and more ...

Then I spent about six months of the next six month creating one of the first Italian distribution network of these stuff; it was consisting of moving all around Italy, especially Rome, Milan, Bologna, demonstrating the products and activating many Commodore center as distributors of these accessories.

In the meantime for some years I studied in depth the incredible graphic power of this machine creating the first low-cost scientific image analysis platform in C integrated with tools and programs that was (30 years ago) already distributing development kits, control API and many open features (from Deluxe Paint to Director, Videograbber and many others). In few time, cooperating with several Natural Sciences departments of the Turin University, we have created a very active research pool. The Image analisys system become a product that opened new ways for image analisys researches in anthropology, archaeology, biology and more. Some of the most interesting researches was the guided visit to a Pompei ancient house after his restoration, paleolithic skull reconstruction, microscope contour measuring and false colors analysis and more...

Enjoy with some images in this gallery from a 1989 special edition of the now-died CHIP, a Italian monthly paper who published a series of articles on the results of these researches.

{gallery:width=600,height=800} CHIP - Scientific Image

[View:/resized-image/__size/195x281/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-aa3d186f-a943-44b2-9bda-cd2067833d5a/contentimage_5F00_181356.png:195:281][View:/resized-image/__size/197x278/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-aa3d186f-a943-44b2-9bda-cd2067833d5a/contentimage_5F00_181357.png:197:278][View:/resized-image/__size/199x279/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-aa3d186f-a943-44b2-9bda-cd2067833d5a/contentimage_5F00_181358.png:199:279][View:/resized-image/__size/188x270/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-aa3d186f-a943-44b2-9bda-cd2067833d5a/contentimage_5F00_181359.png:188:270][View:/resized-image/__size/199x283/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-aa3d186f-a943-44b2-9bda-cd2067833d5a/contentimage_5F00_181360.png:199:283][View:/resized-image/__size/190x271/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-aa3d186f-a943-44b2-9bda-cd2067833d5a/contentimage_5F00_181361.png:190:271][View:/resized-image/__size/192x269/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-aa3d186f-a943-44b2-9bda-cd2067833d5a/contentimage_5F00_181362.png:192:269][View:/resized-image/__size/192x273/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-aa3d186f-a943-44b2-9bda-cd2067833d5a/contentimage_5F00_181363.png:192:273]

RE: MicroMemories: Commodore Amiga is 30-Years-Old Today!

dougw — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 02:16:10 GMT

I bought an Amiga 1000 about 6 months after it was launched because it was far ahead of all other personal computer technology.It sported a pre-emptive multi-tasking GUI operating system many years (which is decades in tech-years) before Microsoft and Apple saw the light - and no registry. There was not a lot of software available initially, but I ended up with hundreds of titles. That computer saw a lot of use and it is still the best computer purchase I ever made. It is depressingly sad how and why this computer marque failed to survive.

The A1000 had the developers names molded into the interior of the case.

My favourite game were:

Emerald Mine (I loved the editor and made several disks full of levels - never played the standard levels again)

Populous

Pinball Dreams

Pole Position

Bard's Tale

RE: MicroMemories: Commodore Amiga is 30-Years-Old Today!

mcb1 — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 00:52:28 GMT

And then there was the very popular Amiga 2000 which allowed Video Graphics to be interlaced with video.

I enjoyed the 500 and still have a 2000 sitting gathering dust.

I've got plenty of software still for it.

Mark

RE: MicroMemories: Commodore Amiga is 30-Years-Old Today!

Robert Peter Oakes — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 16:03:06 GMT

Did you know the original Babylon 5 shows where rendered on amiga computers (Farms of them [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-aa3d186f-a943-44b2-9bda-cd2067833d5a/contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16] )

Peter

RE: MicroMemories: Commodore Amiga is 30-Years-Old Today!

langster1980 — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 15:23:38 GMT

Like many I started out on a BBC Micro Master....and used it mostly for playing games....Chucky egg and Repton II were the order of the day.

We then purchased an Atari ST 520 which was excellent but as we were living abroad was difficult to upgrade and after seeing an Amiga 500 in action we were hooked and bought an A500 which had been upgraded to a whopping 1 megabyte!

It was used for games mostly with a little word processing on the side...

My top 5 games:

The secret of Monkey Island (both 1 and 2)

Utopia

Pinball Dreams

Lotus Turbo Challenge

Wings

I dream of making a real life version of some of the pinball tables on from pinball dreams...and I wish the remake of wings would come out! there are so many games I would love to remake / play just for the memories!

RE: MicroMemories: Commodore Amiga is 30-Years-Old Today!

cstanton — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 14:24:28 GMT

I wanted a SNES. Super Mario World looked awesome, as did the other games, but I was convinced to want an Amiga instead, thanks to my father. So, low and behold. We acquired an Amiga 1200 and so started my slipper slope into the world of computing beyond the ZX Spectrum 48k we already had, and the Amstrad PCW 9256.

I upgraded it with a hard drive, 608040 FPU with 8mB of Fast Ram in addition to the 2mB 'slow RAM' and it was my first foray into video editing with the Vidi Amiga add-on, photo manipulation with Deluxe Paint and scanning with a hand-held scanner. We also picked up a pen mouse, a Midi interface and I dabbled with emulating a PC. It was also my first steps into networking using a parallel port to a PC which we eventually got (a 486-DX2-66) but I never did get a CD-Rom drive for it like I wanted.

Word processing assignments for school was rare, still, most hand-ins were hand-written. So I got into trouble from my fellow classmates for handing in spell-checked, typed up work that was printed on an old dot-matrix printer. Ah I remember the sound now.

We used to pick up old AOL disks from C.H.I.P.S and peel off the labels, then use them as blanks. Most people didn't work out that you could use HD double density disks quite happily in an Amiga drive. In fact, if you modified a PC disk drive you could use it on an Amiga and get that little bit more storage. It was a joyous day when we started daisy chaining disk drives because having a single one with an 11 disk game such as Monkey Island 2 became a disk-swapping chore (until I got the hard drive of course). Luxury.

My top 5:

1. The Secret of Monkey Island

2. The Secret of Monkey Island 2

3. Flight of the Amazon Queen

4. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

5. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Also, because the top were point and clicks:

1. Cannon Fodder

2. Globdule

3. Putty

4. Magic Pockets

5. Chaos Engine

And because beat-em ups:

1. Street Fighter 2

2. Street Fighter

3. Body Blows: Galactica

4. Rise of the Robots

5. Mortal Kombat