• Tag Archives Amiga 1000

  • Commodore Amiga 500, 1000 & 2000 (1987)

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    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/190612229973/yodaprod-commodore-amiga-500-1000-2000-1987



    The Amiga 1000 was first introduced in 1985 around the same time as the Commodore 128. It contained a Motorola 68000 CPU clocked at 7.16 MHz and 256Kb RAM. It had graphics and sound capabilities unlike any other computer available at a time at a price that was quite low given the features. The Amiga’s closest competition was the Atari ST which shared virtually the same CPU. While the Atari ST was a good bit cheaper, it had less sophisticated graphics and sound capabilities and a less sophisticated OS. Amiga was ahead of its time with all of these things.

    Two years later in 1987, Commodore introduced two successors. The cost reduced Amiga 500 and a more expandable Amiga 2000. The Amiga 500 was an all-in-one unit with the keyboard and a 3.5″ 800k disk drive built-in. It was almost half the price of the original Amiga 1000. Though it was less expandable, it contained double the memory of the Amiga 1000 when it was first introduced and was in every other way just as capable. This is the model that competed most directly with the Atari ST and would me the most popular Amiga model and the spiritual successor to the Commodore 64.

    The Amiga 2000 on the other hand was very expandable with a total of 9 expansion slots as well as 2 3.5″ and 1 5.25″ drive bay. It also came with 1 MB of memory instead of 512k. With the addition of a Video Toaster and the appropriate software, tt would become a very popular video editing platform.

    The ad above is from 1987, probably shortly after the release of the Amiga 500 and Amiga 2000 as the Amiga 1000 was discontinued later the same year. I’m not sure the origin of the ad (I found it on Tumblr) but I suspect it is from Canada or Australia as the dollar amount doesn’t match what the cost was in the U.S. An Amiga 2000 with 1MB of RAM and a monitor was $2395 at that time in the U.S. and the Amiga 500 was $699. By comparison, a complete Commodore 64 system (which is what I had) was about half the price of the less expensive Amiga 500.


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  • Deluxe Paint I (Amiga)

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    Deluxe Paint I (Amiga)

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/184627687133/koney-scanlines-deluxe-paint-1

    Did you ever wonder how game developers make artwork for their games? Well, at least in the 1980s and much of the 1990s, that answer was often Deluxe Paint (or DPaint). Deluxe paint is a bitmap graphics editor that was first released for the Amiga shortly after that platform was introduced in 1985. The Amiga 1000 was the first computer that could run Deluxe Paint.

    Deluxe Paint was produced by Electronic Arts and was originally an internal tool used by EA for their own games. As features were added, it was decided to release it as a commercial product when the Amiga was released. A PC/DOS version was released in 1988 and it became the defacto standard for many PC games.

    New versions of Deluxe Paint would be released up until 1995 when Deluxe Paint 5 was released for the Amiga. The PC version never made it past version 2 for some reason but there were different versions of version 2. The first release for PC was Deluxe Paint II in 1988, then Deluxe Paint II Enhanced in 1989 and finally, the most popular version, Deluxe Paint II Enhanced 2.0.

    Amiga releases included Deluxe Paint I in 1985, Deluxe Paint II in 1986, Deluxe Paint III in 1988, Deluxe Paint IV in 1991, Deluxe Paint 4.5 AGA (commissioned by Commodore) in 1993 and finally, Deluxe Paint V in 1995. If you are looking to make games for the Amiga or even other platforms like the Commodore 64 or PC then this is still a good tool to use today in terms of creating the artwork.

    Pictured above is the original Deluxe Paint running on an Amiga 1000.



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  • Amiga World (November/December 1985)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    amiga_world_vol_01_02_1985_nov_dec-000

    Source: Amiga World – Volume 1, Number 2 – November December 1985

    Amiga World was really the main Amiga magazine in the U.S. 1985 was very early in the life of the Amiga and the Amiga 1000 was the only model available at that time. The November/December issue of Amiga World includes the following:

    Features

    • White-Collar Amiga – Some general tips on computerizing your business and utilizing the Amiga in particular. Includes recommendations on amount of memory you should have, the type of printer you should get, software selections, and more.
    • The Right Stuff: The Amiga in the Marketplace – A look at current market trends and where the Amiga fits in.
    • In Stark Contrast: Comparing the Amiga with the Macintosh and IBM PC – At this point in time, the Amiga was really the best computer. It had the same processor as the Macintosh but far superior graphics and sound capabilities. It was also much cheaper. Some argue it was poor marketing that killed the Amiga but in the long run it was Commodore’s lack of R&D budget. With every Amiga generation the competition got a little closer until by the early 90s the Amiga really wasn’t technically superior any longer. But the original IBM PC and Apple Macintosh really couldn’t hold a candle to the Amiga 1000.
    • The Trump Card: Amiga’s IBM PC Software Emulator – The Amiga Transformer was an IBM PC emulator. A pretty novel product for the time. Ultimately, various bridgeboards would become available for the Amiga that turned the Amiga into a combo Amiga/DOS machine.

    Articles

    • The Bottom Line: An Introduction to Spreadsheets – The spreadsheet was arguably the first killer app for the personal computer. This article doesn’t review a particular product but just gives a general overview of what spreadsheets can do.
    • Digital Imagery – An overview of digitizing analog sources such as video and still images. Relatively inexpensive hardware could be added to the Amiga to accomplish this. Trivial today but impressive technology at the time.
    • Music by MIDI: The Marriage of Talent and Technology – The Atari ST seemed to become the main choice for those seeking MIDI capability, largely due to its cheaper price and built-in interface. However, the Amiga was just as capable.
    • Cherry Lane Technologies: Maestros of Innovative Music Software – A look at Harmony, one of the first music packages for the Amiga.
    • Programming in C: Speaking the Amiga’s Language – C was heavily used for software development on the Amiga whereas in the previous 8-bit generation of computers, programming in assembly was pretty much a necessity. Even on the Amiga, things like games would continue to be written primarily in machine language.
    • Metacomco: Developers of AmigaDOS – It wasn’t Commodore that developed AmigaDOS but a small company called Metacomco. They also provided initial cross-development environments, a macro assembler, ABasiC, Pascal and Lisp for the Amiga.
    • Accountability: Keeping Track of Small Businesses – An overview of accounting software and its capabilities and how to select the right package for your business.
    • Review: Textcraft – A review of an early word processor for the Amiga.

    Columns

    • Avision – The premiere of the Amiga on July 23, 1985 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. In addition to Commodore executives, artist Andy Warhol and musicians Michael Bodicker and Tom Scott were special guests among others.
    • Zeitgeist – The present and future of AmigaWorld.
    • Protocol – An introduction to telecommunications and the types of software available for that purpose (terminal software, BBS software, etc.).

    Departments

    • Digital Canvas – A look at artwork created on the Amiga. This month featuring the work of Sheryl Knowles, Senior Graphic Artist at Commodore.
    • Help Key – Questions and answers about the Amiga, including topics such as disk drives, monitors, networking and more.

    …and more!


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