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Thread ID: 71687	2006-08-13 11:49:00	Need help concerning Amigas	Cornot (10386)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
478257	2006-08-13 11:49:00	hey y'all . Im a HUGE fan of emulation - Sega, Nintendo, Atari . . . When I was like six, I owned my first PC It was beautiful . . . An Amiga / Commodore thingee . This is where my problem begins, does anyone know ehere I can find information concerning What type of Amiga PC it was, as far as I know, Amiga and Commodore somehow merged together and released several PC's in the meantime which were a meld of the two companies? I think this PC was around the 1985 - 1994 era and used floppy disks to boot programmes directly off the Disk, no OS as far as I can remember . :confused: It had great games such as L . E . D Storm and Dogs of War being the two distinct ones . . . Separate keyboard and mouse . Umm, 8 bit I think, considering the graphics . . . I dunno bout that . I loved that PC, it was my "One true friend" Then sometime in 1999 . . . It broke :stare: :horrified :eek: And I never saw it again . . . It was while playing Barbarian . . . :dogeye: Please reunite a 16 yr old nerd with his Amiga! Any help would be greatly appreciated .	Cornot (10386)
478258	2006-08-13 16:58:00	There were a couple of Amigas . Commodore was losing money fast, and then spent a lot of money it didn't have on aqcuiring the AMIGA company . The first, if I remember correctly, the one I had was the Amiga 500 . It was very fast (for it's day) and the folk at Commodore decided that they were losing money on it and the parts were too expensive, so they degraded it to the Amiga 1000 series . It was slower, but not as costly to make and kept the company alive a little longer . I remember the game "Marbles" and it's 3-D and colors and exquisite sounds in 4-channels! Rumors are that the first Star-Wars movie used the early Commodores for their graphics, which the Commodores would be very able to produce for the time . Many large comercial buildings also used the VIC-20's for heating and air-conditioning controls too . They were rellatively cheap and they could be unmplugged and replaced very quickly if they failed while on line . The language they used was a very friendly Basic, and I ran FORTH64 while writing code for mine . I seem to remmber that the screen display was 22 characters, and even the oldest eyes could read it easily . The Commodore lineup was (I think like this): PET 20-20 PET 40-40, and various business machines of the era . . . . The VIC-20 The C>64 and the C>64c The +4 The C>16 The C>128 "Burst" (CPM) mode to run some "Big Blue" stuff; the 128 had three modes of operation: the C>64 mode, the C>128 mode and the IBM emulator mode . . . . . . the first VM, I think . This is where the wheels fell off Commodore for the US market . Updates and upgrades made the populus angry . . . they didn't understand "generations" of systems and wanted thing to stay permenantly in place . There were a few other models that I didn't bother to try or buy at that time . . . and I might've left a few out of the list . Commodore was going thru some legal fights with IBM, who, frankly just out-monied them in court and Commodore folded and went to Holland, I think, where they are still making some hardware . There might've been some sleeping arrangements with Phillips and Commodore for a while . . but that too has seemed to pass away . One very interesting sidebar here about the "save with replace" command on the floppies . The older PETs had the typical "count from zero [0]" logic in all it's computations and device labels . The C-64 and newer used a default counting initiator of one (1) via the (rand/1) command, and if you didn't define where you wanted to save some info or data . . . especially in the "save-with-replace" command, then your data went to outer space, never to be seen again . It actually went to the next-toggled place that the processor remembered as "next" . . . and assigned the value of either 0 or 1 to the address, toggled by the (rand/1) generator making the cpu count from 1 (one) . . . hence since you have a 0 (zero) default address-assigned floppy drive, it had a 50-50 chance of being recoverable . Since the CPU's in the Commodores had all the layered undercode of previous chips, especially the 20-20 and the 40-40, there were some "ghosts" that lived on into the newer machines . . . that if known about, could be used sucessfully . . . or not . Interest in the Commodore computers has resulted in a longevity of product availability which has exceeded even the greatest expectations . There is still some development of products and software for Commodore 8-bit systems . Creative Micro Designs is still manufacturing newer CPU chips and accessories for the original Commodore systems . They even still publish a magazine called Commodore World . There are also a couple of Commodore on-disk magazines being produced such as LoadStar and Commodore Gazette . There is even a company which recently announced the production of a new device called Web . it which is an IBM Windows type system which can automatically emulate and run Commodore 64 programs and even access the Internet . Gateway 2000 has acquired the rights to the Amiga and is currently developing new Amiga compatible hardware and operating systems . Several national dealers still sell and support Commodore and Amiga hardware and software through the mail and via the Internet . Those were fun days .	SurferJoe46 (51)
478259	2006-08-13 21:20:00	When I was like six, I owned my first PC does anyone know ehere I can find information concerning What type of Amiga PC it was, as far as I know, Amiga and Commodore somehow merged together and released several PC's in the meantime which were a meld of the two companies? Like six? Or actually six? Surferjoe has already listed the Commodores. Amigas: Amiga 1000 Amiga 500 (Keyboard part of PC box) Amiga 2000 Amiga 2500 Amiga 3000 Amiga 4000 Amiga 600 Amiga 1200 Details here: en.wikipedia.org And this for emulation: http://www.amigaforever.com/	pctek (84)
478260	2006-08-13 22:09:00	Yes they were the bees knees in there day. Leave any IBM/ IBM clone for dead. I owned an Amiga 1000/2000/1200 not all at the same time. Trevor :)	Trev (427)
478261	2006-08-15 07:33:00	There were a couple of Amigas . Rumors are that the first Star-Wars movie used the early Commodores for their graphics, which the Commodores would be very able to produce for the time . If I remember correctly, Amiga 4000's were used in conjunction with Newtek's Video Toaster to provide the CGI for Seaquest DSV . At the time, Amiga was going through a rough patch, struggling to find market share in the face of the Pentium onslaught . Amiga's were seen as the lightweight competitor compared to the seemingly more versatile IBM-clone PC . Though anyone who owned an Amiga knew that in spite of it's processor being numerically weaker, it was more powerful with it's dedicated chipsets for graphics and sound (each had a very human name, like Lisa, Daphne, etc) . To be an Amiga owner was to be fiercely proud and protective of your hardware, often in the face of logic . I owned an Amiga 500, and excitedly traded up to an Amiga 600 with a 120MB internal hard-drive (120 mega bytes! Count them!) and Kickstart 2 . 0 . I very reluctantly sold up (why I sold it, I don't really know now . . . ) and bought a P120 PC, which was certainly more versatile - 1 . 2GB HDD, 2MB video card, 33K internal modem (THE INTERNET!) and Quake . But in shifting from Amiga to PC, I felt a little bit dirty, like I'd betrayed a friend . . . But in many ways it was necessary - in NZ, at least, consumer support for Amiga's was all but invisible (or so it seemed to me at the time), and it was hard to own an Amiga and be legitimate in running one . I remember most games were copies of copies of copies etc . About 2 years ago I found an Amiga 500 in quite good condition in Cash Converters for $50, but I'd forgotten that while the A500 could plug straight into a TV, it wouldn't be in colour . I've been trying to track down a Commodore 1084S monitor, but the hardware has really dried up the last few years . I think the only alternative is a converter to plug into the monitor port of the A500, and run the composite cable through that . . . Those were fun days . Too right . Things seemed much simpler back then . And funny how the games were more enjoyable . I remember Lotus Esprit Turbo Charge, Pinball Dreams, Cannon Fodder, Worms (the original), Flashback, Beneath a Steel Sky, and lots more . I was surprised to see that California Games (which goes back to C64 days) is on Telecom's mobile games store - a faithful reproduction, and incredible how the gameplay has been retained . . . <sigh>	Lizard (2409)
478262	2006-08-15 07:59:00	Though anyone who owned an Amiga knew that in spite of it's processor being numerically weaker, it was more powerful with it's dedicated chipsets for graphics and sound (each had a very human name, like Lisa, Daphne, etc) . I very reluctantly sold up (why I sold it, I don't really know now . . . ) About 2 years ago I found an Amiga 500 in quite good condition in Cash Converters for $50, but I'd forgotten that while the A500 could plug straight into a TV, it wouldn't be in colour . And funny how the games were more enjoyable . Hmmm, it was much, much better than a PC then but I doubt it was because of the chips . I remember thinking it was weird to have "add-on" cards for sound and graphics etc when I got a PC but soon found out it was far, far better . You weren't stuck with the current "state of the art" . I sold because it died and nothing was written for it anymore . Look on Trademe, I've seen 1081s and 1084s on there . I used to have 3 of them cluttering up my wardrobe . They were also handy as a TV if you hooked up a VCR to them .	pctek (84)
478263	2006-08-26 11:31:00	My introduction to computers (in male menopause) was to the Amiga 500. It was the next model after the Amiga 1000 which had the keyboard, box and monitor. The 500 combined the keyboard and box. The Amiga's claim to fame at its introduction was true multi-tasking and the WIMP interface in contrast to the PC which was only accessible through DOS and the Apple which was only Icon based. With the Amiga you could use either DOS (AmigaDOS) or the mouse and icons. At that stage it was all floppy disc based. I graduated to the Amiga 2500 which had a hard drive and dual floppies with a 1084 monitor (colour), actually the 1081 was better quality, but eventually Commodore went down the gurgler after the Amiga 4000 (and the Toaster), and its technology, after a few false starts, went with it. It was great fun while it lasted and the games were terrific. I used WordPerfect which was magic on the Amiga and SuperBase as my database which I was able to convert to Access when I changed, reluctantly, to a PC. The problem, of course, was Commodore, not the Amiga Technology which it acquired, I think, from a chap who originally worked for Apple (but don't quote me on that).	MikeAS (10901)
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