AMIGA vs PC - Main features of various Amiga models. Meet AROS, an open clone of the famous AmigaOS History of the Amiga brand
In the digital world, computers from the Amiga series are more famous than others. But they were at the peak of fame for only a short time. What happened to them?
In 1985, Commodore International introduced the first model of its computer to the market - Amiga 1000. It was more powerful than its competitors and had a multitasking mode.
Its graphic and sound capabilities were also impressive at that time. A operating system AmigaOS 1.0 offered a windowed interface familiar to modern users. But the device was too expensive for home use - it the price was $2000, so sales of this model were small.
Two years later, Commodore introduced to the public new computer Amiga 500, which was aimed at home use and was much cheaper. The Amiga 500 model became best selling and quite quickly acquired a huge number of fans, earning the status of a cult car.
Amiga 500
Start of production: 1987
End of production: 1991
RAM: 512 kbytes
CPU: Motorola 68000 @ 7 MHz
Price: $2000
This was largely due to computer games, such as Defender of the Crown, Speedball 2, Turrican II and others. Total released for Amiga over 3000 games.
And in the early nineties, a new trend appeared: since copying games at that time was problematic, the exchange of them flourished very actively. And given the fact that the performance requirements of such products were gradually increasing, this was excellent ground for the further development of the Amiga.
But Commodore was unable to repeat the success of the Amiga 500. Direct heirs of the “five hundred” - models 500+ and 600- did not offer any new ones technical developments, which would justify the release of updated computers.
Quite a few popular games refused to run on the new Amiga models, so users simply returned them to stores. Wrong marketing policies also played a big role in Amiga's exit from the market.
Therefore, even the production of office machines Amiga 1200 and 4000 with innovative features that were supposed to help Commodore remain sustainable in the personal computer market, it was unable to compete with other manufacturers.
The only hit
Commodore was never able to build on the success of the Amiga 500
Financial difficulties that arose in 1994 led Commodore to bankruptcy. Subsequently, all rights to produce the Amiga passed through several companies, but the return of the iconic computer never took place.
Time scale
2015 Emulators
Users who are nostalgic for retro games and the Amiga OS interface can download the emulator for PC and smartphones
Computer on Linux based With Core processor i7 ( Sandy Bridge), 16 GB of memory and GeForce GT430 - the last sign of life for the Amiga
1994 Commodore bankruptcy
Commodore has declared bankruptcy. Amiga computers discontinued
1992 Amiga 4000 and 1200
Professional solutions with 32-bit processor and unique features.
Model A1200 - cheaper version of A4000
Office computer, very similar to the Amiga 500. Unlike the latter, this model had an external keyboard.
Photo: manufacturing companies
The modern computer market grew out of small firms trying their hand at a new business area in the early 80s of the last century. This area of the industry has developed over four decades, methods have been improved and technical approaches have changed, discoveries and ridiculous mistakes have been made. The smartest ones learned from the mistakes of their own and their competitors. Amiga computers have become a legend and a guide to how a great initiative and brilliant prospects, combined with stupid mistakes of the creators, led to complete collapse.
History of the Amiga brand
Back in the 1970s, there was active development of custom integrated circuits and chips, culminating in the creation of eight-bit microprocessors. Young specialist Jay Miner enthusiastically joined this work carried out by Atari. Employees did not always agree with the opinions of managers; each had their own vision of further development. The tough management style and harsh corporate rules did not please creative people and enthusiasts of the development of “smart” machines. Therefore, when they left the company, they founded small companies, implementing their own projects.
A group of engineers who disagreed with management's policies created the Hi-Toro company, which later received a different name - Amiga. Miner was invited to head the department responsible for the hardware. All the work revolved around the creation game console codenamed Lorraine, with the long view that it will gradually be modernized and improved into a real desktop computer. The most popular processor at that time, Motorola 68000, was used as the “heart” of the console, which allowed for faster graphics and sound, and was a direct competitor to Intel for personal computers.
Funding for the project was provided by three dentists from Florida, but the budget was still bursting at the seams. To stay afloat, Hi-Toro employees had to develop accessories for the ColecoVision and Atari 2600 game consoles, which were at the peak of popularity. It was through their efforts that the dynamic Joybord joystick (analogous to Wii Fit) appeared on the market. The proceeds from the invention were enough for a year of work, and in 1983 they again had to look for investors. Competitors agreed to help with finances. Atari, at that time under the wing of Warner, planned to release a game console based on a processor similar to Motorola's. The deal was proposed: Atari would invest in a company consisting of former employees, subject to the exclusive right to use the design created in the Amiga for a period of one year.
The deal was beneficial to both companies, but the contracting parties did not take into account the saturation of the American video game market with various kinds of consoles that were completely incompatible with each other. The quality of games on most devices was low, the graphics were extremely primitive. A long crisis followed that almost led to the collapse of the video game industry. Losing millions of dollars a day, Atari became a burden to Warner's owners, who wanted to sell the unprofitable division as quickly as possible.
During the same period, another no less legendary company, Commodore International, began a personnel rush. The head of the company, Jack Tramel, did not find a common language with the main shareholder, and was forced to resign from his post, creating a new holding, Tramel Technology. Obsessed with the idea of promoting game consoles and computers, Tramil wanted to buy the Lorraine chipset production technology from Amiga. But this meant that all the company’s employees, who had invested years of their lives in the game console, would be left behind. Amiga, despite financial instability, refused the deal that promised immediate profit.
Tramil took a different path. He stopped searching and created a team of former Commodore employees, entrusting them with the development of an original chipset for a low-budget and, at the same time, powerful computer. Creating a set of connecting chips was interesting, but extremely difficult. When six months later (06.1984) the specialists reported that the work was 95% ready, it was time to doubt their honesty, because in such a short period of time it was unrealistic to create a high-tech product from scratch. Most likely, the technology “left” Commodore along with the engineers who left.
By this point, the unprofitable Atari itself was falling like an overripe fruit into Tramil's hands. As a result of short negotiations, Atari Consumer Electronics Division changed ownership, and the new owner very quickly unearthed a contract concluded between Atari and Amiga for the supply of a finished product, the development of which had been suspended until funding was resumed. This news marked a new dramatic turn in Tramil's relations with Amiga, Atari and Commodore.
The creation of the platform for Lorraine, meanwhile, has not yet been completed. Continuous failures in the financial field made it difficult to bring the matter to fruition. Not wanting to work for Tramil, who had once offered to buy the technology, Amiga management decided to come to an agreement with the enterprising businessman’s competitor, turning to Commodore for funding. Having received a tranche of half a million dollars, the Lorraine developers had the opportunity to refine the chipset. At the same time, Commodore was able to protect a new promising product from Tramila and gain access to Amiga developments.
Having received the go-ahead, the Amiga team enthusiastically continued their work, quickly presenting a finished sample of their own computer. The further fate of the company turned out to be closely connected with the development of computers in collaboration with Commodore. Each new computer released onto the market was a step forward toward fame—and ruin.
Main models and their technical characteristics
The Amiga 1000 was the first computer with multimedia functions. Production began in 1985 and ended in 1987. CPU – Motorola MC68000 with an operating frequency of 7.14 MHz. RAM - 256 KB. In the process of release volume random access memory increased to 512 KB. The default OS is AmigaOS 1.0 - 1.3. It was equipped with a disk drive that allowed you to read 880 KB floppy disks.
The fully functional Amiga 1000 was introduced in 1985 as part of a new line by Commodore. This computer was relatively inexpensive ($1,200), but it displayed 4,096 colors on the screen and could play eight-bit melodies.
What made the model stand out was the new OS - Amiga OS, which can support multitasking and is equipped with the Workbench interface and the Intuition window system. For the mid-1980s, launching and working in two applications simultaneously seemed revolutionary!
An analog monitor was included, and it was also possible to connect the Amiga 1000 to a TV via a composite connector. Superior to its main competitors by a head, the “thousandth” was ahead in its technical equipment of the Apple Macintosh, IBM PC and Atari ST. For complete victory, all that was needed was a good marketer capable of promoting the product and promoting it on the market. Byte magazine published an article in the mid-1990s in which, taking into account the passage of time and the speed of development computer sphere the history of the model was considered. It was called “ahead of its time” so much that neither users nor Commodore even realized how advanced the first Amiga PC turned out to be.
This model turned out to be the most popular, produced from 1987 (replacing the A1000) to 1991. Processor – Motorola CM68000 with an operating frequency of 7.16 MHz (NTSC) and 7.09 (PAL). HDD and related devices were mounted on the side of the system bus connector. Another slot was used for installing “slow memory” RAM (512 KB) with the ability to increase an additional amount of “fast memory” (8 MB), which maximally accelerates the performance of the processor. The floppy drive allowed reading 3.5'' floppy disks. The operating system that supports the computer is AmigaOS versions 1.2, 1.3.
Rivalries with rival high-tech firms intensified significantly in 1987. The Amiga developers released two machines at once, designed for different wallet sizes of buyers. The budget version of the Amiga 500 actually copied the Amiga 1000 with the only difference being that new model consisted of cheaper components, making it possible to reduce the price to $600. At the same time, the same 4096 colors were offered for display on the screen and 8-bit sound.
The standard kit included a system unit combined with a keyboard and a mouse. The monitor was not included in the package; it was supposed to be purchased separately. As an anecdote, there was a story going around for a long time, how one of the PC users, looking at the new product, asked the seller: “Everything is clear with the keyboard, but where is the computer itself?” The creators' trick was that the computer was placed non-standardly, inside the keyboard box.
Due to its low price and advanced functionality, the model quickly became popular.
CPU – Motorola MC68000 7.14 MHz with operating modes of 7.16 MHz (NTSC) and 7.09 (PAL). RAM - 512 KB in models A and B (1987), in model C (1991) increased to 1 MB. Comes with a hard drive. The motherboard was equipped with five Zorro II expansion slots - patented connectors, two sixteen-bit ISA bus expansion slots, slots for a video card and a processor if there was a need to upgrade it. 3.5'' disk drive. Operating system - AmigaOS versions 1.2, 1.3 (models A and B) or 2.0 (model C).
Paired with the budget model Amiga 500, an expensive version of the Amiga 2000, created for the professional market, went on sale. The innovation was that the desire to expand the system in the future, while remaining within the standard case, could be realized by users using special connectors that allow this to be done. At the same time, the $2,400 machine offered performance absolutely identical to the Amiga 500. It turned out to be in demand, unexpectedly for everyone, in the field of video processing. Amiga 2000 models were actively purchased by television companies, and also spread into the field of film production.
The market niche, despite the demand, turned out to be too small. It was far from the enterprise segment controlled by the Apple Macintosh and IBM PC. The company made one unforgivable mistake when promoting the new product: the price was initially announced at up to $2,000, but when it went on sale it turned out to be $400 higher than stated. This “optionality” caused a wave of anger and disappointment. Despite its good data, the Amiga 2000 would have dragged the company to the bottom if not for the next, new model.
The appearance of a new computer on the market in 1990 very quickly earned it the reputation of being the best in the Amiga line. In order to increase the performance of the machine, the developers replaced all key components. The system unit box no longer contained a built-in keyboard; it came as an independent element. The computer was expensive for its time, but extremely sophisticated. It was equipped with a special flicker unit, which is responsible for suppressing the annoying pulsation of the scan of a low-budget VGA monitor. The asset also included a coprocessor that accelerates the processing of operations in the presence of floating point. All libraries containing buttons and panels that previously had to be registered manually were standardized. The standard package contained a primitive browser and AmigaGuide language support for hypertext markup.
Buyers regretted that the Amiga chipset was inferior in functionality to the IBM PC, and the operating system could have been better developed. Although overall the machine was received well, confirming its place among the major computer manufacturers.
CDTV
In parallel with the development of the PC, Commodore carried out work to implement the idea of a full-fledged home multimedia center. They decided to install computer components into the body of an ordinary VCR, in the hope that such an “innovative” idea would increase sales. A similar desire to cross a “hedgehog and a snake” led to the emergence of the Commodore Dynamic Total Vision (CDTV).
The final product was the classic Amiga 500 model in a modified case, in which there was no room for a keyboard and mouse; they had to be purchased separately. The multimedia center was supposed to be controlled using an infrared remote control. For the first time, the CD drive was built into the “body” of the system unit. For $900, buy a morally decrepit model, albeit in an updated design, with old version Amiga OS 1.3 (with version 2.0 already working) was desired only by the most hardcore fans.
Moreover, Philips followed a similar path, deciding to convince customers that video playback directly from laser disk– it’s very cool and modern. MPEG-1 decoding and support for Video CDs, whose modules were supposed to help users, were met with a cold reception. The “combined” Philips and Amiga turned out to be equally unclaimed and a failure. For Amiga products, this miscalculation turned out to be disastrous, because it was with this model that Commodore had certain hopes.
The developers improved the Amiga 500 version by upgrading it to a megabyte of memory, and also improving the coprocessor set to the Enhanced Chip Set version. We added a built-in clock and a more advanced operating system AmigaOS 2.04 - 2.1. Compared to the Amiga 500, the PC looked more attractive both in terms of hardware and budget, but it lasted less than a year on sale (sales started in October 1991 and ended in June 1992). If this model had gone on sale a year earlier, in parallel with the Amiga 500, which had a high sales rating, the demand for it would have been higher.
During operation, an unfortunate mistake was discovered by the developers - the model conflicted with the most popular games of the early 90s. Disappointed Amiga fans returned the "defective" version to stores en masse, suing Commodore. The company's management, sensing its image was collapsing, hastily began to look for a way out of the unpleasant situation. He was seen in the creation of new models - the complete replacement of the Amiga 500 with a more advanced and low-budget version was supposed to win over wide sections of the population that had a “taste”.
The inexpensive and most compact machine of the entire Amiga line, production of which began in the summer days of 1992, replaced the Amiga 500+, which failed to win the hearts. The computer keyboard has again “merged” with the system unit. The old Motorola processor MC68000, with an operating frequency of 7.14 MHz and one megabyte of RAM, turned out to be a disappointment for users eager for the miraculous transformation of the new model into a strong and modern unit. Having removed the convenient connector that made it possible to improve the system, the PC was equipped with a PCMCIA connector, designed to connect cards with 2 or 4 megabytes of RAM. Unlike the 500 versions, for Kickstart modifications an internal 2.5’’ screw was installed, which, after additional shamanism, expanded to 3.5’’. The insignificant technical equipment of the new computer and its weakness became a loss for the Commodore management, which insisted on its version, because the designers constantly proposed moving forward along the path of technology development.
Instead of confidently occupying the price niche, displacing the Amiga 500, the computer unexpectedly became much more expensive with the same performance parameters and features. Buyers called it a “failure,” criticizing the entire system, in which no significant improvements had been made, but the deterioration was “obvious.” In order to make the computer smaller and lighten its weight, the developers cut down the calculator keyboard. The lack of a block of numbers caused difficulties and sometimes made it impossible to work with some popular applications.
The management, seeing how precarious and fragile the company's position in the market had become, made an attempt to calm dissatisfied customers by releasing an announcement of the imminent appearance on the market of much more productive and powerful versions of the Amiga line. It was almost a disaster. Disappointed with the old models and intrigued by the promised super-sophisticated computers, potential buyers lay in wait and stopped buying “junk.” Sales virtually froze, profits did not recoup investments, putting Commodore on the brink of bankruptcy.
CPU – Motorola MC68EC020 with an operating frequency of 14 MHz. RAM 2 MB. DRAM 4 MB. HD 2.5'' with the possibility of conversion to 3.5''. OS – Amiga OS 3.0.
This version, which appeared in the fall of 1992, rightfully became a “real”, serious computer. It was equipped with a new product - an improved AGA graphics chipset. Instead of a radical improvement in capabilities, it turned out to be nothing. The presence of AGA negated any advantage the Amiga had over competing computers. With a refresh rate of 72 Hz, the screen resolution reached a maximum of 640x480, despite the fact that the IBM PC's image already confidently maintained a resolution of 1024x768 at the same frequencies. Meanwhile, the developers claimed that the computer can support a large number of monitor modes (max – 1448x566), a color palette of up to 262 thousand shades, four video outputs (TTL/analog RGB, radio frequency/low frequency PAL). Externally, the model looked traditional for the Amiga, once again bringing together a keyboard, mouse, and double drives.
The Amiga 1200 was supposed to be a selling model home computer, however, the price of $600 was higher than average. In the home PC market, budget IBM PC lines and game consoles have already firmly held their positions. The Amiga system was more expensive than similar and even more productive models from competitors. The question once again arose about the compatibility of hardware with “native” games from the Amiga 500, which no longer run on the new hardware. The processor also turned out to be slightly outdated. People who understood the beauty of choice wanted to get a better and more modern car for the money. No matter how much the “1200” was criticized, it managed to sell about a million copies of the PC.
This PC model was destined for a professional future. The system unit became horizontal, the keyboard came separately. The memory implied the possibility of expansion using standard connectors. The cost of the car was significant, under 2 thousand dollars, although the graphics and sound were no different. True, extensions and plugins made it possible to significantly improve them. Eight independent connectors per system unit(4 of them are compatible with PC) made it possible to expand the capabilities of the computer. It was assumed that this version would be in demand for creative workers in studios cable television and in pure programming, because its speed and power made it possible to spin the processor to maximum values.
The Commodore company tried in every possible way to promote this model, even introducing a light version of the PC, with an embedded processor and RAM in motherboard. Alas, this modification could not save the situation.
The company's "swan song" was game console with the ability to work with CDs. It was essentially an Amiga 1200, housed in a miniature new design. The game console unexpectedly hit home, taking over half of the European gaming market. Inspired by success, the developers managed to push the console onto the Canadian market, anticipating a triumphant march across the expanses of the United States of America, but to new personal computers the demand was so-so. Despite good sales of the game console, profits were critically low. Commodore declared bankruptcy in 1994, no longer caring about the fate of the Amiga computers.
Epilogue
After Commodore's bankruptcy became known, Amiga computers disappeared from the shelves. The main mistake that led to the collapse was incorrect marketing. PCs were sold as regular gaming computers in toy stores. As soon as the crisis occurred in the video game market, Commodore tried to change its image, but remained a manufacturer of gaming machines rather than professional ones. This is how the Amiga line of models, once capable of ousting their now famous competitors, ended their lives ingloriously...
