The Amiga 1000 (1985), the first model released

The Amiga is a family of personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation. The A1000, or Commodore Amiga 1000 was Commodore's initial Amiga Personal computer, introduced on July 24, 1985 at the A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated Amiga Corporation was a United States Computer company formed in the early 1980s as Hi-Toro. Development on the Amiga began in 1982 with Jay Miner as the principal hardware designer. Jay Glenn Miner ( May 31, 1932 &ndash June 20, 1994) was a famous Integrated circuit designer known primarily for his work in Commodore International bought Amiga Corporation and introduced the machine to the market in 1985. Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was a US-American Electronics company based in West Chester Pennsylvania The name Amiga was chosen by the developers specifically from the Spanish and Portuguese word for a female friend,^[1] and because it occurred before Apple and Atari alphabetically. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Apple Inc, ( formerly Apple Computer Inc, is an American Multinational corporation with a focus on designing and manufacturing Consumer electronics Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. ^[2]

Based on the Motorola 68k series of microprocessors, the machine sported a custom chipset with advanced graphics and sound capabilities, and a pre-emptive multitasking operating system (now known as AmigaOS). The Motorola 680x0 / m68k / 68k / 68K is a family of 32-bit CISC Microprocessor CPU chips and was the primary A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a Central processing unit (CPU on a single Integrated The Original Chip Set ( OCS) was a Chipset used in the earliest Commodore Amiga computers and defined the Amiga's graphics and sound capabilities Pre-emption or preemption in Computing is the act of temporarily interrupting a task being carried out by a computer system, without requiring An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination AmigaOS is the default native Operating system of the Amiga personal computer While the M68k was a 32-bit processor, the version originally used in the Amiga, the 68000, had a 16-bit external data bus, and the original machine (along with its contemporary, the Atari ST) was generally referred to in the press as a 16-bit computer;^[3] later models sported fully 32-bit designs. The range of Integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4294967295 or −2147483648 through 2147483647 using Two's complement encoding In Computer architecture, a bus is a subsystem that transfers data between computer components inside a Computer or between computers The Atari ST is a home / Personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s Printing is a process for reproducing text and image typically with ink on Paper using a printing press The Amiga provided a significant upgrade from 8-bit computers such as the Commodore 64, and the Amiga quickly grew in popularity among computer enthusiasts, especially in Europe, and sold approximately 6 million units. ^[4]

It also found a prominent role in the desktop video / video production and show control business, and was a less-expensive alternative to the Apple Macintosh and IBM-PC. Desktop video refers to a phenomenon lasting from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s when the graphics capabilities of personal computers such as Commodore's Amiga, the Summary Professional Video production, or videography, is the Art and service of videotaping editing and distributing a finished Show control is the use of Technology to link together and operate multiple Entertainment control systems in a coordinated manner Macintosh, commonly nicknamed Mac is a Brand name which covers several lines of Personal computers designed developed and marketed by Apple Inc The Amiga was most commercially successful as a home computer, although early Commodore advertisements attempted to place the Amiga into several different markets at the same time. A home computer was a class of Personal computer entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s ^[5][6]

Since the demise of Commodore, various groups have marketed successors to the original Amiga line. Eyetech sold Amiga hardware under the AmigaOne brand from 2002 to 2005. AmigaOne is a Computer platform based on the Teron series of PowerPC POP mainboards, mainly intended to run AmigaOS version 4

History

Main article: History of the Amiga

The Amiga was originally designed by a small company called Amiga Corporation, and initially intended to be a next generation video game machine, but was later redesigned into a general purpose computer. The following history of the Amiga documents the development and commercial history of the Amiga, a Home computer product line manufactured from the middle 1980s Amiga Corporation was a United States Computer company formed in the early 1980s as Hi-Toro. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. ^[7][8] Before the machine was released into the market the company was purchased by Commodore. Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was a US-American Electronics company based in West Chester Pennsylvania The first model, later known as the Amiga 1000, was released in 1985 as a successor to the Commodore 64 and as a rival to the Atari ST. The A1000, or Commodore Amiga 1000 was Commodore's initial Amiga Personal computer, introduced on July 24, 1985 at the The Atari ST is a home / Personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s Commodore later released several new Amiga models, both for low-end gaming use and high-end productivity use. Throughout the 1980s, the Amiga's combination of hardware and operating system software offered great value, but by the mid-nineties other platforms, most of all the PC, reduced or eliminated this advantage. IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT.

In 1994, Commodore filed for bankruptcy and its assets were purchased by Escom, a German PC manufacturer, who created the subsidiary company Amiga Technologies. This article is about the German computer manufacturer For the South African electricity public utility formerly known as both ESCOM and EVKOM see Eskom. A subsidiary, in business matters is an entity that is controlled by a bigger and more powerful entity They re-released the A1200 and A4000T, and introduced a new 68060 version of the A4000T. The Motorola 68060 is a 32-bit Microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1994, and is the successor to the Motorola 68040.

However, Escom in turn went bankrupt in 1997. The Amiga brand was then sold to another PC manufacturer, Gateway 2000, which had announced grand plans for it. Gateway Incorporated is a Computer hardware company based in Irvine, California, which develops manufactures supports and markets a wide range of However, in 2000, Gateway sold the Amiga brand.

The current owner of the trademark, Amiga, Inc., has licensed the rights to make hardware using the Amiga brand to a UK computer vendor, Eyetech Group, Ltd, which was founded by some former UK employees of Commodore International. Amiga Inc is the company that holds the intellectual property associated with the Amiga personal computer (originally developed by Amiga Corporation) including Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was a US-American Electronics company based in West Chester Pennsylvania They are currently selling the AmigaOne via an international dealer network. AmigaOne is a Computer platform based on the Teron series of PowerPC POP mainboards, mainly intended to run AmigaOS version 4 The AmigaOne is a PowerPC computer designed to run the latest version of AmigaOS, which was itself licensed to a Belgian-German company, Hyperion Entertainment. PowerPC is a RISC Instruction set architecture created by the 1991 Apple – IBM – Motorola alliance known as AIM AmigaOS is the default native Operating system of the Amiga personal computer ^[9]

Hardware

At its core, the Amiga featured custom designed coprocessors, useful for handling tasks such as audio, video, encoding and animation. A coprocessor is a Computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor (the CPU This freed up the Amiga's central processor for other tasks (given that the coprocessors could keep up with the central processor's demands) and gave the Amiga an edge on its competitors in many situations.

The platform also introduced other innovations. The Amiga CDTV, for example, was the first computer to feature a CD-ROM drive as standard, as well as being one of the earlier computers to no longer include a floppy drive in the standard configuration. CD-ROM (an initialism of "Compact Disc Read-Only Memory " is a pre-pressed Compact Disc that contains data accessible to but not writable The Amiga was also one of the first computers for which inexpensive sound sampling and video digitization accessories were available.

Although it was once regarded as "unemulatable,"^[10] since around 2000, hardware has developed to a point where many different platforms have Amiga emulation programs available that reproduce the Amiga's hardware functions in software. Amiga emulation refers to the activity of emulating (mimicking the hardware of a Commodore Amiga computer system using another computer platform This allows users to run Amiga software without the need for an actual Amiga computer.

Central processing unit

PowerPC processor. PowerPC is a RISC Instruction set architecture created by the 1991 Apple – IBM – Motorola alliance known as AIM

All Commodore Amiga models make use of Motorola Central Processing Units (CPUs) based on the Motorola 68k architecture. In desktop-style Amiga models, the CPU was fitted on a daughterboard (except the A2000) called a CPU card. A daughterboard or daughtercard is a Circuit board meant to be an extension or "daughter" of a Motherboard (or 'mainboard' or occasionally another Low-cost Amiga models came with CPUs either socketed or soldered onto the motherboard. On all Amiga models the CPU could be upgraded through an expansion card or direct CPU replacement. CPU cards were provided by both Commodore and third-party manufacturers. These cards often came with on-board memory slots and hard drive interfaces, alleviating those tasks from the base Amiga. A hard disk drive ( HDD) commonly referred to as a hard drive, hard disk, or fixed disk drive, is a Non-volatile storage device

The Amiga was not limited to solely the 68k CPU architecture; it was also possible to install a PowerPC coprocessor that could be used by PowerPC-aware software and libraries,^[11] and later the AmigaOne used a PowerPC CPU instead of a 68k CPU. PowerPC is a RISC Instruction set architecture created by the 1991 Apple – IBM – Motorola alliance known as AIM

Custom chipset

The Amiga's custom chipset, as the name implies, consists of a number of chips.

There are three generations of chipsets used in the various Amiga models. The first was the OCS, followed by the ECS and finally the AGA. The Original Chip Set ( OCS) was a Chipset used in the earliest Commodore Amiga computers and defined the Amiga's graphics and sound capabilities Enhanced Chip Set ( ECS) is the name used for the enhanced version of the Amiga Computer 's original chipset ( OCS) Advanced Graphics Architecture ( AGA) is the third generation Amiga graphic chip set first used in the Amiga 4000 in 1992 What all these chipsets have in common is that they handle raster graphics, digital audio and communication between various peripherals (e. In Computer graphics, a raster graphics image or bitmap, is a Data structure representing a generally rectangular grid of Pixels g. , CPU, memory and floppy disks) in the Amiga.

Graphics

All Amiga systems can display full-screen animated graphics with 32, 64 (EHB Mode) or 4096 colors (HAM Mode). Extra Half-Brite (EHB mode is a Screenmode of the Commodore Amiga computer Hold-and-Modify (more commonly known as HAM) is a screenmode of the Commodore Amiga computer Models with the AGA chipset (A1200 and A4000) also have 128, 256 and 262,144 color modes and a palette expanded from 4096 to 16.8 million colors. Color depth. or bit depth, is a Computer graphics term describing the number of Bits used to represent the Color of a single Pixel The Amiga chipset could genlock — adjust its own screen refresh timing to match an NTSC or PAL video signal. Genlock (for Gen erator Lock) is a common technique where the Video output of one source or a specific reference signal is used to synchronize When combined with setting transparency, this allowed an Amiga to overlay an external video source with graphics. This ability made the Amiga popular for many applications, and provided the ability to do character generation and CGI effects far more cheaply than earlier systems. A character generator, often abbreviated as CG, is a device or software that produces static or animated text (such as crawls and rolls for keying Some frequent users of this ability included wedding videographers, TV stations and their weather forecasting divisions (for weather graphics and radar), advertising channels, music video production, and 'desktop video'. A television station is a type of broadcast station that broadcasts both audio and Video to Television receivers in a particular area Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a future time and a given location The NewTek Video Toaster was made possible by the genlock ability of the Amiga. NewTek Inc is a San Antonio, Texas -based software company that produces live and post-production video tools and visual imaging software for personal computers The NewTek Video Toaster is a combination of hardware and software for the editing and production of standard-definition NTSC and

Sound

The sound chip, named Paula, supports four sound channels (two for the left speaker and two for the right) with 8-bit resolution for each channel and a 6-bit volume control per channel. The analog output is connected to a low-pass filter, which filters out high-frequency aliases when the Amiga is using a lower sampling rate (see Nyquist limit). The Nyquist frequency, named after the Swedish-American engineer Harry Nyquist or the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem, is half the Sampling frequency The brightness of the Amiga's power LED is used to indicate the status of the Amiga’s low-pass filter. The filter is active when the LED is at normal brightness, and deactivated when dimmed. Older Amiga 500's simply turned off the power LED. On Amiga 1000, the power LED had no relation to the filter's status, you had to manually solder a wire between pins on the sound chip to disable the filter. Paula can read directly from the system's RAM, using direct memory access (DMA), making sound playback without CPU intervention possible.

Although the hardware is limited to four separate sound channels, software such as OctaMED uses software mixing to allow eight or more virtual channels, and it was possible for software to mix two hardware channels to achieve a single 14-bit resolution channel by playing with the volumes of the channels in such a way that one of the source channels contributes the most significant bits and the other the least ones. OctaMED is a popular sound tracker for the Commodore Amiga, written by Teijo Kinnunen.

The quality of the Amiga's sound output, and the fact that the hardware is ubiquitous and easily addressed by software, were standout features of Amiga hardware unavailable on PC platforms for years. Third-party sound cards exist that provide DSP functions, multi-track direct-to-disk recording, multiple hardware sound channels and 16-bit and beyond resolutions. A retargetable sound API called AHI was developed allowing these cards to be used transparently by the OS and software.

ROM

The classic Amiga Operating System consisted of Kickstart (including System API) and Workbench. In the Amiga 1000 model, Kickstart was first loaded from a floppy disk, followed by Workbench, or other bootable disk. Later models held Kickstart (and system API) on a ROM, improving start-up times. Models could be upgraded by changing the ROM.

The early ROMs were generally known as "Kickstart" and started with version 1. 0 (A1000 floppy) and ending with Kickstart 3. 1. There are hardware and software packages that can "shadow" Kickstart into memory. This resulted in faster operation for functions dependent on the ROM, at the cost of system memory to store the ROM data.

Three finger salute

The Amiga's three-finger salute (CTRL plus the two "Amiga" keys), which reboots the system (but does not erase or reload the Kickstart software), is actually implemented in hardware common to the Apple II (CTRL-Open Apple-Reset), but unlike the IBM PC (whose Ctrl-Alt-Del is implemented in software). Control-Alt-Delete (often abbreviated to Ctrl-Alt-Del, also known as the "three-finger salute" is a computer keyboard command on PC compatible systems Another kind of three-finger salute (CTRL plus the two "Alt" keys) was introduced with AmigaOS 4. 0 which resets the machine entirely, forcing a reload of the Kickstart.

Third party hardware

Many expansion boards were produced for Amiga computers to improve the performance and capability of the hardware, such as memory expansions, SCSI controllers, CPU boards, and graphics boards. Other upgrades included genlocks, ethernet cards, modems, sound cards and samplers, video digitizers, USB cards, extra serial ports, and IDE controllers.

The most popular upgrades were memory, SCSI controllers and CPU accelerator cards. These were sometimes combined into the one device, particularly on big-box Amigas like the A2000, A3000 and A4000.

Early CPU accelerator cards featured full 32-bit CPUs of the 68000 family such as the Motorola 68020 and Motorola 68030, almost always with 32-bit memory and usually with FPUs and MMUs or the facility to add them. The Motorola 68020 is a 32-bit Microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1984. The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit Microprocessor in Motorola 's 68000 family. A floating point unit (FPU is a part of a Computer system specially designed to carry out operations on Floating point numbers A memory management unit ( MMU) sometimes called paged memory management unit ( PMMU) is a Computer hardware component responsible for handling Later designs featured the Motorola 68040 and Motorola 68060. The Motorola 68040 is a Microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1990. The Motorola 68060 is a 32-bit Microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1994, and is the successor to the Motorola 68040. Both CPUs featured integrated FPUs and MMUs. Many CPU accelerator cards also had integrated SCSI controllers.

Phase5 designed the PowerUp boards (BlizzardPPC and CyberstormPPC) featuring both a 68k (a 68040 or 68060) and a PPC (603 or 604) CPU, which are able to run the two CPUs at the same time (and share the system memory). The PPC CPU on PowerUp boards is usually used as a coprocessor for heavy computations (a powerful CPU is needed to run for example MAME, but even decoding JPEG pictures and MP3 audio was considered heavy computation in those years). MAME is an Emulator application designed to recreate the Hardware of Arcade game systems in Software, with the intent of preserving gaming MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a Digital audio encoding format using a form of Lossy data compression It is also possible to ignore the 68k CPU and run Linux on the PPC (project Linux APUS), but a PPC-native Amiga OS was not available when the PPC boards first appeared. Linux (commonly pronounced ˈlɪnəks

24-bit graphics cards and video cards were also available. Graphics cards are designed primarily for 2D artwork production, workstation use, and later, gaming. Video cards are designed for inputting and outputting video signals, and processing and manipulating video.

Perhaps the most famous video card in the North American market was the NewTek Video Toaster. The NewTek Video Toaster is a combination of hardware and software for the editing and production of standard-definition NTSC and This was a powerful video effects board which turned the Amiga into an affordable video processing computer which found its way into many professional video environments. Due to its NTSC-only design it did not find a market in countries that used the PAL standard, such as in Europe. In PAL countries the OpalVision card was popular, although less featured and supported than the Video Toaster. Low-cost time base correctors (TBCs) specifically designed to work with the Toaster quickly came to market, most of which were designed as standard Amiga bus cards. Time base correction is a technique to reduce or eliminate errors caused by mechanical instability present in Analog recordings on mechanical media

Various manufacturers started producing PCI busboards for the A1200 and A4000, allowing standard Amiga computers to use PCI cards such as Voodoo graphic cards, Sound Blaster sound cards, 10/100 ethernet cards, and TV tuner cards. The Sound Blaster family of Sound cards was for many years the De facto standard for audio on the IBM PC compatible System platform, before PC

PowerPC upgrades with Wide SCSI controllers, PCI busboards with ethernet, sound and 3D graphics cards, and tower cases allowed the A1200 and A4000 to survive well into the late nineties.

Expansion boards were made by Richmond Sound Design that allowed their show control and sound design software to communicate with their custom hardware frames either by ribbon cable or fiber optic cable for long distances, allowing the Amiga to control up to eight million digitally controlled external audio, lighting, automation, relay and voltage control channels spread around a large theme park, for example. Richmond Sound Design Ltd is a Theatre sound design and Show control systems and software developer and manufacturer Show control is the use of Technology to link together and operate multiple Entertainment control systems in a coordinated manner Sound design is a technical/conceptually creative field It covers all non-compositional elements of a film a play a music performance See Amiga software for more information on these applications. Amiga software covers a wide range of Software for the Amiga computer both productivity and games, both commercial and hobbyist

Models and variants

Main article: Amiga models and variants

The Amiga 500 (1987) was the most popular variant of the Amiga. This is a list of models and clones of Amiga computers Marketed Amiga models PowerPC -based Amiga models Unofficial Amiga The Amiga 500, also known as the A500, was the first “low-end” Commodore Amiga 16 / 32-bit Multimedia home/ ^[12]

The "classic Amiga" models^[13] were produced from 1985 to 1996. They are, in order of appearance: 1000, 2000, 500, 1500, 2500, 3000, 3000UX, 500+, 3000T, CDTV, 600, 4000, 1200, CD32, and 4000T. The A1000, or Commodore Amiga 1000 was Commodore's initial Amiga Personal computer, introduced on July 24, 1985 at the The A2000, also known as the Commodore Amiga 2000 was released in 1986. The Amiga 500, also known as the A500, was the first “low-end” Commodore Amiga 16 / 32-bit Multimedia home/ The A1500, also known as the Commodore Amiga 1500 was a 16-bit home/ Personal computer released in 1990. The Amiga 2500, also known as the A2500, was not a distinct Amiga model but simply a marketing name for a Commodore Amiga 2000 bundled with a Motorola The A3000, also known as the Commodore Amiga 3000 was a much more serious proposition to build a professional multimedia computer than the previous A2000 The Commodore Amiga 3000UX is a model of the Amiga computer family that was released with Amiga Unix, a full port of AT&T Unix System V Release 4 (SVR4 The Commodore Amiga 500 Plus (often A500 Plus or simply A500+) is an enhanced version of the original Amiga 500 computer The Amiga 3000T is the tower version of the Commodore Amiga 3000 computer The Amiga 600, also known as the A600 (codenamed "June Bug" after a B-52's song was a Home computer introduced at the CeBIT The Commodore Amiga 4000, or A4000, was the successor of the A2000 and A3000 computers The Amiga 1200, or A1200, was Commodore International 's third-generation Amiga computer aimed at the home market The Amiga CD32 was the first 32-bit CD-ROM based Video game console released in western Europe and Canada The Amiga 4000T, also known as A4000T, was a tower version of the A4000 computer The PowerPC based AmigaOne was later produced from 2002 to 2005. AmigaOne is a Computer platform based on the Teron series of PowerPC POP mainboards, mainly intended to run AmigaOS version 4 Some companies have also released Amiga clones.

The Amiga 500 was Commodore’s best-selling Amiga model. The Amiga 500, also known as the A500, was the first “low-end” Commodore Amiga 16 / 32-bit Multimedia home/ Early units, at least, had the words "B52/ROCK LOBSTER"^[14] silk-screen printed onto their printed circuit board, a reference to the popular song by the rock band the B-52's. A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect Electronic components using conductive pathways or traces A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect Electronic components using conductive pathways or traces This article is about the song for the animal see Southern rock lobster. Rock music is a genre of Popular music often though not necessarily employing Electric guitar, Bass guitar, and Drums. The B-52's originated as a New Wave Rock band formed in Athens Georgia, United States, in 1976 Commodore's two subsequent console style models also carried a reference to the same band on their motherboards - the Amiga 600 had "JUNE BUG" and the Amiga 1200 had "CHANNEL Z"^[15]. The Amiga 600, also known as the A600 (codenamed "June Bug" after a B-52's song was a Home computer introduced at the CeBIT The Amiga 1200, or A1200, was Commodore International 's third-generation Amiga computer aimed at the home market

The Amiga 500+ was the shortest lived model, replacing the Amiga 500 and lasting only six months until it was phased out and replaced by the Amiga 600. The Commodore Amiga 500 Plus (often A500 Plus or simply A500+) is an enhanced version of the original Amiga 500 computer The Amiga 600, also known as the A600 (codenamed "June Bug" after a B-52's song was a Home computer introduced at the CeBIT ^[16]

Commodore released three significant upgrades: the Amiga 2000 in 1987, the Amiga 3000 in 1990, and the Amiga 4000 in 1992. The A2000, also known as the Commodore Amiga 2000 was released in 1986. The A3000, also known as the Commodore Amiga 3000 was a much more serious proposition to build a professional multimedia computer than the previous A2000 The Commodore Amiga 4000, or A4000, was the successor of the A2000 and A3000 computers These upgrades improved the platform's graphical abilities, allowing for more colors and different display modes, and added expansion slots and ports. The best selling models, however, were the much cheaper but still versatile console models - the Amiga 500 (1987) and the Amiga 1200 (1992). The Amiga 500, also known as the A500, was the first “low-end” Commodore Amiga 16 / 32-bit Multimedia home/ The Amiga 1200, or A1200, was Commodore International 's third-generation Amiga computer aimed at the home market

In 2006, PC World rated the Amiga 1000 as the seventh greatest PC of all time, stating "Years ahead of its time, the Amiga was the world's first multimedia, multitasking personal computer". PC World is a global Computer magazine published monthly by IDG. The A1000, or Commodore Amiga 1000 was Commodore's initial Amiga Personal computer, introduced on July 24, 1985 at the ^[17]

AmigaOS 4 systems

AmigaOS 4 is designed for PowerPC Amiga systems and currently runs on both Amigas equipped with CyberstormPPC or BlizzardPPC accelerator boards, and on the PPC Teron series based AmigaOne computers built by Eyetech under license by Amiga Inc. AmigaOne is a Computer platform based on the Teron series of PowerPC POP mainboards, mainly intended to run AmigaOS version 4 AmigaOS 4. 0 had been available only in developer pre-releases for numerous years until the final update was 'released' in December 2006. Due to the nature of some provisions of the contract between Amiga Inc. and Hyperion Entertainment the Belgian-German firm which is developing the OS, the commercial AmigaOS had only been available licensed to buyers of AmigaOne motherboards. Hyperion Entertainment VOF is a Belgian software company which specialises in porting Windows games to Amiga, Linux and Macintosh.

AmigaOS 4. 0 for Classic Amigas equipped with PPC (Cyberstorm PPC or BlizzardPPC) accelerator boards was released commercially in November 2007, prior to this it was available only to developers and beta-testers.

There have been no major changes or feature enhancements to Amiga OS 4. 0 since December, 2006, and no new hardware released since the AmigaOne, despite rumors of several PowerPC-based motherboards.

Amiga hardware clones

Long-time Amiga developer MacroSystems entered the Amiga-clone market with their DraCo nonlinear video edit system. "NLE" redirects here For the standardized test see National Latin Examination. It appeared in two versions, initially a tower model and later a cube. DraCo expanded upon and combined a number of earlier expansion cards developed for Amiga (VLabMotion, Toccata, WarpEngine, RetinaIII) into a true Amiga-clone powered by Motorola's 68060 processor. The Motorola 68060 is a 32-bit Microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1994, and is the successor to the Motorola 68040. The DraCo can run AmigaOS 3. 1 up through AmigaOS 3. 9. It is the only Amiga-based system to support FireWire for video I/O. The IEEE 1394 interface is a serial bus Interface standard for high-speed communications and Isochronous real-time data transfer frequently DraCo also offers an Amiga-compatible ZORRO-II expansion bus and introduced a faster custom DraCoBus, capable of 30 MB/sec transfer rates (faster than Commodore's ZORRO-III). Zorro II is the name of the general purpose expansion bus used by the Amiga 2000 computer Released as the expansion bus of the Commodore Amiga 3000 in 1990, the Zorro III Computer bus was used to attach peripheral devices The technology was later used in the Casablanca system, a set-top-box also designed for non-linear video editing.

In 1998, Index Information released the Access, an Amiga-clone similar to the A1200, but on a motherboard which could fit into a standard 5 1/4" drive bay. The Amiga 1200, or A1200, was Commodore International 's third-generation Amiga computer aimed at the home market A drive bay is a standard-sized area for adding hardware to a computer It featured either a 68020 or 68030 CPU, with a redesigned AGA chipset, and ran AmigaOS 3. The Motorola 68020 is a 32-bit Microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1984. The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit Microprocessor in Motorola 's 68000 family. Advanced Graphics Architecture ( AGA) is the third generation Amiga graphic chip set first used in the Amiga 4000 in 1992 AmigaOS is the default native Operating system of the Amiga personal computer 1.

In 2006, two new Amiga-clones were announced. The Minimig is a personal project of Dutch engineer Dennis van Weeren. Minimig (short for Mini Amiga) is an Open source re- Implementation of an Amiga 500 using a Field-programmable gate array Minimig replicates the Amiga OCS custom chipset inside an FPGA. The Original Chip Set ( OCS) was a Chipset used in the earliest Commodore Amiga computers and defined the Amiga's graphics and sound capabilities FPGAs should not be confused with the Flip-chip pin grid array, a form of integrated circuit packaging The original model was built on a Xilinx Spartan 3 development board, but now a dedicated board has been demonstrated. Xilinx Inc ( is the world's largest developer and fabless manufacturer of a class of reconfigurable hardware chips known as Field-programmable gate arrays The design for Minimig was released as Open Source on July 25, 2007. Events 285 - Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. In December, 2007, an Italian company Acube Systems announced plans to commercially produce the original Minimig. In February 2008 Acube began selling Minimig boards.

Individual Computers has announced development of the Clone-A system. Individual Computers is a German Computer hardware company specializing in Retrocomputing accessories for the Commodore 64, Amiga, As of mid 2007 it has been shown in its development form, with FPGA-based boards replacing the custom chips in an Amiga 500.

Operating systems

AmigaOS

Main article: AmigaOS

At the time of release AmigaOS put an OS that was well ahead of its time into the hands of the average consumer. AmigaOS is the default native Operating system of the Amiga personal computer It was the first commercially available consumer operating system for personal computers to implement preemptive multitasking [7]. An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination Pre-emption or preemption in Computing is the act of temporarily interrupting a task being carried out by a computer system, without requiring In computing Multitasking is a method by which multiple tasks also known as processes, share common processing resources such as a CPU. Other features included combining a graphical user interface with a command-line interface, allowing long filenames permitting whitespace and not requiring a file extension and the use of information files associated with other files to store icons, launch and other desktop data. A filename is a special kind of string used to uniquely identify a file stored on the File system of a computer In Computer science, whitespace is any single character or series of characters that represents horizontal or vertical space in Typography. A filename extension is a suffix to the name of a Computer file applied to indicate the encoding convention ( File format) of its contents On Computer displays, a computer icon is a small Pictogram. Icons have been used to supplement the normal alphanumerics of the computer In graphical computing a desktop environment ( DE) commonly refers to a style of Graphical user interface (GUI that is based on the Desktop metaphor which

John C. Dvorak stated in 1996 that AmigaOS "remains one of the great operating systems of the past 20 years, incorporating a small kernel and tremendous multitasking capabilities the likes of which have only recently been developed in OS/2 and Windows NT. John Charles Dvorak (born 1952 in Los Angeles, California) is an American Columnist and broadcaster in the areas of Technology OS/2 is a computer Operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively Windows NT is a family of Operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993 The biggest difference is that the AmigaOS could operate fully and multitask in as little as 250 K of address space. "^[18]

Like other operating systems of the time, the OS lacked memory protection. Memory protection is a way to control memory usage on a computer and is core to virtually every Operating system. This was necessary also because the 68000 CPU of the first Amiga computers did not include a memory management unit, and because there was no way of enforcing use of flags indicating memory to be shared. The Motorola 68000 is a 16/32-bit CISC Microprocessor core designed and marketed by Freescale Semiconductor (formerly Motorola Semiconductor A memory management unit ( MMU) sometimes called paged memory management unit ( PMMU) is a Computer hardware component responsible for handling ^[19] Although it eased interapplication communication (programs could communicate by simply passing a pointer back and forth), the lack of memory protection made the Amiga OS more vulnerable to crashes from badly behaving programs, and fundamentally incapable of enforcing any form of security model since any program had full access to the system. Inter-Process Communication ( IPC) is a set of techniques for the exchange of data among two or more threads in one or more processes. A crash in Computing is a condition where a program (either an application or part of the Operating system) stops performing its expected function and also Computer programs (also software programs, or just programs) are instructions for a Computer. Later this memory protection feature was implemented in Amiga OS 4.

The problem was somewhat exacerbated by Commodore's initial decision to release documentation relating not only to the OS's underlying software routines, but also to the hardware itself, enabling intrepid programmers who cut their teeth on the Commodore 64 to POKE the hardware directly, as was done on the older platform. This article is about BASIC statements Peek & Poke is also the title of an album by White Town In Computing, PEEK is a BASIC While the decision to release the documentation was a popular one and allowed the creation of fast, sophisticated sound and graphics routines in games and demos, it also contributed to system instability as some programmers lacked the expertise to program at this level. For this reason, when the new AGA chipset was released, Commodore declined to release documentation for it, forcing most programmers to adopt the approved software routines. Advanced Graphics Architecture ( AGA) is the third generation Amiga graphic chip set first used in the Amiga 4000 in 1992 Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was a US-American Electronics company based in West Chester Pennsylvania

Following Commodore's bankruptcy, two main clones of AmigaOS were developed: MorphOS, which runs on Amiga and Pegasos machines, and the free software AROS project. MorphOS is a computer Operating system (OS It is a mixed proprietary and Open source OS produced for the Pegasos PowerPC (PPC-processor-based The present article is about the Pegasos computer platform Pegasos may also refer to the horse Pegasus from Greek mythology Free software or software libre is Software that can be used studied and modified without restriction and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified AROS Research Operating System ( AROS) is a Free software / open source implementation of the AmigaOS 3

Unix and Unix-like systems

Commodore-Amiga produced Amiga Unix, informally known as Amix, based on AT&T SVR4. Commodore-Amiga Inc, in 1990 did a full port of AT&T Unix System V Release 4 for the Amiga computer family (in addition to the proprietary Unix System V, commonly abbreviated SysV (and usually pronounced though rarely written as System 5 was one of the versions of the Unix Operating system It supported the Amiga 2500 and Amiga 3000 and was included with the Amiga 3000UX. The Amiga 2500, also known as the A2500, was not a distinct Amiga model but simply a marketing name for a Commodore Amiga 2000 bundled with a Motorola The Commodore Amiga 3000UX is a model of the Amiga computer family that was released with Amiga Unix, a full port of AT&T Unix System V Release 4 (SVR4 Among other unusual features of Amix was a hardware-accelerated windowing system which could scroll windows without copying data. Amix was not supported on the later Amiga systems based on 68040 or 68060 processors. The Motorola 68040 is a Microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1990. The Motorola 68060 is a 32-bit Microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1994, and is the successor to the Motorola 68040.

Other, still maintained, operating systems are available for the classic Amiga platform, including Linux and NetBSD. NetBSD is a freely redistributable Open source version of the Unix -derivative Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD Computer Operating Both require a CPU with MMU such as the 68020 with 68851 or full versions of the 68030, 68040 or 68060. The Motorola 68020 is a 32-bit Microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1984. The 68851 is an external Memory Management Unit (MMU which is designed to provide paged memory support for the 68010 or 68020. The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit Microprocessor in Motorola 's 68000 family. The Motorola 68040 is a Microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1990. The Motorola 68060 is a 32-bit Microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1994, and is the successor to the Motorola 68040. There is also a version of Linux for Amigas with PowerPC accelerator cards. Debian and Yellow Dog Linux can run on the AmigaOne. Debian ( pronounced) is a computer Operating system composed entirely of Free and open source software. Yellow Dog Linux, also YDL, is a free-software, open-source Operating system for the Sony PlayStation 3, PowerPC

There is an official, older version of OpenBSD. OpenBSD is a Unix-like computer Operating system descended from Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD a Unix derivative developed at the The last Amiga release is 3. 2. Minix 1. MINIX is a Unix-like computer Operating system based on a Microkernel architecture. 5. 10 also runs on Amiga. ^[20]

Emulating other systems

Main article: Emulation on the Amiga

The Amiga is able to emulate other computer platforms ranging from many 8-bit systems such as the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Nintendo Game Boy, Nintendo Entertainment System, Apple II and the TRS-80, to platforms such as the IBM PC and Apple Macintosh. The Amiga computer can be used to Emulate several other computer platforms including legacy platforms such as the Commodore 64, and its contemporary rivals such The Sinclair ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal Home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd TRS-80 was Tandy Corporation 's desktop Microcomputer model line sold through Tandy's Radio Shack stores in the late 1970s and early MAME (the arcade machine emulator) is also available for Amiga systems with PPC accelerator card upgrades. MAME is an Emulator application designed to recreate the Hardware of Arcade game systems in Software, with the intent of preserving gaming

Amiga software

Main article: Amiga software

The Amiga was a primary target for productivity and game development during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Amiga software covers a wide range of Software for the Amiga computer both productivity and games, both commercial and hobbyist Software was often developed for the Amiga and the Atari ST simultaneously, since the ST shared a similar architecture. The Atari ST is a home / Personal computer that was commercially available from 1985 to the early 1990s

Much of the freely available software was available on Aminet. Aminet is the world's largest archive of Amiga -related software and files Until around 1996, Aminet was the largest public archive of software for any platform.

Bootblock

If an Amiga 500 is rebooted or powered without a floppy this screen is displayed. The displayed OS is Kickstart 34. AmigaOS is the default native Operating system of the Amiga personal computer 5 (AmigaOS 1. 3), included in the Amiga 500 ROM.

When an Amiga is reset, the Kickstart code selects a boot device (floppy or hard drive), loads the first two sectors of the disk or partition (the bootblock), and passes control to it. Normally this code passes control back to the OS, continuing to boot from the device or partition it was loaded from. The first production Amiga, the Amiga 1000, needed to load Kickstart from floppy disk into 256 kilobytes of RAM reserved for this purpose, but subsequent Amigas held Kickstart in ROM. A kilobyte (derived from the SI prefix Kilo -, meaning 1000 is a unit of Information or Computer storage equal to either 1024 Some games and demos for the A1000 (notably Dragon's Lair) provided an alternative code-base in order to use the extra 256 kilobytes of RAM for data. Dragon's Lair was one of the first Laserdisc video games released in June 1983 by Cinematronics.

A floppy disk or hard drive partition bootblock normally contains code to load the 'dos. library' (AmigaDOS) and then exit to it, invoking the GUI. Any such disk, no matter what the other contents of the disk, was referred to as a "Boot disk", "bootable disk" or "Workbench disk". (A bootblock could be added to a disk by use of the "install" command. ) Some entertainment software contains custom bootblocks. The game or demo then takes control of memory and resources to suit itself, effectively disabling AmigaOS and the Amiga GUI. A demo is a non-interactive multimedia presentation made within the computer Subculture known as the Demoscene.

The bootblock became an obvious target for virus writers. A computer virus is a Computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user Some games or demos that used a custom bootblock would not work if infected with a bootblock virus, as the virus's code replaced the original. The first such virus was the SCA virus. The SCA virus is the first Computer virus created for the Commodore Amiga and one of the first to gain public notoriety Anti-virus attempts included custom bootblocks. These amended bootblock advertised the presence of the virus checker while checking the system for tell-tale signs of memory resident viruses and then passed control back to the system. Unfortunately these could not be used on disks that already relied on a custom bootblock, but did alert users of potential trouble. Several of them also replicated themselves across other disks, becoming little more than viruses in their own right.

Boing Ball

The Boing Ball^[21] has been synonymous with Amiga since its public release in 1985. It has been a popular theme in computer demo effects since the 1950s, when a bouncing ball demo was released for Whirlwind computers. Demo effects are computer-based real-time Visual effects found in demos created by the Demoscene. Commodore released a bouncing ball demo at the 1978 Consumer Electronics Show, to illustrate the capabilities of the VIC chip. Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was a US-American Electronics company based in West Chester Pennsylvania The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES is a Trade show held each January in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is sponsored A similar theme was used to demonstrate the capabilities of the Amiga computer at the 1984 Consumer Electronics Show. It was a real-time animation showing a red-and-white balloon bouncing forth and back off the edges of the screen, as a deep 'boing!' sound played on each impact. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames Since then, the Boing Ball became one of the most well-known symbols for Amiga and compatible computers. Within the context of this tradition of bouncing ball demos at the Consumer Electronics Show, CBS Electronics also showed a Bouncing Ball demo for the Atari VCS/2600, with a spinning and bouncing ball, at the same event.

The 1984 Boing Ball demo was one of the very first demos shown on the Amiga. It was specifically designed to take advantage of the Amiga's custom graphics and sound hardware, achieving a level of speed and smoothness not previously seen on a home computer. This demo operated in an Intuition Screen, allowing the higher resolution Amiga Workbench screen to be dragged down to make the Boing Ball visible from behind, bouncing up above the Workbench while the Workbench remained fully active. The Amiga computer was launched by Commodore in 1985 with a GUI called Workbench based on an internal engine which drives all the input events Since the Boing Ball used almost no CPU time, this made a particularly impressive demonstration of multitasking at the time.

Despite its popularity in the Amiga community, the Boing Ball itself was never officially adopted as a trademark by Commodore. A trademark or trade mark, represented by the symbols ™ and ®, or mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was a US-American Electronics company based in West Chester Pennsylvania The official Amiga trademark was a rainbow-colored double checkmark. A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of Light to appear in the Sky when the Sun A tick (known as a checkmark or check in American English) is a mark (✓ ✔ ☑, etc After the bankruptcy of Commodore, the Boing Ball remained in use as one of the symbols for Amiga-related systems on hundreds of web sites and products by different companies and individuals.

The demo was once ported to the Atari 2600 under the title Boing. The Atari 2600 is a Video game console released in October 1977 ^[22] The porter impressed himself so much that he added a little Easter Egg, which he referred to as lame (When you hold down the game reset switch, the checkered ball turns into a message that says HAPPY XMAS 1999!-----FROM ROB KUDLA and Jingle Bells starts playing. You also won't hear the bounce sound effect. Releasing the switch stops the music, turns the message back into the checkered ball, and the boing sound effect is played again when the ball bounces).

Amiga community

When Commodore went bankrupt in 1994, there was still a very active Amiga community, and it continued to support the platform long after mainstream commercial vendors abandoned it. The most popular Amiga magazine, Amiga Format, continued to publish editions until 2000, some six years after Commodore filed for bankruptcy. Amiga Format was a British Computer magazine for Amiga computers published by Future Publishing. Another magazine, Amiga Active, was launched in 1999 and was published until 2001. Amiga Active was a monthly Computer Magazine published by Pinprint Publishing, it launched at a time when most other Amiga magazines had already Interest in the platform is high enough to sustain a specialist column in the UK weekly magazine Micro Mart. Micro Mart is a weekly computer Magazine Published in the United Kingdom by Dennis Publishing Ltd

As of mid-2006, there was enough demand for Amiga expansion hardware to keep some small scale manufacturers in business.

Notable historic uses

The Amiga series of computers found a place in early computer graphic design and television presentation. Below are some examples of notable uses and users.

• Early episodes of the television series Babylon 5 were rendered on Amigas running Video Toasters. Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created produced and largely written by J The NewTek Video Toaster is a combination of hardware and software for the editing and production of standard-definition NTSC and ^[23] Other television series using Amigas for special effects included SeaQuest DSV^[24] and Max Headroom. seaQuest DSV was an American Science fiction television series created by Rockne S Max Headroom (1987 – 1988 was a short-lived but ground-breaking American Science fiction Television series which aired on ABC. ^[25]
• Director Steven Spielberg used Amigas in Jurassic Park for pre-visualization, in the seaQuest DSV TV series for special effects and rendering of underwater craft, and in the TV cartoon Animaniacs. Steven Allan Spielberg, KBE (Hon (born December 18 1946 is an American Film director, Screenwriter and producer. Jurassic Park is a 1993 Science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the novel of the same name by Michael seaQuest DSV was an American Science fiction television series created by Rockne S Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros
• The Amiga 1000 & 2000 computers appeared multiple times on the Miami Vice TV series (Seasons 4 & 5). The Amiga 1000 was shown the most residing in the Miami PD, whilst another was used in several office settings. The 2000 was shown once in a separate household.
• Richmond Sound Design (RSD) created both show control (a. Richmond Sound Design Ltd is a Theatre sound design and Show control systems and software developer and manufacturer Show control is the use of Technology to link together and operate multiple Entertainment control systems in a coordinated manner k. a. MSC or "MIDI Show Control") and theater sound design software which was used extensively in the theater, theme park, display, exhibit, stage managing, show and themed entertainment industries in the 1980s and 1990s and at one point in the mid 90s, there were many high profile shows at major theme parks around the world being controlled by Amigas through software simply called Stage Manager which then evolved into its Microsoft Windows version called ShowMan. MIDI Show Control, or MSC, is a significant Real Time System Exclusive extension of the international Musical Instrument Digital Interface ( MIDI Sound design is a technical/conceptually creative field It covers all non-compositional elements of a film a play a music performance Stage management is a sub-discipline of Stagecraft. Although a somewhat fluid line of work in essence the stage management team (which can consist of a production Stage management is a sub-discipline of Stagecraft. Although a somewhat fluid line of work in essence the stage management team (which can consist of a production Showman can have a variety of meanings usually by context Travelling Showmen are people who run Amusement and side show equipment at regional Shows Capitol Shows events and festivals There were dozens at Walt Disney World alone and more at all other Disney, Universal Studios, Six Flags and Madame Tussauds properties as well as in many venues in Las Vegas including The Mirage hotel Volcano and Siegfried and Roy show, the MGM Grand EFX show, Broadway theater, London's West End, the Royal Shakespeare Company's many venues, most of Branson, Missouri's theaters, and scores of theaters on cruise ships, amongst hundreds of others. Walt Disney World Resort is the most visited and largest recreational resort in the world containing four Theme parks two Water parks twenty-three themed hotels Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios) a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is a major Global American Six Flags Inc (commonly Six Flags) is one of the world's largest chains of Amusement parks and Theme parks, based on quantity of properties For the band see The Mirage (band The Mirage is a 3044 room Hotel and Casino resort located on the Las Vegas Strip Siegfried & Roy are two German-American entertainers working in Las Vegas, USA. The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip, which opened as a Hollywood themed resort Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC is a British Theatre company Branson is a city in Stone and Taney counties in the US state of Missouri. RSD purchased used Amigas on the web and reconditioned them to provide enough systems for all the shows that specified them and only stopped providing new Amiga installations in 2000. There are still an unknown number of shows on cruise ships and in themed venues being run by Amigas.

In addition, many other celebrities and notable individuals have made use of the Amiga:^[26]

• Andy Warhol, the famous pop artist, was an early user of the Amiga and appeared at the launch. For the song by David Bowie, see Andy Warhol (song. Andrew Warhola (August 6 1928 &ndash February 22 1987 known as Andy Warhol ^[27] Warhol used the Amiga to create a new style of art made with computers, and he was the author of a multimedia opera called "you are the one" which represents an animated sequence featuring images of actress Marilyn Monroe assembled in a short movie with soundtrack. Marilyn Monroe (born Norma Jeane Mortenson, June 1 1926 &ndash August 5 1962 baptized Norma The video was discovered on two old Amiga floppies in a drawer in Warhol's studio and repaired in 2006 by the Detroit Museum Of New Art. ^[28] The pop artist also stated: "The thing I like most about doing this kind of work on the Amiga is that it looks like my work in other media. "^[29][30]
• Laurence Gartel who is considered a pioneer of the Digital Art movement, was the artist who physically taught Andy Warhol how to use Amiga^[31] at its best, due to the fact he was one of the pioneers using and enjoying Amiga. Laurence Gartel (born June 5 1956) is considered a pioneer of Digital Art. Digital art most commonly refers to Art created on a Computer in Digital form
• Actor Dick Van Dyke is a self-described "rabid" user of the Amiga. Richard Wayne “Dick” Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American Actor, Presenter and Entertainer, with a ^[32][33]
• Amigas were used in various NASA laboratories to keep track of multiple low orbiting satellites, and were still used up to 2003/04 (dismissed and sold in 2006). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA, ˈnæsə is an agency of the United States government, responsible for the nation's public space program This is another example of long lifetime reliability of Amiga hardware, as well as professional use. Amigas were also used at Kennedy Space Center to run strip-chart recorders, to format and display data, and control stations of platforms for Delta rocket launches. ^[34]
• Artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud credits the Amiga he bought for his son as a bridge to learning about "using paint box programs". Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (born May 8, 1938) is a French comics artist. ^[35] He uploaded some of his early experiments to the file sharing forums on CompuServe. CompuServe, ( CompuServe Information Service, also known by its acronym CIS) was the first major commercial Online service in the United States
• Tom Fulp is noted as saying he used the Amiga as his first computer for creating cartoons and animations. Newgrounds is a Website headquartered in Glenside Pennsylvania, United States and created in 1995 that primarily hosts Adobe Flash animated films ^[36]
• London Transport Museum developed their own interactive multi-media software for the CD32. The London Transport Museum, or LT Museum based in Covent Garden, London, seeks to conserve and explain the transport heritage of Britain The software included a walkthrough of various exhibits and a virtual tour of the museum. ^[37]
• The "Weird Al" Yankovic film UHF contains a spoof of the computer-animated video of the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing. Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (ˈjæŋkəvɪk born October 23 1959 is a Grammy Award winning American singer Musician, actor satirist UHF (also known as The Vidiot from UHF in Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe, Los Telelocos Dire Straits was a British rock band, formed in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (guitar and vocals his brother David Knopfler (guitar " Money for Nothing " is a song by British group Dire Straits, which first appeared on their 1985 album Brothers in Arms and subsequently " According to the DVD commentary track, this spoof was created on an Amiga home computer. ^[38]
• Rolf Harris used an Amiga to digitize his hand-drawn art work for animation on his television series, Rolf's Cartoon Club.
• Todd Rundgren's video "Change Myself" was produced with Toaster and Lightwave
• Amiga 1000 can be seen in the movie Disorderlies in the background running a heart animation. Disorderlies is a 1987 Comedy film starring the rap group The Fat Boys, and Ralph Bellamy.

References

Further reading

• Famous Amiga Uses
• Amiga, Inc.
• Amiga Hardware Database - details of Amiga hardware
• Amiga Games List - all games released on the Amiga platform
• Big Book of Amiga Hardware - Big Book of Amiga Hardware
• Amiga Lorraine: finally, the next generation Atari? John J. Anderson, Creative Computing, April 1984
• The Amiga A3000+ System Specification Dave Haynie, 1991 DevCon Release, July 17, 1991
• On the Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore Bagnall, Brian (2005), Variant Press, ISBN 0-9738649-0-7. John J Anderson or JJ Anderson ( November 8, 1956 &ndash October 17, 1989) was a writer and editor covering computers and technology Creative Computing was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution Dave Haynie is the former Commodore International chief engineer on high end and advanced projects Events 180 - Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar.
• Amiga History
• Amiga History Video
• Amiga emulators at emulation.net

See also

• Amiga games
• Minimig
• Amiga Hold-and-Modify
• AROS - open source implementation of AmigaOS for various hardware platforms
• Mindset computer - an Intel 80186 based contemporary of the Amiga 1000's with similar design philosophy. Amiga games are Computer games compatible with the Commodore Amiga. Minimig (short for Mini Amiga) is an Open source re- Implementation of an Amiga 500 using a Field-programmable gate array Hold-and-Modify (more commonly known as HAM) is a screenmode of the Commodore Amiga computer AROS Research Operating System ( AROS) is a Free software / open source implementation of the AmigaOS 3 The Mindset was sold around 1984 as a high-end graphics workstation which was somewhat PC compatible. The 80186 is a Microprocessor that was developed by Intel circa 1982.