I have a new in box Commodore Amiga 1000 Prototype

[Pentad]

me too!

[Pentad]

Really cool!

Congrats!

[Pentad]

Hey, can you dump the roms and any disks that came with it?

I would really like to look through the boot roms and any Kickstart/Workbench that came with it?

Did it come with Kickstart or Workbench?

I would really like to run an undelete on the disks (copies of course) to see what interesting things come up.  Kickstart/Workbench had all kinds of tidbits....

-P

[Pentad]

Boy that output looks pretty bad....Maybe composite is bad?!?  

I'm sure you would get better offers on eBay if you could get a Kickstart Request screen.

Maybe try emailing Dave Haynie or Bil Herd?  Bil's a super nice guy...

Thanks for making the weekend more interesting!

Good Luck!
-P

[Pentad]

Those two guys were not involved with the Amiga at this stage, so they might not have the best knowledge about this era. You want some of those guys whose names are written beneath the top cover of production A1000s.. They were actually there.

Actually, both Herd and Haynie were present at Los Gatos when Commodore purchased Amiga, Inc.   In Bagnall's book they are quoted about working with Amiga, Inc. right after the purchase.

However, if the machine was a Lorraine era computer then you would probably be correct.

One of the reasons I would start with one of them is because the machine says Commodore on it.   This is a development machine and I would venture that both Herd and Haynie would have some knowledge of it.  

Anyway, I would start with Bil Herd or Dave Haynie and ask them.  If they don't know they could probably point to somebody that might.

I think Dave Needle did the 256k front expansion on the 1000 so he might be somebody else to try as well....

-P

[Pentad]

Good Luck!

I'm just asking here - did it ever boot to a Kickstart Screen on a standard monitor or composite?  I'm not criticizing, I was just wondering.  :-)


-P

[Pentad]

I'm looking at the pics (Thanks!!)

What's taped to the 68000 CPU?

-P

[Pentad]

Boy, we really need to get a copy of the Kickstart in this machine.  A great historical find and I would like to preserve all we can before its gone.  What a rare treat!

[Pentad]

Why?  What could be done with it?

Well, its apart of the Amiga's history.   There is nothing that can be 'done' by any average user but its apart of the Amiga's history and to those who enjoy the Amiga's history, its something to analyze.   To see where they were then and where they went.

I personally would like to look at the code to see what changes they made from this revision to the earliest Kickstart that is archived now.

You know, if people don't record this stuff, it will be gone forever much sooner than anybody realizes.

I feel very strongly about preserving and archiving not just Amiga history but basically the last 30 years of technology.   The software, the computers, the articles, the magazines, the actual history of the computer revolution is quickly disappearing.

I can't name another 'industry' that changes so much and so quickly.   I can still buy parts for a '65 Ford Mustang, but look how hard it is to get dips for an Amiga 3000 that is so much younger...

Copyrights and patents be damed, I would like to see it all archived by somebody so that in the future, if a student (or hobbyist) a hundred years from now wants to write a research paper on the 8 Bit Computer Revolution, they have a broad selection of archived material to look at.

Once its lost, its lost to the future, I think that is kind of sad...

-P

[Pentad]

Fortunately there seems to be more and more people collecting the computers now so there is more of a chance of the technology surviving. My collections will stay safe till I die at least but after that.... well who knows.

scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com

Scuzz,

I appreciate what you are trying to say and I think its great but you are also an example of one of the issues that I see.   Your collection could be awesome but its a private collection.  I'm not saying that you wouldn't be kind enough if somebody was doing some sort of research that you would help them out but your archive is invisible to researchers.  

Please, don't think that I'm saying anything negative but as you stated who maintains your collection after you're gone?

I wanted to share another example with all of you.  I was writing a paper linking fear, computers (technology) and nuclear war in the 1980s.   I wanted some articles from some big name magazines from the time:  Creative Computing, Compute!, Byte, etc...

I emailed the head of the university library where I worked for help.  You know what?  I couldn't find any of the articles through easy to use regular channels anymore.   I had to jump through a whole bunch of hoops but when I asked why the librarian mentioned a new term to me:  Extinction through popularity.   These magazines had been so popular, so large, that many libraries just threw them out thinking others will carry them because they are were popular.   Well, it turned out none of them kept them.

I mean I understand why from a current technology point of view but if you wanted to look back it became problematic.

So, anyway, there is my rant...  :-)


Cheers!
-P