Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: Deano on January 13, 2005, 01:06:18 AM
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Hi there,
I'm currently working on a project on the history of our favourite computer and wanted to tap into the knowledge of the Amigans here on a particular subject.
You see, alot of computer histories ignore the Amiga, and I think the reason for that is it's difficult to pin down exactly what the Amiga accomplished. Hence my question to you is how do you think the Amiga contributed to the development of computers in general? What exactly was it's place in history and was there a defining 'moment' or innovation that you think really influenced and effected computing as a whole?
Be intersted to hear your opinions, cheers.
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The biggest is MULTIMEDIA. It was born on the Amiga. Is that big enough for ya? ;) :banana:
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True 'plug and play' expansion slots?
zorro 2 and zorro 3
ability to 'show' more than one resolution on screen at a time? mix 640/512/interlace as well as 320/256 PAL etc
The copper is still a very powerful chip :-)
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"Pretty much everything Windows 95 did, ten years earlier."
Seriously, that's how I try to explain it these days. Multimedia? Check. Multitasking? Check. Right-click menuing... Well, nobody knew that'd come into vogue, but for all we know, Apple's one-button solution could've been the fad without.
The problem with 'defining' the Amiga is that, when you look back, many of these things had been done in some shape or form, sometimes even placed on the commercial market. But it took the Amiga team and Commodore's investment to put it all in one plastic box (was that the reason for all those grounding problems?) and point it straight at the world's living rooms.
In the end, you got this thing that looked and acted (to stretch a friend's analogy) like a cross between an Apple II and the triumphant desktop of a decade later. At the time, it was the first "home" (perhaps simply based on Commodore's market position) "Personal Computer" that wrapped it all up in one package -- sort of like people keep going on about the ST for including MIDI, even if that was a much lesser technical triumph, or Mac for putting the mouse in the box at all -- it stood up and said "Hey, what are you waiting for? Computers can do this stuff," where 'this stuff' was an amalgam of all the best practices being/already devised in labs and corporate installations and universities.
What did people buy it and do with it? Well, "computery stuff," which is why it's so darn hard to pin it down; you could tighten bolts with a wrench, but the introduction of the ratchet made things go so much smoother... Can anyone here pinpoint when that was introduced or what it changed? :-)
...Of course, way back when, all the manufacturers who'd touted the ergonomy of their wrenches, or the danger of the springs unwinding, or really believed in their heart of hearts that everything should be put together with velcro, started making ratchets, too. It was too obvious an invention not to. How many people remember this "Robert Owen, Jr." guy I just looked up on Google?
Maybe the real impact of the Amiga was getting everyone to look up (slowly but surely) and say "Holy cr*p, we better pay attention to hardware!" People had that idea, too, but few were completely prepared for a machine that got over so many little bottlenecks at once, and those who were (and one might've hoped would be the biggest hornblowers) kind of shrugged it off as a quirky miracle of Moore's curve... then went on to weave the magic into their own designs, to be released once the market was primed for it.
(As Info-64 wrote about the launch, there was awe enough throughout all the demonstrations... but a real hush fell when someone popped in a copy of Translator, and Lotus 1-2-3 took its slow, monochrome crawl up the screen. There's a theory floating around that 'systems that emulate are doomed to failure,' but I think we're now seeing it's more complex than that -- on the 1000, with its limited RAM and CPU, you were running at 'native' speeds, and probably weren't going to open two copies at once; the 'magic' was lost on you if that's what you were forced to work with all day. OS/2 had some similarly good ideas a few years later, but resource limitations meant it was still more of a one-or-the-other thing. By the time MS, with their penchant for market-timing came around, it was not only possible but easy for a 486 to demo a couple DOS programs running at once, and 'Runs your existing software.. better!' makes a much better proposition than 'Runs your existing software.. with the same limitations you're saddled with now!')
Of course, there're millions of other reasons why one died out as the other took off... but that goes to demonstrate its strengths and failings in the hours before everyone rushed to take over its market.
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There is a shadowy place between technological wonder and sheer magic, and the Amiga crossed that void when it debuted, changing the future of computers forever. Arcade-style gaming, true multitasking, multimedia (including early movie special effects), and, shoot, even voice syth and sound. As to why it is ignored today? Well, the winners always write the history books, don't they?
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The Amiga was a milestone in so many ways, it introduced the concept of custom chips, where the CPU subbed out the previously time consuming tasks to co-processors instead of being relied upon to do everything.
It's games machine roots meant it brought state of the art graphics and sound to the user. Instead of the tinny whistles of the AY38912, we had deep bassy synths and amplitude modulation of samples - again independant of the CPU. The Amiga could scroll smoothly, could move sprites around smoothly and display the end result in an unprecedented array of colour.
The Amiga was a "do anything" machine, way before we all started using our hitherto office based PCs for playing Doom etc.
Mulitmedia presentations, cheaper movie special effects, the demo scene and 3d graphics manipulation are all legacies of our favorite platform.
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"cheaper movie special effects".. Well... Wasnt the Amiga used in making some of the effects in Terminator 2? And that movie wasnt cheap, if I remember correctly... :-)
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Ha!
What about the VJ scene???? I think the Art of VJaying was born through the Amiga through the Demoscene...........most demosceners dont know it, but they were early Video Jockeys..............Amiga was mixing and mashing Video clips ealry on with The Mindlight 7 and Elan Performer in the eighties.as well as the LIVE! board and Pangolin Laser Show designer! For Projected Laser Shows in Concerts and clubs.
Look at this Japanese Artist and what he was doing:
http://forum.nifty.com/famiga/hirasawa/eng-2.html
Also check out:
http://we.got.net/~krish/
Please please please.........Amiga was king when it came to that stuff and to some extent still kicks but in this area.
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One of the defining moments of the Amiga was the 'desktop video' industry. We sold lots of Amigas with Genlocks and later Toasters to people doing wedding videos and such. It was kinda awkward in those days, with all the decks and controllers. It's so much easier now that you can do all of it inside the computer. :-)
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Orjan wrote:
"cheaper movie special effects".. Well... Wasnt the Amiga used in making some of the effects in Terminator 2? And that movie wasnt cheap, if I remember correctly... :-)
it's not the effects that are cheaper.
it's paying for them that is more cost effective.
alot of the people who helped change and revolutionize the effects done in film/TV now started on amigas. me included.
strangely enough, i've been thinking of doing a 'history of amiga - via effects' myself.
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Go fot it Cecilia! I think it would make a great docu subject for the geeks among us.
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Azryl wrote:
ability to 'show' more than one resolution on screen at a time? mix 640/512/interlace as well as 320/256 PAL etc
Actually, this was nothing new. You could display more than one resolution on the screen with Atari's old 8-bit range (400/800/XL/XE) - which, incidentally, the legendary Jay Miner also worked on :-)
In many ways the old Atari's programmable DLI's (Display List Interupts) were a forerunner to the Amiga's Copper.
A lot of the programs I wrote for the Atari 8-bit took advantage of DLI's.
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In many ways the old Atari's programmable DLI's (Display List Interupts) were a forerunner to the Amiga's Copper.
A lot of the programs I wrote for the Atari 8-bit took advantage of DLI's.
Same here. I wrote something for the Atari called "Cutelabels" that used DLI's to change the pallette on a custom multi mode display. Fun stuff. :-)
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TjLaZer wrote:
The biggest is MULTIMEDIA. It was born on the Amiga. Is that big enough for ya? ;) :banana:
True, when PC magazines and users started talking about multimedia, the amiga-kids me would go: Eh? Thats nothing new.
If only the A4000 had been nearer 1000Euros at launch instead of over 2000. And if AGA machines had 16-bit audio. And if the launch of CD32 had been at the same time as A1200(which should had a SIMM-slot for FastRam and 3,5" harddrive), with a CD32-drive for the A1200 like the A570 for A500.
If, If, If, If.... :-P
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First home computer with:
multimedia capabilities, autoconfig "which is now known as plug and play in windows", multiple draggable screens in various resolutions at the same time, Autorun and probably loads of more...
Also worth reading into the amiga custom chipset aswell, as there was quite a bit of innovation there.
I find it sad that microsoft get alot of the fame here, even though the Amiga had alot of it over 10 years earlier..
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The Amiga has a feeling to it that I like to sum up with the following quote:
"Amiga is the link between the mysterious originality of early computers and the boring tedium and painful stupidity of Microsoft crap."
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One word:
MULTITASKING
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One word:
MULTITASKING
i´d like to add one : preemptive multitasking ;-)
thats what makes fun
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I know I posted this ages ago but just wanted to say thanks for responses, they're appreciated.
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mr_a500 wrote:
The Amiga has a feeling to it that I like to sum up with the following quote:
"Amiga is the link between the mysterious originality of early computers and the boring tedium and painful stupidity of Microsoft crap."
Plus, it's the only REAL computer behind every other. So, in my words, not only is it the link between all that electronic junk/crap, it's the only computing driving force and has been, and has continued up to todays dates.
My vision of computers throughout up to todays existence has icons, blue firm windows, a shell, a monitor and a mouse. In my vision of Amiga it's the only computer going professional in the computer, and not kitchen accessories, area. The pc would be anything/nothing else.
-- Ive
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Dan wrote:
TjLaZer wrote:
The biggest is MULTIMEDIA. It was born on the Amiga. Is that big enough for ya? ;) :banana:
True, when PC magazines and users started talking about multimedia, the amiga-kids me would go: Eh? Thats nothing new.
If only the A4000 had been nearer 1000Euros at launch instead of over 2000. And if AGA machines had 16-bit audio. And if the launch of CD32 had been at the same time as A1200(which should had a SIMM-slot for FastRam and 3,5" harddrive), with a CD32-drive for the A1200 like the A570 for A500.
If, If, If, If.... :-P
I believe this all was predetermined somehow towards todays days.
-- Ive
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Amiga Accomplishments!
1) Genlock (first personal computer to integrate video)
2) First true multi-tasking operating system that came standard on a PC (Unix machines weren't PCs back then they were workstations)
3) First computer to use co-processor chips that function independent of the CPU (i.e. the Bimmer (or super blitter).
I am sure there is more than these but this is the first that comes to mind..
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It did what we wanted it to do now, not ten minutes from now.
It boots from a hard drive into OS with the minimum of fuss.
It didn't slow down just because we installed a new piece of software.
When/if it crashed it told you the reason why!
It was the last true computer that you could be passionate about. Blub Blub.
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2) First true multi-tasking operating system that came standard on a PC (Unix machines weren't PCs back then they were workstations)
I agree with your statement, but I cringe whenever somebody refers to an Amiga as a PC. Sure it's a "personal computer", but not a PC which is the short form for the "IBM PC/AT or clone". Otherwise the statement "screenshots are from the PC version" would be meaningless.
Back when the Amiga was released, small computers were referred to as "microcomputers" (but most people just said "computer"). It was only around 1992-93 that I first started hearing people say "my PC" instead of "my computer" - because most people started getting IBM PC/ATs. (that's also when I started cringing... ;-) )
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2) First true multi-tasking operating system that came standard on a PC (Unix machines weren't PCs back then they were workstations)
Xenix (Microsoft Unix - yes, really!) was on the PC in 1983, it almost certainly had pre-emptive multitasking.
3) First computer to use co-processor chips that function independent of the CPU (i.e. the Bimmer (or super blitter).
Both the C64 and Atari 400/800 had custom chips.
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The Amiga didn't invent everything it did, much was done before. What the Amiga did was to put it all together in one place for the first time:
Fast 32 bit CPU
Multitasking OS
Drivers - individual programs used to support different printers (etc) directly.
GUI
High colour acelerated graphics
Sampled audio
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mr_a500 wrote:
Sure it's a "personal computer", but not a PC which is the short form for the "IBM PC/AT or clone". Otherwise the statement "screenshots are from the PC version" would be meaningless.
Well, I think it is a meaningless statement. Those who say it always seem to mean "the Windows version".
Unless of course they're talking about the "PC" (x86) version of software/OS that's available for several hardware platforms (cf. Linux for x86, PPC, et c.), and if the look of that software would actually differ depending on which hardware it runs on.
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Dan wrote:
True, when PC magazines and users started talking about multimedia, the amiga-kids me would go: Eh? Thats nothing new.
Heh, I remember what it was like: "Multimedia = an ISA soundcard and a CD-ROM drive"
:)