Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: haywirepc on April 23, 2010, 03:06:57 PM
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I was wondering what everyone thinks is the magic that keeps them so interested in the amiga, even after all this time.
For me, its the mouth wide open watching amiga demos on a friends machine with ridiculous sound and graphics when my lowly main pc, a 286, was a text based slop mess with no sound, no graphics, and nothing like what I saw that magical machine do that day... That has kept me so interested. Wow that was a long sentence, sorry.
So started my interest in this beast. What started yours and why has it continued to fascinate you over the years?
What is it about this magical machine that keeps so many of us coming back to it, talking about it, using it, keeping it in good order to show our friends or family, Trying to advocate it, keep it relevant and remembered,
and why has it survived this long?
I have some ideas, but what do you think?
Steven
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I'd say that magic is a combination of how we felt first time laying eyes/ears on an Amiga coupled with the superiority of its technology and software. That the custom chips had "names" instead of just part numbers. How intuitive and easy it was to create eye popping graphics and animation, not to mention all the sound samples, effects and music of Paula. There really wasn't anything like it back then. C64 maybe, if you were into the 8-bits hardcore. Apple's Mac was a friggin' joke. We had a 9" black and white TV growing up in the kitchen and ONE color TV in the living room. At 14/15yo, I remember laughing my ass off when the original Mac came out.
Ahem... Today though, it's fun to see how far we can push the Amiga. Especially now that *some* of the peripherals we might not have been able to afford back in the day are affordable now, is in a way, like revisiting an old friend. Getting to know the idiosyncrasies like never before is compelling on the Amiga. This might sound strange, but I'm more of a "hardware" guy than software. I keep telling myself I'll get "better" at using my Amiga someday and well, there's another reason why the machine is compelling. It keeps drawing you back as you yearn to learn more. Having large collections of software is really nice in this endeavor and the old mags such as AmigaWorld and Amazing Computing (all ALL of the minor mags too) really help round out the classic Amiga experience. I love collecting boxed software too. Having something physical to hold in your hand, read the back of the box and take in the artwork. Boxed Amiga software, like Atari 2600 boxes, just look so cool. Really made you want to purchase. Relatively speaking, kids are missing out on so much today. What they have for marketing is a joke and much of today's products suck anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter. Amiga represents and takes me back to a higher quality time. Some would call this nostalgia. Most all of my friends are in their 50's (I'm 38), so they totally get most of the fascination I have with older technologies et al and enjoy seeing my wares. Takes them back too as many had C=, TI or TRS-80 products back then. They're never really compelled to sit and play them, but they can sure hold a conversation about 'em for as long as you'd let them talk. lol I do have a buddy that used to fly commercial planes. I was thinking about plopping him down in front of SubLogic's Flight Simulator one of these days and see what he thinks.
There's still plenty to be impressed about the robust AmigaOS in all its "simplicity". I'm enjoying OS1.3 and 3.1 again after all these years. The computer: the way it looks, the way it feels (tactilely and OS wise) can't be beat. Helps being older too, having literally grown up with ALL types of computers, starting in the late 70's. So having a more rounded and centered understanding of the evolution of personal computing than someone much younger, is what I would attribute my seemingly undying "love" for all things Amiga :)
-edit- I also love the font of the Amiga, the rainbow checkmark, the word Commodore and the C= logo :lol:
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I think about this very often. I understand your reasons, but with me it's different. I wasn't there when it all began (I'm 27...), I wasn't awed by the HW, I got my first A in 1996 when my father was rocking his P150 with 32MB RAM. It was a lowly A600, but it was the first computer that was truly my own and that means something, I guess. Also the whole sense of community, the scene - I didn't have a clue what a demo was when I was starting with Amiga and I wouldn't know it today if I only stuck with PC. Amiga just got style - like when I first saw Ocean Machine sometime in 2005 - I was playing Doom 3 with its incredible graphics on my PC the same day, but when I saw the demo with its rotating buildings in the air and the dancer section with the awesome background music at that moment I couldn't care less about truecolor 3D accelerated nonsense, it was just so cool. It still is.
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I was wondering what everyone thinks is the magic that keeps them so interested in the amiga, even after all this time.
For me, its the mouth wide open watching amiga demos on a friends machine with ridiculous sound and graphics when my lowly main pc, a 286, was a text based slop mess with no sound, no graphics, and nothing like what I saw that magical machine do that day... That has kept me so interested. Wow that was a long sentence, sorry.
So started my interest in this beast. What started yours
My first computer was a Vic20. "Wow! Computers"!
Then came the C64, and that did really rock my world. I still love the C64!
The Amiga was Commodore's logical path forward, and I went that way, and my world was rocked again (but somewhat in a different way). Back then, things were all about hardware, the OS wasn't that mature, and neither were the apps. Plenty of games though! ;)
Then the OS started evolving, and you started enjoying the way the OS worked and handled stuff, especially in comparison to Windows 3.x. I hanged on till OS3.1. Then Windows (and Mac, but that wasn't my path) started to catch up, and surpass, and go way beyond, in terms of capabilities of the OS and its apps. I needed Windows professionally, and I needed its applications (and I still do), but I never forgot the Amiga ways, and I always kept a close eye on the various evolutions in the Amiga world.
MorphOS caught my eye in a very early stage, and when the Pegasos was first released (yes, I requested and got the Pegasos betatester NDA forms, but never returned them, I waited for the April1 release instead), I saw that as a chance to revive the Amiga experience on modern hardware (yes, the Pegasos was kind of modern back then). I still have MorphOS 1.0 on a CD here. MorphOS was new an immature back then, but it quickly evolved. And it became my major hobby! :)
Today, running on *Mainstream Mac Hardware*, with performance never before experienced by Amiga, I can actually do a lots of the online stuff I usually do on Windows, but in the environment I like!
MorphOS 2.5 is imminent, and so is OWB 1.8:
http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=31335&forum=28
A normal Windows user wouldn't raise their eyebrows over this video, he/she would say "what's so special about this?", and finally we Amigans can agree; "yeah, nothing in particular..." :)
*YEAH!* :)
and why has it continued to fascinate you over the years?
I have never forgotten the Amiga HW. That was cool! :)
I follow the NatAmi (http://www.natami.net/) project closely. Very cool! Maybe we can have A NEW AMIGA! :)
(It's something different than MorphOS though, but extremely cool in its own ways! :) When it comes to MorphOS I hope it will proceed on x86 HW in a close future... :))
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I came to the Amiga from the C64, it was a natural progression from 8bit to 16bit. The C64 was the first computer that blew my socks off, it seemed every month there was some new game that made us rethink what the machine could do. Also, the computer was simple enough that you could "learn the system" and become very familiar with the software and hardware, and do stuff easily.
For me the Amiga 500 was the next step up, and more and better, but I remember thinking at the time that a lot of C64 games had more playability eventhough they lacked the graphical magic of the Amiga. I only got into using the OS much later when I got a used A1200 with a HD and while good, it had its annoying aspects and was less useful for day to day computery stuff than my humble ole' 350Mhz PC.
I think a lot of people who became the diehard Amiga nuts of today are people who owned Amigas other than vanilla A500's back in the day and so got to use the OS more deeply than someone stuck with a floppy based system, sadly those people are relatively few.
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I think a lot of people who became the diehard Amiga nuts of today are people who owned Amigas other than vanilla A500's back in the day and so got to use the OS more deeply than someone stuck with a floppy based system, sadly those people are relatively few.
I think you really have a point there! The majority of "vanilla" A500 users bought it exclusively for the games...
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Simply the greatest line of computers ever made. Nothing really compares.
scuzz
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I think you really have a point there! The majority of "vanilla" A500 users bought it exclusively for the games...
Balderdash! lol Okay, I knew one or two that only used their Miggy's for games, but not the majority of 'em. First few things I used my A1000 for was sound sampling, music creation, word processing, database storing and later... when I bought an A1300, titling for home movies. When I got an A500, I used it for almost all of the same things, but yes... gaming was a "bigger" part of the equation by then somehow. Might have been the fact my wife wanted to work outside the house, even though we had a 1 year old son. So... as part of that compromise, I sent her to work at Software Etc., where we were allowed to take programs home that we could "test out" at our leisure. Good 'ol shrinkwrap machines :lol: :lol:
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For me the magic is the feeling I got the first time I saw an Amiga, the way it blew my socks of and when I started to use my first Amiga and realy understood it's power I was hooked for life, Just how fantastic the operating system was and the custom chips was a joy for my ears and eyes. I did alot of great things back then on my Amigas and have keept a few of my old machines and code trough the years!
Nowdays I must say it's much about the nostalgica and living those years again, it makes me feel young! Still the Amiga for me is a great machine and it's fun to push as much out of the old hardware as possible, also nowdays I can afford the expansions I could not back then :)
The Amiga will allways have a special place in my heart and will live forever!
Edit: I might also add that the first "video game" I owned was a Videomaster Olympic from 1975 http://www.pong-story.com/vmolympic.htm
tho I bought it in 1978 then in 1980ish I bought a VIC20 then in 1983 I bought my first VIC64 (commodore 64) then I use my C64 untill 1989 when I bought my first Amiga 500, Oh the joy, some of my friends had Atari ST and we kept trying to outdo eachother on what machine that was the best one (mostly my Amiga won!) then from there a line of amigas was bought trough the years and here I am today :)
Here and there inbetween my Amigas I bought a few other systems, but nothing could compare with my Amigas :) I think my first 80286 cost me about 3000€ or something in todays currency and I was second user on it :) (not sure about the price but I think it was about that.
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I was wondering what everyone thinks is the magic that keeps them so interested in the amiga, even after all this time.
Deluxe Paint is still a damn good animating tool. One of my YouTube contacts is having me make the intro for his train videos using DPaint since he loved the last one I made for him and it got some nice comments.
As far as why we still use these old things, it might just be that its because we grew up with them. That seems to be the case with folks that still bother with old Macs, Atari's, Acorns, etc.
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Balderdash! lol Okay, I knew one or two that only used their Miggy's for games, but not the majority of 'em.
Boulder Dash you mean? C64... ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwM1cDu6zew
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No, Balderdash... the dictionary definition: :lol:
bal·der·dash [bawl-der-dash] –noun
1. senseless, stupid, or exaggerated talk or writing; nonsense.
2. Obsolete. a muddled mixture of liquors.
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Back in 1988 or so my cousin got an A500. It was the first time I layed eyes upon an Amiga and I was completely blown away by the graphics and audio of its games. When I finally got one of my own in 1991 I was in heaven. A wonderul A500 all of my own! Fantastic games, magazines like CU Amiga and Amiga Format with coverdisks chockfull of goodies, Deluxepaint, ProTracker, AMOS. The possibilities seemed endless and there was this great sense of adventure and achievement. I learned so much on my A500 that helped me professionally later (I'm in IT).
Today, the Amiga is primarily a nostalgia trip for me. I still love the feel of an A500 and the responsiveness of Workbench. Something I sorely miss from modern computers! I love collecting (boxed) Amiga hardware and software and reading the old magazines, checking out the coverdisks. Great fun and a getaway from hectic 21st century life ;)
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No, Balderdash... the dictionary definition: :lol:
bal·der·dash [bawl-der-dash] –noun
1. senseless, stupid, or exaggerated talk or writing; nonsense.
2. Obsolete. a muddled mixture of liquors.
OK, LOL!
Or:
Bald, er... DASH!
:)
(Edit: Sorry, no more Off Topic from me here... ;))
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the amiga magic is ofcourse different for each of us. but because of that I guess its the perfect mix between gaming, productivity (at least in the beginning) and creativity.
I bought my first a500 only for the games (lotus 1 did it for me) but soon I was playing around with protracker, dpaint, even some basic programming stuff. soon enough I saw my first demo's and was convinced about the amiga way of doing things. when I got online the aminet and active community and creative ways of keeping up with the pc and mac is what kept me going.
nowadays its nostalgia coupled with that same community and the fun of doing things different and more efficient than other platforms. just see what you can do with only 1,2 or 8mb, its incredible! also, the fact my current amiga could still be housed in its original 'keyboard shell' while being just as powerful is a kind of magic, too. same goes for the c64!
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It may have a lot to do with first impressions. For me, it was a 2000 around 1987. So it boils down to a bit of nostalgia in that respect. I did not have the same attraction to the Pet I used in high school, or the Tandy my friend had, or for that matter, my first PC, a 486. I got a lot of mileage out of the 486, but it was more a tool for college than the discovery of a fun machine.
I came back looking for Amiga around 2004. Now I am interested in it as hobby, a curiosity. It's different from the work PCs I used daily.
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The closest analogy I can think of is QRP in Amateur Radio. Talking long distances on a maximum of 5 watts.
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It was the "wow" factor that captured everyone's attention and made them want to buy an Amiga. The technology was way ahead of its time and was affordable. Other home and office computer systems of the day cost 2-3 times more and didn't have a tenth of the capabilities. I remember some of my colleagues talking about how great it was to have an IBM PC with its 4-color CGA graphics, single tasking DOS, and no sound whatsoever.
These days, no one is impressed with technology anymore. We've grown spoiled and we actually expect high tech innovation at a low cost on a daily basis. Back in the Amiga's hey days, you'd have to shell out $20k for a Sun workstation to even get close to what an Amiga could do for a measly $1000. It was inspiring. The only way to ever recapture such days would be if a company such as Dell sold a laptop with a 3 Ghz processor and ATI 5970 graphics for $100.....oh, and had it loaded with a decent OS.
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Hi,
The Amiga is easy to learn, but hard to master, so it's always a learning experiance and a challenge.
Regards, Michael
aka rockape
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I was wondering what everyone thinks is the magic that keeps them so interested in the amiga, even after all this time.
You do realize that this exact same thread was hashed out on usenet comp.sys.amiga a decade ago? :) I have it archived on 3.5" OFS floppies somewhere.
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I was wondering what everyone thinks is the magic that keeps them so interested in the amiga, even after all this time.
Quite simple, just the retro feel these days.
Modern games are all about ultra fast moving graphics, while it cost a fortune to uphold the pace.
Big gaming rigs cost a fortune and consoles aren't cheap either.
Sure anything can be copied and downloaded, but for those who don't know and have kids shopping with your credit card buying 10 games is maybe enough food and supplies for a whole month or even more while you go :furious:
The thing I like the most about Amiga's is that they startup quick and they are simple to use.
The other thing I like is that you can modify it with just about anything, buy an adapter for it, search for a turbo card, and put some memory of an old pc in it.
I like to see that happen on a pc, but it will probably never work that way I guess.
Sure, Amiga's are even pricey today, but once you have one and figured out what TOSEC is and you mastered the pcmcia-cf bridge between a pc and Amiga, then you’re off.
And if you manage to play all 20000 games or so, you'll be 90 years old and it's most likely your Amiga will have died before you.
The downside is of course getting the hardware you like/want, a Cyberstorm MKIII or a Blizzard PPC will need you to have deep pockets with boatloads of money in them.
Prices I have seen are almost insane for hardware that is 10 to 20 years old or even more.
And I think, why must we suffer under these insane prices?
Why doesn't a company like DCE start to produce and sell them for reasonable prices ?!
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The things I miss from my Amigas today (I'm slowly getting things set up again - got a Minimig, and have an AROS install on my laptop, planning on getting a SAM or X1000) are mostly about hackability and elegance.
The platform as a whole, including the OS was so open / well documented, while still being a "proper" OS.
The things I regularly whine about missing on Linux (and OS X/ Windows) to anyone that cares to listen includes:
* Responsiveness.. I've never once used an OS since I gave up my last Amiga that's been remotely as responsive to user input.
* Modularity. The simplicity of writing device drivers, file systems, replacing system functionality.
* Arexx ports. I detest Arexx the language, but having ports for every major app is such a major thing.
* Ability for apps to open screens.
* No per-application window menus.
* Tight GUI integration. On Linux and everywhere else I'm a devoted shell / cli user. AmigaOS is the only OS I've used where I feel comfortable using the GUI most of the time.
* Datatypes (yeah, they need an upgrade / face lift, but anyway)
* Draggable screens (not entirely true - Enlightenment window manager supports it on Linux, and my current Ubuntu install is "close enough" with very smooth desktop switching... finally)
That's where most of the magic is for me today. Lots of nostalgia too. But the above are things I *still* want and that I'm not getting in other OS's.
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I didn't choose my username here for nothing: nostalgia... over the last 6? years rebuild my A2000 with all those things I could not afford 15-20 years ago.
And at the time... after the inevitable c64, got my A2000 while friends madly choose an 8088 based XT... oh how I laughed at their green text screens (and I still payed less then half of what they spend on a basic model).
Later work allowed me to use Macs ... till a change of work more or less forced me to get a PC.. a Pentium90 by then... all in all, the Amiga allowed me to skip the entire x88-486 generations :D
Tom UK
PS: last week a stupid accident destroyed some 5 keys on my A2000 keyb ... anyone has a UK one for sale ? pm me :/
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Unique hardware and software, it is not Apple Mac or Microsoft Windows PC.
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It's the weee leprechaun at the end of the rainbow tick!
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Yep, nostalgia is the biggie, it takes me back to a time when I didn't have children, big job responsibilities, etc. Just me and my little toy. The best quality is that it is impossible to do serious work on an Amiga, so everything I do is for fun!
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I unwrapped my 1st Commodore Vic 20 from under the x-mas tree in 1981. The following year I had a c64 under the tree. Next came the c128. Then around the start of the school year in 1985 my father bought an Amiga 1000. By x-mas 1986 he bought himself an Amiga 2000 and me MY OWN (not shared with him or my brother) Amiga 500. Now I had MY OWN Computer in my room I started calling local bbs. I worked the entire summer of 87 to save for a US Robotics 9600 HST modem (something like $800 bucks). Needless to say there were not many local boards with HST capability so next came the long distance calls. After a few months of these I figured it was time to put up my own BBS. The board ran on the 500 for about a year. At that point my father agreed to split the cost with me for my own 2000. I only had about 1/4 of the money but promised I would pay him back the rest. (never happened) At this point life was great. I had a high speed modem so the board quickly grew and I had an endless supply of games for the 500. In 1991 I mail ordered (and paid for myself) my final Amiga a 3000T. I used it happily until 97 when I finally shut the board down and gave in and bought a PC. Somewhere along the line I gave away the 500 and sold the 2000 for pennies but the 3000T sat in my parents attic until a few years ago. I was home and saw her sitting there and with the help of everyone here she and the board are back up and running.
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I first got started in home computers by building one from magazine plans back in the late 70's. Didn't feel up to writing an OS for it, so I bought an Atari 800. The Atari was really the ancestor of the Amiga. It was mainly the graphics that moved me to Amiga.
I especially like the productivity software. You could produce some amazing stuff without having to be an expert in some cryptic pc program. Deluxe Paint, Deluxe Music, Videoscape... We even made a TV commercial with Videoscape.
I guess I'm still around because the machine was so important to me in those days... gotta see how the story unfolds. ;-)
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Yep, nostalgia is the biggie, it takes me back to a time when I didn't have children, big job responsibilities, etc. Just me and my little toy.
Amen to that brother! Couldn't agree more. And oh my, I remember having my 12th birthday and my parents gave me brand spanking new A500 Plus (1992)! Man I couldn't hate more that pesky ECS/KS2.04 at that moment, because they prevented me of playing such cool games as Stormy Swiv, Take 'em Out, and many other oldies...Well not oldies at that time! But then I traded my 500Plus for basic A500, sure I noticed difference, but really didn't like that old KS1.3! I must confess, I wasn't big on buying games, so yes it was "magic" to take new empty floppies and go to a friend who happened to have X-Copy and df1: (well you guess the rest)..Later realized how copying games killed Amiga game industry, so bought few originals, wonderful Beneath a Steel Sky, Simon the Sorcerer and few Sierra Online adventures to mention..
And oh those wonderful Deluxe Paint, ProTracker and other similar progs, didn't see anything like these on PC in early 90's...Not to mention demo scene!
Now I'm waiting that big magic to happen again with, let's hope so, NATAMI AMIGA.
For now I'm feeling that Amiga magic with help of my A1200/030/Indivision stuff. Occasionally A500 startup just for kicks and yea, it's working. Life is good!
In addition, Amiga magic is also very evident when you check some of hardware prices these days, c'mon where's the R-E-P-R-O-D-U-C-T-I-O-N industry for us?!?! If I can buy, let's say brand new Chevelle, Camaro, Mustang body and all the related parts for these machines made some 40 years ago, makes me wonder why there isn't such a thing as PPC/060 repop accelerator for that old trusty A1200???
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For now I'm feeling that Amiga magic with help of my A1200/030/Indivision stuff. Occasionally A500 startup just for kicks and yea, it's working. Life is good!
In addition, Amiga magic is also very evident when you check some of hardware prices these days, c'mon where's the R-E-P-R-O-D-U-C-T-I-O-N industry for us?!?! If I can buy, let's say brand new Chevelle, Camaro, Mustang body and all the related parts for these machines made some 40 years ago, makes me wonder why there isn't such a thing as PPC/060 repop accelerator for that old trusty A1200???
The reason that there is no PPC/060 Repop is because the SOURCE for the logic (FPGA) is probably long lost now, you could probably export out the bitfile but that does not get you the VHDL source. Not to mention, the 060 at least is no longer made (is it ?).
I started with a humble A500 from Dixons after seeing Shadow of the Beast demo in store (Yes, the Psygnosis demo disk). I saved up, and got one. Then I emigrated from UK to Australia with my Parents, and Qantas misdirected the A500 (in its box), I was waiting for it in Perth, and it flew on to Sydney. It turned up a few days later.
Now I live in Melbourne, and i have 2x A500 (One of which is the A500 with more frequent flyer miles than me), A1000, A1200, A4000, Minimig.
I got a dual core PC, with a 4870 that has WinBlows 7, and plays Just Cause 2 ("GET IN SCORPION!!!"), so it can safely run Winuae, or my Xbox that can run Winuaex, but I STILL get the urge to hit the Amiga's power button to "ON".
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Definitely a combination of nostalgia and the "wow" factor of seeing the sound and graphics capabilities for the first time... as other have said...
I had a Vic-20, then C64 before I had the Amiga and the jump in capabilities was mind-blowing at the time...
I'm not really interested in the 'modern' so-called Amiga OSes or generic PPC boxes, they're something quite different.
The good old days where the Amiga ruled the roost were the best, and now they're just a fading memory...
Mike.
P.S. This thread would've been a good candidate for a Poll! :-)
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1. Good harmony between software/OS components and hardware components.
2. Operating system programmed by people who understand old school UNIX in a rather different light, with an epic result.
3. KISS and clean programming philosophy.
4. Rarity of Amiga scene today.
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The reason that there is no PPC/060 Repop is because the SOURCE for the logic (FPGA) is probably long lost now, you could probably export out the bitfile but that does not get you the VHDL source. Not to mention, the 060 at least is no longer made (is it ?).
Yep:
Motorola ceased production of the 68000 in 2000, although derivatives, notably the CPU32 family, continue in production.
But doesn't mean that Motorola and DCE couldn't work together in building a new card with new processors.
DCE acquired Phase 5 and they probably have all the schematics and sources.
P.S. This thread would've been a good candidate for a Poll! :-)
Good idea, I'm sure a mod or admin could add that with some good options.
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68060 are still listed on Freescale's website, they are $326 each.
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=MC68060&tab=Buy_Parametric_Tab&fromSearch=false
Although it looks like you have to buy 10,000 of them.
pass
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Initially I was going to buy my best friends C64 after having played games at his and numerous other friends' houses. But then my father brought home an issue of Svenska Hemdator Nytt, a computer magazine focusing on 16-bit and 8-bit computers like Amiga, Atari, C64, and alittle bit of PC and Mac.
Despite the screenshots of various apps and games were in black and white and very low quality I couldn't believe the amazing "photo-realistic" quality I was watching. So I requested an A500 from my parents. My friend (whose c64 I was going to buy) got his A500 a few weeks before me.
Anyway, when I got mine I couldn't believe the graphics (We had NES at that time) in games like The Spy Who Loved Me. It felt there were actually people in there :D
And when my friend got his first pirated game ;), a game you played a barbarian of sorts with a sword, jumping down in caves and climbing ropes etc (I'd like to know which game that was) I realized I needed to buy diskettes to copy it myself. And those delicious diskettes, each in one color of the rainbow spectrum, I could almost eat them.
Several months later my friend got some games we both agreed to buy from a pirate via bbs: Turrican, Shadow of The Beast, and another one I do not remember. Sad that someone else got a fraction of the money of which the developers didn't get any...
We got pretty insane watching those games in action as you can imagine.
When I saw pictures of 256 color VGA graphics I couldn't the Amiga started to feel dated. Seing fast vector graphics (4d boxing) on my classmates 286 and the seing Eye of the Beholder 2 on a dude's PC made it clear the Amiga needs to evolve or there won't be a future for it. But we didn't get that until A4000 which was too little, too late, and too expensive. I didn't let that bother me much and bought an A1200 one (or two) month(s) after it hit the stores. I loved it but as game developers abandoned it and then experiencing a shock called (Amigas ultimate) DOOM, it was over. I sold the A1200 and bought myself a 486, installed the adventure games I wanted (including sam and max), had some fun, and sold that too after a few months. I didn't touch computers for many years until my brother gave his older P4 machine 2+ years ago.
I still have my A500, but unfortunately I gave all my bloody diskettes to the bloke to whom I sold my A1200. These days I only visist amiga.org (including a few others) and install a new WinUAE and have a little fun every year or so. And that's about it.
If anyone ever wants to do an interview with me just copy and paste this spam without censorship :)
(yawn)
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I still have my A500, but unfortunately I gave all my bloody diskettes to the bloke to whom I sold my A1200.
I can understand giving away original disks like workbench and so on, but to give away your entire collection ?
I'm lucky as hell that I kept everything, comes in handy now :)
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I suppose anything that was as advanced as the Amiga (hardware and OS) will always leave a mark yes and that is part of it. What makes it magic is that I lived those times as they happened. What makes it sad is that I know for a decade, or more, what we were forced to use inferior products (Wintel/MacPPC/Mactel). And all due to the disappearance of Commodore and incompetent useless people involved with the IP in later years.
i guess those three aspects of the package, living it and the fact inferior products won out and still exist today is what makes the Amiga memorable and gives it some kind of magic I guess.
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My amiga is built using only the finest fairy dust, hence the magic.
Jokes aside, I like the close bond between OS and HW, and it just works.
I know the old amiga crashes, but I usually also know when and why.
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Amiga itself is just magic. The whole idea how to make computer better for user is some kind of magic.
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I can understand giving away original disks like workbench and so on, but to give away your entire collection ?
I'm lucky as hell that I kept everything, comes in handy now :)
Sometimes I don't think into the future, or more precisely I *didn't*. By now most of those disks would probably have huge read/write errors, but just having them them would be sweet. At least I can calm myself that I kept all my mags.
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My first computer was a Vic20. "Wow! Computers"!
Then came the C64, and that did really rock my world. I still love the C64!
The Amiga was Commodore's logical path forward, and I went that way, and my world was rocked again (but somewhat in a different way). Back then, things were all about hardware, the OS wasn't that mature, and neither were the apps. Plenty of games though! ;)
this mirrors me :)
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Sometimes I don't think into the future, or more precisely I *didn't*. By now most of those disks would probably have huge read/write errors, but just having them them would be sweet. At least I can calm myself that I kept all my mags.
You would be amazed at just how many disks I have that are original that still work perfectly. Its only the very later poor quality disks I have trouble with... I have literally thousands of disks... And never thrown one away.
scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com
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68060 are still listed on Freescale's website, they are $326 each.
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=MC68060&tab=Buy_Parametric_Tab&fromSearch=false
Although it looks like you have to buy 10,000 of them.
pass
They are still available elsewhere if you look:
From a german forum (translated):
http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php%3Ft%3D20864&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&usg=ALkJrhiRluvF7C_IfXCmWUqOgo_jprSz6g
Hardware pr0n:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=24617&d=1269629449
http://www.a1k.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=24618&d=1269629466
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Whatever it is, it's fading fast.
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You would be amazed at just how many disks I have that are original that still work perfectly. Its only the very later poor quality disks I have trouble with... I have literally thousands of disks... And never thrown one away.
scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com
Speaking of thousands, nice collection of mags you have there, I wouldn't mind having more of them and less of console mags from same era.
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Speaking of thousands, nice collection of mags you have there, I wouldn't mind having more of them and less of console mags from same era.
I still read them quite regularly as they often have wonderful help articles. Storing them is a different issue though... My Amiga Format column is stacked from the floor to the ceiling. I tend to refer most to CUAmiga, Amiga Shopper and AUI.
scuzz
http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com
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All the thing arround the AMIGA has any strange Magic..
In the begining was the innovation.. you know in 1985 was a Real MultiTasking System.. Great capabilities.. and of course any Amazing OS perfectly integrated to the hardware and taking all thats ingredients, the Software Developers could take it beyond what many thought possible.
You know, we are in 2010 and Amiga are still Alive!!.. to support themselves and has seen many disappear.
Many people ex Amiga User in this times are looking for recover that magic, maybe nostalgics or by other reasons, but who had any Amiga wants to re-experience what he lived. Maybe with any emulator, getting any Amiga Model..
Anyway Amiga any of thats things you can not stay away!.
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I still read them quite regularly as they often have wonderful help articles. Storing them is a different issue though... My Amiga Format column is stacked from the floor to the ceiling. I tend to refer most to CUAmiga, Amiga Shopper and AUI.
Crazy, but also a candy room for us old amiga kids :)
Say, you don't happen to have any in digital form (scanned) do you ? :(
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It must have something in it. Why else would I still be using it after all these years?
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The simplicity of the OS, some great graphics and animation apps-DPaint, Brilliance, Lightwave, Cinema4d, Scala, ImageFX, Photogenics, which again were great beacsue of the simplicity of letting you do what you want, without having to jump through hoops sure you can now get better results faster, but not in 4 meg and 14 mhz, and not unless you really know what you're doing.
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Originally, I was walking past a shop window that had a XT and an Amiga 500 both running Battle Chess in demo mode. You can imagine how that compared.
As I explored my first 500, I was very impressed with the thoughtful and logical OS, it's efficiency and the way it's designers obviously tried to make it the best possible. Nothing was hidden inside, any user can get complete info about the OS and hardware. A whole community gathered and wrote a mountain of software for it.
I still love it for all the reasons above. Now I also view it as a peoples computer, not the property of a sinister corporation. Today, I'm awed by the way the original open design has allowed modern uses and hardware to be integrated into it.
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Crazy, but also a candy room for us old amiga kids :)
Say, you don't happen to have any in digital form (scanned) do you ? :(
Sweet, yesteday and today I found two resources (abime and lemonamiga) partially fulfilling my wish, cheers :drink: