Old Games, Old Amiga

[InTheSand]

Hi,

Welcome to A.Org!

Do you mean that your C64 has gone splat or your Amiga? Or were you using the same monitor for both?

In answer to your questions:

1. You might be able to get a local electronics repair shop to look at your monitor. Alternatively, there are usually a few on eBay and similar auction sites, though shipping can sometimes cost a bomb...

2. Commodore-Amiga is no longer. Both Commodore and Amiga exist as companies, but neither of these have anything to do with the classic Amigas.

3. Amiga emulators are available - the most well known is UAE (or WinUAE if you use Windows). However, due to restrictions with the PC's floppy controller, it is not able to read/write Amiga disks natively. Instead, Amiga emulators use "ADF" files, which represent Amiga disks.

These ADF files can be created on an Amiga or by purchasing a specialist disk controller card for a PC called a Catweasel. Alternatively, many Internet sites have sections containing downloadable ADFs...

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

Samsy wrote:
My Amiga is my Commodore 64 and vise versa.  On the keyboard/disctray combo it has both names, with the monitor being a panasonic one that came with it.

I'm not quite sure which Amiga you have... Amigas and Commodore 64s are two separate machines. Probably the most common Amiga is the A500 (single unit built into a large-ish keyboard with 3.5" disk drive on the right hand side).

If you're not familiar with WinUAE's terminology, then as Wraith2021 suggests, the commercial Amiga Forever emulator (which is based on WinUAE) is probably the best bet. Ordering from AmigaKit.com is safe and you'll be assured of reliable and quick service.

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

Samsy wrote:
Does Amiga Forever have any disadvantages over WinUAE?

Disadvantages:
You need to pay for it!

Advantages:
Contains licensed Amiga ROM images
Has a lot of video content on DVD (Amiga adverts, Commodore's final days, etc)
Contains a bootable CD to start your PC up directly into an Amiga environment
Contains software to assist with creating/transferring ADF files from your Amiga to PC


I'd definitely recommend Amiga Forever. Even though I've been a long-time UAE user, it's still worth buying, knowing that you're supporting Amiga dealers and Cloanto (one of the remaining Amiga software companies), as well as getting all that extra content. See here for full details.

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

They don't still make Amigas in the traditional sense. A couple of "next generation" Amiga-ish machines have been made available: the AmigaOne and the Pegasos - have a search on this site and/or Google for more info on those.

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

_ThEcRoW wrote:
You can work with a disk under the Amigaos on winuae just like on an Amiga, it even reproduces the clickety click of the drive

Have you had this working? My drive clicks as it's supposed to :-) but all disks I put in it appear as unreadable and uninitialised to the emulated Amiga, even though they're readable on a real Amiga and via the supplied disk image software. Formatting a disk from the emulated Amiga just fails when it comes to the verification stage...

 - Ali