What was your Amiga moment?

[agami]

My story is similar to that of tasmania guy. During my high school years the C64 was very popular, it was the thing to have. For most it was a gaming computer, but this one friend and I used our machines for more than just games. He even went as far as writing a couple of simple games for it. I still remember our long assembly debugging sessions.

We were aware of the Amiga from reading computer magazines. It had high appeal, both from specs and from the view of an existing Commodore user. No one in our small town had the money or the inclination to get the A1000. Many years later, my friend was the first to move to the Amiga (A500). I went over to his place to check it out. After seeing Test Drive and F/A-18 Interceptor I was convinced and determined to follow the same upgrade path. Being a broke student, it took me about a year before I could get my very own A500.

That was the first Amiga moment. And I've had other Amiga moments after that. Sometimes from witnessing the power of a new peripheral and matching software, and other times when seeing new Amiga models, e.g. A3000, A1200, CD32. I remember when I saw the Microcosm intro on a CD32 at our local Amiga re-seller. This in an era of Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive (Genesis). And whilst not an Amiga per se, when I first saw the Casablanca video editor being demoed, I really wanted one.

[TheMagicM]

Another cool thing I liked was accelerators.  When adding a board actually *made a difference*.  Nowadays, an SSD drive will make a difference, but with Windows, an I7 doesnt really feel snappy over an I5.

Going from 68k to 68020 made a difference with everything.

[Gemmstone4291]

Mine has to be getting my A1200 with the classic 8833 Mk2 Philips monitor. Great times and lots of overnighters.

[BozzerBigD]

Why were Amiga productivity programs so intuitive and great? Everything from Deluxe Paint to Bars & Pipes was great. PC & Mac programs are 'just tools' even Photoshop (which is growing on me ;-)).

I recently used DrawStudio 2 again after more than a decade and I could pick it up again straight away! That's amazing! Great software. The number of people that used to say to me "But it can't run PC programs so why bother?" back in the 90s were fools, damn fools.

[Pentad]

Why were Amiga productivity programs so intuitive and great? Everything from Deluxe Paint to Bars & Pipes was great.

Of all the programs the Amiga had the only one I really miss on modern computers is Deluxe Paint. It was so amazingly intuitive that you could just sit down with it and go to work. I've used Photoshop for years but there are still features in Dpaint that I miss.

It was also a lot of fun to play with too. Color cycling, brushes, perspective drawing...just fun to use.

I keep hoping for a Kickstarter where somebody is recreating Deluxe Paint for modern computers.

-P

[wiser3]

I was with my grandmother in an area of a nearby city that i had never been in and spotted a nearby computer store. I told my grandmother I'd by in there instead of waiting for her.

I was a long time C64 owner and programmer at the time when i spotted a machine near the C64 stuff playing a slideshow of gorgeous pictures. I picked up an information pamphlet and didn't believe the features! 4096 colours, no way! 4 channels of stereo sound! What the hell is multitasking?

After a few minutes a store employee came over and i asked him about multitasking. He started up an editor, an app that played a tune, then some of the things that came with WB1.3, you know the ones that draw rectangles and circles, then he told me to type in the editor. I was speechless. Didn't take me long to save up some money and get my first of several Amiga models.

[Acill]

For me, I was lucky enough to live in Silicon Valley here in California at the time the A1000 was just about to get released and saw a demo of it. I was blown away and way too young to afford one. I think I was in like 5th grade at the time. So I saved every penny from my news paper delivery routes, did yard work around the neighborhood, washed cars and did other things to save up all the way to a year after it came out and got my A1000 as a demo unit at the local Amiga dealership. It was an awesome thing to have and loved it from the first day all the way to now.

[djomre]

Test driving a loaded A4000T in the 90s at the Gateway Amiga Show in St. Louis.  Love at first click.   The Amiga was snappy, responsive and seemed a multi-tasking wonder.

[vince_6]

Of all the programs the Amiga had the only one I really miss on modern computers is Deluxe Paint. It was so amazingly intuitive that you could just sit down with it and go to work. I've used Photoshop for years but there are still features in Dpaint that I miss.

It was also a lot of fun to play with too. Color cycling, brushes, perspective drawing...just fun to use.

I keep hoping for a Kickstarter where somebody is recreating Deluxe Paint for modern computers.

-P

There is Promotion from cosmigo that it is almost DPaint.

[mattsoft]

So here is my Amiga moment...

1987. I was 15 years old and a diehard Atari ST user and member of S*P*A*C*E -- the Seattle/Puget Sound Atari Computer Enthusiasts. Remind you, I was a diehard Atari 8-bit user prior.

May 15, 1987. Atari and several of it's ACE groups put on an Atari Fair in Seattle, WA at the Seattle Center Flag Pavilion. I was there, manning the S*P*A*C*E booth like a good little Ataribot. The show was in full swing, hundreds of Atari users (and many Atari employees too) roaming around. In from the back door walks in an Amiga buddy of mine who constantly gave me a hard time about being an Atari ST user. Somehow, he had arranged a small table on the outskirts of the show floor. On that table, he began setting up an Amiga in the midst of an Atari show! I walked over in disbelief half to see it for myself and half to tell him to get lost. Then I saw it -- it was an Amiga 1000 with 1300 genlock connected to a video camera and a TV he had setup. He was doing real-time titling and animations on top of live video. I could not believe my eyes -- I had to have one...and the rest is history. I sold my Atari 1040ST and SC1224 monitor, and bought an Amiga 1000 with 1080 monitor. The first thing I did when I hooked it up was play was Defender of the Crown hooked up to my stereo. I was in teenage nerd heaven!