What did your amiga look like in 1991?

[desiv]

Nice! I remember the importance of having a clock nearby too. The Online experience was so damned expensive then!

OMG, I learned my lesson there!!!!!!!  
I had a Compuserve account and would hang out in the Amiga forums sparingly..  For a bit..
Then I lost the clock or something.. I remember it this way...

I was in a chat session where Black Belt was talking about their new Hardware, HAM-E...
They were going to give one away to a "lucky" member...

Well, I WAS that lucky member!!  
Yeay!  That was an over $300 piece of hardware I would NEVER have bought!!

SWEET!!!!

Then, next month I got my CServe bill and did the math and realized I had "overspent" for the last few months by...  yep, almost $400!!!!

Aarrgghh!!!

Loved the HAM-E, cancelled Compuserve..  Worked LOTS of extra hours....

:roflmao:

desiv

[rdolores]

In 1991, I had:

A1000 (my original one I got in 1986): 512 KB Internal RAM, 2 MB Alegra External RAM, A1010 External 3.5 Floppy Drive, External 5.25 Floppy Drive, A1080 Color Monitor, Epson EX800 Color Dot Matrix Printer, 1200 Baud Modem.  Amiga DOS 1.3

A2000 (which I got through a Commodore upgrade program which allowed me to keep my A1000 in 1989): 1 MB Internal RAM (which I upgraded to a full 1 MB Chip with Fat Agnus), 2 Internal Floppy Drives, GVP SCSI Controller, 40 MB Seagate SCSI Hard Drive, Micron 2 MB RAM Board, AST TurboLaser Postscript Printer, AMAX Mac Emulator, Supra 2400 Baud Modem, Digi-View Digitizer, ECE MIDI Box, Casio CZ101 Synthesizer, Sony CDP1303 MultiSync Monitor, A2320 Flicker Fixer, Several Joysticks (Gravis and others).  A2630 Accelerator with 4 MB RAM.  ROM Switcher (1.3 and 2.0).

I had my Amigas hooked up to my home stereo system and used a Radio Shack mixer to integrate the Casio CZ101 and my Electric Guitar.  Used Deluxe Music a lot.  Also, Instant Music.

I also got into Desktop Publishing and was Editor of The Blitter Newsletter for PAUG (Philadelphia Amiga Users Group).  I started out using ProPage, but eventually went to PageSteam.

Used ProWrite 3.x as my main Word Processor, Analyze! as my main Spreadsheet and Softwood File II as my Database program.

For graphics, I used DeluxePaint, DeluxeVideo, and DigiView (I also had the Panasonic B/W security camera and Stand).

Had a subscription to AmigaWorld and Amazing Computing magazines.  Went to the World of Commodore shows twice in the late 80's, one in King of Prussia, PA and the other in Tyson's, VA (DC area). Was on Genie (remember that).

It's amazing how much was available for the Amiga back then, Software (both Games, Creativity and Productivity) and Hardware.  Good thing I worked a lot of overtime on my first job at GM (General Motors or as some said Generous Motors).

[mechy]

Are you sure this was your setup in 1991? I find that slightly hard to believe. I bought a 486DX2/66 with 8 MB ram and a 245 MB IDE drive in 1993 and this was an incredible amount back then. The computer itself was also hideously expensive, mind you (I had a lót of money to burn, back then).

This makes claiming to own an Amiga 3000 with 16 MB ram and a 540 MB scsi(!) drive in 1991, slightly unrealistic, especially as owning a cd-burner in 1991 would be impossible: CDRW came on the market in 1997. And a cd-changer in 1991? Nah. I bought a double speed CD-ROM drive in 1993, maybe 1994 for EUR 340(!).

Anyway, my Amiga-setup in 1991:
- the omnipresent A500, ofcourse. Rev 5 motherboard, KS 1.2;
- an A1084 monitor (no 'S');
- a KCS Power PC Board;
- a MacroSystem Evolution SCSI-controller (bootable with KS1.2);
- an external SCSI-case with a Quantum 80 MB SCSI harddrive;
- a Star LC24-10 dot-matrix printer;
- a Tornado 2400 modem;
- an external 2 MB fastram expansion (I forgot which one);
- several joysticks.

Good setup back then. It remained like this until being replaced by a 486 in 1993.

Yes,i' m sure i had a 3000 then,and i had a cd burner by late 91-the CDR standard was introduced in 88'-notice i said cd burner(cdr and not cdrw),the cdrom in 83' ,cd changers early 90's-Mine was used on some SUN server i think before i got it.they had started upgrading to 18disc+ units if memory serves . Previous to this i had the A2000 with a 1x cdrom in late 90..bought it new and it cost me a freaking fortune.this stuff was available in the usa pretty early. just had to sell a arm,leg and kidney to afford it- i think i paid $540 for the 540MB scsi quantum hd-i remember remarking it being a buck a meg.The 3000 would burn a good disc every time while multitasking .Most 486's could produce coasters if you touched the mouse at the time.Even back then if you knew where to look finding surplus scsi stuff was not hard,and alot cheaper.The 3k then felt top of the line with the 3640 in it and 16MB Static column ram and it seemed there was nothing it couldn't do well(yes,contrary to what misinformation you read on the net SCZIPS work with the 3640 ).Everything seemed to happen 2 years ahead of europe i noticed. I picked up most all my amiga's used from people upgrading,there was always a deal to be had and at a fraction of what new ones cost. I also repaired alot of stuff and upgraded cheaply that way.It all started with the 1541 i bought from a kid in 83 for $75 with a dead chip in it-6522 i think,i fixed it for $15 and had a floppy for the c64 for under $100,when they cost a fortune then.

I knew alot of people in industry then and scsi surplus was easy to get and every so often a bargain.Don't blame me if you were behind the times or if scsi wasn't common in europe as here.You can be a typical consumer who looks at and pays retail and assumes whats on the shelf is all that is available  or you can be a insider and dig for good deals.

Mech

[desiv]

@rdolores - Wow!  Nice setups!!!!
and..

... AMAX Mac Emulator,

Oh, I wanted one of those SO BADLY!!!!
Had the pirate version, but of course, no Mac floppy option there..
(Actually, I think I read that there was a schematic to do that, but I never knew about that at the time).

I do now have an A-Max..  Better late than never..   :roflmao:

desiv

[Tension]

Amiga? 1991? I only got my c64 in 1991 lol.

[pVC]

A500, KS1.3, 512k mem expansion, external floppy drive, Star color dot matrix printer, Philips 15" SCART-TV... and maybe Action Replay mkII or at least quite soon after 1991 I couldn't afford for HD, so Action Replay was the closest thing which helped the usage with it's internal dos commands etc.

[mechy]

That desk is so neat it is scary!

no kidding!,mine has never been half that clean,always solder balls and wire clippings,pc boards,and piles of tools!

Mech

[AndyLandy]

Christmas day, 1991?

It looked like a "Cartoon Classics" box, containing a spanking new Amiga A500+! I loved my little ZX Spectrum, but this thing just blew it out of the water! Over the next year or so, it gained 2MB ChipRAM, an external DF1 and a SCART lead to replace the shonky A520 modulator. I felt like I owned the Earth with that rig!

[VuData]

I was using an A500 with the top half of the case missing as the original floppy drive had stopped recognising the insertion/removal of disks so I had a drive from a PC installed that didn't fit too well. At this point I was moving to the PC due to work so the Amiga was getting less use.

[A1k3K]

1991... oh so very very long ago.   (first post here).

I had bought my first Amiga in 1990, it was an A1000 which I paid $500 from C= Refurbish program through a friend.  It came with the 512k installed.  I had the option to go with the A500, but I was done with keyboard-computers with my C=128 and had been using PC-DOS systems in tech school.    My A1000 was plugged into my TV since my 1902 monitor was used as my monitor for my C=128 with all my data and modem, etc.  Very quickly, my C=128 became #2 then put into the closet.

By the time 1991 came around... my Amiga1000 has pass from a Micobiotics 2MB RAM expander. to a SCSI-RAM expander box (forgot the name - ugly goldish looking box) which barely held a 3.5" 20mb HD.... oh that was sooo good after 1+ year of just floppies.

Amiga 1000  (Still have it)
Amiga 1010 drive (Still have it)
Generic 3.5" drive
Xtra?? SCSI & 2MB box with 20mb HD
68010-14mhz CPU upgrade card (plugged into CPU socket with switch to ORG 68000)
Flicker-Fixer (This meant VGA monitor, rock solid display in 640x480)
VGA monitor, generic 13".  (tiny compared to my 24" today)

I soft-booted into 2.0ROMs for productivty.  1.3 for games.  This was my setup until my Amiga 3000 and I sold all the add-ons to help pay for it, but couldn't part with my 1000.


Today: My 1000 is IN its original Amiga Box, in a closet 15 feet away.  The C=1920 monitor is used as a video monitor for my VHS conversion setup.  I wish my A3000 was in better condition... faulty daughter expansion board overheats, C= couldn't figure this out after 2 mobo swaps under warranty before they died.

I used both Pagestream and Mac emulation for desktop publishing back then.

[DaBest]

My 1st computer was an ADAM from COLICO VISION. Then got a C64 then A2000 with 1meg of RAM with an IBM Bridgeboard. Sold it And bough a A4000D/030 and still have it.

I really miss The Wolrd of Commodore. I attended every year.

[MobbyG]

I didn't get my Amiga till about 1993 or 94. But here it is cira 1996 or so while it was running my CNet BBS. Used a DataFlyer 500 and the Ram Expansion for it, the Bodega Bay, an A1010 and a Zoom 14.4Kbps v.32bis modem, with an external SCSI drive bay witha  CD Rom. Also seen is my Azden PCS-4000 2 meter Amateur Radio, as I also used this machine to do packet. You'll also see a KPC-3 TNC on top of it all.

[itix]

20 years ago.

What amiga models did you own, how were they equipped etc?

Amiga 500 with 1MB chip ram and TV-modulator. It was really cool back then when Amigas used to have only 512kB chip + 512k pseudo-fast.

[Calen]

I got my first Amiga in late '91  if memory serves me correctly. it was then just released a500+ model. I Was so excited. My main comp for years prior to this was the C64.
In mid '91  i made the jump from C64  to the STe.  For me it was a huge mistake, but it was something like £100 cheaper and i was quite young and couldnt stretch to the Amiga asking price.

I had learned of the Amiga threw various c64 mags  but when i actualy seen it for the first time at a friends house i was totally blown away. Really cool looking games with  brilliant graphics, super smooth scrolling and  totally unreal sound via his amp.
I then seen a few scene demos (Phenomena Enigma)  and that was me Sold. i had to have this. STe didnt last more than a few months in my house.

opps strayed abit of topic, but yeah my Amiga in '91 was the a500+ with an action replay card and perhaps a small  ram expansion  and just a normal  portable TV  for the picture.  served me very well until '93  and then A1200 time.

[Matt_H]

We had an A500 with the 1MB expansion, extra floppy drive, and the older, C64-era 1084. Possibly a 1.3/2.04 Kickstart switcher. I remember we were waiting for the GVP A530 to arrive, but I can't remember if that's because it was backordered or hadn't been released yet.

I was a Lemming for Halloween that year

[kolla]

In 1991 I didn't have an amiga, or a computer at all, for that matter. Money and time was instead used on school, archery and partying