What devices have you owned that most reminded you of the Amiga?

[Aegis]

Hey everyone!

Been thinking about this for a few days now - recently I've been tinkering with my current phone (Samsung Galaxy Ace) - not an all-singing, all-dancing handset by any means, in fact in its original Gingerbread configuration it was pretty slow and dull - but with some research and tinkering I've gotten AOSP Jellybean on there + Link2SD to boost the number of apps I can install and y'know - it's like a brand new phone - gave me a real appreciation of the hardware which whilst limited, can still surprise if you're prepared to invest some time into getting the best out of it.

This got me thinking of my old A4000 which had all kinds of expansions hanging off of it, plus a version of Amiga OS 3.9 which I'd painstakingly optimized - something I simple don't have the incentive to do with my Windows 8 PC (or with many other devices I've owned over the years).

The only other device I've owned that gave me that 'Amiga feel' was another phone - the Nokia 7650 which for its time was an amazing handset - so many cool things you could do with it - I even used the 7650's infrared to region-unlock my (old) standalone DVD-Recorder.

I guess I should note that in the years since the demise of the Amiga, I've had different phones (including several iPhones), consoles, Apple/MS laptops, desktops etc. and yet for me, in all this time, only those two devices gave me that feeling.

So what neat things do you have/have had that give you that same sense of curiosity and appreciation that the Amiga did?

[mikrucio]

my macbook pro is rad.
osx snow leopard is da bomb bizzle.

[Plaz]

For down to the basics, get the job done multi-useful, non-flashy, pocket knife handy, carry around device, I liked (and still do) my old 3Com PalmV. I've not been "attached" to any other tech since. Sure, there's some cool stuff out there, but you could drop it like a hot potato for the next cool thing and not look back. Amiga and Palm the only two things I recall foundly. Samsung Galaxy's are definitley cool, but I'm not in to carring a pocket tv/computer.

Plaz

[minator]

Back in the 90s I had switched to a PC (Pentium 120MHz 8MB RAM) running Windows - not a good experience after using the Amiga.  It was slow as molasses, multitasking was abysmal and it crashed a lot.

Then, pretty much out of the blue someone sent me a copy of BeOS.
It was amazing - it was fast, it multitasked (properly) and didn't crash all the time.  None of these were true for Windows.  After using Windows it felt just like being on an Amiga again.

--

The Psion 5mx also reminded me of the Amiga for some reason.  It was a real computer rather than some toy.

[Aegis]

my macbook pro is rad.
osx snow leopard is da bomb bizzle.

I had a 1st gen Macbook Air running SL and I have to say I was very fond of that laptop - a friend of mine has it now - still going strong!

Samsung Galaxy's are definitley cool, but I'm not in to carring a pocket tv/computer.

Funnily enough, for me it wasn't so much about that (smartphones being cool 'n all) but more along the lines of it being this slightly underspecced piece of hardware that with enough tinkering you could wring minor miracles out of.

After all, there's plenty of very capable smartphones out there that just do what they're supposed to but what feels 'Amiga-like' to me (in this case) is getting it to do things it was never intended to do

Not that I'm a techy or anything but then again, with the Amiga you didn't need to be - it always seemed to strike a fine balance between keeping things simple and elegant yet still allowing you to get your hands dirty and screw everything up

I kinda miss that

Then, pretty much out of the blue someone sent me a copy of BeOS.
It was amazing - it was fast, it multitasked (properly) and didn't crash all the time.  None of these were true for Windows.  After using Windows it felt just like being on an Amiga again.

Never really got into the whole Be thing (was still using my A4000 back then) but someday I'll have a tinker with BeOS - shame it never found its audience, it really was the spiritual successor to AmigaOS.

[Tenacious]

For down to the basics, get the job done multi-useful, non-flashy, pocket knife handy, carry around device, I liked (and still do) my old 3Com PalmV. I've not been "attached" to any other tech since. Sure, there's some cool stuff out there, but you could drop it like a hot potato for the next cool thing and not look back. Amiga and Palm the only two things I recall foundly. Samsung Galaxy's are definitley cool, but I'm not in to carring a pocket tv/computer.

Plaz

Well said!  Palm OS had a feel of efficiency and no non-sense like Amiga.  For a long time, it had the largest software library too, which is still available.

My all time fav is the Zire 72.  When supplied with a library of 2GB SD cards, it can do everything I need (Mp3 player, book reader, etc) even now.

[slaapliedje]

I'd have to say my Nokia N900 (to a lesser extent my N9).  Namely because much like the devices (computers in the Amiga's case) back in the day, it was the only one that did multitasking well (well, if you ignore the Unix machines that no one could afford) but the N900 also really multitasks, where Android and iOS just pretend to (yeah still).  

It's also much like the Amiga in that the company that was over it had gold, and didn't know how to mine it properly.  Commodore floundered the Amiga IP just like Nokia burned Maemo/MeeGo.  

And much like my Amiga, I still have my N900 sitting around waiting for me to get a dremel so I can get those damned tiny stripped screws out... well okay, my Amiga doesn't have stripped screws, but they're both sitting on the desk right now.  hmm, time to fire up some old games

slaapliedje

[Plaz]

Well said!  Palm OS had a feel of efficiency and no non-sense like Amiga.  For a long time, it had the largest software library too, which is still available.

I was just looking at a Gameboy emulator, so still some fun left in my 1999 PalmV. Unfortunately the battery, which I used to brag would last 2 weeks on a charge, now goes flat in less than a day.....   Well of course I'm going to put in a new one. Do you throw away your Miggy when the battery dies? Heavens no.

Plaz

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I loved my old Palm Zire 71 and Zire 72 back in early 2000's.  Aside from that... my toaster?  

[motrucker]

My Palm Zire 72 brings back good memories. Don't know why I sold it, looking back. It had a very nice OS, indeed.

[Khephren]

My PSION REVO was quite Amiga like (It went on to become Symbian), at least when it came to multitasking with frugal resources.

My Nokia N900 for the same reason. I really miss that phone

...and windows 95 ;-)

[Thorham]

Nothing, because Amigas are unique

[Stevo]

I'd have to say my Nokia N900 (to a lesser extent my N9).  Namely because much like the devices (computers in the Amiga's case) back in the day, it was the only one that did multitasking well (well, if you ignore the Unix machines that no one could afford) but the N900 also really multitasks, where Android and iOS just pretend to (yeah still).  

It's also much like the Amiga in that the company that was over it had gold, and didn't know how to mine it properly.  Commodore floundered the Amiga IP just like Nokia burned Maemo/MeeGo.  

And much like my Amiga, I still have my N900 sitting around waiting for me to get a dremel so I can get those damned tiny stripped screws out... well okay, my Amiga doesn't have stripped screws, but they're both sitting on the desk right now.  hmm, time to fire up some old games

slaapliedje

+1 for my Nokia N9. Dead platform, but users and developers enjoying the power of the OS (the concept, the configurability, the speed, etc), active coding community coding alternatives to common android/ios apps (because of the lack of official support) and a proud community. At that, very interested in the upcoming Jolla phone.

[smerf]

Hey everyone!

Been thinking about this for a few days now - recently I've been tinkering with my current phone (Samsung Galaxy Ace) - not an all-singing, all-dancing handset by any means, in fact in its original Gingerbread configuration it was pretty slow and dull - but with some research and tinkering I've gotten AOSP Jellybean on there + Link2SD to boost the number of apps I can install and y'know - it's like a brand new phone - gave me a real appreciation of the hardware which whilst limited, can still surprise if you're prepared to invest some time into getting the best out of it.

This got me thinking of my old A4000 which had all kinds of expansions hanging off of it, plus a version of Amiga OS 3.9 which I'd painstakingly optimized - something I simple don't have the incentive to do with my Windows 8 PC (or with many other devices I've owned over the years).

The only other device I've owned that gave me that 'Amiga feel' was another phone - the Nokia 7650 which for its time was an amazing handset - so many cool things you could do with it - I even used the 7650's infrared to region-unlock my (old) standalone DVD-Recorder.

I guess I should note that in the years since the demise of the Amiga, I've had different phones (including several iPhones), consoles, Apple/MS laptops, desktops etc. and yet for me, in all this time, only those two devices gave me that feeling.

So what neat things do you have/have had that give you that same sense of curiosity and appreciation that the Amiga did?

I would say the Atari 1200 was the closest thing I used to the Amiga, way better than those sorry Mac machines. The next thing that reminds most of an Amiga is the Radio Shack cocoa. This machine had a lot of class plus it had color, not like those expensive Macs that had a black and white screen, can not see how anyone can ever like a Mac, but then again some people just don't know about computers and who is giving you the best deals. Can you believe that in this day an age people are still praising the ancient PPC machines. I would rather use a 8088 with DOS then a PPC Mac, because all the Mac said to me is "How slow can you go"

smerf

[persia]

My iPad Mini.