Commodore Amiga — Technologies, Timeline and The Amiga Models

Commodore Amiga — Technologies, Timeline and The Amiga Models

This article is a detailed presentation of all models of Amiga with all features, description, capabilities and individuality. Old and young computer users  take a deep breath and get ready for a dip in the past. So everyone can understand what it means : AMIGA.

Commodore Amiga 1000

We are located at the distant 1985, at the time of the most dreamy computer which had the form of Commodore 64 with 64K memory, 16 colors and processor operating at a frequency slightly less than one MHz (!), The Commodore Businness Machines organized an event for the presentation of its new model. In this magnificent gala which took place on July 23, 1985 at Lincoln Center in New York, hundreds of people into exclamations of surprise and excitement attended the presentation of the Amiga 1000 (back then just Amiga) by Andy Warhall. The Amiga 1000 was a computer so revolutionary for its time that except the fact that it put the foundation stone for what we now call multimedia, it was also the beginning of a platform with so many features that even today, almost 20 years after the bankruptcy of Commodore, can be used (with appropriate extensions, of course) as a computer that can cover almost all the daily needs of the average user. While no one questioned the capabilities of Amiga 1000, the price was quite high for those times, thus more suited to budget business despite the hobbyist. But due to the lack of “serious” applications , the trend of business turned into IBM PC and its clones, so the Amiga 1000 had no particular commercial success.
SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR: MOTOROLA 68000
OPERATING FREQUENCY: 7,14-7,16 MHz
MNHMH RAM: 256KB
Maximum resolution DISPLAY: 640×512
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF COLOURS: 4096
CHIPSET: OCS
FLASH: FLOPPY DRIVE 3 1/2 “DOUBLE DENSITY 880KB

Commodore Amiga 500

If the Amiga 1000 was a revolutionary machine, the Amiga 500 was a revolutionary machine for the masses! Released a few months after the Amiga 2000, the Amiga 500 was the first “affordable” economically Amiga. The new design “all in one” (keyboard, floppy drive, control panel)  gave Commodore the opportunity to present in 1987 the same computer that 2 years ago everyone wanted in a more “reasonable” price and with better technical characteristics of the Amiga 1000. The public response was immediate, the same as that of software houses, manufacturers and hardware, resulting in a short time into the Amiga 500 to flood the market of home computers and be considered the ultimate gaming era, and in hardware level could compared only with the coin-ops. In terms of sales and recognition in the minds of the public, the Amiga 500 was, is and will be the Amiga.
SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR: MOTOROLA 68000
OPERATING FREQUENCY: 7,14-7,16 MHz
MNHMH RAM: 512KB
Maximum resolution DISPLAY: 640×512
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF COLOURS: 4096
CHIPSET: OCS
FLASH: FLOPPY DRIVE 3 1/2 “DOUBLE DENSITY 880KB

Commodore Amiga 2000

When in 1987 Commodore decided (wisely) to separate models of Amiga into “home” and “professional”, C= presented the model that was destined to go down in history as the most scalable Amiga (except A3000T and A4000T belonging to another category price and target group). Without missing any of the capabilities of Amiga 1000 and 500 it was equipped with 5 Zorro slots, video slot, CPU fast slot and 4 ISA slots (type PC) both of which 16 bits. It was able to accept the second internal floppy drive, hard disk, cards with faster processors and more memory, until bridgeboards that enabled her to “run” applications of IBM PCs and compatible. As a corollary to the above, had great commercial success in the areas of more “serious” applications and businesses. During her period of Amiga 2000 on the market, C=  released the “variants” of the Amiga 1500 (with two floppy drives), Amiga 2500 (with HDD and CPU 68020 or 68030) and Amiga 2500UX (same configuration with the Amiga 2500, but with the UNIX operating as standard).
SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR: MOTOROLA 68000, MOTOROLA 68020, MOTOROLA 68030
OPERATING FREQUENCY: 7,14-25MHz
Mathematician SYNEPEXERGASTIS: MOTOROLA 68881, MOTOROLA 68882
MNHMH RAM: 1MB
Maximum resolution DISPLAY: 640×512, 1280×512 (1024×1024)
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF COLOURS: 4096
CHIPSET: OCS, ECS
FLASH: FLOPPY DRIVE 3 1/2 “DOUBLE DENSITY 880KB, FLOPPY DRIVE 5 1/4” DOUBLE DENSITY 360KB, HARD DISK DRIVE (MFM, ATA or SCSI), TAPE STREAMER (Amiga 2500UX)

Commodore Amiga 500 Plus

If the Amiga 500 was the longest lived of all (as a model on the market), the replacement of the Amiga 500 Plus was the opposite, as the production was stopped six months after the release. The Amiga 500 Plus is generally considered as one (of many!) wrong moves by Commodore, the truth is that this is a machine that fixes some disadvantages of Amiga 500 on the other without sacrificing anything (compatibility with older software was possible either via software or via hardware). The new features of the Amiga 500 Plus was the ROM 37.230 and Workbench 2.04, twice the memory (1MB) and the ECS chipset which gave the Amiga 500 plus many new (mostly high) resolution graphics.
SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR: MOTOROLA 68000
OPERATING FREQUENCY: 7,14-7,16 MHz
MNHMH RAM: 1MB
Maximum resolution SCREEN: 1280×512 (1024×1024)
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF COLOURS: 4096
CHIPSET: ECS
FLASH: FLOPPY DRIVE 3 1/2 “DOUBLE DENSITY 880KB

Commodore Amiga 3000

When the Amiga 3000 was introduced in the market in June 1990, it came with an outrageous price but even more outrageous features and capabilities! It was the first Amiga that had the “new” Workbench 2 in conjunction with the full ECS chipset, while it was the only model (except A3000T) which had a fast SCSI controller and built-in scandoubler with output standard VGA monitor! All these features were accompanied by the Motorola 68030 16MHz (later to 25MHz), 2MB Chip RAM memory and 2-16Mb memory Fast RAM. To tie the … knot, it was also equipped with a coprocessor (Motorola 68881 in early models and the later 68882). The icing on the cake was the appearance: elegant lines, compact size, overall pioneering design. From 1990 until today, she is (rather unfairly) the absolute Amiga by the vast majority of Amiga users.
SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR: MOTOROLA 68030
OPERATING FREQUENCY: 16-25MHz
Mathematician SYNEPEXERGASTIS: MOTOROLA 68881, MOTOROLA 68882
MNHMH RAM: 2MB CHIP, 2-16MB FAST
Maximum resolution SCREEN: 1280×512 (1024×1024)
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF COLOURS: 4096
CHIPSET: ECS
FLASH: FLOPPY DRIVE 3 1/2 “DOUBLE DENSITY 880KB, SCSI HARD DISK DRIVE

Commodore Amiga 3000T

The Commodore, about a year after the release of the Amiga 3000, presented the ultimate multimedia workstation, the Amiga 3000T. The 3000T has the same features as the 3000 (winning team does not change!) but much greater potential for expansion, as the case of devices accept 5 1/4 “(possibility which was not the Amiga 3000) and had plenty of Zorro and ISA slots. Moreover, one could buy the new, even more powerful Motorola 68040 which was the best series processors 680×0 those years.Of  course all this had similar economic pricing,  as the Amiga 3000T was significantly more expensive than the already-expensive – Amiga 3000! An interesting feature is that the Amiga 3000T was that it had the largest (in size) motherboard from any Amiga ever built!
SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR: MOTOROLA 68030, MOTOROLA 68040
OPERATING FREQUENCY: 25MHz
Mathematician SYNEPEXERGASTIS: MOTOROLA 68882
MNHMH RAM: 2MB CHIP, 2-16MB FAST
Maximum resolution SCREEN: 1280×512 (1024×1024)
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF COLOURS: 4096
CHIPSET: ECS
FLASH: FLOPPY DRIVE 3 1/2 “DOUBLE DENSITY 880KB, FLOPPY DRIVE 5 1/4” DOUBLE DENSITY 360KB, SCSI HARD DISK DRIVE, TAPE STREAMER

Commodore CDTV

While it may seem strange, the most innovative Amiga which was ever put into the production line of Commodore, was also the most unsuccessful commercially! The CDTV was undoubtedly a machine ahead of its time. Both front indeed, that even Commodore did not know how should  promote the CDTV to prospective purchasers. And how to promote also the first computer in history that was equipped with CD-ROM; Or was it a game machine with CD-ROM; Or a CD-player with a computer on the same box? Actually it was the first “home” unit with a computer – and what computer, my God: an entire Amiga 500! The Commodore made the first interactive multimedia computer whose position was not on an office, but because of its characteristics and mainly because of its sleek design: the living room! An innovative machine with a simple remote control that could be used by anyone! And what is achieved with this machine ?Anything more than one of the biggest commercial failures! The relatively high price, the inability to promote by both Commodore and the dealers, scarcity of  software, a lack of joystick ports and the use of OS 1.3 on a Full ECS Amiga were some of the reasons for the CDTV failure. Luckily, the innovative design allows us to place it over your amplifier without showing incongruous.
SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR: MOTOROLA 68000
OPERATING FREQUENCY: 7,14-7,16 MHz
MNHMH RAM: 1MB
Maximum resolution SCREEN: 1280×512 (1024×1024)
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF COLOURS: 4096
CHIPSET: ECS
FLASH: SINGLE SPEED CD-ROM DRIVE

Commodore Amiga 600

The Amiga 600,  the smallest of all, was the result of another backlash of Commodore, as it was reported in 1992, as a replacement for the Amiga 500 Plus, 6 short months after the release of the last – which was also presented as a replacement for the Amiga 500…. The Amiga 600 had some new features which could not have left anyone indifferent (integrated RF modulator, IDE controller, slot PCMCIA) and certainly few were the ones who … mourned the loss of the numeric keyboard (in exchange for a small and elegant case). Unfortunately, it had a significant deficiency, which could not be passed unnoticed: the expansion slot of its predecessors had … disappeared, so it could not accept peripherals already on the market for Amiga 500 and 500 plus. And not only that, but there was not even a possibility for serious extensions (new, faster CPU, etc.). Some accelerators released “snaps” on the 68000, a solution that proved at least problematic. However, the Amiga 600 did well commercially as using Relokick or an equivalent application provides almost 100% compatibility with the huge library of software for Amiga 500.
SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR: MOTOROLA 68000
OPERATING FREQUENCY: 7,14-7,16 MHz
MNHMH RAM: 1MB
Maximum resolution SCREEN: 1280×512 (1024×1024)
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF COLOURS: 4096
CHIPSET: ECS
FLASH: FLOPPY DRIVE 3 1/2 “DOUBLE DENSITY 880KB

Commodore Amiga 4000

If we use the numbers as a criterion, then the Amiga 4000 is the best Amiga ever built. At least that the impression  the Commodore tried to give to the public. Unfortunately, the disadvantages of the Amiga 4000 in connection with the Amiga 3000 which meant to replace were more important than the … innovations offered. Thus, the new graphics chipset (AGA), the bay 5 1/4 “, the memories and faster processors and Workbench 3.0 could not supplant the lack of SuperSpeed ​​SCSI controller, the scandoubler and the better design and workmanship available to the Amiga 3000.
SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR: MOTOROLA 68030, MOTOROLA 68040
OPERATING FREQUENCY: 25MHz
Mathematician SYNEPEXERGASTIS: MOTOROLA 68882
MNHMH RAM: 2MB CHIP, 4-16MB FAST
Maximum resolution SCREEN: 1280×512 (1024×1024)
Maximum number of colors: 262144
CHIPSET: AGA
FLASH: FLOPPY DRIVE 3 1/2 “DOUBLE DENSITY 880KB, FLOPPY DRIVE 3 1/2” HIGH DENSITY 1,76 MB, FLOPPY DRIVE 5 1/4 “DOUBLE DENSITY 360KB, IDE HARD DISK DRIVE

Commodore / Amiga Technologies Amiga 1200

The actual replacement of the Amiga 500 was neither the Amiga 500 Plus, neither the Amiga 600. It was the computer that Commodore released in October 1992 and caused a frenzy of all Amiga-maniacs: it was the Amiga 1200. With the same design approach as the 500W (case all-in-one) and more “reasonable” price than the 500 (when it was first released), A1200 targeted at the home user. And achieved it! We’re talking about late 1992 up to early 1993, at which time the 500’s was not considered obsolete (although they have so many years on their back). The PCs , however, with new VGA cards started to get larger pieces of the Gaming / Home Computing pie. The response of the Commodore was the Amiga 1200 and it was a well deserved one!!: the, old, good and reliable 68000 was replaced by the 24bit 68EC020, 0.5 mB of RAM became 2MB, the OCS / ECS chipset was replaced by the brand new AGA with 256 colors simultaneously on the screen, integrated IDE hard disk controller port and PCMCIA port. Functionally, a brand new OS3.0  was simply amazing. The Amiga 1200, which was  almost one and a half year on the shelves (before the Commodore bankcruptcy), was being sold with an incredible rate, much larger than those of the Amiga 500 a few years ago!
SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR: MOTOROLA 68EC020
OPERATING FREQUENCY: 14MHz
MNHMH RAM: 2MB CHIP
Maximum resolution SCREEN: 1280×512 (1024×1024)
Maximum number of colors: 262144
CHIPSET: AGA
FLASH: FLOPPY DRIVE 3 1/2 “DOUBLE DENSITY 880KB, IDE HARD DISK DRIVE

Commodore CD32

A year after Amiga 1200, Commodore released a machine that many consider the first gaming console with CD-rom, the CD32. In essence, CD32 was only an Amiga 1200 with expansion possibilities (IDE controller, PCMCIA slot) and a CD-ROM drive instead of a floppy. The CD32 was sold out in the market on Christmas of 1993, but Commodore could not meet the needs of customers as it was in debt. The debts towards the American state were that much that did not allowed the company to clear the stock on CD32! When the company closed its doors, a few months later, the Philippine government seized all existing stock of CD32 in exchange for debts owed by Commodore! According to the rate of sales , the two latest models released by Commodore, the CD32 and Amiga 1200 would have been able to “save” the Commodore, if they could have managed to stay on the market for another six months!
SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR: MOTOROLA 68EC020
OPERATING FREQUENCY: 14MHz
MNHMH RAM: 2MB CHIP
Maximum resolution SCREEN: 1280×512 (1024×1024)
Maximum number of colors: 262144
CHIPSET: AGA
FLASH: CD-ROM DRIVE

Amiga Technologies Amiga 4000T

The Amiga 4000T is, according to its technical features, the best Amiga ever released. Indeed, even the standards in relation to the Amiga 3000T, were extreme!!: a 68060 processor and up to 50MHz, onboard SCSI and IDE controllers, high density floppy disk drive, AGA chipset, up to 128MB of RAM in the CPU card and the possibility for even more in the Zorro III slots. The A4000T was an Amiga which lifted the weight of the Amiga brand with comfort. It was presented by Commodore in 1994, and it continued to be produced by ESCOM until 1997.
SPECIFICATIONS

PROCESSOR: MOTOROLA 68040, MOTOROLA 68060
OPERATING FREQUENCY: 25-50MHz
Mathematician SYNEPEXERGASTIS: BUILT IN PROCESSOR
MNHMH RAM: 2MB CHIP, 4-144MB FAST
Maximum resolution SCREEN: 1280×512 (1024×1024)
Maximum number of colors: 262144
CHIPSET: AGA
FLASH: FLOPPY DRIVE 3 1/2 “HIGH DENSITY 1,76 MB, FLOPPY DRIVE 5 1/4” HIGH DENSITY 1,2 MB, HARD DISK DRIVE (SCSI or IDE), CD-ROM, ZIP DRIVE

 

Article by : Dony , published on Amigaplanet in 2008

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