Questions tagged [amiga]

For questions related to the Commodore Amiga family of personal computers.

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How the Amiga console was supposed to work with only 32KB of RAM?

During the development of the Amiga, one of the target was a game console with 32KB of RAM. How it was supposed to work? by blitting ahead of the beam with the Copper to avoid double buffering? was ...
Valentino Miazzo's user avatar
13 votes
4 answers
2k views

Can you manually load an Amiga library into memory?

I am trying to run JrComm 1.02a on my Amiga 1000. When I launch the software by double clicking the workbench icon, i get an alert telling me I need the 'explode.library V4+'. I have placed this ...
Geo...'s user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
226 views

Did using a PAL display mode for Amiga Workbench slow down an NTSC machine?

Inspired by this question about the CPU frequency when booting the Amiga in PAL vs NTSC, I'm curious if the CPU frequency was affected by using the other display mode. In other words, I used an ECS ...
bjb's user avatar
  • 15.6k
15 votes
1 answer
868 views

Did the Amiga change CPU frequencies when switching between PAL and NTSC mode?

Usually, computers that came in separate PAL and NTSC versions used slightly different CPU frequencies because the video and CPU clock were derived from the same crystal (the Apple II and Commodore 64 ...
Michael Stum's user avatar
  • 1,670
9 votes
1 answer
681 views

VIP Technologies Professional for Amiga, a Lotus 1-2-3 clone

I accidentally stumbled upon a programme named Professional by a company named VIP Technologies for the Amiga computer. It seems to be a clone (a quite accurate one) of Lotus 1-2-3. I cannot locate ...
Krackout's user avatar
  • 1,517
24 votes
3 answers
4k views

How were Amiga games cracked circa 1987?

I remember getting my Action Replay MKIII cartridge on my A500 in 1992, and from there I could remove protections (manual/code & physical) of a lot of games. The MKI & MKII existed before 1991 ...
Jean-François Fabre's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
96 views

How can I replace the floppy drive mechanism in a A-1011/CD-1411

I have a Commodore CD-1411 external floppy drive which I connect to a CDTV. Unfortunately it is not reading any disks reliably anymore despite cleaning the heads. Inside I found a Chinon FB-354 rev D ...
Patryk Koryzna's user avatar
13 votes
1 answer
1k views

GCC to make Amiga executables, including Fortran support?

I have been compiling some command line programs to run on the classic Commodore Amiga. I started with GCC on WinUAE which worked but I realised I didn't have the understanding of the memory stack and ...
Lee Volante's user avatar
15 votes
2 answers
2k views

Did Great Valley Products demonstrate full motion video on an Amiga streaming from a SCSI hard disk in 1990?

In 1990 I was fortunate to attend the World of Commodore trade show in Toronto Canada. The official show guide can be seen here. My best friend from high school was working for Free Spirit Software (...
Geo...'s user avatar
  • 9,243
27 votes
4 answers
3k views

Amiga multitasking - different resolution for each program on screen dragging

I'm wondering about screen resolution while having two or more multitasking programs - concurrently on screen using dragging such as: Dpaint is on a 320x256 screen, 32 colours Workbench is on a ...
Krackout's user avatar
  • 1,517
35 votes
6 answers
6k views

Was the Amiga ever used by any U.S. Government agency?

This is a long shot question, and I'm asking only because, well, I'm not entirely certain why I am asking... NBC Nightly news did a short piece on April 18th, 2022 talking about the IRS being ...
Geo...'s user avatar
  • 9,243
14 votes
3 answers
3k views

How exactly did Amigas without a RTC "work around" this to produce "internally consistent" timestamps? [duplicate]

I recently read about how even the non-RTC-equipped Amiga computers has some sort of "clever trick" in them which caused the timestamps for saved files and whatnot to still be "...
Schoettle's user avatar
  • 141
18 votes
7 answers
3k views

Were all Amigas except for A1000 un-upgradeable OS-wise?

In his latest video, "The 8-Bit Guy" on YouTube talks about the original Amiga 1000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjapiUQOi2s One of the things he mentions is that, unlike all later ...
C. Olascoaga's user avatar
25 votes
5 answers
3k views

Why did the stock Amigas not have a battery for keeping the time/date?

The Amiga computers were advanced machines meant to do all sorts of things, including file management. They had a GUI OS (Workbench) and everything right from the very start. They were not some games-...
Superfrog's user avatar
  • 251
6 votes
3 answers
645 views

Were commercial Amiga floppy disks shipped with write protection?

In this Amiga "quick kickstart guide" magazine thing that I have from when I bought an Amiga 1200 long ago (it seems to be printed in late 1995), they really go out of their way to point out ...
Amiganu's user avatar
  • 69
7 votes
1 answer
601 views

What was an Amiga "X-Drive"?

In computer magazine personal ads from the 1990s, I notice multiple mentions of Amigas "with X-Drive". Searching online, I find no mention of this. (Possibly this is because search engines ...
Superfrog's user avatar
5 votes
6 answers
1k views

Amiga game about a detective or a spy in some kind of hotel building

There's a game I played as a young child in the 90s that I am 99% sure was on an Amiga. I've searched high and low and cannot find it, and am beginning to wonder if my memory is not accurate. I ...
Shane Hudson's user avatar
15 votes
9 answers
4k views

Cost of PC vs. Amiga 500 in Europe

Based on Commodore sales figures, and other historical claims, the Amiga achieved its peak popularity in 1990-91, with European sales being the leader. By 1990, with the rapid fall in PC clone prices, ...
Brian H's user avatar
  • 59.8k
16 votes
1 answer
473 views

What happened to IntelliFont (i.e. Amiga vector fonts)?

One of the oft maligned weaknesses of AmigaOS 1.x was that the included bitmap fonts were not very good, especially when compared to those included with Classic Mac OS. Commodore closed this gap with ...
Brian H's user avatar
  • 59.8k
18 votes
2 answers
2k views

What made the Amiga "Genlock-able"?

Right at the moment the original Amiga A1000 was being introduced, Commodore was already advertising its ability to use a Genlock peripheral, and promising that Commodore's own Amiga 1300 Genlock ...
Brian H's user avatar
  • 59.8k
4 votes
2 answers
246 views

How to get the inner dimension for Amiga Intuition window with GIMMEZEROZERO Flag?

I am sizing the contents of my Intuition window relative to the space available in the window. A regular window exposes its initial dimensions via my_window->Width and my_window->Depth, however ...
Martin Cowie's user avatar
24 votes
9 answers
10k views

How did early computers handle mice?

Early computer mice worked by sending a series of pulses; the more rapid the movement, the higher the frequency. How was this handled at the computer end? At one level, it sounds easy: just run a loop,...
rwallace's user avatar
  • 58.1k
19 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why do drives occupy memory on Amigas

I was reading this question, and it sparked an old memory. I had an Amiga 600 a long time ago. And I used to play Secrets of Monkey Island on it, great game. But then I upgraded the computer and ...
Lorraine's user avatar
  • 37.9k
7 votes
3 answers
287 views

Looking for a multiline text gadget for Intuition on a 1.3 Amiga

I've come to understand that Intuition, the GUI framework on the stock A500 has 4 types of gadgets: 'boolean' - checkboxes and buttons 'Proportional' - sliders string inputs integer inputs I'm ...
Martin Cowie's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
363 views

Examples for Amiga 500 newbie Programmers with the GNU C/C++ Compiler, or with FPC - the Free Pascal Compiler [closed]

Note: This is a review of me, to get the Focus, on which this Post stand. My Amiga 500 is dead since 20 decades, but I loved the time with it, so I use the Windows UAE (Ultimate Amiga Emulator). I'd ...
Jens's user avatar
  • 83
7 votes
0 answers
273 views

How does Amiga HDToolbox calculate size?

I've been toying around with various drive geometries using the classic HDToolbox from 2.x/3.1 on my Amiga. What I've discovered is the total size calculated is always 1 cylinder short of my own ...
Geo...'s user avatar
  • 9,243
5 votes
5 answers
599 views

Save state systems

With an Amiga A500, Action Replay cartridge (v1.5 or later) and memory expansion, it was possible to save a copy of the state of memory, much like a save state in an emulator. Were there any other ...
Sam's user avatar
  • 391
9 votes
2 answers
428 views

Does "Heart of the Alien" use the same game engine as "Another World"?

Another World is a classical game originally for Amiga and Atari ST and subsequently reimplemented for many retro and modern platforms. As described by Fabien Sanglard the game is implemented in ...
bobeff's user avatar
  • 563
10 votes
1 answer
434 views

How to find what is using Chip RAM?

My AmigaOS should have more Chip RAM available to use than it reports (only 800 kB). Is there a way to find what is sitting in Chip RAM and how to move it to Fast RAM instead?
Bartek Malysz's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
515 views

How can I run OpenSSH under AmigaDOS?

I want to use OpenSSH for Amiga, copied ssh and other files to OS:Utilities from extracted archive, but I'm unable to run the binary. Tried to set protection but it didn't help either. How to make it ...
Bartek Malysz's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
484 views

Amiga A1050 schematic

I’m trying to resurrect a Craigslist Amiga A1000. After replacing Paula it now boots. Several basics still missing (RF shields, screws, port covers, etc.) but essential electronics are okay. However, ...
TheOrangeDude's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
595 views

How does stack size affect functioning of AmigaOS and programs?

A few weeks back I had an issue with a Python script resetting my Amiga on execution. Someone suggested to change stack size in startup-sequence to 4096. I just read that it can be set up to 2500000. ...
Bartek Malysz's user avatar
19 votes
3 answers
4k views

Which retro system controllers are compatible with Amiga out of the box

I read an article that people were using various means of user input in their Amiga 500 computers as an alternative to joystick. Most notable, Sega Mega Drive, Sega Master System, CD32 / Competition ...
Bartek Malysz's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
283 views

Python2.4 Amiga OS M68K restarting system and where to get libs

Just installed python 2.4 on my Amiga os3.9. sometimes when I run a script the machine restarts. Any idea why that may be? It has 030 with MMU, 64MB RAM and 1MB chip ram. All MMU libs are installed. ...
Bartek Malysz's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
363 views

Amiga File Manager with keyboard navigation

Is there a file manager for Amiga OS 3.x, something like Directory Opus but keyboard-driven, which feels more like Midnight Commander or Total Commander, where all the navigation is done by keyboard ...
Bartek Malysz's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
398 views

Amiga OS3.9 unable to run iGame error #8000000B

AMIGA CDTV, 68030 MMU, no FPU, KS 3.1.4, WB3.9 + BBs, MUI3.8, Required Libs. I followed all the requirements swapping guigfx with non-FPU equivalent and I'm not able to get iGame to run. When FPU is ...
Bartek Malysz's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
101 views

best port (on laptop) for using laptop display as monitor for an Amiga [duplicate]

i am looking to order an Amiga 500. i wanted to use my Thinkpad L420's display as a monitor, but it seems it doesn't have a port that would work for that. the thinkpad needs replacing anyways, so i ...
Ningirsu's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
734 views

How to SSH from Amiga to remote Linux host

With a new purchase coming in shortly I wanted to ask what do I need to be able to SSH to a remote host from an Amiga: Make modem work and connect to my network: https://www.ebay.com/itm/KCWIFI-PRO-...
Bartek Malysz's user avatar
30 votes
1 answer
4k views

Why are the later revisions of the Motorola 68060 heavily sought after by Amiga fans?

I have come across a few sources online in forums and on YouTube information related to using the Motorola 68060 in Amiga accelerators and the difficulty in sourcing genuine late revision parts. ...
Dougvj's user avatar
  • 403
3 votes
1 answer
285 views

How do I setup this Kickstart switcher?

I can not find any documentation for this Kickstart switcher. It's labeled LS A9211-3 © FH 1992. How must the jumpers J1 and J2 be set and where must the KB and RES lines be connected to? I want to ...
daspilker's user avatar
  • 131
4 votes
1 answer
175 views

How do I detect if AmigaDOS dos.library/CurrentDir() fails?

It seems that the primary system call to change a new directory within an Amiga process is dos.library/CurrentDir(lock) but the documentation does not tell me how to detect if it succeeded. Quoting ...
pipe's user avatar
  • 1,710
22 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why do Amiga Libraries have negative entry points?

As described in these answers, the jump table offsets to functions contained in an AmigaOS library are always negative values. The reason for this is not intuitive to me, but I suspect Carl Sassenrath ...
Brian H's user avatar
  • 59.8k
8 votes
4 answers
3k views

What are people using old (and expensive) Amigas for today? [closed]

I recently sold a defective Amiga 1000 on Ebay for over $300. I'm going to list my old Amiga 1200 and expect to get over $1000 for it since its working and "souped up". This made me wonder: ...
Walter's user avatar
  • 139
3 votes
0 answers
183 views

Use MAME debugger for Amiga software [closed]

I have used the MAME debugger a lot with arcade machine emus. Now I would like to use it to help debug a game I build for Amiga. Having set up A500 emulation in MAME by adding the roms, I can start it,...
Blindleistung's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
2k views

Why does an Amiga's floppy drive keep clicking?

I seem to remember that an A500 (probably A600 too) would keep emitting a click from the floppy drive. I think this was only with no disk in the drive, but I'm not sure. What was that?
Lorraine's user avatar
  • 37.9k
14 votes
2 answers
2k views

How would I reliably detect the amount of RAM, including Fast RAM?

If I was to write an Amiga game, what would be the best/most reliable way to detect how much RAM is actually available? Looking at Action's Guide to AGA-Fixing!, he mentions Faulty Memory Detection: ...
Michael Stum's user avatar
  • 1,670
7 votes
3 answers
981 views

How does Symphonie Pro actually work?

I just happened upon this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tNizdyx-DE It's a selection of Amiga music produced using a program I've never heard of before: "Symphonie Pro". Does ...
MathematicalOrchid's user avatar
13 votes
3 answers
2k views

Is there a seamless, Wine-like AmigaOS emulator for Linux, specifically for text-based programs?

After trying out FS-UAE on my Fedora Linux system, which worked quite nicely, I got to thinking. Even though when the Amiga was originally released in the middle 1980s, it was revolutionary in its ...
user53739's user avatar
  • 193
10 votes
3 answers
1k views

What performance increase did an Amiga typically get with an FPU?

After seeing this question, I reminisced about how my old Amiga 2500/030 had a 68882 FPU unit. I recall that the Amiga's floating point routine library was smart enough to detect if you had an FPU or ...
bjb's user avatar
  • 15.6k
5 votes
3 answers
932 views

What tricks or techniques were used to speed up AmigaOS boot

I did an installation of Workbench 3.1 grounds up. The system takes a moment to boot, well over a minute. I've watched a YouTube video where the system booted in seconds. I have another image of ...
Bartek Malysz's user avatar

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