Questions tagged [amiga]
For questions related to the Commodore Amiga family of personal computers.
152
questions
6
votes
1answer
138 views
How are Amiga Kickstart Relocation Files (.RTB) created?
Examples of Amiga Kickstart files (ROMs) can be 256k (1.2/1.3) or 512k (3.0/3.1) binary files, located at $FC0000-$1000000 or $F80000-$1000000
Several programs are able to "soft-kick" Amigas, i.e. ...
34
votes
2answers
7k views
Why didn't Apple sue Commodore over the Amiga's GUI?
Famously, in the late 1980's Apple sued Microsoft over the "look and feel" of Windows 2.x. The claim was that Windows breached Apple's copyright by being too similar to the Mac UI. Apple ultimately ...
48
votes
6answers
20k views
Why was the Kickstart 1.x “Insert floppy” graphic so bad?
Anyone who used an pre-Kickstart 2.0 Amiga will be very familiar with the "Insert Workbench floppy" image:
I realise that this is subjective, but the image has always stuck me as ... well, a bit ugly....
1
vote
0answers
360 views
How many Amiga 590 units were sold?
The A590 was an external hard disk for the Amiga 500, in 'sidecar' form factor, that could also hold an extra megabyte of RAM.
How many 590s were sold, throughout its life?
4
votes
1answer
214 views
What is the largest RAM expansion for Amiga or Commodore? [closed]
What is the largest RAM expansion being manufactured today for Amiga and Commodore 8-bit?
20
votes
5answers
6k views
Were the custom chips in the Amiga exploited for their hardware bugs like the ones in the C64 and Atari 8 bit computers were?
Here we are some decades on from the C64, and other 8 bit computers.
New ideas that resulted in some new graphics effect or mode seem to happen, though we may be near the end of all that.
Took a ...
21
votes
3answers
2k views
Why was it not possible to cost-reduce the Amiga 500?
According to 'Commodore: The Final Years' (whole trilogy highly recommended, BTW), page 129, 'Jeff Porter realized it would not be possible to significantly cost reduce the Amiga 500 to get it into ...
17
votes
1answer
973 views
Can you split resolutions and scrolling (horizontally) on an Amiga?
Some time back I asked if it was possible to get more than 8 sprites on a single scanline with the Amiga using a copper list. It seems it is quite possible indeed!
Now I am wondering if it is ...
10
votes
4answers
1k views
What graphics sytems used display lists?
As near as I can tell, there seems to have been roughly speaking two schools of thought when it comes to graphics hardware among early consoles, what I will call the Atari and Texas Instruments ...
9
votes
1answer
746 views
Did any significant programs or environments take advantage of the Rexx which came with PCDOS 7 (aka PCDOS 2000)?
Being an Amiga fan, I have a fondness for the Rexx language. On that platform, almost every significant program supported ARexx, allowing a high degree of interoperability and customability. So when ...
59
votes
3answers
18k views
What is the “two-drive trick” that can read Amiga disks on a PC?
Standard belief is that the floppy disk controllers used on PCs are incapable of reading Amiga floppy disks, due to the PC disk controller expecting a very specific low-level format of disks, whilst ...
2
votes
1answer
316 views
Which retro personal computers, if any, can use a modern day monitor? [closed]
I play around with emulators, and would love to go back to my roots, with physical ZX81, BBC Micro, Amiga, etc.
Unfortunately, those all require a TV as output. I suppose that I could buy a cheap one ...
10
votes
1answer
530 views
Any Issues with running Workbench 1.3 on a Kickstart 1.2 Amiga 500?
I own a fairly early Amiga 500 with Kickstart 1.2 ROMs, Commodore Logo key and the OCS Agnus 8371. Is this system completely compatible with Workbench 1.3? Or does WB 1.3 require Kickstart 1.3 ROMs? ...
3
votes
1answer
350 views
Is the 3000T's case made by Commodore, or was it stock from elsewhere?
Is the 3000T's case made by Commodore, or was it stock from elsewhere? I need a side panel for one.
6
votes
1answer
226 views
Why does my Amgia 3000 show no Fast RAM even though the ZIP sockets are populated?
I am trying to get an Amiga 3000T up and running, all seems good but there's no Fast RAM. All Zips ard populated. Is there any (easy) way to test the ZIPs? Also, could something like a bad cap kill ...
13
votes
4answers
2k views
Amiga 500 OCS/ECS vs Mega Drive VDP
Superficially the Amiga 500 and Mega Drive are similar. Both run a Motorola 68000 CPU at similar clocks and both have dedicated hardware for sprite and other graphics operations.
Comparing the arcade ...
11
votes
3answers
418 views
Set keyboard layout in Amiga Workbench 3.1
I did a fresh install of the Cloanto amiga-os-310-install.adf disk to a hard drive, and then I wanted to change the keyboard layout to Swedish. I tried SYS:System/SetMap s but then I've learned that ...
13
votes
1answer
847 views
Does the Commodore CDTV-CR contain a 65C02 for some reason?
Browsing around the FS-UAE source code I discovered a 65(S)C02 emulation core, which appears to not be referenced anywhere outside of some CDTV-CR related source file.
Apparently, a CDTV is ...
7
votes
1answer
358 views
Digital PCB Plans for Retro Computers
I use software like Fritzing or Autodesk EAGLE to draw my Raspberry Pi or Arduino projects and was wondering if there is a source for PCB plans of for example an Amiga 500 in a format readable for ...
11
votes
3answers
517 views
What are the Ultra-Highres registers in ECS and AGA for?
The Amiga custom chip set, in its ECS and AGA versions, seems to contain some registers for what is called an "Ultra-HighRes/DUAL" mode:
DFF078 SPRHDAT W Ext. logic UHRES sprite pointer and ...
18
votes
2answers
2k views
What was the role of Commodore-West Germany?
Most of the history of Commodore in personal computers took place while East and West Germany were divided, and Commodore maintained a significant corporate presence in West Germany. While I believe ...
23
votes
10answers
4k views
Why was hardware diversification an asset for the IBM PC ecosystem?
The IBM PC was cloned very early on, and many third parties made hardware peripherals. This required users to run an OS, install drivers, manage IRQs and hardware bus addresses, etc. Why was this a ...
4
votes
1answer
157 views
pfs3 error when copying files
Config: WinUAE 4.2.1, CPU 68020, 24bit, FPU 68882, 8MB FastRam Z2, A1200, CF 4GB Transcend, BetterWB 43, Dopus 4,
When I try to copy folders from PC to CF Partition (2.4GB, pfs3) it goes alright, ...
3
votes
2answers
325 views
Amiga Workbench copy command just outputs 'copy mode'
I'm trying to set up my system using UAE 4.2.1 64 bit and an excellent step by step guide provided by phraxoid:
https://devtty.io/2018/07/computing/how-to-setup-commodore-amiga-workbench-os/
The ...
8
votes
2answers
1k views
What is this side-scrolling fighting game for the Amiga?
I remember playing this game on an Amiga. I have no idea what it was called.
12
votes
4answers
309 views
Preventing socketed chip corrosion?
I spent a couple hours repairing an Amiga A3000 that wouldn't boot yesterday. The fix was to remove Kickstart ROMs, clean the DIP leads and sockets with contact cleaner, and re-insert. Apparently a ...
7
votes
0answers
211 views
What are all the patches that SetPatch applies to Kickstart?
SetPatch runs as the first command in the Startup-Sequence when Amiga boots up. It applies patches to the code in ROM to fix bugs and also enable features if necessary. For example, I seem to remember ...
12
votes
3answers
1k views
Was there ever a Kickstart that took advantage of 68020+ instructions that would work on an A2000?
Back in the day with my A2500/30, I always wanted to get the 68030 versions of software if I could because presumably I'd be able to get a few percentage more performance in some cases. However, I get ...
7
votes
1answer
251 views
How do I connect an IDE hard drive to an Amiga 4000 tower?
I would like to know how to connect a hard drive to the Amiga 4000 tower. I have an IDE cable from the top right m/b to the IDE CD-drive. I also have what looks like a SCSI cable from the CPU board.
...
13
votes
2answers
517 views
Protected/virtual memory support in classic AmigaOS
It is a well-known fact that AmigaOS is a single address space, totally unprotected memory operating system. The original implementation ran on a Motorola 68000, that did not support virtual memory if ...
8
votes
1answer
592 views
What was Burst Mode on the 68030 and why didn't the A2630 support it?
Inspired by this question, I'm curious what burst mode was on the 68030 and why wasn't it supported on the A2630 accelerator card commonly found in the Amiga 2500/30? I had one of these machines and ...
8
votes
2answers
524 views
How advanced was the Amiga Walker prototype?
The Amiga Walker was a prototype Amiga computer that never made it to market. Wikipedia has some info including a photo of a motherboard.
How advanced was the prototype? Could it boot and run Amiga ...
9
votes
2answers
353 views
How did the Amiga uses compare to uses for other personal computers in 1985? [closed]
The Amiga 1000 came out in July 1985. This was an era in which personal computers were designed by their manufacturers to meet a unique set of bespoke requirements. For example, some computers came ...
7
votes
1answer
228 views
Which Amiga systems did access RAM with fast page access?
I'm pretty sure Chip and Fast RAM access on an Amiga 1000 does not support FPM access.
Which Amiga system, chipset or motherboard "glue logic" first introduced FPM access to Fast RAM? Which one to ...
7
votes
1answer
259 views
How do you open an Amiga A590 Power supply?
I have an Amiga 590 hard drive, but the power supply appears to be dead on it so I want to take a look inside. I have removed three screws from the underside but it still won't open, acting like there'...
8
votes
2answers
356 views
Create an Amiga hard disk image
I'm looking for Linux dd command equivalent for Amiga to make image of hard disk. TSGUI not work if disk have broken RDB. Do you know program which can make hard disk image on Amiga?
5
votes
1answer
610 views
Attaching a CD-rom drive for Amiga 500
How can you attach a CD-ROM drive to an Amiga 500?
Will any external SCSI drive do?
Are drivers necessary and available?
12
votes
3answers
479 views
Who invented scrollable screens in Amiga?
A well known feature of Amiga is the ability to have multiple Intuition screens (ViewPorts in graphics.library parlance) that coexist and can be laid out on the screen so that they overlap vertically. ...
12
votes
2answers
427 views
What is the minimum set of Kickstart kernel modules to allow an Amiga to boot?
Amiga OS resident modules (libraries, devices, etc...) are location-agnostic, in that it is technically possible to compile them as location-independent code to be loaded at runtime from disk, or to ...
9
votes
4answers
810 views
Amiga floppy disks and GCR vs MFM
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_coded_recording the Commodore 1541 disk drive used a particularly efficient GCR encoding scheme to cram 170K onto the same 5.25" disks that in an Apple ...
6
votes
3answers
316 views
Opening or converting GFA Basic files to something readable?
There is a bunch of GFA BASIC for Amiga files (the source code for Blender's ancestor, Traces, downloadable here: http://zgodzinski.com/blender-prehistory/) that I would like to peek at.
Despite my ...
3
votes
1answer
549 views
When were other inexpensive computers able to recreate “The Amiga Juggler”? [closed]
The Amiga Juggler was the 2nd very popular demo to appear for the Amiga Computer early in its lifespan. The demo was created by Eric Graham (who went on to develop Sculpt3D) using raytracing to both ...
6
votes
1answer
444 views
Multiple mass storage controllers on Amiga 500 or 2000
I'm in the process of restocking a lost collection of retro machines, including a couple of A500s, a 500+ and 2 A2000s (rev 4.1 and 6) in various states of disrepair. For one of the 2000s I would ...
8
votes
2answers
486 views
How to troubleshoot Amiga 600 power issue?
I have an A600 Rev 2D (schematic), which is dead as a doorknob. It was that way when I acquired it some years ago, and it's mostly been in storage since.
Between the 5V rail and GND I measure a low ...
9
votes
0answers
425 views
How many Amiga 3000's were produced?
While revisiting this question: Seeking details relating to Amiga 3000 serial numbers I began to wonder how many actual Amiga 3000's were produced by Commodore.
I suspect (like most production ...
14
votes
2answers
466 views
Can I trigger the Amiga ROM debugger from the boot prompt?
Suppose I have an Amiga computer without any working boot disks. Is it possible to trigger the built-in ROM monitor (RomWack or SAD, see https://theamigamuseum.com/amiga-kickstart-workbench-os/guru-...
13
votes
3answers
3k views
What happened to ZIP RAM?
I have several retro machines and add-on cards for the Amiga that use ZIP RAM. This vertically mounted chip design enjoyed a brief popularity in the early 1990s, in between the original DIP DRAM and ...
10
votes
1answer
516 views
Amiga 500+ rev8A, 1 MB chip RAM and 0.5 MB slow RAM
I have an 500+ rev8A, I added the missing 0.5 MB RAM and the U32 to the motherboard. I also have 512 KB in the trapdoor. This results in 1.5 MB chip RAM; but I want to have 1 MB chip RAM and 0.5 MB ...
49
votes
10answers
9k views
Why was preemptive multitasking so slow in coming to consumer OS's?
Preemptive (rather than cooperative) multitasking was a highly-touted feature for PC's in 1996, with its inclusion in Windows 95 for the first time. It was also highly-touted for 2001 Macs when ...
22
votes
5answers
4k views
Why were 3D games on the Amiga not faster than on similar 16 bit systems like the Atari ST
It seems that 3D games, especially simulations like Falcon, were not faster (fps) on the Amiga than on the Atari ST - even a bit slower due to the CPU clock.
I was wondering why this is the case, ...
