Questions tagged [amiga]
For questions related to the Commodore Amiga family of personal computers.
217
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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 ...
3
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1
answer
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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 ...
15
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1
answer
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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 ...
9
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1
answer
679
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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 ...
24
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3
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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 ...
5
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0
answers
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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 ...
13
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1
answer
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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 ...
15
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2
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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 (...
27
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4
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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 ...
35
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6
answers
6k
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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 ...
14
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3
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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 "...
18
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7
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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 ...
25
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5
answers
3k
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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-...
6
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3
answers
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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 ...
7
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1
answer
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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 ...
5
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6
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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 ...
15
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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, ...
16
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1
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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 ...
18
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2
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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 ...
4
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2
answers
246
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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 ...
24
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9
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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,...
19
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2
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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 ...
7
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3
answers
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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 ...
5
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0
answers
363
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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 ...
7
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0
answers
273
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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 ...
5
votes
5
answers
599
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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 ...
9
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2
answers
428
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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 ...
10
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1
answer
434
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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?
5
votes
1
answer
515
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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 ...
12
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1
answer
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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, ...
4
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1
answer
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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.
...
19
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3
answers
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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 ...
3
votes
1
answer
282
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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. ...
8
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1
answer
363
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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 ...
1
vote
1
answer
398
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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 ...
0
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0
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101
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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 ...
5
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2
answers
734
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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-...
30
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1
answer
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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. ...
3
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1
answer
285
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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 ...
4
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1
answer
175
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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 ...
22
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1
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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 ...
8
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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: ...
3
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0
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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,...
10
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3
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2k
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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?
14
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2
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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:
...
7
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3
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980
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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 ...
13
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3
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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 ...
10
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3
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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 ...
5
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3
answers
931
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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 ...
2
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1
answer
494
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How to get started with writing drivers for amiga OS
I would like to learn how to write drivers for Amiga OS. Seems like a daunting task, but I have spare time and I find great value for amiga (CDTV) community in particular. Currently if a CD ROM breaks ...