Amiga

Commodore's 16-bit multimedia computer

  • 1985Released
  • Home ComputerType
  • CommodoreDeveloper
Amiga

Amiga 500 Specifications

Processor
Motorola 68000 (16/32-bit)
Processor Speed
7.16 MHz (NTSC) | 7.09 MHz (PAL)
RAM
512 KB chip RAM, expandable
GPU
Original Chip Set (OCS): Agnus, Denise and Paula
Resolution
320 x 256 up to 640 x 512 pixels (PAL), 32 colours from 4,096
Media
3.5 inch floppy disk (880 KB)

Overview

The Amiga is a family of personal computers sold by Commodore. The first model, the Amiga 1000, was released in July 1985. It was designed by a team at Amiga Corporation, which Commodore bought in 1984.

All Amigas use Motorola 68000 series processors together with custom chips for graphics, sound and memory access. This let the Amiga show more colours, move graphics faster and play four channels of sampled sound at a time when most home computers could not. It also had a pre-emptive multitasking operating system, AmigaOS.

The Amiga 500 of 1987 was the most successful model. It was very popular in Europe, especially the United Kingdom and Germany, and became a leading games machine of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Amiga was also used for video production through the Video Toaster, and for music, where its tracker software shaped a whole genre of electronic music.

Later models such as the Amiga 1200 and Amiga 4000 added the AGA chipset, and Commodore also released the CD32 console. Commodore went bankrupt in 1994, which ended the original Amiga line, although the platform still has an active community.

WinUAE is the most accurate and complete Amiga emulator and runs on Windows. Amiberry, which is built on the WinUAE core, is the best choice on Linux, macOS, Android and the Raspberry Pi.

Key Features

Custom Chipset

Custom chips handled graphics, sound and memory access.

Sampled Sound

Four channels of sampled sound, shaping tracker music.

Multitasking OS

AmigaOS brought pre-emptive multitasking to home computers.

Video Production

Used for video production through the Video Toaster.

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