MEMORY
512 KB Chip RAM
512 KB ROM (Kickstart)
Expandable to 9 MB total
(Trapdoor + side expansion)
GRAPHICS - OCS
Original Chip Set (OCS)
320×256 (PAL) up to 640×512
4096 colors (12-bit)
32-64 simultaneous colors
Hardware sprites, blitter
Dual playfield, HAM mode
SOUND - PAULA
4-channel 8-bit PCM
Stereo output
Hardware mixing
28 kHz max sample rate
Revolutionary for the era
STORAGE
3.5" floppy drive (880 KB)
External floppy support
Hard drive capable
AmigaDOS file system
OPERATING SYSTEM
AmigaOS (Workbench)
Preemptive multitasking
GUI + CLI
Years ahead of competition
EVOLUTION TIMELINE
1985 - Amiga 1000 Debuts
Original Amiga unveiled with revolutionary custom chips: Agnus, Denise, Paula. Designed by ex-Atari engineers. Showcased at Lincoln Center with Andy Warhol creating digital art live. Changed computing forever.
1987 - Amiga 500 Launch
Mass-market model targets home users and gamers. All-in-one design with keyboard integrated. Price: $699 USD. Became Commodore's best-selling Amiga model. Perfect balance of power and affordability.
1988-1990 - European Domination
Amiga 500 becomes THE gaming platform in Europe. Outsells Atari ST significantly. Demo scene explodes with incredible productions. Gaming golden age begins.
1991 - A500+ Released
Enhanced model with 1MB Chip RAM, Enhanced Chip Set, Kickstart 2.04. Improved compatibility and performance. Short production run before A600 arrives.
1992 - Commodore's Decline
Despite Amiga's technical superiority, Commodore's mismanagement and IBM PC clones' dominance hurt sales. Console competition intensifies. Market share erodes.
1994 - Commodore Bankruptcy
Commodore International goes bankrupt. Tragic end for revolutionary platform. Over 6 million Amiga computers sold during lifetime. Legacy survives through passionate community.
1994-Present - Immortal Legacy
Amiga community refuses to die. New hardware accelerators, FPGA recreations, AmigaOS continues development. MorphOS and AROS keep the spirit alive. The Amiga never truly ended.
LEGENDARY GAMES
SHADOW OF THE BEAST
1989 | Psygnosis
Graphical masterpiece with 12-layer parallax scrolling. Atmospheric soundtrack by David Whittaker. Showcased Amiga's superiority over 8-bit systems. Brutally difficult but absolutely stunning.
LEMMINGS
1991 | Psygnosis
Genius puzzle game by DMA Design. Guide suicidal lemmings to safety with limited tools. Perfect mouse control. Created a genre. Became global phenomenon. Pure Amiga innovation.
CANNON FODDER
1993 | Sensible Software
War has never been so much fun! Top-down action strategy. Send recruits into battle, watch them die heroically. Dark humor, brilliant gameplay. Controversial anti-war satire.
THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND
1990 | LucasArts
Point-and-click adventure perfection. Guybrush Threepwood wants to be a pirate. Hilarious writing, fantastic music, beautiful graphics. Amiga version often considered definitive.
SPEEDBALL 2: BRUTAL DELUXE
1990 | Bitmap Brothers
Futuristic sports violence at its finest. Smooth gameplay, fantastic presentation. "Ice cream! Ice cream!" Became instant classic. Perfect example of Amiga's gaming prowess.
SENSIBLE SOCCER
1992 | Sensible Software
Tiny players, huge gameplay. Defined football games for a generation. Incredible ball physics, massive leagues, addictive multiplayer. Still played competitively today.
REVOLUTIONARY TECHNOLOGY
The Amiga wasn't just ahead of its time—it defined what home computers could be. Its custom chips created capabilities that wouldn't be matched for years.
"The Amiga is the only computer where the operating system was designed by hardware engineers and the hardware was designed by software engineers." - Anonymous Amiga engineer
The Custom Chips: OCS
Agnus: Memory controller and blitter. Handled DMA, copper coprocessor, sprites. Made hardware graphics manipulation possible without CPU involvement.
Denise: Video display processor. Generated all graphics output. Supported multiple resolutions, HAM mode (4096 colors), dual playfield, hardware sprites.
Paula: Audio and I/O controller. Four 8-bit PCM channels with independent stereo panning. Floppy disk controller. Serial/parallel ports. Ahead of Sound Blaster.
Preemptive Multitasking
While DOS and early Windows struggled with cooperative multitasking, AmigaOS had true preemptive multitasking from day one. Run multiple programs simultaneously. Background tasks didn't freeze the system. Revolutionary for 1985.
The Copper
A programmable coprocessor that could change hardware registers synchronized to the video beam. Enabled mid-screen palette changes, resolution switches, sprite multiplexing. Demo scene exploited this ruthlessly.
THE DEMO SCENE PHENOMENON
The Amiga demo scene represents one of computing's most creative subcultures. Programmers, musicians, and artists competed to create the most impressive audiovisual displays.
Megademos & Cracktros
Groups like The Silents, Anarchy, Kefrens, and Sanity created stunning demos. Copper effects, 3D vector graphics, module music (MOD files), synchronized to perfection. These weren't games—they were art pushing hardware beyond documented limits.
Musical Revolution
Paula's 4-channel sampling spawned the MOD (module) music format. Trackers like SoundTracker and ProTracker let anyone create music. The .MOD format influenced electronic music worldwide. Many professional musicians started on Amiga trackers.
Technical Wizardry
Demo coders discovered undocumented features, exploited hardware bugs, created impossible effects. Copper scrolling, vector balls, plasma effects, 3D landscapes—all running on 7 MHz 68000. Pure genius.
PROFESSIONAL APPLICATIONS
The Amiga wasn't just for gaming. It revolutionized professional content creation in ways that still resonate today.
Video Production
Video Toaster: NewTek's Video Toaster turned the Amiga into a broadcast-quality video production suite for $2,400. Professional studios using million-dollar equipment couldn't compete. Babylon 5's CGI was rendered on Amigas. TV shows worldwide used Video Toaster for effects.
Music Production
Programs like OctaMED and Bars & Pipes made the Amiga a serious MIDI sequencer. Sample editing with Audiomaster. Paula's clean audio output was perfect for music work. Many electronic musicians of the 90s started on Amigas.
Graphics & Animation
Deluxe Paint defined pixel art. TV Paint for professional animation. Imagine 3D for rendering. The Amiga's graphics capabilities and multitasking made it ideal for creative work. Artists could work while rendering in the background.
WHY THE AMIGA FAILED (AND WHY IT DIDN'T)
Commodore's mismanagement killed the Amiga, not technical inferiority. The Amiga was years ahead of PCs, yet lost the market war.
Commodore's Fatal Mistakes
Poor marketing in North America. Infighting between Amiga and PC divisions. Underinvestment in R&D while competitors advanced. Failure to position Amiga as multimedia platform. Business incompetence despite brilliant engineering.
But The Amiga Lives
The Amiga community never gave up. MorphOS, AROS, AmigaOS 4 continue development. FPGA recreations like Minimig and MiSTer allow perfect hardware emulation. New accelerators for classic Amigas still being produced. The Vampire boards give A500s modern power.
The Legacy
Every modern multimedia PC owes debt to the Amiga. Hardware-accelerated graphics, sample-based audio, preemptive multitasking, plug-and-play peripherals—all pioneered by the Amiga. The Amiga showed what was possible. The industry eventually caught up.
The Amiga was the computer that should have won. It didn't conquer the world, but it conquered the hearts of those who used it. And that's a different kind of victory.