What Makes the Commodore Amiga a Great Computer

In this video I examine the unique capabilities of the Commodore Amiga computer. Is it any good? Let's find out :-)

[@MortenSlottHansen]

Imagine a parallel universe where Comodore didnt screw up and the Amiga dominates the world...❤

[@300BaudStudios]

Would anybody remember the Apple?

[@WyMustIGo]

@@300BaudStudiosTha Jack-in-tosh? The Ess-peee

[@saeki_san]

It's only a matter of time "The future is full of webs, and the strings never stop weaving dreams"

[@disgruntledtoons]

And Motorola is the chief CPU manufacturer, and not Intel.

[@bbellefson]

In 1985, I saw an Amiga commercial with the bouncing boingball. That damn ball bounced around in my head until 1989 when I finally had enough to get an A2000 and 1084S monitor. My 2 kids and I were almost trembling with excitement when I bumped those 2 big white boxes in and we set up the system. Great memories they still talk about today.

[@300BaudStudios]

F-18 on a stock A500 was what got me!

[@AncientShinrinYoku]

What makes the Amiga so special is, of course, the architecture - derived from the world of consoles, surpassing even today's PC architecture. What made the Amiga's architecture so unique was DMA-based design, the use of an efficient chipset and a coder-friendly 680x0 processor. On top of that, there was an advanced and modern operating system, which was very powerful due to the embedding of key components in the hardware. Combining all this with a user-friendly operating philosophy, accessible design and openness to developers opened the floodgates to success!

[@superviewer]

The Amiga was the best in its heyday. After seeing it at a friends I knew I had to sell my C64 and get one. My focus was on Graphics, music and of course gaming. It really sparked my creativity and ultimately lead me to a career in graphic design.

[@300BaudStudios]

I particulary enjoyed the Juggler with it's 4096 HAM graphics.

[@superviewer]

@@300BaudStudios I'm quite sure the juggler didn't run in HAM mode. Maybe a later version but not the original one.

[@300BaudStudios]

@@superviewer The version I have is in HAM. Without it the Amige color pallet is quite bleak, especially the OCS chip set!

[@ArttuTheCat]

I have the original Amiga 500 computer, and it still works 😺👍🕹️. I also have many classic games, such as: - WINTER GAMES - LEISURE SUIT LARRY 1-5 - SENSIBLE SOCCER - CALIFORNIA GAMES - STRIP POKER II - SHADOW OF THE BEAST I-III - MANIAC MANSION - ZAK MCKRACKEN AND THE ALIEN MINDBENDERS Two awesome words: AMIGA FOREVER 😺👍🕹️!! Greetings from Vantaa, Finland 🇫🇮

[@300BaudStudios]

Very nice to meet you Ari from Finland! The Amiga 500 is certainly a nice system and good collection of games!

[@ArttuTheCat]

@@n00blamer Eikä 😹! Mä asun Vantaan Martinlaaksossa ja omistan yhä Commodore 64:aa ja Amiga 500:aa 🐱👍. Sadly, mun kuusnepa meni paskaks muutama vuosi sit 😿, mut on yhä pelejä kassuilla ja lerpuilla 😺👍. Amigan pitäs toimia viel ku en oo pelannu yhtään moniin kuukausiin työkiireiden ja taiteilijatreenien takia 😹. Mä jopa piirrän fanipiirustuksia vanhoista Kuusnepan ja Amigan peleistä ja jaan ne KZbin-kanavalleni 😺👍. Tosi siistiä kuulla mahtavaa kommenttia stadilaiselta Amigan omistajalta 😺👍🕹️.

[@maarkaus48]

I was thinking of picking up an amiga 500 for my collection. I was always impressed by its design. I still consider it and the 1200 to be the nicest looking computers ever made. I have an Amiga 1000 I bought when it first came out, still with its box and manuals, and a 2000 also with all its box and manuals, and monitors to go with it. Its truly an amazing, breath taking machine.

[@izools]

You've covered this from a different angle to any KZbinr, really great work and really enjoyable watch. Thank you!

[@300BaudStudios]

Thank you for the complement Izools. I am a huge fan of the Amiga and this was the best I could do to explain why.

[@d_vibe-swe]

Amiga ❤ For me the Amiga was a powerhouse for creativity rather than games. :)

[@300BaudStudios]

Creators such as yourself allowed persons like me to really get into the Amiga!

[@yakovkhalip9714]

what software can you advise me to try to explore on Amiga ? I have the 3000 model)

[@reelmccoyfx]

Stuff I loved about the Amiga was that I could start something and while it was loading, continue doing other things without being interrupted. On Windows, more often than not, what I started loading will grab focus and interrupt what I moved on to. Then there's using drive names like DH0: or Work: or symbolic links vs A:, C:, etc. ARexx that could be used to automate apps. So many great things I miss on a daily basis living in a Windows world.

[@300BaudStudios]

Good point! An Amiga will allow you to format a floppy or hard drive and continue to work!

[@300BaudStudios]

Hello Daniel, The Amiga certainly had it's strengths. If you had SCSI drives it was possible to format a partition and still have CPU time to run programs. Not possible on PCs or Macs of the era.

[@daishi5571]

@@300BaudStudios @Daniel McCoy You should see the look on a Mac owner when you emulate a Mac and PC on the Amiga. Play a Mod on the Amiga, switch to the Mac and load Sim City 2000 and leave it running, then switch to the PC and play an adventure game. While their mind is blown, pull down the screens and switch between the systems to show they are all running at the same time.

[@madigorfkgoogle9349]

@@daishi5571 ...and all that on a stock Amiga A500, imagine...and that is exactly what you do, just imagine.

[@daishi5571]

@@madigorfkgoogle9349 And to think you're watching KZbin and commenting online on a stock IBM 5150, or maybe you're doing this on the Apple Macintosh 128K ahhhh just imagine. Obviously there is only ever been one model of PC and Mac and no upgrades.

[@rikpeol3612]

Amigas somehow seem to have a soul deep within their tech

[@300BaudStudios]

Possibly it has something to do with the people who created them.

[@mattx5499]

When it comes to AmigaOS I always have to explain people what's so special about it, because they always say that it looks bad. Maybe it's not the most beautiful, but it's fast on low-spec hardware and multitasking was't a gimmick, but it really worked. Also the colors and font in AmigaOS 1.x were designed to look good on a TV. The colors could be tweaked and many programs running on top of the Workbench could have their own color palettes from 2 to even 16 colors on A500. For a home computer that was cheaper than PC and Mac these features were mindblowing. If you had a bit more memory you could listen to Amiga's mod files and use wordprocessor or/and graphic program at the same time. Now we take it as something obvious but back then it was crazy.

[@300BaudStudios]

OS 3.1 isn't too bad to look at. 1.3 is quite terrible but it was much more capable than the competition at the time.

[@mattx5499]

@@300BaudStudios With a custom color settings even 1.x could look better and there was a PD addon that could force 1.x to use 8 colors. But still I never cared that much about how Amiga OS looks, because I wanted it to be fast and reliable. With a file manager like DOpus configured to make the most of the Amiga capabilities it was a blast.

[@weepingscorpion8739]

@@300BaudStudios Wow, just goes to show how subjective taste is. I find 3.x bland but 1.3 is such a pleasure to look at. :) OK, I may have nostalgia bias since a friend's brother had an A500 so I saw 1.3 quite a lot.

[@bryndaldwyre3099]

I had a couple of mates who had Amigas when I was a teenager. One mate had the A1000 and another had an A500+. I eventually got mine second hand when my c64 died and instead of getting it fixed, traded it in on a second hand refurbished A500+. Such an awesome machine. I ended up donating it to a mate's dad when he became incapacitated and had to retire early as he was driving his wife up the wall due to having little to do.

[@dmanh5144]

The stereo sound capabilities with a left and right RCA out jack made it special in that it could be connected into audio amps, equalizers and large external speakers for awesome gaming sound.

[@kiillabytez]

While PC users had to purchase sound and graphics cards to run great games, everything Amiga users needed was built-in to the Amiga. It really was ahead of its time and wouldn't break the bank in the process.

[@300BaudStudios]

The big issue with Amiga sound is that left was left and right was right and no center channel.

[@sulrich70]

For me the a1000, whilst expensive compared to the c64, was amazing bang for buck. It gave home users are real GUI O/S, with incredible multimedia capabilities- at a price point which was feasible if you saved hard enough. It still remains the most amazing computer in my memory of 40 years playing with computers.

[@300BaudStudios]

My fist Amiga was the 500 as the cost had come down quite a bit from the original 1000 making it much more affordable. I got into the Amiga due to it's gaming capability as it simply blew away everything else.

[@KevinSaunders]

...and we are still making games and using this this amazing computer for creativity :) Amiga Forever.

[@300BaudStudios]

I really need to check the market place for new games; it has been a while.

[@TheSulross]

that was a great overview of the Amiga - not particularly deep on history of its origin story, but great on describing the computer and core software

[@300BaudStudios]

And there is so much more to the Amiga than what I covered in this video

[@tiges]

My Amiga 500 still works :)

[@300BaudStudios]

Here is to a long life!

[@Freddie1980]

I had an Atari ST which was decent but all the people I knew had the Amiga 500 and it was a very enviable piece of kit, everything looked and run better on the Amiga and it in the UK and Europe it had a large collection of games and software. What made it popular over here? Not 100% sure but in the UK kids an families were enthusiastic about home micro machines during the early 80's the Sinclair Spectrum was in many homes across the country and abroad. They were cheap and accessible especially when compared to IBM PC's which cost thousands. When the Amiga came along it offered a huge upgrade over aging Spectrums and shitty Amstrad machines and while it was more money it was very good value for what it offered. Also Commodore UK was one of the few areas of Commadore that was well managed and the Amiga was marketed very well and enjoyed excellent distribution and good relationships with the press and game developers. It's a shame Commodore never got its act together in the US during the late 80's they stupidly fired their managing director who was the founder of EA who was turning them around only then to wreck the company a few years latter. I think if Commodore hadn't gone to the wall and had competent people running it they would still be around today selling graphics cards alongside Nvidia and AMD given there expertise in hardware design.

[@300BaudStudios]

Too bad Commodore International didn't try half as hard as Commodore UK, things may have turned out better. Even Atari excelled in the UK when they were vertually non existant in th US.

[@audeophilic2578]

This is an awesome deep dive into an amazing piece of computing history.

[@300BaudStudios]

Thanks for the complement. Just doing my part to keep the Amiga memory alive ;)

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

True, the Amiga has a single user OS, but you could do a trick. If you have a serial cable or a telnet connection, you can use her Shell independently from a remote computer. As the first TTS, I think the Mac beat us by a year with MacInTalk.

[@300BaudStudios]

I would agree, the old Mac OS has better networking support. I might be wrong, but I don't believe Mac OS provided a fantastical multi user environment until OS X.

[@104d_3rr0r_vince]

@@300BaudStudios Yeap, also pre-emptive multitasking came in 2001 on macs.

[@SeeJayPlayGames]

actually, since there's no concept of regular/privileged users, no login (unlike Unix), thus no file ownership, wouldn't it have been considered a "no-user" OS? It just booted and you could interact with the machine; it didn't ask who you were. Although not nearly as advanced as AmigaDOS, MS-DOS has been called a "no-user" OS, and the same would apply to pretty much every consumer-oriented OS before Linux, Windows NT, and Mac OS X. Actually, come to think of it, the file attributes are HSPARWED which stand for hidden (actually not respected), script, pure, archive, read, write, execute, delete... so maybe we're looking at one of the few TRUE single-user environments. Then again, maybe this is silly, and semantic. 1=0? Only in the case of PC operating systems, I guess.

[@kiillabytez]

The Amiga exclusives blew everyone else out of the water.

[@300BaudStudios]

Now that would make for a great video!

[@atarihass4207]

Actually, the Atari ST released with a two button mouse before the Amiga, though both were great machines.

[@300BaudStudios]

Good point! I completely forgot about the ST; even though I wanted one from day 1. Thank you for the correction.

[@mutzbunny]

I love the amiga, I have a Amiga 2000 and even though i bought it to draw and make music on it, i started to enjoy the game for it too. they look and spound so damn good. love the video too, really well explained and that too in a short time, which is sometimes a bit difficult

[@300BaudStudios]

I got into the Amiga in the early 90's for the gaming; guilty. With it's graphics and sound capabilities it was also an ideal computer for the creators. I hope to take advantage of these capabilities in the future ;)

[@mutzbunny]

@@300BaudStudios yea i do love the amiga series. In the 90, i wasnt even alive yet, even though i have absolutely zero nostalgia, because, duh i didnt live in that time, i am facinated by the technoligy, its so simple yet so powerful.

[@peterpereira3653]

The Sharp X68000 was the most impressive machine of those using the 68000 of that era. Which Japan got and we in the regions such as USA, Europe and United Kingdom didn't get an official release.

[@300BaudStudios]

I have never used a X68000 so I don't know much about them. The graphics are incredibly impressive; better than the Amiga. I don't know anything about the OS. Still, it would have been a nice machine to have.

[@daishi5571]

As a games machine I would agree, however as a computer it was not good. I almost bought one years ago, but decided not to mainly due to an outdated OS and applications that were lacking.

[@AndrewRoberts11]

Being pedantic: Sinclair QDOS was the first preemptive multitasking OS for a HOME computer, shipping in April 1984, just over 14 months before the Amiga hit the streets. The 1981 BBC Micro included a text to speech toy, the BBC insisting Acorn modify the design to include a Texas Instrument TMS5220 Voice Synthesis processor, as part of the computers for schools contract. They also required sidecars be an option, via a TUBE interface, with: 65c02, Z80, 32016, 68000, 8086, and later ARM second processors, capable of running CPM, DOS, UNIX, Panos, ... from a BBC badged micro, believe the 2nd 6502 and Z80 sidecars hit the streets in 1982 (The base BBC micro simply handling IO, and mapping out memory to the display, possibly doing some manipulation, as requested by the code running on the other processor, in the process). As to the first computer to ship with a two button mouse, the Xerox Star launched in 1981, and XWindows launched in June 1984, with the likes of Sun, SGI, and several others shipping mice and a GUI that aped Xerox's, with at-least 2 buttons, on their workstations and xterms, five and one a year before Commodore's own take on Xerox's GUI. On the plug and play frot there's the 1973 MIL-STD-1553 standard, still used to by most military aircraft, spacecraft, the odd developer, and the kit of many a service engineer. On inter process communication, Xerox Star, and XWindows, rely on it, though UNIX, with its pipes and environment variables have had it since the mid 1970s.

[@300BaudStudios]

All good points. I don't know much about Sinclair or BBC computers as they were not very successful in the US market. I belive the coco 3 also had a multitasking OS but I know nothing about it. The Xerox had many innovations but it was not a home computer nor were Unix based systems at the time so I dont count them, at least for the purposes of my video ;)

[@AndrewRoberts11]

@@300BaudStudios Never sure about OS-9 level 1, as it was available to purchase, from around 1983, for the Tandy Color-2, Dragon 64, and by 1985 for the Sinclair QL, BBC Micro, Atari ST, ... . Though I believe QDOS was the first preemptive multi tasking OS to SHIP with a home computer, rather than as a 2nd / 3rd party option to purchase, along the pre-requisite pair of 5.25" disk drives, and a suitable interface board, to run it.

[@Pracedru]

I liked how the system handled devices and datatypes. Where all applications would be able to use the datatypes that was added. I also liked how lean it was. Bill Gates announced at some point in the 80''ies that multitasking wasn't possible with less than 4 MB RAM.

[@300BaudStudios]

It took me a long time to understand what a datatype was but once I did I fully appreciated them as it added capability to older software.

[@mcd3379]

The Amiga was definitely way ahead of its time as the world's first true multimedia computer. Unfortunately in 1985 when it came out, us teenagers who had grow up with our Commodore 64, we lusted after an Amiga but just couldn't afford one. It wasn't until the 500 came out years later that things improved, but by then it was probably too late.

[@300BaudStudios]

It certainly would have been better if the 500 was available at release but I believe Commodore was initially trying to market the Amiga as a professional computer; hence the professional price tag of the original Amiga 1000. It also didn't help that they couldn't build the A1000 fast enough to keep up with demand.

[@gamedoutgamer]

Nah the A500 was not too late. When it came out the scene was still new and software was limited in '87.

[@jsrodman]

Its worth noting that the 500s lower price took significant engineering to reduce chip count. It unavoidably took some time to do that work. Of course that was significantly increased by lack of coordination between amiga in california and hq in Pennsylvania.

[@Alphadec]

best computer ever thats why we still loves it. (make Amiga Great Again!!!!)

[@Alphadec]

@Kurt Pedersen biggest BS I have heard

[@SeeJayPlayGames]

@@Alphadec yeah but you can emulate a pretty fast Amiga with a potato PC nowadays. Still, it's emulation, and not the "real thing."

[@gamedoutgamer]

Good video. Thank you. Comparing these to other systems of the day with it's abilities, graphics and games would show how these were great. You did mention here multitasking and compared that with other systems of the day.

[@300BaudStudios]

I am partial to Commodore machines of the time so I don't feel that it is fair for me to bash other machines; at least not in this video ;)

[@BollingHolt]

Great video! Making me really want to go and buy one, dangit! ;)

[@300BaudStudios]

Thanks for the complement. I am going to followup on a 'how to get started' video.

[@BollingHolt]

@@300BaudStudios Awesome! After posting that comment, I tracked one down, and now my Amiga 500 should be arriving tomorrow 8)

[@300BaudStudios]

@@BollingHolt That is great! The A500 is a great computer from the 90's. If you want to get more from it you will want to upgrade your system. Take a look at my Terriblefire video.

[@BollingHolt]

@@300BaudStudios I think I already saw it, actually! Yeah, I'm sure I will. I already got a brand new PSU, Gotek, video converter, and SCART cable. Just waiting for the main even to arrive tomorrow ;)

[@leecalladine]

The Amiga was massive step forward. Shame Amiga and Atari St werent one in the same because if that was so they might have been still been around today. Can't believe how amazing it was when we first saw the graphics and capabilities of this machine. It was so far ahead of the competition it was like wow omg look at the amazing graphics.

[@jsrodman]

Neither company was really culturally prepared to invest in ongoing research and development. The California based amiga engineering team with heavy funding could hwve indeed potentially become a computing juggernaut, but its unclear who could have played that role in the industry of the day.

[@changofett77]

Man, when that Shadow of the Beast music came out...

[@lonelyastronautaudio]

I remember the day my Uncle came home from the Army and bought an Amiga setup like it was yesterday.

[@300BaudStudios]

Stinks that you can't buy one new in the box now.

[@blakespot]

Nice vid! TFW you watch an Amiga historical and see your own Amiga included within. :-)

[@sulrich70]

I had the 1060 sidecar with my a1000, and for its time, it was amazing. Not sure any computer of the day at the time could do anything like this.

[@RasVoja]

Mac Pro 2013 Dart Vader with Boot Camp :D

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

An incredible machine!

[@300BaudStudios]

Agree 👍

[@Revener666]

Was also nice with two different resolutions on the screen at the same time.... :) Install games in RAM if you did not have a HD or RAD and have it survive a reboot. Format/read disks without the computer grinding to a halt. The sound chip can actually play MP3s (barely). OS does not care about the file name and will execute or open a file no matter what it is named.

[@300BaudStudios]

The Amiga had lots of cool tricks. When running a SCSI controller you can even format a hard drive partition without impacting system performance.

[@jsrodman]

minor nitpick, playing an mp3 has nothing to do with a sound chip. Its a pure comoutational task to decode the mp3 data to pcm. It is true that you can use the paula to play effectively 14 bit sound.

[@davidlibby5430]

I am currently getting my old A500 running again. I have the GVP HD8+ SCSI hard drive working perfect! I also have a GVP HD 40 mhz but it's not working, it needs repaired.

[@300BaudStudios]

Thanks for sharing, The GVP products were very nice; particularly your GVP A500 expansion unit! It was upsetting to see all the companies from back in the day die off with Commodore as they made great stuff!

[@agassiaqua8328]

By the Amiga 500 makes the sound ....unforgetable !!

[@300BaudStudios]

Great system, loads of nostalgia see my newest video!

[@joserodellastudela7265]

Fantastic, was have spectrum 48k and 128k, and atari 520 ste, and pc xt. freebsd Unix and beginner advanced C/C++.

[@300BaudStudios]

Very nice, I have an original Atari 520 st but no power supply, cables, software of accessories. One day I plan to get it running again ;)

[@brostenen]

I remember first time I saw an Amiga. It was an Amiga500 in 1988. I was so amazed by the actual physical design of it, that I just sat and looked at the lines for a long time. Before I actually discovered what was happening on the monitor. I remember how I found a build in disk drive so strange and awesomme, that it had no flap and that it was perfectly integrated into the machine, and everything just seemed as a perfect integrated piece of design. It just made such a big inpact, that even today, I love when things have such a high value of design integration and still maintain industrial look. But the most amazing part, was that the disk drive was on the side. It was hidden from view when you sat in front of the machine. Only the activity led was visible, and that was made even more annonymus through the design of the machine it self. And then there are the machine it self, under the hood, that are yet another design of greatness. A design that makes it one of the most beautifull hardware architecture ever to have been invented. The sad part, is that it was not able to do protected mode. One of the biggest problems with the Amiga. But had they done that and had they had the horse powers, then they would probably have lived long enough to put Apple to the grave in 1996 or something. Just imagine if Jobs had bought Commodore if they had survived and made it to that point. Then it would have been Commodore Amiga M1 today. Or Amiga OsX. Dang....

[@300BaudStudios]

I got into the Amiga during the early days of the A500. The graphics blew me away, especially considering the price but computers had been moving to the box design so I wasn't a huge fan of the Amiga 500 all-in-one case. So much so, I traded my 1mb Amiga 500 for a 512k Amiga 1000 (which I love).

[@300BaudStudios]

I don't know if this is true or not but Apple (Jobs) had looked at the Amiga and determined it used too many chips. After all it does cost money to make these things. For me, it is still painful that Commodore is gone. Worst, we will likely never see anything like it again. That is something that is truly revolutionary, not evolutionary. Let's appreciate what a few scrappy engineers and designers were able to accomplish. BTW, I have grown to appreciate the all in one case design of the Amiga 500 and I am particularly fond of the tail fins ;)

[@brostenen]

@@300BaudStudios AmigaOS eventually moved to PPC in more modern hardware platform. You know, Os4. Another evolution of the platform were the NYX board. It was more modern than AGA. So I think it was in a process of ditching classic custom chipset in 1994 when Commodore went down. As for the company it self, then it just had to go that way, due to people like Irwing and Mehdi. When someone dont care about making new products that beat the company, and they see the company as a cash cow at the same time. Then yeah, the company is doomed. But the hardware engineers were the heroes.

[@300BaudStudios]

@@brostenen You are correct but PPC is post Commodore and or never released. This stuff on it's own could fill volumes!

[@brostenen]

@@300BaudStudios True.... But just imagine how it could have been if Jobs had bought Commodore.

[@yakovkhalip9714]

I have the 3000 Amiga in my retrocomouter collection)... I use it for gaming - but I wonder how also I can it use - which soft have to try on it besides games ? )

[@300BaudStudios]

Thanks for the feedback. Back in the day the Amiga was similar to what Linux is today. There was a lot of software available to do a variety of task but big publishers pretty much ignored the Amiga just as they ignore, for the most part, Linux today. What we had to do with the Amiga was to find alternatives to the PC/Mac standards. Possible content for a future video ;)

[@RasVoja]

Amiga dominant multimeia home computer that has gone, and remained as OS 3.2,OS4,MorphOS and AROS

[@300BaudStudios]

Despite the loss of Commodore the Amiga, and even the c64, are far from dead. Truly and incredible piece of hardware!

[@RasVoja]

@@300BaudStudios I would say piece of community, my dear slowest modulator demodulator

[@disgruntledtoons]

Knowing then what we know now, Commodore should have: (1) Spent all of its C64 profits developing the Amiga line (or whatever they wanted to call its 16-bit line), and not fart around with further 8-bit designs. (2) Forget the bitplane graphics memory layout in favor of a 4-bit/16-color mode in 640x240, and an 8-bit/256 color mode in 320x240 (76.8k of RAM, well within the 256K of a stock A1000). (3) Use an ARM CPU. (4) Use IDE drives instead of SCSI; yes, SCSI is better, but it costs more and 99% of users got along fine with IDE. (5) Design the graphics and sound libraries so that upgraded graphics would still run existing apps. (6) Immediately start development on the A2000, on which the graphics and sound are moved onto expansion cards.

[@300BaudStudios]

I really don't know if anything would have saved the Amiga by the end of it's run but I think it would have helped if Commodore had better marketing and had met inicial demand with the release of the Amiga 1000.

[@gamejew38]

Channel deserves more subs!!!

[@300BaudStudios]

Thanks for the complement. Let's see how it goes!

[@zbyniurumek3235]

Amiga wasn't first speaking computer. Program SAM for Atari, Apple2, C64 and Lisa was ready in '82. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_Automatic_Mouth And in my opinion SAM sounds better than Amiga Say. :)

[@300BaudStudios]

There were speech applications prior to the Amiga but the Amiga Say was bundled with the Amiga OS

[@jsrodman]

AmigaDos did more than bundle speech synthesi. It was integrated into the operating system as a device. You could write text to SPEAK: and it would be emitted as audio. You could, in your word processor print to speak and have your document recited whether or not the application author had considered that function.

[@jamesb8305]

I wonder if people realize that the Prevue Guide channel was powered by the Amiga.

[@litjellyfish]

I still claim that the visual look of Workbench v 1 was better than the v2

[@doctorsocrates4413]

Amiga is a terrific computer...I think things went downhill for commodore the moment jack tramiel left....

[@300BaudStudios]

Unfortunately, Commodore didn't give the Amiga the attention it needed to stay competitive. We got AGA but it was too little to late. Speaking of AGA, I will be adding more content in the future so stay tuned ;-)

[@AlT-vt3gb]

wasn't the ti/994a first for text to speech?

[@300BaudStudios]

They had it as an add on module but it wasn't built into the hardware or OS.

[@raymondmookhram5127]

A fascinating machine and OS that was so advanced, not even its creators and owners let alone the rest of the world truely understood. So 35 years after its creation it is getting the appreciation it should have gotten then. A multitasking kernel in 13k? Again : mindblowing. The only thing I’d wish for : multi-user

[@SeeJayPlayGames]

what about memory protection? I guess you could use Enforcer...

[@jsrodman]

Memory protection was simply not going to happen in a personal computer in 1986. MMU parts were exotic and expensive in the microcomputer space at the time, and operating system knowledge of how to implement such functionality effectively simply had not yet disseminated into the industry. It is of course a shame that Commodore did not continue to invest in engineering or that situation might have changed 5 or so years in with newer models.

[@SeeJayPlayGames]

@@jsrodman if they had invested in engineering properly, we might have seen the AAA chipset (which was superior) instead of the AGA chipset. Apparently private jets and executive bonuses were more important to Gould and Ali. Damn them both.

[@jinxterx]

There's an Atari ST emulator for the Amiga?🤔

[@300BaudStudios]

Although not as polished as the Macintosh emulators, there were a couple ST emulators available for the Amiga. I will give them a try in a future video.

[@storerestore]

Windows used preemptive multitasking since Windows 95. Still, 16-bit applications targetting earlier versions of the operating system would use cooperative multitasking.

[@300BaudStudios]

Thanks for watching my video. From what I can find, NT released in 1993 had true pre-emptive multitasking. Win9x came out in 95, and was built on DOS 7. Not sure it was true pre-emptive, but I may be wrong.

[@storerestore]

@@300BaudStudios That sounds about right after looking it up. I had no idea NT was released before 95!

[@RasVoja]

In reality since NT4 and its not just multitasking, long names since 95, RAM disk never appeared, datatypes PC still uses extensions etc.

[@jsrodman]

windows NT 3.1 (the first version) did not reach the consumer market because the hardware requirements put it out of financial reach for most . There was also a heavy performance cost for screen updates so it was quite unpopular as a workstation. Mostly it was useful to make initial inroads against various legacy server platforms. NT4 benefitted from several years of hardware advances but also killed off enough safety to make screen updates much snappier, leading to pretty strong adoption replacing unix workstations at a reduced cost.

[@gumdeo]

Only Amiga made it possible...

[@300BaudStudios]

Cheesy song but I completely agree ;-)

[@sureshmukhi2316]

How much was the Amiga in 1985?

[@300BaudStudios]

The A1000 was introduce at $1,285 (equivalent to $3,600 in 2024). Agressive pricing considering the Machintosh 512k was released at $2,795 a few months earlier, but you did get a monitor built in. ,

[@sureshmukhi2316]

@@300BaudStudios $1285 would have been also cheaper than an IBM PC back then. Considering how powerful the Amiga was, there was more bang for the back. It should have taken off if they were managed right.

[@brostenen]

There is one big error in this video. Jack did not know about the Amiga deal, untill aprox one year after he bought Atari. It was when he dug through the archives, that he discovered the deal that Atari had made, before Jack bought Atari.

[@daishi5571]

Atari (1983 pre-Jack Tramiel) had an agreement with Amiga for a time limited exclusive usage of the Amiga chipset. The agreement was to deliver the chipset within one year so they (Atari) could use it in the Atari 1850XLD. There were two problems, the first being that the then CEO of Atari James Morgan had canceled the 1850XLD before the time was up, so there was never going to be a computer by Atari that would hold the Amiga chipset. The second problem was Amiga hadn't finished the chipset (actually took about another year, with additional engineers) It wasn't until after the money that Atari had given Amiga had been paid back (note that while the money wasn't really a loan, Amiga was in no position to hand over a completed chipset, Atari had no system for it and was happy to take the money) that Jack Tramiel (now owner of Atari) found out that Amiga had been bought by Commodore (his old company) and decided to sue.

[@brostenen]

@@daishi5571 Yup. I know that story.

[@daishi5571]

@@brostenen I guessed you did (seen your name around), but the info was for others that didn't.

[@brostenen]

@@daishi5571 Ahhh...

[@zarjesve2]

@@daishi5571 Commodore sue Tramel Technology employers (ex-Commodore) first! On July 10 1984. Commodore filed a lawsuit against four former employees, Shiraz Shivji, Arthur S. Morgan, John E. Hoenig and Douglas L. Renn, who had recently left Commodore for Tramel Technology, alleging they had stolen files containing trade secrets they intended to divulge at their new company. This led to court order that stop future development of Atari ST (aka RBP). After Commodore lawsuit, and after discovering Atari Inc - Amiga Corp. contract, Jack Tramiel decided to sue Amiga: On August 13 1084. Atari filed a suit for fraud against Amiga Corporation in Santa Clara, Calif., Superior Court. According to Leonard Schreiber, Atari's general counsel, Amiga signed an agreement in March 1984 to develop three microchips for Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. then advanced the company $500,000. In late June, days before Mr. Tramiel and fellow investors bought the Atari unit from Warner Communications, Amiga canceled the deal and returned the money, saying that the chips did not work. Few years later, Commodore make off court settlement with Atari Corp paying all lawsuit bills and undislocure amount of money to Atari Corp.

[@MaxQ10001]

No, no, no. The loan was issued way before Tramiel came to Atari. He found out about it after it was repaid. There are many sources on this, including the On the Edge trilogy.

[@ralfsxyz3480]

as far as i know atari gave the credit to high toro before tramil took over atari. tramil didn't know of this credit deal as he took over atari, and high toro paid back the money on last day, got from commodore as a buy off of high toro, before tramil knew, that resulted later on in a law suit by atari under lead of tramil. feel free to correct me if i am wrong.

[@300BaudStudios]

You might be right. This may take a bit more research.

[@johnhunt1725]

The only thing that can truly make the Commodore Amiga a great computer is a time machine.

[@monarch73]

they are ASICs. "Custom Chip" is a non-technical, meaningless term

[@daishi5571]

And yet everyone including the engineers that made it referred to it as the "Custom Chipset"

[@a4000t]

an ASIC is a custom chip lol. Commodore did their own silicon via MOS Technologies they owned. If anything ASIC is just a generic term: application-specific integrated circuit. Custom Chip is just easier to understand for the general public.

[@monarch73]

@@a4000t you said it: Custom Chips are ASICS. The term "Custom Chips" is confusing because it's mostly used in connection with the Amiga as if they were something, that made the Amiga special. But ASICS are not Amiga-Specific. The first Pong-Console was one simple Asic. The C64s Vic2, Sid und PLA were ASICS. In fact most machines from the 8-Bit Area consisted of Asics.

[@a4000t]

@@monarch73 no one said they were amiga specific,they just imply that custom silicon was used. The amiga chipset was what made it special for its time,since the whole machine relied on video timing and make things like the video toaster possible. the point was to distinguish it from off the shelf parts. I can't even understand why you would nit pick such a silly thing.

[@monarch73]

@@a4000t "no one said they were amiga specific". Well, no! Its basically written all over the internet. And in my opinion it's due to the misleading, technically wrong term "Custom Chip"

[@zarjesve2]

One of many videos that spread false information (aka lies) that Jack Tramiel lend money to Amiga... here is one thumb down.

[@IkarusKommt]

PCs were blowing Amiga out of the water practically at the start: - EGA adapter had much higher resolution - i286 CPU with built-in MMU and memory protection - Floating-point coprocessor - 16-bit ISA bus And just in couple of years, the things looked much worse for that toy: - interchangeable (S)VGA adapters with blit acceleration from 3rd parties - interchangeable Sound/MIDI cards - 32-bit i386 CPU with even better memory management (and real multitasking capability) - local networking - i18n/locale services Also, computer mice predate Amigas by several years, and there is no way a 68000 machine can do preemptive multitasking - the hardware is just not there.

[@300BaudStudios]

This may be true but the original IBM XT and it's clones used a 8 bit processor and Bill Gate's described the 286 a "brain dead chip". At it release in August of 1984, the 286 based IBM AT cost a eye watering $16,000 (adjusted for inflation). For a bit extra, you could upgrade the 4 color CGA graphics card for the 16 color EGA graphics card. 35 years ago Byte magazine was the first PC magazine to feature the Amiga (BYTE_Vol_10-08_1985-08). The Amiga introduced so many new concepts to the personal computer that several pages were required to describe its technical features. But that is all history and sadly the Amiga has been mostly lost to time. But I still love mine ;) For a full perspective of the industry at the time: archive.org/details/BYTE_Vol_10-08_1985-08_The_Amiga/page/n87/mode/2up

[@RasVoja]

EGA is shit, PC speaker sucks as Spectrum sound, 286 was beateb by 020, FPU can be added

[@IkarusKommt]

@@RasVoja by the time CPU upgrades became available for Amigas, PCs started to use i386, which blew the 68k out of the water. EGA allowed for 640x350x4 resolution, which no Amiga could do; then VGA came out, similarly blowing it out of the water. PCs has a pletora of sound cards, with the better quality. Amiga was an overpriced toy computer with epoxy blob chips.

[@RasVoja]

@@IkarusKommt by time CD ROM and sb16 era came Amiga was obsolete, before PC looked beepy and monochrome and had very bad OS

[@RasVoja]

@@IkarusKommt CPU upgrades were always avail for Amiga and bix bog Amiga always existed, it started with A1000 with XT sidecar kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6LdkqN-apika7c