Amiga?

[WA7KKP]

I was wondering if there were any Amigaphiles still going out there . . . and anyone with the AEA Amiga Video Terminal.

Since they had NTSC scan rates, and some had composite video output, they were quite handy for ATV, etc. And there's a dandy Morse Code trainer from Italy that simulates a QSO, complete with background noise, variable bandwidth on the RX, and a lot of neat features.

When posting, let me know which model you have, and maybe we can keep in touch for support, etc. I have a few cards for the A2000, including Ethernet, Video Toaster, memory, and SCSI HD controllers for anyone in need.

Gary WA7KKP

wa7kkp /at/ gmail /dot/ com

[KC0VWU]

I don't have an Amiga but if I come across one in a junk shop or at a flea market I plan to buy it. I love that kind of stuff.

[KB3NDN]

havent owned one in a while - but i love older computers - I am a 65c02, z80, 8080, 6800 - nut. if it has that type of processor i want it.

[WA7KKP]

FYI, the Amigas were MOTO 68000 based -- later models used the '020 and '030, and aftermarket accelerators had the '040 processors. #Top clock speed was anywhere from 25 to 33 MHz.

A1000, 2000, 500, 600 were 68k @ 7.16 MHZ
A2500 was 020 or 030 depending on which accelerator card was installed.
A3000 was an 030, usually 25 MHz but some were 16 MHz.
A1200 was an 020EC, cheap version of the 020 without MMU, at 14.318 MHz.
A4000 was an 040 @ 25 MHz.

Gary WA7KKP

[KB3NDN]

Quote[/b] (WA7KKP @ Mar. 12 2007,07:13)]FYI, the Amigas were MOTO 68000 based -- later models used the '020 and '030, and aftermarket accelerators had the '040 processors. #Top clock speed was anywhere from 25 to 33 MHz.

A1000, 2000, 500, 600 were 68k @ 7.16 MHZ
A2500 was 020 or 030 depending on which accelerator card was installed.
A3000 was an 030, usually 25 MHz but some were 16 MHz.
A1200 was an 020EC, cheap version of the 020 without MMU, at 14.318 MHz.
A4000 was an 040 @ 25 MHz.

Gary WA7KKP
yep. just like the macintoshes. i was just making a general statement.

[WA7KKP]

Also, for those of you who want to know AmigaOS's . . .

Kickstart/Workbench 1.3:
Original blue background, very simple icons. Most common in the early Amigas. The A1000 is limited to 1.3 and uses a floppy Kickstart as well as a Workbench disk. A500 and A2000 only need the WB disk to boot.

Kickstart/Workbench 2.x:
Medium grey background, better icons, and more versatility. A3000's had this. Needs a new ROM in A500/2000 machines. Can boot from floppy, but for all the bells and whistles, you need a *hard drive installation.

Kickstart/Workbench 3.x:
Last series, looks much like 2.x but has enhancements, including CD-ROM support (two files can be copied to 2.x to make it work), and most Internet software (browsers, mailers, etc.) need 3.x Needs a new ROM inserted in machine. WB 3.5 is on CD-ROM along with 3.1, instead of the floppy disks. One nice feature is that you can have multiple booting devices, selectable at startup.

One exception is WB3.9, which is a CD -- you must have a 68030 or better to run.

For most people, 3.5 is all that you need, and for software, there is a free ftp site www.aminet.org for just about anything and everything you need.

*Hard drives -- the standard is SCSI-1 or 2, with 50 pin flat cables. Some controllers would do IDE, but these are rare. You can use very small HD's down to 20-30 MB, but 240 to 540 seem to be optimum. Max allowed by DOS is 4 gig. Amiga files are pretty small -- a large program is anything over 1 MB, so you don't need much HD space to hold a good working system.

Linux is available, either as an unsupported Red Hat/Slackware distro, or Debian. NetBSD is also available for the Amiga, if you are a real computer geek type. An MS-DOS emulator program is available, and the A-Maxx add-on will emulate older M68k Macs.

Gary WA7KKP

[n6hcm]

it was definitely ahead of its time. i rescued an amiga 3000ux from the trash heap--it cleaned up quite nicely and sold quickly on ebay (i thought about keeping it but i have enough stuff here as it is).

[N2RJ]

The Amiga was my dream computer back in the mid 80s. We had a C-64 and I always thought the Amiga would have been our next step up.

Sadly, Bill Gates and Commodore's poor business sense ruined it for all of us.

[WA7KKP]

For those of you who are interested in computers by Commodore, beg, borrow or steal a copy of "On The Edge -- a history of Commodore Computers"

Very interesting, and it is amazing how Commodore was on the bleeding edge of the industry and kept shooting itself in the foot.

Gary WA7KKP

[KE7IPY]

Quote[/b] (WA7KKP @ Mar. 13 2007,13:39)]For those of you who are interested in computers by Commodore, beg, borrow or steal a copy of "On The Edge -- a history of Commodore Computers"
I ordered that book from the publisher. It's an interesting read for sure. Apple gets WAY TOO MUCH credit for building the personal computing industry, and Commodore gets way too little recognition.

I did think the writing in the book was poor, though. The author could have used a decent editor.

If you're interested in computers of the day, you might want to take a look at BBS: The Documentary (http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/). It's a fairly complete history of BBS'ing in America. It's a free download from that site. I think the whole thing could have been edited down to a 90 minute movie, once again, with a decent editor. As it is, it's an 8 part epic.

You Amiga people ought to keep an eye out on Craigslist. I saw 2 Amiga 2000's and 3 keyboards with some software and some genlocking hardware for $50.

[KB3NDN]

Quote[/b] (WA7KKP @ Mar. 13 2007,08:39)]For those of you who are interested in computers by Commodore, beg, borrow or steal a copy of "On The Edge -- a history of Commodore Computers"

Very interesting, and it is amazing how Commodore was on the bleeding edge of the industry and kept shooting itself in the foot.

Gary WA7KKP
i would love to have a KIM-1

[KE7IPY]

Quote[/b] (KB3NDN @ Mar. 13 2007,17:24)]i would love to have a KIM-1
Fire up your soldering iron!

http://www.6502.org/oldmicro/buildkim/buildkim.htm

[KB3NDN]

Quote[/b] (KE7IPY @ Mar. 13 2007,13:18)]Quote[/b] (KB3NDN @ Mar. 13 2007,17:24)]i would love to have a KIM-1
Fire up your soldering iron!

http://www.6502.org/oldmicro/buildkim/buildkim.htm
my favorite website http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[eb5fir]

@WA7KKP

Do you remember the name of the morse trainer wich simulated a qso?
Thanks in advance!. Also i have many ham programs for Amiga computers if any are interested.
73's

[WA7KKP]

I don't remember the exact name of the program, but it is posted on www.aminet.org. I do remember the author was an Italian, an I5 ISTR.

Gary WA7KKP

[W1GUH]

I remember there was a computer game called Doctor DX that simulated a DX contest...I forget if it was for the C-64 or the Amiga. I think it was the '64.

I loved my Amiga. I had a 500 with the extra memory, extra floppy drive and modem. I got the C compiler of the time, I forget if it started out as SAS and got bought or got bought by SAS, but it was the first IDE that I used. I was really into 3D graphics programming until other things happened that distracted me from computer stuff. The last stuff I bought for it was at the Timonium hamfest in Spring, '93, but never got to use it much - soon after that I moved and the Amiga got packed up. I still have it, and intend to set it up again, soon's I get one of those "round tuits." I never did get a hard drive for it.

The trouble I found with Amigas in the '89 - '90 time frame was you couldn't tell real stuff from vaporware. I really wanted to get a genlock to superimpose graphics on video, and at the time there was a product called a "mini-gen" that got very good reviews. But....it turned out to be vaporware, and I never did get a genlock.

Amigas were used extensively in TV broadcasting because they were made to work well with TV video. The networks used them for a long time....do they still? There was a product called the video toaster that supposedly did it all.

Then, there was the prospect of putting a PC bridge card in an Amiga....and have the Amiga stuff and PC stuff working simultaneously. Yep, it was way ahead of its time!