There are things that people have spread about Amiga that is fake information. Many PC owners doesn’t seem to compute with what the Amiga is as many haven’t got one or have memories of Amiga 500 which they didn’t use as a computer. In this article, I wanted to get out 10 things that are wrong with your Amiga knowledge. It is meant to those PC owners spreading untrue info about the Amiga.
If you use Classic or Nextgen Amiga’s daily, then I suggest that you skip this Amiga knowledge guide. This is a guide for those that want to know more and spread true info about the Amiga computer.
1. Amiga 500 is only capable of playing games
Wrong! Much serious software was released for AmigaOS before and after Amiga 500 came out. Deluxe Paint is one of the first known paint packages by Electronic Arts that came out on the 30th of November 1985.
Also worthy to mention is that there is a WordPerfect version that exists for AmigaOS 1.3 etc+++ With some upgrades like Vampire, Warp, or other accelerators. Amiga 500 becomes a mature computer. There is also a PC emulator for it and many other upgrades. Amiga 500 is a computer like all of the other Amiga computers except for Amiga CDTV and Amiga CD32.
With better CPU, more RAM and even a Hard Drive. Amiga 500 can play MP3s, play MPEG movies or even render Lightwave objects fast with a Vampire V500 V2+ accelerator. With that accelerator you even get HDMI out and a MicroSD card reader for easier file transfers from PC or Mac. Amiga 500 is a brilliant computer for those that wants to explore and use AmigaOS.
2. Amiga cant play 3D games
Wrong! There are plenty of 3D Amiga games for both Amiga 500 and later Amigas. There are also 3D versions of Quake and Wipeout 2097 out for the platform. Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Hexen, and Heretic is also ported to the platform.
There is simply no reason why it shouldn’t be able to. The better CPU you use, the better FPS you get. It is the same on the Amiga as on any PC or Mac. Just don’t expect to play the latest 3D games. You are dealing with hardware from the ’80s and ’90s. You can upgrade your Amiga with a graphics card.
3. Amiga cant use the Internet
Wrong! Ever since the net came, Amiga machines have all been able to surf websites, check email, use FTP, and even play games online!
There are many options to get it online. With TCP/IP stacks like AmiTCP, TermiteTCP, Miami, and Roadshow make sure that your Amiga is connected. Just look at www.aminet.net for how Amiga is doing online.
You can get online using several options on both Classic and Nextgen Amiga computers.
Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200 got PCMCIA slots for Ethernet and even WiFi cards. The high-end Amigas got Zorro slots also support Ethernet cards. There are also options for the serial port. Amiga can use the net.
4. Amiga cant use modern graphics cards
Wrong! Amiga can! All of the bigger Amiga machines like Amiga 2000, Amiga 3000, and Amiga 4000 had the possibility to add RTG cards. Also, the MediatorPCI addon for Amiga 1200, Amiga 3000, and Amiga 4000 adds PCI slots to your Amiga. Yes, it is possible to even use an ATI Radeon 9200 on an Amiga 1200!
Also worthy to mention is that all of the Vampire 68080 FPGA cards got HDMI out. They are capable to show 1280×720. The Warp accelerators can show 1920×1080. With these remarkable accelerators, almost any Amiga can use an LCD or LED monitor.
5. Amiga cant play 16-bit music
Wrong! You can give 16bit soundcards for Amiga 1200, Amiga 2000, Amiga 3000, and Amiga 4000. There is also an MP3 hardware addon that you can connect to any Amiga with 68030 CPU or higher that can output MP3 music wither CPU load.
Also worthy to mention is that all Amigas can play 14-bit sound. All Amigas that use DBLPAL or DBLNTSC does that automatically or if you have a graphics card. You can set Picasso96 to make your Classic Amiga play 14-bit sound.
6. Amiga cant use USB devices
Wrong! Poseidon USB stack gives Classic Amiga machines access to USB expansion cards. There are expansions for Amga 1200, Amiga 2000, Amiga 3000, and Amiga 4000.
The nextgen Amiga systems such as MorphOS and AmigaOS 4.x also supports USB mem pens and printers.
7. Amiga cant be used in a SAMBA Network
Wrong! You can have an FTP client running or you can set up a SAMBA network. You can even set up your shared disks on your Windows or OSX machine with Amiga thru SAMBA.
8. Amiga doesn’t have an iTunes Store
Wrong! Aminet have been with the Amiga since the birth of the net as we know it. There you have all sorts of shareware, freeware and giftware software, and utility programs for Amiga. Also, there is an AmiStore that is currently only out for AmigaOS 4.x… But there you can purchase 68k apps like the newest version of Personal Paint by Cloanto
9. Amiga doesn’t have any serious development anymore
Wrong! The Final Writer is coming back to the scene. Aladdin 4D is on its way. Pagestream is also evolving all the time. New browsers are under development like Wayfarer, OWB, iBrowse, and Netsurf. The scene is also contributing a lot to nextgen AmigaOS operating systems like AmigaOS 4.x, MorphOS, and AROS.
With more users. AmigaOS can get even more serious applications. There are some worthy open source projects to mention:
- MUImapparium gives all AmigaOS types OpenStreetMap viewing
- Leu is a great Turbocalc replacement for all AmigaOS types
- Ask Your Amiga is a Wikipedia search tool for all AmigaOS types
10. Amiga doesn’t support Linux
Wrong! You can run 68k Linux distros on Amiga. There are also BSD variations that run on Classic Amiga and PowerPC Amiga hardware.
There are also many more myths.. I hoped that I killed some of them just now.
