The Amiga machine that Commodore made available in 1985 refuses to go away. Amitopia Amiga News Magazine is proof of that. Also, soon there will be a new Amiga documentary called Viva Amiga. This new documentary will give both Amigans and ex-Amiga users an insight into why Amiga is still loved now in 2016. Why is there Amiga News getting posted in 2016? Isn’t all of the PC magazines correct by saying that Amiga is dead? The simple answer is NO!
The user’s number of Amiga users has dropped from a whopping 15 million (Amiga 500 sold 5 million alone only in Germany. ref, Petro book) to an unknown number. But I am quite amazed over the numbers of Amiga users still active worldwide. Many of them are hiding from social media, others are still on IRC etc.
So, here is Amitopia’s ultimate guide to the Amiga choices that you can enter in 2016. The Amiga News aren’t fake. Amiga News is on the move now in 2016 and it will only grow. Read on why Amiga is as good as anything else today!… A guide for inviting you!
Classic Amiga Welcome Back Guide
– Amiga 500, Amiga 600, Amiga 1000, Amiga 1200, Amiga 1500, Amiga 2000, Amiga 3000, Amiga 4000, Amiga CDTV and Amiga CD32
There are many AmigaOS versions for Amiga. You can have anything from AmigaOS 1.2 to AmigaOS 3.1 or even Amix installed if you want.
To get a Classic Amiga system today, my advice to you is that you need to look thru different trading sites like such as eBay, Finn in Norway, and Tradera in Sweden to just name a few. Once this is done, you are up and running when you have bought one from a serious seller. However, Amitopia Amiga News magazine advice is to buy some essential tools still.
Think of how serious You want to Go?
If you’re only looking for the real Classic Amiga experience, then I recommend you to buy some sort of DVI or HDMI possibility for your chosen Classic Amiga. There are several options for the low-end Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200 etc.
I can begin to mention Indivision ECS and Indivision AGA that are expansions that manage to pull the Amiga signals out thru VGA or DVI cable, making the Classic Amiga much more compatible with today’s TVs that got HDMI. But be aware that this might lead to anger as some TV’s will deny Indivision signals even.
Most of the monitors today however will manage to handle the signals from Indivision though. Be sure to ask the seller if it works or not with Amiga? Or even goto Classic Amiga Software Facebook group to give you even further tips.
With RTG on Classic Amiga you have crystal clear HDMI picture!
If Indivision is too basic for you? Then there are better choices such as the Vampire 600, Vampire 500, and Vampire 1200 cards. These 68080 core accelerated cards give your Amiga HDMI signal out, but they are really hard to get a hold of with long waiting lists.
At the moment of when I am writing this, there are over 1046 people waiting for their Vampire 600 card. That is long, but I am sure the long wait is worth it.
Another important tool that you should get if you have an Amiga with HD (hard drive) IDE connector etc, is to get an IDE to Compact Flash adapter. This is an essential tool to get these days. I wouldn’t bother with getting a 2.5″ IDE disk for Amiga anymore. Because with such connector and a Compact Flash USB reader for your MorphOS, AmigaOS 4, MacOSX, Linux, or Windows machine. Installing and preparing the Amiga disk is much easier. Also! Floppy disks tend to get black blocks if you don’t store them in a place away from PSU’s and other stuff.
Compatibility on Classic Amiga
After preparing everything on your Classic Amiga system, you should get whdload. This HD tool turns your Classic Amiga into a wonderful classic and retro gaming machine. It makes almost all kinds of Amiga floppy games running straight from HD. Running this on an Amiga with AGA gives you possibilities to run both Amiga 500, Amiga 1200, Amiga CDTV, and Amiga CD32 games.
Other than games, Classic Amiga with AmigaOS 3.1 running on it is a very capable Graphics, Desktop Publishing, and Text editing machine. The AGA Amigas can give you many hours of great creative capabilities. Programs like Deluxe Paint, Brilliance, Personal Paint, PageStream, Final Writer, Wordworth, and Amiga Writer are just a few serious programs that can actually do the job you need. The Classic Amiga can also browse HTML pages without issues. The speed is very good on AGA but perfects on a Classic Amiga with a graphics card connected. AGA cant show that many colors at once, but a graphics card will help a lot there. The only negative thing when it comes to Internet experience is that you need a Classic Amiga with 68030 and up to have a great HTML experience. When it comes to CSS you need to go even higher. Yes, you need something better than 68060 for it. However, a 68040 with loads of RAM is ok. But 68060 ++ is heavily recommended.
But what happened to the Internet after CSS came is a bit sad since slower machines have issues reading documents with simple text and some photos even. Getting a Classic Amiga today gives you limits of standards that PC and Mac have made to a standard today, but for almost everything else. Classic Amiga machines do their jobs and it is now your turn to choose right.
Classic Amiga expansion Possibilities
Here I will go thru all of the possibilities that each of the Classic Amiga machines can have. Here I recommend you to also see Distrita’s Amiga Graphic Guide. Because Classic Amiga got many types of graphic cards available for it. There are also soundcards, ethernet cards, emulator cards, and even USB cards.
Amiga Expansion Possibilites Guide
Trapdoor: Under Amiga 500, Amiga 500+, Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200, Left-Side Slot: Left-Side of Amiga 500 and Amiga 500+, Zorro I: Inside Amiga 1000, Zorro II: Inside Amiga 1500 and Amiga 2000, Zorro III: Inside Amiga 3000 and Amiga 4000, Clock port: Inside Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200, PCMCIA: Left-Side of Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200. PCI expansion is only available thru MediatorPCI today that you can get from Elbox.
Conclusion
As you see. Commodore seems to have built all of their Classic Amiga lines to be expandable. The reason for me writing “Available” is because these expanding possibility addons can be added. The most noticeable expanding possibility regarding this is the Clock port. This is something that is not available as standard on Amiga 500, Amiga 500+, Amiga 1500, Amiga 2000, Amiga 3000, or Amiga 4000. But there are expansions for Zorro II and Zorro III that got Clock port expansions on them. The Ethernet X-Surf card is one such card etc. Zorro II and Zorro III (and even the obscure Zorro IV) are available for Amiga 1200 machines that are transferred into a Tower. In the mid 1990s this was a huge trend among Amiga users. Now, however, it is more trendy to keep Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200 in their original cases.
With these expansion capabilities, Classic Amiga’s strongest selling point is that there is so many possibilities. You can make your Amiga as you want. The Zorro expansion line also has several PC and Mac hardware expansion capabilities also. There is also Bridge boards for Amiga 4000 that connects its ISA slots for the PC Emulator usages.
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Visit these sites for getting nice expansion cards for your Classic Amiga
www.amigakit.com
www.vesalia.de
www.elbox.com
