Commodore Amiga could get a mini/classic version next year

https://vintageisthenewold.com/retro-games-the-maker-of-thec64-teases-an-amiga-500-for-2021/

by pgarcia • 6 years ago

115 75 6 years ago

jcadam• 6 years ago

If it's a fully compatible clone - complete with kickstart and able to run an unmodified build of Workbench, I'll buy one.

I'd personally rather it be an A1200 clone rather than an A500, but maybe that's just me :)

metroholografix• 6 years ago

The title is misleading since this has nothing to do with Commodore. Assuming it's based on nothing more than a software emulator core (just like their previous C64 project), you're better off getting a MiSTer [1] or just using WinUAE.

For extra points, it's not hard at all to setup the MiSTer board in a used Amiga 500 case with the original keyboard.

And of course, one can always buy a classic Amiga 500 system from AmiBay, there are lot of them out there and prices are still reasonable. Moreover, there's a galaxy of modern expansion boards and hardware accessories that can be used to bring them into the 21st century.

[1] https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/wiki

Zenst2• 6 years ago

Indeed the title of the article is "Retro Games, the maker of TheC64 teases an Amiga 500 for 2021"

LocalH4• 6 years ago

And since the Amiga 500 was produced by Commodore, making it a “Commodore Amiga 500”, the title is accurate

codezero4• 6 years ago

Similar to MiSTer, if you want a more modern Amiga take, the Vampire 4 has a standalone version now - overclocked Amiga with tons of RAM.

snvzz5• 6 years ago

Similar to MiSTer

Not similar at all, as miSTer is all about the openness, and the minimig-aga core is of course Open Hardware.

Vampire, while being fully proprietary and closed, implements CPU and Amiga chipset extensions that are not found in any original Amiga hardware. If these are utilized, the possibility of vendor lock-in arises, as there's no alternative implementations.

snvzz5• 6 years ago

For extra points, it's not hard at all to setup the MiSTer board in a used Amiga 500 case with the original keyboard.

Or an ULX3S[0], which works with the open FPGA yosys/nextpnr workflow.

[0] https://www.crowdsupply.com/radiona/ulx3s

ngcc_hk• 6 years ago

Got mine. Not sure what to do next.

cowmix• 6 years ago

I was obsessed with the Amiga when it was announced in the mid-80s. I saved my paper route money (when that was a thing) and bought the Amiga 1000 as soon as it was available. I loved the computer and I am thankful for how it set me up for my expectations about what personal computing should be.

HOWEVER...

I'm perplexed how I keep seeing all these projects over the years to revive the platform. AmigaOS was good for its time but there's nothing it offers now that any modern OS doesn't do now. For how cutting edge it was, it was an unstable POS too.

GAH!

hvs• 6 years ago

Lots of have these what-if computers/operating systems of the past (Xenix, OS/2, AmigaOS, etc.). It's mostly just harmless nostalgia.

Scramblejams• 6 years ago

there's nothing it offers now that any modern OS doesn't do now

This is why of any old OS I’d like to see revived, it’s BeOS[0]. To this day I’ve never used a desktop OS so fluid, so responsive and stutter-free.

[0] Yup, there’s Haiku. I guess I just want that to be successful!

User232• 6 years ago

The BeOS demos at MacWorld Boston in 1997 were incredible. I've also never since seen a multitasking operating system with that level of user interface responsiveness. It really was wonderful engineering.

User232• 6 years ago

In Germany in the late 80s to early 90s the Amiga was the platform of choice for playing video games. It had great graphics and games were widely shared in the community. I wonder how much of the nostalgia is for the culture and experiences than the actual platform.

adamredwoods• 6 years ago

I did corn detasseling to save up for my Amiga 500. My first C program was on an Amiga. Good for nostalgia, not for modern times.

icedchai2• 6 years ago

My first C program was also in the Amiga! I taught myself C from those “Abacus” books when I was about 14. I was using Lattice C. Fun times.

the_af4• 6 years ago

It's nostalgia aimed at people who had these computers as kids. I know it worked for me with their pretty cool TheC64.

Why not buy a real vintage home computer then? Well, in the case of the C64, vintage ones are unreliable, hard to get to work with modern screens and hard to get stuff in/out of them. You end up needing expensive extra hardware for all these things and for what? -- the retro remakes are pretty convenient out of the box, and give you the convenience of an emulator with the look & feel you remember from your childhood.

However, if you didn't own one of these as a kid, then you'll find them pointless.

andi9993• 6 years ago

Also with the c64 you do not really want to go back to that keyboard, do you?

snvzz5• 6 years ago

(AmigaOS) For how cutting edge it was, it was an unstable POS too.

AmigaOS 1.0 release sure was. From 1.2 onward, it's trivial to get higher uptimes than windows 9x.

I consider 2.0+ (~1991) pretty modern. I haven't seen a crash in a very long time, and I always have some Amiga running.

LocalH4• 6 years ago

The only real problem with the AmigaOS architecture is the lack of memory protection.

kjs3• 6 years ago

Because it could be fun? Or is that not HN worthy?

kristopolous3• 6 years ago

It's coveted by musicians and a number of other specialty applications.

Specialty groups are rather time agnostic. The Technics SL-1200 turntable for instance (look it up, you've seen it) hasn't changed much in 50 years and Technics brought it out of retirement because the demand for used ones was so high

So a 68020 is perfectly fine for these types of things. It's not a general purpose tool, it's a specific thing just like the Technics are for hobbyist and professional "turntablists" and not meant to substitute say Spotify

megablast• 6 years ago

The Technics SL-1200 is used by DJs all over the world to entertain millions.

What is the amigs used for??

zmix2• 6 years ago

but there's nothing it offers now that any modern OS doesn't do now

Did you ever go past your A1000? Did you use AmigaOS2.1 and up?

...like...scripting all your productivity applications with the same scripting language and have them interchange data, this way, orchestrating workflows I still dream about on other systems?

...like... mounting RAM: or SOUND: or HTTP: or IMAP: or FTP: or ARC(hives): or (raw) MEM(ory): ? All without any Virtual File System? Just real device level mounts?

    #> mount HTTP:
    #> COPY HTTP:hostname.tld/~user/index.html TO folder/

...like...having a hypertext standard, which can cross-reference all your includes, combine them with system documentation and have them appear on hover in your editor?

And so much more...

Yes, you can do all these things, the one way or other, on today's systems (except the mounting example,afaik). But with the Amiga these things were built-in. Which means, that, instead of system administration and time wasted on setup and tooling, you would just use the things and enjoy more productivity.

ziotom78• 6 years ago

Not the OP, but I understand the sentiment. Despite the many advantages of the platform, there are so many things that have evolved in the meantime:

- Compatibility with international character sets (UTF-8) for data exchange

- Support for modern peripherals like LCD monitors, printers, wi-fi cards, etc.

- Access to external filesystems (Ext4, NTFS, remote storage, etc.)

- Other

I have never used Amigas, so maybe these points are all addressable with a recent version of AmigaOS, but I understand the OP's concerns.

pjc50• 6 years ago

All without any Virtual File System? Just real device level mounts?

Mounting "HTTP" counts as a virtual file system unless you have a real physical HTTP object plugged into your Amiga, surely?

scripting all your productivity applications with the same scripting language and have them interchange data

Theoretically possible with both AppleScript and the much-hated VBA, but never quite as easy. Probably never will be as easy, as you can only have this kind of tight integration when there are no security boundaries between applications.

boomlinde2• 6 years ago

I'm perplexed how I keep seeing all these projects over the years to revive the platform AmigaOS was good for its time but there's nothing it offers now that any modern OS doesn't do now.

Maybe you are perplexed because you misunderstand the intent of the project, and judge it on a basis that is unrelated to its intent. Considering the various other "mini" computers and consoles, including Retro Games' previous such project, THEC64, the idea here probably isn't to revive the platform as a competitor to a modern OS, or even what AmigaOS offers at all, but to create a toy for retro computer/retro gaming enthusiasts.

swiley• 6 years ago

Toy OSes are fun, that's why there's haiku and the open source windows xp.

flohofwoe• 6 years ago

The way that later AmigaOS versions integrated UI and command line workflows through OS APIs and design-guidelines is still mostly unmatched today IMHO, from today's point of view this is like a dead end in the tree of operating system evolution. Linux, Windows and MacOS all were behind in different aspects (and of course ahead in some others) but then developed into entirely different directions. I would like to have seen the ideas of AmigaOS ca. '92 developed further (instead of just merely keeping it alive and adding a new UI skin from time to time). Instead the command line and UI drifted further apart in all surviving operating systems.

Phil-bitplex• 6 years ago

There one thing it did, and OS/2 did that I really really really miss.

Having different sized icons.

I miss my giant Battletech icon :(

alxmdev• 6 years ago

It would be cool if one of the makers of these throwback devices would reboot a classic platform for real, instead of just as a nostalgia box. Like this mini Amiga, what if it was a system with a SDK and its own future, something that rides on the good name of its predecessors but also continues in the same spirit.

codezero4• 6 years ago

Closest these days is the ZX Spectrum Next - which just ended a second Kickstarter - basically an overclocked ZX Spectrum with an onboard FPGA to give it some extra commands/video modes.

I would love a similar thing for the Commodore - I think the Commander X-16 is a close proxy.

ddingus• 6 years ago

Next is an exemplary example of a reboot.

Tasteful enhancements that may create a scene without losing the overall spirit make a lot of sense. I wish I could spare the cycles to participate! Looks fun!

TeaDude2• 6 years ago

The MEGA65 might be up your alley. It's half resurrection of the c65 prototype, half it's own thing.

It's been in dev hell for YEARS but actually looks like it might be coming out next year so fingers crossed.

peteri• 6 years ago

For the Sinclair ZX81 / Commodore PET / Jupiter ACE Tynemouth software do clones (available via The future was 8 bit) which are accurate. I suspect however that doesn't really hit the "Reboot" you're looking for.

snvzz5• 6 years ago

We already have that. It's called minimig. It is a free and open hardware reimplementation of Amiga as HDL, originally shipped with its own open-hardware board which used a real m68k chip.

Its current incarnation uses the tg68k open m68k CPU, and supports the original chipset as well as AGA.

It runs well on miSTer[0] boards and the open FPGA stack friendly ULX3S[1].

[0] https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/wiki

[1] https://www.crowdsupply.com/radiona/ulx3s

dep_b• 6 years ago

If it doesn't run ProTracker it's not an Amiga.

rickdangerous1• 6 years ago

Some truth to that!

LocalH4• 6 years ago

That or DPaint

TeaDude2• 6 years ago

DPaint should be a pack in. No question.

Its so good that some old school pixel masters STILL swear by it despite the main platform it was released on being dead for a quarter decade. That's a program for the ages.

kevsim2• 6 years ago

I can still vividly remember the day we bought the RAM upgrade for the Amiga 500. Can't recall if it took it from 500K to 1M or 1M to 2M. Had to flip it over and slot it into the bottom of the computer and it was HUGE.

But once it was there, you could play the high RAM version of sim city instead of the low ram version, so life was good. Things were simpler back then.

Jaruzel• 6 years ago

If it was an A500, and all you did was slot it in, then it was a 512k upgrade, giving you 1Mb total. If it was an A500+ then it could have been a 1.5Mb upgrade.

Interestingly, modern 512k upgrades for the A500 are tiny now, just the edge connector and a single ram chip.

Yes, I'm an Amiga[1] nerd... :D

---

[1] http://www.jaruzel.com/amiga/collection

kevsim2• 6 years ago

Definitely just slotted it in! So I must've been working with a massive 1Mb :-)

snvzz5• 6 years ago

If it was an A500+ then it could have been a 1.5Mb upgrade

A500+ came with 1MB chipram onboard, you could get 1MB more via trapdoor, reaching the ECS Agnus 2MB maximum.

Then typically you'd get fastram (exclusive to the cpu, thus cpu can't be stalled by chipset, thus fast) via the left expansion slot.

_b8r02• 6 years ago

1.5Mb Upgrades were available for regular A500s. I have one in mine. A500+ Models could have 1mb Chip, 1mb Slow. A500s upgraded to KS1.3 (like mine) could use 0.5Mb Chip, 1.5Mb slow.

brianpaul• 6 years ago

I vividly remember spending $180 for the 512K upgrade for my A500. $180 for 512K!!!

icedchai2• 6 years ago

I upgraded mine to 3 megabytes. I had the trapdoor expansion, and also a Supra HD and RAM expansion (30 megabyte HD and another 2 megs RAM.) That was actually pretty good for the time (1990.) Most Amiga users were using floppies!

rbanffy• 6 years ago

I'll get one, if it can pretend to be an Amiga 3000 and run Unix. Extra points if it emulates a C65 and a C128.

One thing that makes emulating an Amiga easier than, say, a Spectrum or C64, is that most software of the time was clock-agnostic, so you don't need to emulate the timings as precisely as you'd need to do with an older machine.

Commodore Amiga could get a mini/classic version next year

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