What You Should Know about Amiga Computers
The Amiga is a line of personal computers that were produced by Commodore between 1985 and 1996. Apart from the main CPU, the computer had several coprocessors to handle audio, graphics, and memory access separately. Amiga computer models usually came with a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, and sometimes an independent floppy disk drive; many options can be found on eBay.
What are some reasons to buy a used Amiga computer?The Amiga represents an important piece of computer history. Featuring digital audio, a mouse-based operating system, and full-screen animated graphics with a wide color palette, it was one of the first computers to specialize in multimedia, video production, and gaming. Some models were quite advanced for their time. For example, the Amiga 1200 and 4000 models from 1992 had a 24-bit color palette that enabled the computer to display more than 262K colors on-screen at once from a palette of 16.8 million total colors. It could also play back multiple sound samples at a single time. Although the models were discontinued in 1996, you can still use the Amiga computer to play games and software as they were originally meant to run, or you can modify the hardware yourself.
Are there different types of Amiga computers?Yes, the Amiga computer is generally classified by the type of chipset it uses.
- Original chip set: This first-generation chip, which actually consists of three distinct custom chips, originally appeared in all models between 1985 and 1990, including the Amiga 500, 1000, and 2000.
- Enhanced chip set: The ECS, which appeared in the Amiga 3000 between 1990 and 1992, was capable of higher resolutions and more display modes.
- Advanced graphical architecture: The third-generation AGA, which first appeared in the Amiga 4000 in 1992, featured an expanded color palette and enhanced graphical capabilities.
That depends on the type of model you want, as the specs can range widely between different computers. The first-generation A1000 model only has a 7.16 MHz processor and 256 kilobytes of RAM, whereas the 1992 A4000 model has a 25 MHz processor, a 120MB hard drive, and up to 18 megabytes of RAM, which allows for an expanded range of software and features. The A4000 model also has a number of expansion slots, including three 16-bit ISA slots, a 200-pin CPU slot, and several 72-pin SIMM slots, for future upgradability. Some models feature a VGA connection to hook up a flatscreen monitor, but other models may require an adapter to make this work. Select the model that works for you on eBay.
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