yann64andClaude Opus 5.5
b274874139
1,289 discussions, 9,527 archived comments; pages no longer carry the comments themselves. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YDRjtmAiNpo5mK5N3d7QwZ
295 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
295 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Commodore Amiga 500
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categories:
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- Computers
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types:
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- Home Computer
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origins:
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- U.S.A.
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years:
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- '1987'
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cpus:
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- Motorola MC68000
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params:
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name: Amiga 500
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image: /media/museum/photos/commodore_amiga-500.jpg
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company: /companies/commodore
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company_name: Commodore
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specs:
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- label: NAME
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value: Amiga 500
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- label: MANUFACTURER
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value: Commodore
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- label: TYPE
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value: Home Computer
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- label: ORIGIN
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value: U.S.A.
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- label: YEAR
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value: April 1987
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- label: END OF PRODUCTION
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value: '1991'
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- label: KEYBOARD
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value: Built-in keyboard, 95 keys
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- label: CPU
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value: Motorola MC68000
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- label: SPEED
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value: |-
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7.09379 MHz (PAL)\
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7.15909 MHz (NTSC)
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- label: CO-PROCESSOR
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value: 'OCS based chipset: 8370/8372 Fat Agnus (memory controller and blitter), 8362R5/8362R6/8362R8 Denise (video control chip), 8364 Paula (sound & I/O), 5719R2 Gary (I/O)'
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- label: RAM
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value: '512 KB Chip RAM (expandable to 9MB : 512 KB Chip RAM + 512 KB Slow RAM + 8 MB Fast RAM)'
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- label: ROM
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value: |-
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Kickstart 1.2: 256 KB (Early models)\
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Kickstart 1.3: 256 KB (Later models)
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- label: GRAPHIC MODES
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value: 320x256, 320x512, 640x256, 640x512
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- label: COLORS
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value: |-
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Palette: 4096\
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On screen: 16 in 640 modes, 32 in 320 modes, 64 in EHB, 4096 in HAM
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- label: SOUND
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value: 4 channel 8 bit PCM, stereo output
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- label: SIZE / WEIGHT
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value: Unknown
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- label: I/O PORTS
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value: RS-232 serial port, Centronics parallel port, external disk interface, 2x RCA audio, cartridge interface, expansion interface, 2x Atari joystick/mouse ports
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- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
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value: 3.5'' floppy disk drive
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- label: OS
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value: |-
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Workbench 1.2 (Early models)\
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Workbench 1.3 (Later models)
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- label: POWER SUPPLY
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value: External PSU
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- label: PRICE
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value: £599 (UK, 1987), $595 (U.S.A., 1987), £369 (UK, 1990)
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tabs:
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- photos
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- adverts
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- hardware
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- emulators
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- links
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- videos
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forum_thread: 81
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photos:
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- title: BOX
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subtitle: ''
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text: ''
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image: /media/museum/photos/commodore_amiga500_box.jpg
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- title: 'BOX #2'
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subtitle: ''
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text: ''
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image: /media/museum/photos/commodore_amiga500_box_2.jpg
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adverts:
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- title: UK ADVERT
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subtitle: ''
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text: |-
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November 1987
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...This elegant little machine takes family computing into new dimensions of creativity, excitement and productivity. It outruns and outguns office PCs as a business multi-tasker, performing a deskful of different jobs simultaneously at over 7 million steps per second in realtime...
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image: /media/museum/pubs/commodore_amiga500_pub_1.jpg
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- title: FRENCH AD (DEC. 1987)
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subtitle: ''
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text: ''
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image: /media/museum/pubs/commodore_amiga500_pub_pour-faire-fort.jpg
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hardware:
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- title: 520 - RF MODULATOR
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subtitle: ''
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text: Amiga A520 RF Modulator for the Amiga 500 RGB Port. This device enables an Amiga 500 to run off an ordinary TV. It also comes with the audio cable, which enables audio through the TV as well.
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image: /media/museum/hardware/amiga_520_rf_modulator.jpg
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- title: KCS POWERBOARD
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subtitle: PC emulator
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text: Hardware PC emulator for the Amiga 500 (NB Not A500+, which has its own version). Includes battery backed up clock, 1MB of RAM and Soundblaster/Adlib emulation. 512K of RAM is accessible by the Amiga with the other 512k only being available as a recoverable ram disk.
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image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga500_kcs-powerboard.jpg
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- title: MIDI GOLD 500
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subtitle: by Golden Hawk Technology
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text: |-
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This is a MIDI interface for the Amiga 500, 2000, or 3000...
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It features :\
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\- one MIDI In\
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\- two MIDI Out\
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\- one switchable Out/Thru\
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\- one MIDI/Serial Switch\
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\- one Out/Thru Switch
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image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga_golden-hawk-midi-interface.jpg
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- title: AMIGA 1300
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subtitle: Genlock
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text: ''
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image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1000_1300-genlock.jpg
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- title: MEMORY EXPANSION BOARD
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subtitle: ''
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text: 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 MB expansion card here fitted with 2 MB.
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image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1500_memboard_1.jpg
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- title: VIDEO BOARD
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subtitle: ''
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text: This board featured 2 MB of RAM and allowed the Amiga to be connected to a standard VGA monitor. All the video modes could be displayed, including the interlace one.
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image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1500_videoboard_1.jpg
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- title: A570 CD-ROM
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subtitle: ''
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text: Thanks to David Griffith for this picture
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image: /media/museum/hardware/amiga_cdrom_a570_1.jpg
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- title: HARD DISK CARD
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subtitle: ''
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text: |-
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40 MB SCSI card from SUPRA CORP.
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Additional SCSI devices could be connected in chain trough the back connector
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image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1500_hdboard_1.jpg
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- title: FLYER HARD-DRIVE
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subtitle: ''
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text: ''
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image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga-500_flyer-harddrive.jpg
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- title: EXTERNAL HARD DISK
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subtitle: GVP 8 MB
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text: ''
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image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga500_exthd_1.jpg
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emulators:
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- title: Amiga Forever
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url: http://www.amigaforever.com/
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platform: Windows
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text: Complete but commercial Amiga emulator
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- title: AMIthlon & AmigaXL
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url: http://amigaosxl.haage-partner.de/index-e.html
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platform: Windows
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text: Powerful commercial emulators
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- title: WinFellow
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url: HTTP://FELLOW.SOURCEFORGE.NET
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platform: Windows
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text: Probably better at some games than UAE, but not as versatile.
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- title: WinUAE
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url: http://www.winuae.net/
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platform: Windows
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text: The best Amiga emulator ? :-)
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- title: Max UAE
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url: http://maxuae.de/
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platform: Apple
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text: UAE for Mac OS X
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- title: AmigaSYS
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url: http://amigasys.fw.hu/
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platform: Unix / Linux
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text: AmigaSYS is a pre-installed full Amiga OS for WinUAE
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- title: Pocket UAE
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url: http://pocketinsanity.sourceforge.net/
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platform: Other platform
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text: Amiga Emulator for Pocket PC
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- title: Experimental UAE
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url: http://www.rcdrummond.net/uae/
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platform: Multiplatform
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text: Standard UAE enhanced with features from WinUAE.
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- title: MESS
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url: http://www.mess.org
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platform: Multiplatform
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text: MESS now emulates the Commodore Amiga
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- title: UAE
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url: http://www.freiburg.linux.de/~uae/
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platform: Multiplatform
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text: '(Ubiquitous Amiga Emulator) for BeOS, Mac OS, Linux, NextStep, MSDOS, OS/2 and Win95/NT : Homepage.'
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links:
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- title: Amiga animations
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url: http://www.randelshofer.ch/animations/
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text: A collection of Amiga Animations. This is the only site where you can see them online!
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- title: Amiga Interactive Guide
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url: http://amiga.emugaming.com/
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text: Excellent site ! A lot of very interesting infos there.
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- title: Amiga Island
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url: http://www.virtualpast.de/
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text: Excellent site with ROMs to download!
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- title: Amiga Web Directory
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url: http://www.cucug.org/amiga.html
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text: ''
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- title: AMIGART.COM
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url: http://www.amigart.com
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text: Nice site with Amiga news
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- title: Back to the Roots
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url: HTTP://WWW.BACK2ROOTS.ORG/
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text: Amiga culture, guides, huge collection of legally downloadable software, and much more.
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- title: Lex Site - Amiga Hardware Database
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url: http://amiga.multigraph.com/
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text: The website title says it all!
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- title: NetBSD-Amiga
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url: http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/amiga/index.html
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text: ''
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- title: Old Computer Mags
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url: http://www.old-computer-mags.com/
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text: Scans of old computer and videogames magazine
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- title: Recorded Amiga Games
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url: http://www.recordedamigagames.org
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text: Speedrun, longplay and misc videos of Amiga games and more.
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- title: RetroPack
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url: http://www.retropack.co.uk/
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text: Website dedicated to selling original Amigas, CD32s and Amiga/CD32 Games.
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- title: The Amiga Monitor
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url: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/MikeWebb/amhome.html
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text: ''
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- title: The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
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url: http://www.amiga-hardware.com/
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text: Pics & info (pinouts, jumpers etc.) for just about every piece of Amiga related hardware there is
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- title: The English Amiga Board
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url: http://eab.abime.net/
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text: Community site for Amiga fans
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- title: World-Wide Amiga - Online!!
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url: http://www.amiga.org/
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text: ''
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- title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA
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url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com
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text: Reviews of Amiga software, hardware
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videos:
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- title: Commodore Amiga commercial - EXIT
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url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8721405286052618769&hl=fr
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text: 'Length: 41 s'
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- title: Commodore Amiga 500 commercial
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url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5737538578208665725&hl=fr
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text: 'Length: 29 s'
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- title: Commodore Amiga 1000 commercial
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url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5356507595228759374&hl=fr
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text: 'Length: 32 s'
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- title: Commodore Amiga 600 italian commercial
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url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-768109352967297990&hl=fr
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text: 'Length: 19 s'
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- title: Commodore Amiga packs commercial
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url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdaMq8JLyHA
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text: 'Length: 21 s'
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- title: Commodore Amiga TV Ad - Celebrities
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url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEFoj6sbDjU
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text: 'Length: 29 s'
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- title: Commodore Amiga 500 promotional video
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url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=9038863557655975739&hl=fr
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text: 'Length: 15 min 06 s'
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- title: 'Computer Chronicles: Amiga & Atari (1985)'
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url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8978343825632445107&hl=fr
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text: 'Length: 29 min 18 s'
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related:
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- /museum/commodore-amiga-1000
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- /museum/commodore-amiga-1200
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- /museum/commodore-amiga-1500
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- /museum/commodore-amiga-2000
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- /museum/commodore-amiga-2500
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- /museum/commodore-amiga-3000
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- /museum/commodore-amiga-4000
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- /museum/commodore-amiga-500-plus
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- /museum/commodore-amiga-600
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- /museum/commodore-amiga-600hd
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- /museum/commodore-cdtv
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oc_id: 65
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source:
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url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230605232441/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=65
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date: '2023-06-05'
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---
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Commodore's Amiga 500 was the low-end version of the [Amiga 2000](/museum/commodore-amiga-2000/) and the main competitor of Atari's 520/1040 ST range. The A500 was superior in almost every area, apart from its MIDI capabilities and the disk drive, which was not only slow but very noisy as well and a bitter feud quickly developed between owners of these rival machines.
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Hardware wise, the A500 is very similar to the [Amiga 1000](/museum/commodore-amiga-1000/), the main internal differences being an increase in memory fom 256 KB to 512 KB and the addition of another custom chip named "Gary" (the only Amiga chip with a male name). This is a new I/O chip that controls the disk drive and also performs address decoding. This chip is also used in the high-end A2000.
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The A500 was easier to upgrade than both the ST and big box Amigas, thanks to an expansion port located in the bottom of the case. Owners could simply insert a small board which contained an extra 512 KB of Ram and a battery-backed clock. The popularity of this upgrade meant that more 1 MB software (both 1 MB versions of 512 KB software and 1 MB only software) was released for the Amiga than the ST, which had to be taken apart to expand the memory.
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Over the course of the A500s lifespan several different packages were available, the most basic of which included only the computer, TV modulator and Workbench disks. A number of bundles were also sold, such as the best selling "Batman Pack" which was released in 1989 and included 3 games and Deluxe Paint 2.
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The A500 was discontinued in 1991 and replaced by the short lived [Amiga 500 Plus](/museum/commodore-amiga-500-plus/).
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**Pandy** comments:\
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The Amiga 500 is a "cleaned" A1000, "cleaned" means plenty of TTL glue logic was replaced by custom IC which was named Gary. A500+ it is a new generation of custom IC's so called ECS (A500 have OCS). A500+, A3000, A600 have new graphics modes (1280 dots in line without overscan and 31Khz scanning similar to VGA - limited to 640 pixels in line with 4 colors).
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