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---
title: Commodore AMIGA 1000
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Home Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1985'
cpus:
- Motorola MC68000
params:
name: AMIGA 1000
image: /media/museum/photos/commodore_amiga1000_3.jpg
company: /companies/commodore
company_name: Commodore
specs:
- label: NAME
value: AMIGA 1000
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Commodore
- label: TYPE
value: Home Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: U.S.A.
- label: YEAR
value: July 1985
- label: END OF PRODUCTION
value: January 1987
- label: KEYBOARD
value: full-size typewriter style, 89 keys, 10 function keys and numeric keypad
- label: CPU
value: Motorola MC68000
- label: SPEED
value: 7.16 mHz
- label: CO-PROCESSOR
value: '3 : Denise (video), Agnus (memory manager, blitter & copper), Paula (sound and disk access)'
- label: RAM
value: 256kb, upgradable to 512k internally. Extensible to 8.5 MB with extension card (512 KB CHIP RAM + 8 MB FAST RAM) and to 10 MB
- label: ROM
value: 8 KB (The Kickstart isn't in ROM but loaded at the boot in RAM, where it takes 256 KB)
- label: TEXT MODES
value: 60 x 32 / 80 x 32
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: 320 x 200 and 320x400 (32 colors), 640 x 200 and 640 x 400 (16 colors)
- label: COLORS
value: |-
up to 64 colors among 4096 (EHB mode)\
The Amiga can display 4096 colors simultaneously (HAM mode)
- label: SOUND
value: Four 8 bit PCM voices, 9 octaves
- label: SIZE / WEIGHT
value: 4.25'' x 17.75'' x 13'' / 13 lbs
- label: I/O PORTS
value: RGB, RF & composite video ouputs, external floppy disk port, Centronics, RS232c, Expansion port, stereo sound, Atari Compatible joysticks (2), RAM expansion port, keyboard connector
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
value: one 3.5'' disk-drive, double sided double density, 880k formatted storage capacity
- label: OS
value: AmigaDOS (1.0/1.1/1.2/1.3) + WorkBench (GUI)
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: 120V, 90 Watts, 60Hz, 1A nominal
- label: PRICE
value: £1700 (UK, 1985) - $1500 (USA, 1986) - £1285 (UK, Nov. 1986, 512K RAM)
tabs:
- photos
- adverts
- hardware
- connectors
- emulators
- links
- videos
forum_thread: 47
photos:
- title: AMIGA 1000
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/commodore_amiga1000_2.jpg
- title: REAR
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/commodore_amiga1000_rear.jpg
- title: BOX
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/commodore_amiga-1000_box.jpg
adverts:
- title: AMIGA POSTERS
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/pubs/commodore_amiga_1000_posters.jpg
hardware:
- title: EXTERNAL 3.5'' DISK DRIVE
subtitle: Model 1010
text: |-
The Amiga 1010 was introduced with the original Amiga 1000 as a second drive option. It contained a Matsushita drive mechanism and a pass-through port allowing the user to chain other drives or floppy port peripherals.
Type : 3.5" Floppy Disk\
Media : Double Density\
Capacity : 880K per disk\
Interface: Amiga "Floppy" bus
image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1000_1010-fdd.jpg
- title: 256K RAM EXPANSION
subtitle: ''
text: This expansion plugs into the front panel of the Amiga 1000 and gives a total of 512k RAM to the system.
image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1000_256k-ram-module.jpg
- title: MICROBIOTICS RAM EXPANSION
subtitle: ''
text: Microbiotics sidecar 2 MB memory expansion with pass-through SCSI connector.
image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1000_microbioticsramexp_s1.jpg
- title: MIDI GOLD 500
subtitle: by Golden Hawk Technology
text: |-
This is a MIDI interface for the Amiga 500, 2000, or 3000...
It features :\
\- one MIDI In\
\- two MIDI Out\
\- one switchable Out/Thru\
\- one MIDI/Serial Switch\
\- one Out/Thru Switch
image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga_golden-hawk-midi-interface.jpg
- title: AMIGA 1300
subtitle: Genlock
text: ''
image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1000_1300-genlock.jpg
- title: MEMORY EXPANSION BOARD
subtitle: ''
text: 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 MB expansion card here fitted with 2 MB.
image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1500_memboard_1.jpg
- title: VIDEO BOARD
subtitle: ''
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.
image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1500_videoboard_1.jpg
- title: A570 CD-ROM
subtitle: ''
text: Thanks to David Griffith for this picture
image: /media/museum/hardware/amiga_cdrom_a570_1.jpg
- title: HARD DISK CARD
subtitle: ''
text: |-
40 MB SCSI card from SUPRA CORP.
Additional SCSI devices could be connected in chain trough the back connector
image: /media/museum/hardware/commodore_amiga1500_hdboard_1.jpg
connectors:
- title: 'CUSTOM CHIPS #1'
subtitle: ''
text: Complete system (top) and Agnus chip. Agnus is an advanced address generator. It also manages all DMA (Direct Memory Access) channels.
image: /media/museum/connectors/commodore_amiga1000_customsystem_s1.jpg
- title: 'CUSTOM CHIPS #2'
subtitle: ''
text: |-
Paula's two main functions are sound and and the various I/O.\
Denise handles most of the video output.
image: /media/museum/connectors/commodore_amiga1000_customdenise_s1.jpg
emulators:
- title: Amiga Forever
url: http://www.amigaforever.com/
platform: Windows
text: Complete but commercial Amiga emulator
- title: AMIthlon & AmigaXL
url: http://amigaosxl.haage-partner.de/index-e.html
platform: Windows
text: Powerful commercial emulators
- title: WinFellow
url: HTTP://FELLOW.SOURCEFORGE.NET
platform: Windows
text: Probably better at some games than UAE, but not as versatile.
- title: WinUAE
url: http://www.winuae.net/
platform: Windows
text: The best Amiga emulator ? :-)
- title: Max UAE
url: http://maxuae.de/
platform: Apple
text: UAE for Mac OS X
- title: AmigaSYS
url: http://amigasys.fw.hu/
platform: Unix / Linux
text: AmigaSYS is a pre-installed full Amiga OS for WinUAE
- title: Pocket UAE
url: http://pocketinsanity.sourceforge.net/
platform: Other platform
text: Amiga Emulator for Pocket PC
- title: Experimental UAE
url: http://www.rcdrummond.net/uae/
platform: Multiplatform
text: Standard UAE enhanced with features from WinUAE.
- title: MESS
url: http://www.mess.org
platform: Multiplatform
text: MESS now emulates the Commodore Amiga
- title: UAE
url: http://www.freiburg.linux.de/~uae/
platform: Multiplatform
text: '(Ubiquitous Amiga Emulator) for BeOS, Mac OS, Linux, NextStep, MSDOS, OS/2 and Win95/NT : Homepage.'
links:
- title: Amiga animations
url: http://www.randelshofer.ch/animations/
text: A collection of Amiga Animations. This is the only site where you can see them online!
- title: Amiga Interactive Guide
url: http://amiga.emugaming.com/
text: Excellent site ! A lot of very interesting infos there.
- title: Amiga Island
url: http://www.virtualpast.de/
text: Excellent site with ROMs to download!
- title: Amiga Web Directory
url: http://www.cucug.org/amiga.html
text: ''
- title: AMIGART.COM
url: http://www.amigart.com
text: Nice site with Amiga news
- title: Back to the Roots
url: HTTP://WWW.BACK2ROOTS.ORG/
text: Amiga culture, guides, huge collection of legally downloadable software, and much more.
- title: Lex Site - Amiga Hardware Database
url: http://amiga.multigraph.com/
text: The website title says it all!
- title: NetBSD-Amiga
url: http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/amiga/index.html
text: ''
- title: Old Computer Mags
url: http://www.old-computer-mags.com/
text: Scans of old computer and videogames magazine
- title: Recorded Amiga Games
url: http://www.recordedamigagames.org
text: Speedrun, longplay and misc videos of Amiga games and more.
- title: RetroPack
url: http://www.retropack.co.uk/
text: Website dedicated to selling original Amigas, CD32s and Amiga/CD32 Games.
- title: The Amiga Monitor
url: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/MikeWebb/amhome.html
text: ''
- title: The Big Book of Amiga Hardware
url: http://www.amiga-hardware.com/
text: Pics & info (pinouts, jumpers etc.) for just about every piece of Amiga related hardware there is
- title: The English Amiga Board
url: http://eab.abime.net/
text: Community site for Amiga fans
- title: World-Wide Amiga - Online!!
url: http://www.amiga.org/
text: ''
- title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA
url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com
text: Reviews of Amiga software, hardware
videos:
- title: Commodore Amiga commercial - EXIT
url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8721405286052618769&hl=fr
text: 'Length: 41 s'
- title: Commodore Amiga 500 commercial
url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5737538578208665725&hl=fr
text: 'Length: 29 s'
- title: Commodore Amiga 1000 commercial
url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=5356507595228759374&hl=fr
text: 'Length: 32 s'
- title: Commodore Amiga 600 italian commercial
url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-768109352967297990&hl=fr
text: 'Length: 19 s'
- title: Commodore Amiga packs commercial
url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdaMq8JLyHA
text: 'Length: 21 s'
- title: Commodore Amiga TV Ad - Celebrities
url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEFoj6sbDjU
text: 'Length: 29 s'
- title: Commodore Amiga 500 promotional video
url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=9038863557655975739&hl=fr
text: 'Length: 15 min 06 s'
- title: 'Computer Chronicles: Amiga & Atari (1985)'
url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=8978343825632445107&hl=fr
text: 'Length: 29 min 18 s'
related:
- /museum/commodore-amiga-1200
- /museum/commodore-amiga-1500
- /museum/commodore-amiga-2000
- /museum/commodore-amiga-2500
- /museum/commodore-amiga-3000
- /museum/commodore-amiga-4000
- /museum/commodore-amiga-500
- /museum/commodore-amiga-500-plus
- /museum/commodore-amiga-600
- /museum/commodore-amiga-600hd
- /museum/commodore-cdtv
oc_id: 28
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230629193156/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=28
date: '2023-06-29'
---
The inventor of the Amiga 1000 was **Jay Miner**, who created the [Atari 800](/museum/atari-400/) many years before. He wanted to make the most powerful computer ever, then he joined a small Californian company called Amiga. He used the principle of the three coprocessors (again) to help the main processor.
At the beginning, the Amiga had only 64 kilobytes of RAM! The original "Amiga" called the Lorraine was meant to be a game machine with some computer capabilities.
Atari initially invested the money in the Amiga Corp. to do the R&D on the Amiga computer line. Naturally, when the design was finished, Amiga Corp. gave Atari the choice to purchase the technology. Atari passed in favor of their own project. Amiga Corp. then offered the technology to Commodore, Inc., who were quite pleased to purchase it, seeing that their own 16-bit computer was so far from reaching the shelf.\
After the loss of a major legal battle for control of the Amiga chip set design, Atari launched the [ST](/museum/atari-520-st-st-stm/) series (Sixteen-Thirty-two) as a competitor for the upcoming Amiga.
The operating system (AmigaDOS) was done by MetaComCo, a British company who specialized in the 68000 processor (they also made languages for the [Sinclair QL](/museum/sinclair-ql-quantum-leap/)). It is a fully multitasking system which looks like UNIX with a graphical user interface.\
It was the very first personal computer with great graphics and sound capabilities with a GUI environment.\
The Amiga BASIC was written by Microsoft (like most other versions of BASIC), but the first models were shipped with a non-Microsoft BASIC called ABasiC.
The Amiga 1000 was to lose popularity one year later with the creation of its two main successors: the [Amiga 500](/museum/commodore-amiga-500/) and the [Amiga 2000](/museum/commodore-amiga-2000/).
There were two versions of the Amiga 1000. The first one sold only in the USA, had a NTSC display and no EHB video mode. Later versions would have this built in. The second one had a PAL display, the enhanced video modes (EHB) and was built in Germany.
The official name for the A1000 was the Commodore Amiga. It was only when the A2000 was launched that they officially began to refer to the machine by its model number.