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website/content/museum/commodore-amiga-2500.md
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yann64andClaude Opus 5.5 3eeabe9649 Full content from the completed page crawl (media download still running) 
6,654 pages: 1,289 machines, 702 software, 460 companies, 64 history, 17 articles, 59 fun.
4,336 media files so far; references to files not downloaded yet are left out.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YDRjtmAiNpo5mK5N3d7QwZ
2026-10-12 07:55:22 +02:00

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---
title: Commodore AMIGA 2500
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1989'
cpus:
- '68000'
params:
name: AMIGA 2500
company: /companies/commodore
company_name: Commodore
specs:
- label: NAME
value: AMIGA 2500
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Commodore
- label: TYPE
value: Professional Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: U.S.A.
- label: YEAR
value: '1989'
- label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
value: None
- label: KEYBOARD
value: Full stroke 96 keys with 10 function keys, numeric keypad and cursor keys
- label: CPU
value: 68000 + 68020 then 68030
- label: SPEED
value: 7.14 MHz (68000), 14 MHz (68020), 25 MHz (68030)
- label: CO-PROCESSOR
value: 68881 then 68882 + standard Amiga 2000 custom chips
- label: RAM
value: 3 MB up to 9 MB
- label: ROM
value: 256 KB (DOS 1.3)
- label: TEXT MODES
value: 60 or 80 chars x 32 lines
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: 320 x 256 / 320 x 512 / 640 x 256 / 640 x 512 dots
- label: COLORS
value: 32 (for 320 x X modes), 16 (for 640 x X modes) among 4096 + 2 special modes EHB (64 colors) + HAM (4096 colors)
- label: SOUND
value: 4 voice 8 bit PCM
- label: I/O PORTS
value: 4 PC ISA slots (2 AT & 2 XT), Processor card slot, 5 x Zorro II slots, Video slot, Serial/RS232, Parallel/Centronics, RGB & composite video outputs, Mouse, 2 x Stereo audio, Keyboard, External floppy
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
value: 3.5'' disk-drive (880k) + 40 MB SCSI hard disc in basic version
- label: OS
value: AMIGA WorKBench 1.3, Kickstart 1.3
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: Built-in switching power supply unit
- label: PRICE
value: 3300 (France, 1990, 68030 version)
tabs:
- photos
- hardware
- emulators
- links
- videos
photos:
- title: AMIGA 2500
subtitle: ''
text: Picture taken from 1989 french magazine (Las Vegas Consumer Electronic Show report)
image: null
hardware:
- 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
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'
comments:
- author: Brian (USA)
date: Thursday 29th September 2016
text: I have a color pic of a 2500
- author: Dan McBride
date: Wednesday 8th August 2012
text: Somebody PLEASE replace that black and white photo with a colour version for this machine!
- author: Carlos Bragatto (Brazil)
date: Friday 20th June 2003
text: My brother had an Amiga 2500/030. What a machine ! It was really fast because it had 2mb of FastRAM inside the accelerator card, and, as such, this 2mb ran at full 32bit speed. Compared to other accelerator cards, the 25mhz 68030 A2630 was very pedestrian (my Microbotics VXL30 runs at 50mhz), but running the RAM inside the accelerator gave a boost in operation that most other accelerators don't.
related:
- /museum/commodore-amiga-1000
- /museum/commodore-amiga-1200
- /museum/commodore-amiga-1500
- /museum/commodore-amiga-2000
- /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: 907
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230326093213/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=907
date: '2023-03-26'
---
The first Amiga 2500 model was released during 1989 and was most popular in the US and Canada, appealing to the high-end user and professional market. There was very little difference from previous revisions of the [A2000](/museum/commodore-amiga-2000/), the most notable being the addition of processor cards increasing the system speed.
First models were sold with A2620 card (68020 processor + 68881 FPU), next with A2630 (68030 + 6882)
**Armando Ruggeri**, from Canada, adds:\
This machine was sold in much greater numbers as the A2500HD which shipped with the much unliked A2090A ST506/SCSI HD controller which later was replaced with the much better A2091 SCSI controller, typical sizes of the HDs were 40 - 80 Mb HD as I recall. The main reason to buy this machine was for the A2620 or 2630 accelerator cards that were plugged into the fast CPU slot. The 2620 included a 14Mhz clocked Motorola 68020 CPU, 68881 FPU and 68851 MMU. It included 2Mb of 32bit Fast RAM expandable to 4Mb RAM if you were handy with a soldering iron and felt comfortable handling the uniquely packaged fragile ZIP (Zigzag Inline Package) chips! :)
This resulted in a 3X speed increase and much more if you had math intensive packages such as 3D graphics packages IE: Turbo Silver etc..
Later onwards The A2620 was replaced with the faster A2630 which included a 25Mhz Motorola 68030 (With integrated MMU) and the much faster 68882 FPU, this combo could increase general speeds to 6X stock A2000 speeds. This board also shipped with 2Mb of 32 fast RAM or special ordered with 4Mb. Like the A2620 the 2Mb board could be upgraded by soldering in 16 ZIP chips, which usually was done by authorized service centers.
The two accelerator boards were both sold seperately for upgrading A2000/A2000HDs to the identical A2500 speeds. The price for these boards were extravegant at first with the first A2620 retailing in the $5000 Canadian dollars range on their release!
Later on the boards became less popular as third party products from companies like GVP included faster performance, built in HD controler and much easier to expand memory systems.
**Paul Gable** specifies:\
There was a board made by DKB called the 2632 which attached to the back of a 2630 and added up to 128 megs of RAM. This board is extremely rare.
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