= The Commodore Amiga = |!2 History of the Commodore Amiga | | 1984 | RJ Mical and Dale Luck demonstrate an Amiga prototype at Winter CES | | 1985 | Commodore launches the Amiga 1000 with a multitasking operating system | | 1987 | Commodore releases the Amiga 500 and the Amiga 2000 | The Amiga series was introduced in 1985, with the release of the Amiga 1000; the Amiga featured a multitasking, multi-media capable operating system that was revolutionary for its time [1]. In 1987, Commodore segmented the market into the "low-end" Amiga 500 and the "high-end" Amiga 2000[2]. With a low price and a design that appealed to Commodore 64 fans, the Amiga 500 become the best-selling model in the Amiga line. == Try it Out! == Experience the Amiga for yourself in this interactive web demo of a Amiga 500 running the 1987 version of AmigaOS! { "icons" : [ ["Start Computer", "boot-rom", "", {"className": "power"}], ["Workbench V1.3 Boot", "floppy", "/disks/amiga-workbench-v1.3-rev-34.20-workbench.adf"], ["Workbench V1.3 Extras", "floppy", "/disks/amiga-workbench-v1.3-rev-34.20-extras.adf", {"drive" : "fd2"}] ] } == Multitasking becomes Personal == [[figure-float-left:/artwork/amiga.svg The legendary boing ball was incorporated into the Amiga logo in 1996]] In January of 1984, RJ Mical and Dale Luck developed a demo of the impressive multitasking abilities of the new Amiga computer[3]. The demo consisted of a red and white checkered ball that bounced and rotated while the user continued to interact with the workbench interface.
The red and white checkered ball became synonymous with the Amiga. You can try the boing ball demo yourself: { "icons" : [ ["Boing Me!", "floppy", "/disks/amiga-boing.adf", {"drive" : "fd2"}] ] } # Power up the machine and launch the Workbench. # Click the"Boing Me!" icon to the right. # Once the "Boing Demo" icon appears in the Workbench, double-click to open it. # Then, double-click the "boing" icon within. # A sleepy bubble will flash momentarily, the only indication the demo has launched in the background. # To reveal the demo, click and drag the "Workbench release" title bar downwards about half way. # Click the ball to start the animation. You can drag the Workbench up and down to reveal more or less of the animation and you can interact with the Workbench while the animation continues to run in the background. Imagine how impressive this demo would have been in 1984, when multitasking was unfamiliar to most people! === See also: === * [[History of the GUI]] == About the Emulator == { "icons" : [ ["SAE Home Page", "hyperlink", "http://scriptedamigaemulator.net/"] ] } The Amiga emulator used here is a slightly modified version of Rupert Hausberger's [[SAE (Scriped Amiga Emulator)]], which is itself based on [[WinUAE]] == References == # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_1000 # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiga_500 # http://www.randelshofer.ch/animations/anims/robert_j_mical/boing3.ilbm.html SAE (Scriped Amiga Emulator) WinUAE History of the GUI