Blast from the Past: "The Amiga turns 30"

[Lord Avalon]

The Amiga turns 30—“Nobody had ever designed a personal computer this way”
Our epic, eight-part series on the history of the Amiga. [Ars Technica reposts their articles.]

Journalism is prone to hyperbole, but on July 23, 1985 technology genuinely changed forever. At New York's Lincoln Center, as a full orchestra scored the evening and all its employees appeared in tuxedos, Commodore unveiled the work of its newly acquired Amiga subsidiary for the first time. The world finally saw a real Amiga 1000 and all its features. A baboon's face at 640x400 resolution felt life-changing, and icons like Blondie's Debbie Harry and Andy Warhol came onstage to demo state-of-the-art technology like a paint program.


Today, Amiga—specifically its initial Amiga 1000 computer—officially turns 30. The Computer History Museum (CHM) in Mountain View, CA will commemorate the event this weekend (July 25 and 26) with firsthand hardware exhibits, speakers, and a banquet where the Viva Amiga documentary will be shown. It's merely the most high-profile event among dozens of Amiga commemorative ceremonies across the world, from Australia to Germany to Cleveland.


What's the big deal? While things like the Apple II and TRS-80 Model 100 preceded it, the Amiga 1000 was the first true PC for creatives. As the CHM describes it, the Amiga 1000 was "a radical multimedia machine from a group of thinkers, tinkerers, and visionaries which delivered affordable graphics, animation, music, and multitasking interaction the personal computer world hadn’t even dreamt of." It pioneered desktop video and introduced PCs to countless new users, rocketing Amiga and Commodore to the top for a brief moment in the sun.


Around Ars, our remembrance of the machine has unfolded over six years, starting in 2007. Over eight parts and 25,977 words, Ars’ Jeremy Reimer outlined Amiga's journey from original idea to April 24, 1994, when the Commodore HQ in West Chester, Pennsylvania closed for the final time.


"Bringing your camera on the last day, eh, Dave?" the receptionist asked in a resigned voice.


"Yeah, well, they can't yell at me for spreading secrets any more, can they?" he replied.
His History of the Amiga attempts to explain what the device was, what it meant to its designers and users, and why, despite its relative obscurity and early demise, it continues to matter so much to the computer industry and its enthusiasts. Whether you're nostalgic or curious about this machine that many, many of your tech friends are lauding this weekend (and will continue to celebrate through the fall, when November marks 30 years since the Amiga 1000 became available to the public), consider this the best starting point we can recommend.


The entire series is linked and outlined below if you have a few hours over the coming week. At the very least, take a moment today to reflect on all the video and other Amiga-led computing aspects we take for granted today. Now if you'll excuse us, we'll need to get back to watching Amiga demo clips on YouTube for the foreseeable future working.

Part One: Genesis


Part Two: The Birth of Amiga


Part Three: The first prototype




While my freshman year in high school I took a semester of Basic and a semester of FORTRAN, I never had a personal computer till a few years into college, when I got a Mac SE. One friend had a Radio Shack Trash 80, another had something else. They did some programming; one turned it into a career. (Actually, another friend did, too, but I don't remember what computer he had.)


My dad's hobby was electronics. Alternate history: what if he hadn't lost his job when two hospitals merged? What if my parents hadn't gotten divorced, so we were a two-income family? Would my dad have been interested in the early computers? Would I have gotten one as a gift? Would I have learned programming and maybe taken a different track in life?


I didn't have interest in them (though I had built a Heathkit digital clock my dad got me). I was into wargames (mostly Avalon Hill) at the time.

[Valka]

My very first computer was an Amiga 500, and I still have part of that (for some reason the people who packed up my stuff to move from my house neglected to pack the monitor or power box).

I did so much on that computer, from my home typing job to learning how to compose music on the computer, to publishing fanzines and newsletters, to gaming... Ah, that computer is where I first learned Civilization and Sim City, and no PC has ever made a satisfactory alternative to Zany Golf, Ports of Call, or Ishido.