From The Desert
The desert, unchanged for millions of years!
One day, the meek should inherit the earth!
Introduced at (CES) the Consumer Electronics Show in January of1982, the Commodore 64 was debuted an inexpensive and popular home computer that became one of the best selling computers of all time!
The Amiga 1000 was released in July 1985, but production problems kept it from becoming widely available until early 1986. The best-selling model, the Amiga 500, was introduced in 1987 along with the more expandable Amiga 2000. The Amiga 3000 was introduced in 1990, and more models later on.
Welcome to my new Commodore retro computing blog! I feel the intro above serves as a strong start to state what Commodore really did for personal computing what no other computer series has done since, bring computing power to the masses!
This blog is an exploration of a return to my computing roots. Like many who will be potential readers, this is where I really got started. In my sophomore year of high school we received a new computer lab and it was furnished with TRS 80 computers from Tandy (AKA RadioShack) and I tinkered learning to write my first basic programs. From there I lusted for a VIC 20 and disk drive and I would wait another 2 years before I could buy myself one in the army. I started by typing in programs from a magazine and saving them to a 1541 floppy drive I purchased with it. Soon I upgraded to a Commodore 64, made new like minded army friends and started sharing disks. I was hooked!
This blog assumes that you have a little bit of familiarity with these computing systems either from your younger days or your new interest. Just in case, here are a few links that can help you rehash their history and come up to speed.
Fast forward to 2022, we can inject other parts of the nostalgia as we proceed!
I have once again embraced my retro roots and have looked past the Cloanto Emulators on PC for C64 and Amiga and have actually made some retro hardware purchases.
I first tried the Amiga 500 Mini and just couldn’t see it as the right option for me, if I were to play again in the retro world, it was going to need to be the real thing! I tried the C64 Maxi as well, same thing, I decided I wanted the real deal.
Its not that these offerings are inadequate, unlike the Amiga 500 Mini, the C64Maxi is a full size replica of the original C64. It simply doesn’t have the cartridge port and interface ports like the original, so all devices are pretty much virtual. Their true appeal is the easy ability to hook them to modern monitors and TV screens via HDMI and more modern game controllers. The both come bundled with a collection of games. I recommend both if you want an inexpensive means of visiting these systems with the minimum of effort. The both deliver solid out of the box user experiences.
If you really want to explore more of the depth of retro, there is no substitute for the real thing or a more closely create facsimile of the real thing. More on that later!
Like the true techno hound I am, I seldom ever just explore in serial fashion. I have ended up exploring a few hardware retro paths. For the Amiga I explored using a PowerPC branch of the OS called MorpOS that was created and released after the first demise of Commodore where the original hardware really wasn’t being created anymore, and dedicated Amiga fans set out to create newer more modern hardware based off the Power PC Processors. To that end they were produced for a while and seem to have been dying off.
One easy way to theoretically get into this though is to buy some retro PowerPC Macintosh computers and load the PowerPC based Amiga OS on to it. Only certain models will work though. I found a PowerPC Mac G4 Quick silver in excellent condition for $60 and have been working with that. Unfortunately it was stripped of its Operating System and I am still working to get Morph OS up and running on it. I am not sure if this will result in a dead end for me, we will just have to wait and see and I will share some pictures if I get it up and running.
Next, I found this souped up Crystal Amiga at Ami64.com
This is a quasi refurbished system in a gorgeous clear case I picked up. It has not been recapped. Recapping is where they replace all the capacitors with new higher quality grade ones so that they don’t fail and leak due to age. Once I slow down, I may have this Amiga recapped. It comes with wireless mouse and game controller. Here are the full specs.
Crystal Clear Transparent Amiga 1200 for Sale with a Super-fast TF1260 68060 Accelerator, an extra 128mb FastRAM, Crystal Wireless Controller, Wireless Mouse and Free 'Fully Loaded' Compact Flash Hard Drive. * UK PAL spec Amiga A1200 (very nice super-fast machine)
* Stunning looking a1200.net Crystal Amiga 1200 case.* 68060 Processor | TF1260 Accelerator Card (50mhz) with MMU* 128mb Extra FastRAM* Internal DF0: 3.5" Floppy Drive* 16GB Pre-Configured Hard drive with WHDload and extras. Ready to Go!* Internal colour-changing LEDs (with wireless remote control)* Kickstart 3.1 roms* Wireless Joypad (2 x AAA batteries)* Wireless Mouse (1 x AA battery)* TruMouse USB Adaptor* Original Amiga PSU (UK orders only)
I also purchased a virtual floppy drive for it (GoTek) and Interface as well as a Scan converter with SCART cable to convert the original RGB output of the Amiga to HDMI.
At this point I am awaiting a monitor and smaller HDMI TV to round out my displays for my retro computing desk.
So before I show you the even deeper retro tunnel I have dived into I know some may be asking, Why? The reason why is that in the beginning, there was more excitement than there is now. Everything was new as far as computers were concerned. It was the beginning of a new technology revolution that the more average consumer could get into and explore. Games were so much simpler then, more mindless to some degree making escape from the day to day headaches easier.
I would contend that people were not critical of graphics and speed and thus tended to use their imaginations more to augment. Its a little like reading the book verses the movie, being that the movie today has a far greater chance of disappointing the reader. Why is that? Because the minds eye and imagination can far surpass anything technology can produce today. It is from the imagination that a great deal of technology and entertainment is spawned!
Along with my hobbies I also enjoy writing a bit, hence this blog. I have made a habit of journaling my journeys a bit, hence SDRZone.com and Everstar.com. I hope you will enjoy riding along and also hope to help make exploration easier by rewinding the clock and helping explain things!
Till next time,
EverStaR