Hey folks, it's great to be part of the Amiga community again.
My name is Steve and I've been a long time Amiga lover since the beginning. Back in the early 80s my family and friends started on the Commodore journey. When everyone around me was getting into the C64, I was rebelling and going for the much rarer Vic20 (because dad thought it was a better bargain being $20 cheaper on the shelf). So after many years of Radar Rat Race and Cosmic Cruncher and nothing else, I befriended a neighbour who showed me this machine called an Amiga 1000 and a program called Deluxe Paint. I was SOLD.
It wasn't long after that before an Amiga 500 was the new computer in our household, there was an Amiga 1000 around the corner, a cousin had purchased an Amiga 2000 and another also went the 500 route. Now this was a great time to be alive. We bought and exchanged games amongst each other, we encouraged our creativity with apps like Deluxe Paint IV and Scala Multimedia and the demo scene, how many parties did we have an Amiga 500 playing demo visuals in the background on a TV.
The early 90s meant I was going to Uni and I needed something a little more substantial for my Software Engineering course so sadly I knew the 500 wasn't going to cut it. But then Commodore went and did something awesome, they released the 3000 and I was smitten. Coupled with a PC card I was set. It didn't matter that others around me were buying DX4-100s, I wanted to stay in the Amiga ecosystem for as long as I could. Oh, they're selling an EGS Spectrum are they? So I can run Workbench in 24bit colour can I? Why, YES, I'll buy one of those too please. Absolute heaven.
I must say I really do miss EGS Planter. I could sit and watch that render space scenes all day. That's one of the fondest memories I had of my 3000, and also escaping a hospital in a wheel chair when giant ants invaded a small desert town.
Sadly, it was around 1995 that I sold my A3000 and bought a PC. It was like a death in the family and I think I've been mourning ever since. I've been programming on Unix machines since my Uni days and dual booting a Windows box into Linux was a tedious process so when Apple moved from OS9 to OS X, about 20 workmates at the time all bought 17" Powerbooks and thus began my journey with Macs and I haven't looked back since. But I still missed those Amiga days.
A fair few years back, a new guy started working at the company I was at, his named on here is Jordanius. Here was a guy who I soon found out was an avid collector of all things Commodore and every so often he would bring a retro machine into the office and ask me to come around to his desk to check it out. Oh how the nostalgia flooded back. I think I had a tear in my eye on one occasion. Those Amiga juices started flowing again.
My latest machine on my desktop at home is a Retina 5K iMac and it was the first time in decades that I felt the same feeling about owning a new Amiga. The display on this machine reminded me of the 3000 when I first booted up a flicker fixed image. That clarity back then just had me staring at the screen in awe and it was the same feeling as I stared at this Retina display. This was my Amiga 3000 moment all over again. I can't explain it.
But still I missed the Amiga. Back in the day, I also missed out on the AGA chipset and what that brought to the table. No-one I knew who had an Amiga back then ever upgraded to any AGA equipped machine so it was the only part of the timeline I never experienced so a few months ago I made a conscious effort to get back into the Amiga scene and my aim is to put together a fully functional and upgraded Amiga 1200 which will both bring back the nostalgia of my 500 as well as the upgraded speed and display properties of my 3000. I've still got a perfectly functioning 1084 display as well as my original Wico joystick. I recently acquired an old A600 with a slightly rusted and motherboard but I salvaged the power supply and mouse (all plastics, including the case are in as new condition). As of this week I have gotten hold of an A1200 motherboard and an A1200 case. A CF card adapter is on it's way as well as an A1221 accelerator. That day I power on my very own Amiga, some 20 years after I last owned one, will be a day long remembered.
Thanks again to everyone keeping the dream alive and for listening to this tale of mine.
Cheers,
Steve
My name is Steve and I've been a long time Amiga lover since the beginning. Back in the early 80s my family and friends started on the Commodore journey. When everyone around me was getting into the C64, I was rebelling and going for the much rarer Vic20 (because dad thought it was a better bargain being $20 cheaper on the shelf). So after many years of Radar Rat Race and Cosmic Cruncher and nothing else, I befriended a neighbour who showed me this machine called an Amiga 1000 and a program called Deluxe Paint. I was SOLD.
It wasn't long after that before an Amiga 500 was the new computer in our household, there was an Amiga 1000 around the corner, a cousin had purchased an Amiga 2000 and another also went the 500 route. Now this was a great time to be alive. We bought and exchanged games amongst each other, we encouraged our creativity with apps like Deluxe Paint IV and Scala Multimedia and the demo scene, how many parties did we have an Amiga 500 playing demo visuals in the background on a TV.
The early 90s meant I was going to Uni and I needed something a little more substantial for my Software Engineering course so sadly I knew the 500 wasn't going to cut it. But then Commodore went and did something awesome, they released the 3000 and I was smitten. Coupled with a PC card I was set. It didn't matter that others around me were buying DX4-100s, I wanted to stay in the Amiga ecosystem for as long as I could. Oh, they're selling an EGS Spectrum are they? So I can run Workbench in 24bit colour can I? Why, YES, I'll buy one of those too please. Absolute heaven.
I must say I really do miss EGS Planter. I could sit and watch that render space scenes all day. That's one of the fondest memories I had of my 3000, and also escaping a hospital in a wheel chair when giant ants invaded a small desert town.
Sadly, it was around 1995 that I sold my A3000 and bought a PC. It was like a death in the family and I think I've been mourning ever since. I've been programming on Unix machines since my Uni days and dual booting a Windows box into Linux was a tedious process so when Apple moved from OS9 to OS X, about 20 workmates at the time all bought 17" Powerbooks and thus began my journey with Macs and I haven't looked back since. But I still missed those Amiga days.
A fair few years back, a new guy started working at the company I was at, his named on here is Jordanius. Here was a guy who I soon found out was an avid collector of all things Commodore and every so often he would bring a retro machine into the office and ask me to come around to his desk to check it out. Oh how the nostalgia flooded back. I think I had a tear in my eye on one occasion. Those Amiga juices started flowing again.
My latest machine on my desktop at home is a Retina 5K iMac and it was the first time in decades that I felt the same feeling about owning a new Amiga. The display on this machine reminded me of the 3000 when I first booted up a flicker fixed image. That clarity back then just had me staring at the screen in awe and it was the same feeling as I stared at this Retina display. This was my Amiga 3000 moment all over again. I can't explain it.
But still I missed the Amiga. Back in the day, I also missed out on the AGA chipset and what that brought to the table. No-one I knew who had an Amiga back then ever upgraded to any AGA equipped machine so it was the only part of the timeline I never experienced so a few months ago I made a conscious effort to get back into the Amiga scene and my aim is to put together a fully functional and upgraded Amiga 1200 which will both bring back the nostalgia of my 500 as well as the upgraded speed and display properties of my 3000. I've still got a perfectly functioning 1084 display as well as my original Wico joystick. I recently acquired an old A600 with a slightly rusted and motherboard but I salvaged the power supply and mouse (all plastics, including the case are in as new condition). As of this week I have gotten hold of an A1200 motherboard and an A1200 case. A CF card adapter is on it's way as well as an A1221 accelerator. That day I power on my very own Amiga, some 20 years after I last owned one, will be a day long remembered.
Thanks again to everyone keeping the dream alive and for listening to this tale of mine.
Cheers,
Steve
