AMIGA

The best computer system of the world.

Multitasking
AutoConfig
Memory
Operating-Systems
Emulation
User-Interfaces
Diskette-Capacety
Long filenames
Lokalization
ARexx
Datatypes
Videocompatibilety
Video-Chips
Software
Stereo sound
Floppy-Acces
HAM-Mode
Screens
AGA
The Proccessor
End Conclusion

MULTITASKING

The Amiga system is completely multytasking, this means that the Amiga computer is capable of switching between its task very quickly, this way it looks like the Amiga does several things at the same time, and this also on low memory.
Many computer sytems PC included can only dream of such an extreem powerful system function, on the other hand, the Amiga had this function already back in 1985.......
This is it why the Amiga system is far ahead of time even in 1997.

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AUTOCONFIG

The Amiga system is capable of recognizing al the hardware attatched to the system automaticly, just plug the hardware in and you are ready to role.
Only when you attatch a cd-rom drive you must install a cd-filesystem to get acces to the drive but mostly its automatic for instance turbo boards, extended memory etc.

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MEMORY

The AmigaOS is famous for its smart memory use, the Amiga memory consists of two different memory types first you've got the so called chip memory, this memory is mainly used for screen building
The second memory type is for the user-programs and is called fastram, the Amiga has no 640Kb limit like some other systems.
For instance where a PC system whit windows installed runs properly whit 32Mb, the Amiga 1200 is satisfied whit only its standard 2Mb chip memory, on the other hand an Amiga 4000 is expandable to 1Gb and more. You may assume that an Amiga 1200 whit 2Mb chip and 8Mb fastram has enough memory.

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OTHER OPERATING SYSTEMS

The normal operating system for the Amiga is the AmigaOS, but you can install others like UNIX clones like Minux, Linux and NetBSD.
The Amiga is capable to run nearly every operating system there is treu Emulation.

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EMULATION

Al the computer systems you see below can be emulated by the Amiga whitout any trouble.
PC-486
C-64
Apple-II
Apple Macintosh
Sinclair QL
Sinclair Spectrum
VC-20
Oric-1
Nintendo Gameboy
Atari ST
MSX-8-Bit-Comp.
Al these software emulations are ofcourse possible in multitasking between each other.
Yes, it is even possible to run MS-Dos whit MS-Windows on an Amiga, and for those who want a quicker PC emulation there s the PC-Plugin board available sinds 1987.

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TWO USER-INTERFACES

The AmigaOS knows two user-interfaces, first there is the powerfull graphical (GUI) interface better known as the Workbench, this one is completely mouse driven, you can start an aplication by clicking its icon twice, the commands of this user-interface are in the so called pull down menus, these you can activate by clicking the right mouse button on the titel bar.
The second user-interface is the CLI (Command Line Interface) or Shell, this user-interface is activated by double clicking its icon, now a cli window opens and the user can type in his commands direcly, you may open as many CLI windows as you have memory.

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DISKETTE CAPACETY

An Amiga diskette offers room for 880Kb software not 720Kb, if the Amiga has a HD-Drive attatched the space on the HD-diskette is 1.76Mb not 1.44Mb, and this whit the use of long filenames
An Amiga reeds and writes a diskette whit a speed of 300Kb per second.

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LONG FILENAMES

Al Amiga models work whit filenames whit a maximum length of 32 signs and it doesn't matter much what signs are used
An example of a long filename could be: My_Amiga-is_cool.txt, the last part the extension .txt means that this is a text file some other extensions are .gif(gif-picture), .mod(musicmod), .lha(lha packed file) etc.

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LOCALIZATION

The AmigaOS, this means the graphical user-interface (workbench)is fully localized, this means that the Amiga system can switch between 10 languages whitout a new instalation of the operating system.
User programs have so called catalog files and they can also operate in the language you prefer.
The languages that the Amiga user can choose from are:
DUTCH
ENGLISH
GERMAN
FRENCH
SPANISH
ITALIAN
NORWEGIAN
DENISH
PORTUGAL
SVENKA

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AREXX

Arexx is a macro-program language and is used to let the user-programs communicate whit each other treu the Arexx-port, you can think for instance of the transport from some graphics from one program to another, but there is more the possibilities of Arexx are unlimited.
Arexx-scripts are made whit every common ascii editor, this makes it available to al Amiga users Arexx-scripts can be used by every program that has an Arexx port.

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DATATYPES

The AmigaOS as of version 3.0 has the possibility to make use of datatypes, Whit the use of these datatypes (software drivers) the Amiga system can read or write nearly every known file format there is.
This is a very powerful function becourse programmers can easily program a new datatype whenever they need one.
There are datatypes available for Animation, text, graphics, audio etc.
Some datatypes are:
2r2d
8svx
Aiff
Amiga.infof
AmigaMfile
Amigaguide
Anim
Be
Binary
Bitmapfont
Bmp
Cdxl
Decompr.
Deep
Dfa
Dr2d
Dtyp
Dvi
Dxf
Exe
Faxx
font
Ftxt
Gif
Hsn
Ico
Icon
Ilbm
Jfif
Koala
Lha
Macpaint
OctamedMod.
OutlineFont
PagestrDoc
Pbm
Pcx
Pgm
Photo CD
Png
Post
Ppm
Pref
Protracker
Rekocard
SampleVis.
Smus
Src
Stmod
SunAudio
SunRaster
Svg
Targa
Tiff
Tx16w
Voc
Wave
WindowsBmp
WindowsIcon
WindowsMfile
WindowsBitm
X-bitmap
Xfig
Xpk
Xpm
Zx
The Amiga system can work whit al these datatypes whitout any trouble at al.

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VIDEO COMPATIBILETY

De Amiga Computer is completly video compatibel, this is becourse the Amiga and the tv make use of the same linefrequency
This makes it possible to connect an A1200 to a tv set direcly !!!
This fact makes it extreemly easy and cheap to use the Amiga system for video goals, for hobby or proffesional, you can think about animation mixing computer screens and video etc.
Yes, if you wish to work whit video you should get an Amiga fast !!!

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VIDEO-CHIPS

Far going unlimited programable graphics chipsets from video compatibilety to the pulling of screens, think of the extreemly quick animation work in the several available demos.
The Amiga programmers can make full use of the entire graphics chipset, there are no limitations.

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SOFTWARE

The Amiga is famous for its big shareware and PD archives, think about the Aminet archives, but also there is a large ammount of commercial software available, wich is very cheap.
And what about the enormous ammount of Amiga games available from soccer to car race its al there.
Most of the Amiga software is to cal good to exellent, smart in memory use and hd-space.

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STEREO SOUND

The most systems can whitout a fancy and expensive soundcard only produce a little beeb.
Al Amiga's have 4 channel stereo sound standard, which comes very close to CD quality.
This makes the Amiga THE computer when it comes to music.
For the Amiga user who needs more channels there is a software solution but also a sound card available.

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FLOPPY ACCES

Formating, writing, reading, copying and in the mean time the Amiga user can continue his work as if none of this is happening.
For instance, i was unpacking a DMS file from CD-rom to drive 0 and at the same time i was unpacking a LZX file from harddisk to drive 1, try to do this whit your PC-system !!!

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HAM-MODE

The HAM-8 mode is available in every resolution and can show 256,000 colors from a palette of 16,8 milion colors at the same time on screen, and this on a standard AGA (Advanced Graphics Architecture) Amiga.
The Amiga system is expandable whit a graphics card.

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SCREENS

Every user program can open its own screen(s) which can be optimized individualy by resolution and color palette, or for instance optimized for speed, color or memory.
The Amiga screens can be pulled down so you can see the screen behind the frontmost. There even are programs available to "walk" treu screens by mouse click.

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AGA

This is the last builded graphics chipset for the Amiga, you'l only find it in the standard Amigas 1200 and 4000.
It is this chipset who makes it possible to show 256 colors from a palette of 16,8 milion in every available resolution.
And this whit a standard Amiga 1200 computer, so whitout an expensive graphics card.

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THE AMIGA PROCCESSOR

The Amiga uses the 68000 serie proccessors from Motorola.
I wil not write about this exellent proccessor serie becourse there's already writen a lot about it.
No, we're going to talk about the new proccessors Phase 5 uses for theire newest turbo boards, the PowerPC-processor.
These proccessors are RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing)processors, this PPC is special becourse they run at a very high speed.
Below you'l see a list of the available PPC-proccessors:
MODEL
PPC 601
PPC 603
PPC 603e
PPC 604
PPC 604e
PPC 620
PPC-X704
MHZ
50 - 120
66 - 100
100 - 240
100 - 180
166 - 300
133 - ?
466 - 533
BITS
32/64
32/64
32/64
32/64
32/64
64/64
32/64
CACHE-KB
32
8/8
16/16
16/16
32/32
32/32
?
Al PowerPC proccessors have a FPU (Floating Point Unit) for floating point calculations and a MMU (Memory Managment Unit) burned in.
No, you're not reading this wrong the quickest PPC proccessor runs at a speed of 533Mhz, this makes the PPC the fastest proccessor for Personal Computers in the world.
To compare, the fastest Pentium is the Pentium II and runs at 300Mhz maximum.
But there is more, the PPC-proccessor is a Multyproccessing proccessor, this means that there can be more than one CPU in one machine like the Be computers of Be inc.

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END CONCLUSION

After reading this page you should know now what an Amiga has to offer, this is alot.
But the question always is: what do you want to do whit your computer.
If you are looking for a computer for home and hobby the answer is quick and simple get an Amiga
So go to the Amiga dealer and amaze yourself, by this i mean the low price of this wonderfull computer system.

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