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
Excerpt: “The story of Commodore and the Amiga was, by far, even more interesting than that of Apple or Microsoft. It is a tale of vision, of technical brilliance, dedication, and camaraderie. It is also a tale of deceit, of treachery, and of betrayal. It is a tale that has largely remained untold.”
Part Two: The birth of Amiga
Excerpt: “Jay Miner once described the feeling of being involved in the young Amiga company as being like Mickey Mouse in the movie Fantasia, creating magical broomsticks to help carry buckets of water, then being unable to stop his runaway creations as they multiplied beyond control...
It isn't known who first came up with the idea, but foam bats became an essential part of all design meetings. A person would pitch an idea, and if other engineers felt they were stupid or unnecessary, they would hit the person over the head with a bat. As Jay said, 'It didn't hurt, but the humiliation of being beaten with the bat was unbearable.' It was a lighthearted yet still serious approach, and it worked. Slowly the Amiga design began to take shape.”
Part Three: The first prototype
Excerpt: “Nobody had ever designed a personal computer this way. Most personal computers, such as the IBM PC and the Apple ][, had no custom chips inside them. All they consisted of was a simple motherboard that defined the connections between the CPU, the memory chips, the input/output bus, and the display. Such motherboards could be designed on paper and printed directly to a circuit board, ready to be filled with off-the-shelf chips. Some, like the prototypes for the Apple ][, were designed by a single person (in this case, Steve Wozniak) and manufactured by hand.
The Amiga was nothing like this.”
Part Four: Enter Commodore
Excerpt: "Commodore rented the Lincoln Center and hired a full orchestra for the Amiga announcement ceremony, which was videotaped for posterity. All Commodore employees were given tuxedoes to wear for the event: RJ Mical one-upped the rest by finding a pair of white gloves to complete his ensemble. The band played a jaunty little number with tubas and xylophones as a brilliant laser display revealed the Amiga name in its new font."
Part Five: Postlaunch blues
Excerpt: "By July 1985, Commodore had everything going for it. The Amiga computer had been demonstrated in public to rave reviews, and everyone was excited at the potential of this great technology.
That's when the problems started… by October there were only 50 Amiga 1000 units in existence, all used by Commodore for demos and internal software development. Amiga 1000 computers did not start to appear in quantity on retail shelves until mid-November 1985. This was too late to make a significant impact on the crucial holiday buying season. Most retailers make 40 percent or more of their yearly sales over the holidays, and Commodore had missed the boat."
Part Six: Stop the bleeding
Excerpt: "Commodore had lost over $300 million between September 1985 and March 1986, and over $21 million in March alone. Commodore's new CEO, Thomas Rattigan, was determined to stop the bleeding. He began three separate rounds of layoffs."
Part Seven: Game on!
Excerpt: "Amiga never lost its gaming side. The machine's 4096-color palette, stereo sampled sound, and graphics acceleration chips made it a perfect gaming platform, and it didn't take long for game companies to start taking advantage of this power."
Part Eight: The demo scene
Excerpt: "If you were the first to crack a game, you wanted to show off your feat to your friends, so crackers would add a byline with their pseudonyms on the game’s loading screen."
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