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Sysmex CA 1000 Coagulation Analyzer, Sysmex CA-1000 Analyzer, CA1000... blockscientific.com |
The A1000, or Commodore Amiga 1000, was Commodore's initial Amiga personal computer, introduced on July 24, 1985 at the Lincoln Center in New York City. Machines began shipping in September with a base configuration of 256 KB of RAM at the retail price of 1295 USD. A 13-inch (330 mm) analog RGB monitor was available for around 300 USD bringing the price of a complete Amiga system to 1595 USD. Before the release of the Amiga 500 and A2000 models in 1987, the A1000 was simply called Amiga. In the US, the A1000 was marketed as The Amiga from Commodore, however the Commodore logo was omitted from the casing. Additionally the Amiga 1000 was exclusively sold in computer stores, rather than the various non-computer related stores the Commodore 64 were retailed in. These measures were an effort to avoid Commodore's "toy-store" computer image created during the Tramiel era.[1][2]
[edit] DesignThe A1000 had a number of characteristics that distinguished it from later Amigas: It was the only model to feature the short-lived Amiga "checkmark" logo on its case; the case was elevated slightly to give a storage area for the keyboard when not in use (a "keyboard garage"); and the inside of the case was engraved with the signatures of the Amiga designers, including Jay Miner and the paw print of his dog Mitchy. The unique case of the A1000 with a keyboard garage was designed by Howard Stolz[3] As Senior Industrial Designer at Commodore-Amiga, Stolz was the mechanical lead and primary interface with Sanyo in Japan, the contract manufacturer for the A1000 casing.[4] Because AmigaOS was rather buggy at the time of the A1000's release, the OS was not placed in ROM. Instead, the A1000 included a daughterboard with 256 KB of RAM, dubbed the "Writable Control Store" (WCS), into which the core of the operating system was loaded from floppy disk (this portion of the operating system was known as the "Kickstart"). The WCS was write-protected after loading, and system resets did not require a reload of the WCS. In Europe the WCS was often referred to as WOM (Write Once Memory) as opposite to ROM (Read Only Memory). Many A1000 owners remained attached to their machines long after newer models rendered the units technically obsolete, and it attracted numerous aftermarket upgrades. Many CPU upgrades that plugged into the Motorola 68000 socket functioned in the A1000. Additionally, a line of products called the Rejuvenator series allowed the use of newer chipsets in the A1000, and an Australian-designed replacement A1000 motherboard called The Phoenix utilized the same chipset as the A3000 and added an A2000-compatible video slot and onboard SCSI controller. In 2006 PC World rated the Amiga 1000 as the 7th greatest PC of all time [1]. In 2007 it was rated by the same magazine as the 37th best tech product of all time [2]. In 1994, as Commodore filed for bankruptcy, Byte magazine called the Amiga 1000 "the first multimedia computer... so far ahead of its time that almost nobody--including Commodore's marketing department--could fully articulate what it was all about."[3] [edit] Technical informationThe Amiga 1000 had a 7.15909 MHz 68000 CPU (7.09 MHz for PAL machines). This is precisely double the 3.58 MHz NTSC color carrier frequency, and was needed by the Amiga chipset when outputting NTSC video. All frequencies in the Amiga 1000 are derived from this frequency as it simplified glue logic and allowed the Amiga 1000 to make do with a single cheap mass-produced crystal. The chipset was also designed to synchronized all operations so the hardware always ran in 100% real-time without any wait-state delays. Though most units were sold with an analog RGB monitor, the A1000 also had a built-in composite video output which allowed the computer to be connected directly to a TV or VCR. It is possible to do a direct socket replacement of the standard 7 MHz 68000 CPU with a 68010 CPU. The 68010 executes instructions slightly faster than the 68000, but the conversion also introduces a small degree of software incompatibility. You can also install an expansion card that has both your old 68000 and a faster 14 MHz 68020/68881 and built-in memory that's mostly compatible and can be switched back to the 68000 for 100% compatibility. You also can also install a similar 33 MHz 68030/68882 accelerator board as well. Both involve plugging the cards into the CPU socket. Most 68020 boards had you then place the 68000 into the expansion card. The 68030 cards usually had them already built-in. There are also a few memory card hacks you could do with out even upgrading the CPU. Several expansion box options were also available including a Zorro-I bus expander which gave you two Zorro-II slots. [edit] Technical specifications 
[edit] The two versions of the A1000There were two versions of the Amiga 1000. The first one was sold only in Canada and the United States, had a NTSC display and lacked the EHB video mode which all other models of the Amiga had. Later units of this version would had the EHB mode built in. The second one had a PAL display and the EHB video mode, and was built in Germany. [edit] See also[edit] External links[edit] References
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