Official Amiga Thread

[Brad]

Yeah the public domain disks were cool. All kinds of stuff on them.
I DTPd an assignment for my degree on mine. It was a sight to behold. Then at 9pm, the evening before it had to be handed in I started it printing on my 9pin dot matrix printer. It was so slow that I calculated I couldn’t finish printing it before the assignment deadline so I exported it to postscript and took it to a printshop in the morning! Luckily they read it ok and printed it quick smart on some multi thousand pound device. Lesson learnt! I used WordPerfect after that; character mode FTW!

I used Music X quite a bit. I had a Roland MT32 sound module and a midi controller. Tons of fun. I’m currently waiting on some midi gender benders with the idea to hook my Amiga, iPad and OP-Z together; a blend of old and new music creation. I still have the original boxes and discs for Music x and Dpaint 3!

[gunrock]

I started with a Cm8833, swiftly moved onto a Taxan 770 Multisync and then when I was given my A4000D I also got a Microvitc 1438 Multisync that was amazing, right up until I put in in storage and my clumsy, fat arse knocked it off of a table in the garage onto the floor.... tinkle... smash!

I loved the Amiga productivity and creativity software and hardware: ClariSSA, Imagine 3D, Photogenics, Bars and Pipes, DCTV, Rombo Vidi Digitiser. I had them all (and lots more besides - no pirate copies either).

[Anpanman]

That’s something I miss from the Amiga days; the way it was just begging to be used with art packages, trackers, AMOS etc. I think it was part of the scene with owning an Amiga, using it to its fullest rather than just gaming. I don’t think there’s been a computer before or since that encourages such creativity from just normal users. Not even the Mac which is aimed more towards creative professionals.

Completely agree, I shelled out £200 for Superbase but also spent a lot of time with Dpaint/2/3, got one of the Datel videocapture add-ons and did my own anims, ripped the character sprites from games like Kick-off and so-on, DPaint 3 was excellent.
Then got heavily into VideoScape 3D, designed my own 3D models etc.
There was so much more though, bought CanDo, used DTP for the first time which was great corresponding with my sister who lived at the other end of the country at the time.

Used Scala MM400 to do some animations for an internal trade-show (CEO was chuffed with my efforts), in fact Scala could do transitions and wipes that PowerPoint and Harvard Graphics could only dream of.

I never got into the genlocking side but the Amiga could hardware scroll down to something like a quarter of a pixel, even today's mega PC's when using the built in screensaver sometimes shudder and jerk a bit, and with the overscan proper smooth title scrolling could be achieved.
The Amiga's also had the genlock timing in hardware as well I believe and with the background transparency feature made it a cost effective solution for cable TV broadcasters with the Video Toaster.

Brad was right about the mags, there were some really good publications that were far more into the utilities than say Amiga Format.

Also loved the fact you could easily design your own icons amongst other things in Preferences, the system had intelligent drives, crikey I could go on all night...

Also don't forget Fred Fish and Guru Meditation!

[Leon Retro]

. I think it was part of the scene with owning an Amiga, using it to its fullest rather than just gaming.

Magazines helped promote the creative side of the Amiga. You often got useful guides that explained how to use utilities and creative programs. It helped inspire people to use their Amiga for all sorts of creative stuff.

I loved messing around with Deluxe Paint 3 and Photon Paint 2. I also managed to make bootable cartoons with sound effects. Used to play around with making music -- and even had a device to capture sound. Was fun making really bad music.

My brother got into creating games on Amos -- and managed to create a few that weren't bad. He even put his voice on the title screen of one of them.

So, the Amiga was a great machine for all sorts of things. It was impressive how it inspired so many people to be creative.

[samanosuke]

it really came into it's own using utils and such.

That’s something I miss from the Amiga days; the way it was just begging to be used with art packages, trackers, AMOS etc. I think it was part of the scene with owning an Amiga, using it to its fullest rather than just gaming. I don’t think there’s been a computer before or since that encourages such creativity from just normal users. Not even the Mac which is aimed more towards creative professionals.

[Leon Retro]

Picture though was very, very good, the matt jet black along with better pixel pitch made for a lovely viewing experience.

Sounds really nice.

I didn't think too much about monitor specs at that point -- I was just happy to have an RGB image. I think the 8833-II was a bit better than my previous monitor the 1084S. I thought the distinct design looked pretty cool for the time.

Would have bought the 8852 if I had been an adult at the time and more aware of specs.

When I got my first Sony Trinitron in the early-90s for use with the Mega Drive, PC Engine and SNES, I realised how great RGB could look for console games. That's when I decided I needed a nice big 25" Trinitron of my own, so saved up and bought one around 1993. Served me well until 2001.

When it comes to monitors, I wasn't into PC gaming in the 90s, so I just bought a standard £300 monitor in 1995 that did the job. That lasted until I eventually bought a high-end Iiyama 19" in 2000. It made me feel dizzy for some reason??? So I bought an Hitachi LCD in 2002 that had impressive specs for the time. Used that until widescreen LCD monitors were affordable -- then bought a Dell 24".

[Anpanman]

I just remember seeing the 8833 then the 8833-II being advertised. The second version was heavily promoted in magazines. I guess the 8852 was quite a bit more expensive? Sounds like it's a nice step up over the lower end model.

Hmmm now you're asking, I think was was about £30 more than the 8833, seem to remember £269.99 against £239.99 for the 8833.

Am sure Brad will be along in a mo to tell me I'm talking rubbish again!

Picture though was very, very good, the matt jet black along with better pixel pitch made for a lovely viewing experience. I used to do a lot of graphics and other fiddling about as well as games so it really came into it's own using utils and such.

[Leon Retro]

I had the Philips 8852 which was a higher spec unit, never seen another one in the wild used to go to a big 'computer club' every Thursday and mine was the only one and often got some nice comments.

I just remember seeing the 8833 then the 8833-II being advertised. The second version was heavily promoted in magazines. I guess the 8852 was quite a bit more expensive? Sounds like it's a nice step up over the lower end model.

The 8833-II was a nice monitor though. It gave a much nicer image than using a modulator with a TV.

I then went on to rent a 21" Sony Trinitron -- and after a while bought a nice big 25" Trinitron after saving up for a while. Used that throughtout the 90s until widescreen became a thing for gaming in 2001.

[Brad]

Don't remember how I came about getting mine; was deffo 2nd hand, probably some trade with something else, possibly an external scsi drive. I think the NECs were better than Taxans. They were the holy grail of monitors at the time I think.

[Anpanman]

I had a Taxan Multisync so I could use the Productivity screenmodes etc. That was lovely. Wish I still had it.

Thanks for the correction, I must have been dreaming that part.

Never saw the Taxan but I did see a few of the much lauded NEC Multisync, they looked lush just wish I could have afforded one at the time.

[hudson]

Loved the Amiga. Spent most of my time on Mod Trackers, Deluxe Paint, Hunter, and the Lucasfilm point and click games. Oh and Kick Off 2 and Sensi.

I used to sink loads of time into Hunter. I had no idea what I was doing. I would just explore and find vehicles to kill myself in. It was basically GTA3.

[Brad]

I had the Philips 8852 which was a higher spec unit, never seen another one in the wild used to go to a big 'computer club' every Thursday and mine was the only one and often got some nice comments.

It had a better pixel pitch, it was clearly sharper and had a lovely matt black screen (the 8833 had a shiny grey screen), am sure it had more available pixels and more controls for the screen horizontal and vertical stretch and move but I could be talking rubbish.
It also came with a swivel stand.

Only problem was it used to go through on/off switches at a fair lick, thankfully it was a common type and available in any electrical spares shop.

I only ever saw one 8852 in the wild, at CEX one year. Higher spec than the common 8833 as you say but it actually had less controls and no headphone socket.

I had a Taxan Multisync so I could use the Productivity screenmodes etc. That was lovely. Wish I still had it.

[Anpanman]

Oh man, I forgot about Rocket Ranger!

The graphics by Cinemaware were jaw dropping. Best game of theirs or me was TV Sports Football, was just getting into the NFL and used to play this to death with a couple of my mates. It actually played a really good game.

Wings was one of their last games but actually quite serious, the instructions came with wonderfully researched text about just how hard it was for the WWI pilots with real stories from the front line.

[Anpanman]

The Commodore 1084S was my first monitor. It failed after 18 months -- and was then replaced with a Phillips 8833-II.
I really liked this Phillips monitor with the Amiga. Have great memories of playing games like Speedball 2, Lotus, and Kick Off 2 etc... for hours and hours with friends. Used to sit really close to the screen, so the size didn't really matter.

I had the Philips 8852 which was a higher spec unit, never seen another one in the wild used to go to a big 'computer club' every Thursday and mine was the only one and often got some nice comments.

It had a better pixel pitch, it was clearly sharper and had a lovely matt black screen (the 8833 had a shiny grey screen), am sure it had more available pixels and more controls for the screen horizontal and vertical stretch and move but I could be talking rubbish.
It also came with a swivel stand.

Only problem was it used to go through on/off switches at a fair lick, thankfully it was a common type and available in any electrical spares shop.

[Brad]

Commodore has no real presence in Japan post Vic 20 so no Amiga games came out of there really and as mentioned all rpgs were western in nature. Shadowlands might be the closest thing but can’t remember if that was turn based. I think it wasn’t.