Amiga 600
Encyclopedia
The Amiga 600, also known as the A600 (codenamed "June Bug" after a B-52s song), is a home computer
that was introduced at the CeBIT
show in March 1992. The A600 was Commodore International
's final model based on the Motorola 68000
CPU and the ECS chipset. It is essentially a redesign of the Amiga 500 Plus, with the option of an internal hard disk drive. A notable aspect of the A600 is its small size. Lacking a numeric keypad
, the A600 is only slightly larger than a standard PC keyboard (14" long by 9.5" deep by 3" high and weighing approximately 6 pounds). It shipped with AmigaOS
2.0, which was generally considered more user-friendly than earlier versions of the operating system.
Like the A500 before it, the A600 was aimed at the lower "consumer" end of the market, with the higher end being dominated by the Amiga 3000
. It was intended by manufacturer, Commodore, to revitalize sales of the A500 line before the introduction of the 32-bit Amiga 1200
. According to Dave Haynie
, the A600 "was supposed to be cheaper than the A500, but it came in at about that much more expensive than the A500." This is supported by the fact that the A600 was originally to have been numbered the A300, positioning it as a budget version of the A500+. In the event, the cost led the machine to be marketed as a replacement for the A500+, requiring a change of number. Early models feature motherboards and power supplies with the A300 designation.
The Managing Director of Commodore UK, David Pleasance, described the A600 as a "complete and utter screw-up". In comparison to the popular A500 it was considered unexpandable, did not improve on the A500's CPU, was more expensive, and lacked a numeric keypad meaning that some existing software such as flight simulator
s and application software could not be used without a numerical pad emulator.
An "A600HD" model was sold with an internal 2.5" ATA hard disk drive of either 20 or 40 MB
. This model was marketed as a more "scholarly" version of a home computer hitherto best known for its extensive range of games and retailed at almost double the price of a standard A600. However, this hard disk support introduced some incompatibility with existing Amiga software because the memory used for hard disk control prevented some memory intensive titles from launching without adding additional RAM.
The A600 was the first Amiga model manufactured in the UK. The factory was in Irvine, Scotland
, although some later examples were manufactured in Hong Kong
. The first ever production A600 — serial number "1" — resided in the Commodore UK Managing Director's office.
Surface-mount technology
used on the A600 led to a failure rate under warranty of 0.78%, compared to the A500's failure rate of 8.25%.
CPU, running at 7.09 MHz (PAL
) or 7.16 MHz (NTSC
) and 1 MB "chip" RAM.
The original design did not intend for CPU upgrade as the 68000 was soldered to the motherboard and there was no other connection for upgrade. Despite this, unofficial CPU upgrades include the Motorola 68010
, 68020
(at up to 25 MHz), and 68030
(at up to 50 MHz). The processor is upgraded not by replacing the 68000, but rather by fitting a connector over the CPU, which allows the upgraded CPU to commandeer the system bus. However, this approach caused instability problems with some board designs prompting custom modifications for stable operation. As a result such CPU expansions were largely unpopular.
RAM can be upgraded to a maximum of 2 MB "chip" RAM using the trapdoor expansion slot. An additional 4 MB of "fast" RAM can be added in the PC Card
slot using a suitable SRAM
card to realize the originally intended capacity of 6 MB. However, more "fast" RAM can be added with unofficial memory or CPU upgrades. For example, the A608 board adds up to a maximum of 8 MB additional RAM by connecting over the original 68000. Likewise, CPU upgrades can accommodate up to 32 MB.
" mode can be used at lower resolutions. At higher resolutions, such as 800×600i, only 4 simultaneous colors can be displayed.
Sound was unchanged from the original Amiga design, namely, 4 DMA
-driven 8-bit channels, with two channels for the left speaker and two for the right.
ports for joystick
s, mice
, and light pen
s, a standard 25-pin RS-232
serial port
and a 25-pin Centronics
parallel port
. As a result, the A600 was compatible with many peripherals available for earlier Amiga models, such as MIDI interfaces, sound samplers
and video digitizers.
Expansion capabilities new to the Amiga line were the PCMCIA
Type II slot and the internal 44-pin ATA interface both most commonly seen on laptop
computers. Both interfaces are controlled by the 'Gayle' custom chip. The A600 has internal housing for one 2.5" internal hard disk drive connecting to the ATA controller.
The A600 was the first of only two Amiga models to feature a PCMCIA Type II interface. This connector allows use of a number of compatible peripherals available for the laptop market, though only 16-bit (Type II) PCMCIA cards are hardware compatible, newer 32-bit CardBus or PC Card peripherals are incompatible. The port is not fully compliant with the PCMCIA Type II standard as the A600 was developed before the standard was finalized. The PCMCIA implementation on the A600 is almost identical to the one featured on the later Amiga 1200
. A number of Amiga peripherals were released by third-party developers for this connector including SRAM cards, CD-ROM
controllers, SCSI
controllers, network cards, sound samplers
and video digitizers. Although PCMCIA was similar in spirit to Commodore's expansion architecture for its earlier systems
, the intended capability for convenient external expansion through this connector was largely unrealized at the time of release because of the prohibitive expense of PCMCIA peripherals for a budget home computer. Later, a number of compatible laptop peripherals have been made to operate with the A600 including wired and wireless network cards, serial modems and CompactFlash
adaptors.
2.0, consisting of Workbench
2.0 and a Kickstart
ROM chip numbered as either revision 37.299, 37.300 or 37.350 (Commodore's internal revision numbers). Confusingly, all three ROMs were officially designated as version "2.05". Early revisions of the A600 shipped with Kickstart 37.299, which had neither support for the internal ATA controller, nor for the PCMCIA interface. Although it was possible to load the necessary drivers from a floppy disk, it wasn't possible to boot directly from ATA or PCMCIA devices. Models fitted with Kickstart 37.300 or 37.350 can utilize those devices at boot time. Due to bugs in Kickstart 37.300, the maximum supported size of a hard drive was limited to 40 MB. Everything above this size was a game of chance. In contrast, version 37.350 was capable of supporting hard drives up to 4 GB.
Later, it was possible to buy an updated Workbench 2.1. This features a localization of the operating system in several languages and has a "CrossDOS" driver providing read/write support for FAT (MS-DOS) formatted media, such as, floppy disks or hard drives. It is a pure software update. Kickstart ROMs designated as 2.1 never existed. Workbench 2.1 runs on all Kickstart ROMs of the 2.0x family.
Following release of AmigaOS 3.1 it was possible to upgrade the A600 by installing a compatible revision 40.xx Kickstart ROM.
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
that was introduced at the CeBIT
CeBIT
CeBIT is the world's largest and most international computer expo. CeBIT is held each year on the world's largest fairground in Hanover, Germany, and is a barometer of the state of the art in information technology...
show in March 1992. The A600 was Commodore International
Commodore International
Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...
's final model based on the Motorola 68000
Motorola 68000
The Motorola 68000 is a 16/32-bit CISC microprocessor core designed and marketed by Freescale Semiconductor...
CPU and the ECS chipset. It is essentially a redesign of the Amiga 500 Plus, with the option of an internal hard disk drive. A notable aspect of the A600 is its small size. Lacking a numeric keypad
Numeric keypad
A numeric keypad, numpad or tenkey for short, is the small, palm-sized, seventeen key section of a computer keyboard, usually on the very far right. The numeric keypad features digits 0 to 9, addition , subtraction , multiplication and division symbols, a decimal point and Num Lock and Enter keys...
, the A600 is only slightly larger than a standard PC keyboard (14" long by 9.5" deep by 3" high and weighing approximately 6 pounds). It shipped with AmigaOS
AmigaOS
AmigaOS is the default native operating system of the Amiga personal computer. It was developed first by Commodore International, and initially introduced in 1985 with the Amiga 1000...
2.0, which was generally considered more user-friendly than earlier versions of the operating system.
Like the A500 before it, the A600 was aimed at the lower "consumer" end of the market, with the higher end being dominated by the Amiga 3000
Amiga 3000
The Commodore Amiga 3000, or A3000, was the third major release in the Amiga computer family. Released in June 1990, it features improved processing speed, improved rendering of graphics, and a new revision of the operating system...
. It was intended by manufacturer, Commodore, to revitalize sales of the A500 line before the introduction of the 32-bit Amiga 1200
Amiga 1200
The Amiga 1200, or A1200 , was Commodore International's third-generation Amiga computer, aimed at the home market...
. According to Dave Haynie
Dave Haynie
Dave Haynie is the former Commodore International chief engineer on high end and advanced projects. He is still quite vocal in the Amiga community.-Beginnings:...
, the A600 "was supposed to be cheaper than the A500, but it came in at about that much more expensive than the A500." This is supported by the fact that the A600 was originally to have been numbered the A300, positioning it as a budget version of the A500+. In the event, the cost led the machine to be marketed as a replacement for the A500+, requiring a change of number. Early models feature motherboards and power supplies with the A300 designation.
The Managing Director of Commodore UK, David Pleasance, described the A600 as a "complete and utter screw-up". In comparison to the popular A500 it was considered unexpandable, did not improve on the A500's CPU, was more expensive, and lacked a numeric keypad meaning that some existing software such as flight simulator
Flight simulator
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and various aspects of the flight environment. This includes the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of their controls and other aircraft systems, and how they react to the external...
s and application software could not be used without a numerical pad emulator.
An "A600HD" model was sold with an internal 2.5" ATA hard disk drive of either 20 or 40 MB
Megabyte
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
. This model was marketed as a more "scholarly" version of a home computer hitherto best known for its extensive range of games and retailed at almost double the price of a standard A600. However, this hard disk support introduced some incompatibility with existing Amiga software because the memory used for hard disk control prevented some memory intensive titles from launching without adding additional RAM.
The A600 was the first Amiga model manufactured in the UK. The factory was in Irvine, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, although some later examples were manufactured in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. The first ever production A600 — serial number "1" — resided in the Commodore UK Managing Director's office.
Surface-mount technology
Surface-mount technology
Surface mount technology is a method for constructing electronic circuits in which the components are mounted directly onto the surface of printed circuit boards . An electronic device so made is called a surface mount device...
used on the A600 led to a failure rate under warranty of 0.78%, compared to the A500's failure rate of 8.25%.
Processor and RAM
The A600 shipped with a Motorola 68000Motorola 68000
The Motorola 68000 is a 16/32-bit CISC microprocessor core designed and marketed by Freescale Semiconductor...
CPU, running at 7.09 MHz (PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
) or 7.16 MHz (NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
) and 1 MB "chip" RAM.
The original design did not intend for CPU upgrade as the 68000 was soldered to the motherboard and there was no other connection for upgrade. Despite this, unofficial CPU upgrades include the Motorola 68010
Motorola 68010
The Motorola MC68010 processor is a 16/32-bit microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1982. In line with the Motorola 68000 naming convention, it is usually just referred to as the 010 ....
, 68020
Motorola 68020
The Motorola 68020 is a 32-bit microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1984. It is the successor to the Motorola 68010 and is succeeded by the Motorola 68030...
(at up to 25 MHz), and 68030
Motorola 68030
The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorola's 68000 family. It was released in 1987. The 68030 was the successor to the Motorola 68020, and was followed by the Motorola 68040. In keeping with general Motorola naming, this CPU is often referred to as the 030 .The 68030 features on-chip...
(at up to 50 MHz). The processor is upgraded not by replacing the 68000, but rather by fitting a connector over the CPU, which allows the upgraded CPU to commandeer the system bus. However, this approach caused instability problems with some board designs prompting custom modifications for stable operation. As a result such CPU expansions were largely unpopular.
RAM can be upgraded to a maximum of 2 MB "chip" RAM using the trapdoor expansion slot. An additional 4 MB of "fast" RAM can be added in the PC Card
PC Card
In computing, PC Card is the form factor of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers. The PC Card standard was defined and developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association which itself was created by a number of computer industry companies in the United States...
slot using a suitable SRAM
Static random access memory
Static random-access memory is a type of semiconductor memory where the word static indicates that, unlike dynamic RAM , it does not need to be periodically refreshed, as SRAM uses bistable latching circuitry to store each bit...
card to realize the originally intended capacity of 6 MB. However, more "fast" RAM can be added with unofficial memory or CPU upgrades. For example, the A608 board adds up to a maximum of 8 MB additional RAM by connecting over the original 68000. Likewise, CPU upgrades can accommodate up to 32 MB.
Graphics and sound
The A600 was the last Amiga model to use Commodore's Enhanced Chip Set (ECS), which can address 2 MB of RAM and adds higher resolution display modes. The, so called, Super Agnus display chip can drive screen modes varying from 320×200 pixels to 1280×512 pixels. As with the original Amiga chipset, up to 32 colors can be displayed from a 12-bit (4096 color) palette at lower display resolutions. An extra-half-bright mode offers 64 simultaneous colors by allowing each of the 32 colors in the palette to be dimmed to half brightness. Additionally, a 4096 color "HAMHold-and-Modify
Hold-And-Modify, usually abbreviated as HAM, is a display mode of the Commodore Amiga computer. It uses a highly unusual technique to express the color of pixels, allowing many more colors to appear on screen than would otherwise be possible....
" mode can be used at lower resolutions. At higher resolutions, such as 800×600i, only 4 simultaneous colors can be displayed.
Sound was unchanged from the original Amiga design, namely, 4 DMA
Direct memory access
Direct memory access is a feature of modern computers that allows certain hardware subsystems within the computer to access system memory independently of the central processing unit ....
-driven 8-bit channels, with two channels for the left speaker and two for the right.
Peripherals and expansion
The A600 features Amiga compatible connectors including two DB9MD-subminiature
The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smaller connectors used on computer systems....
ports for joystick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
s, mice
Mouse (computing)
In computing, a mouse is a pointing device that functions by detecting two-dimensional motion relative to its supporting surface. Physically, a mouse consists of an object held under one of the user's hands, with one or more buttons...
, and light pen
Light pen
A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a computer's CRT TV set or monitor. It allows the user to point to displayed objects, or draw on the screen, in a similar way to a touch screen but with greater positional accuracy...
s, a standard 25-pin RS-232
RS-232
In telecommunications, RS-232 is the traditional name for a series of standards for serial binary single-ended data and control signals connecting between a DTE and a DCE . It is commonly used in computer serial ports...
serial port
Serial port
In computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time...
and a 25-pin Centronics
Centronics
Centronics Data Computer Corporation was a pioneering American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface that bears its name.-The beginning:Centronics began as a division of Wang Laboratories...
parallel port
Parallel port
A parallel port is a type of interface found on computers for connecting various peripherals. In computing, a parallel port is a parallel communication physical interface. It is also known as a printer port or Centronics port...
. As a result, the A600 was compatible with many peripherals available for earlier Amiga models, such as MIDI interfaces, sound samplers
Sampling (signal processing)
In signal processing, sampling is the reduction of a continuous signal to a discrete signal. A common example is the conversion of a sound wave to a sequence of samples ....
and video digitizers.
Expansion capabilities new to the Amiga line were the PCMCIA
PC Card
In computing, PC Card is the form factor of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers. The PC Card standard was defined and developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association which itself was created by a number of computer industry companies in the United States...
Type II slot and the internal 44-pin ATA interface both most commonly seen on laptop
Laptop
A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...
computers. Both interfaces are controlled by the 'Gayle' custom chip. The A600 has internal housing for one 2.5" internal hard disk drive connecting to the ATA controller.
The A600 was the first of only two Amiga models to feature a PCMCIA Type II interface. This connector allows use of a number of compatible peripherals available for the laptop market, though only 16-bit (Type II) PCMCIA cards are hardware compatible, newer 32-bit CardBus or PC Card peripherals are incompatible. The port is not fully compliant with the PCMCIA Type II standard as the A600 was developed before the standard was finalized. The PCMCIA implementation on the A600 is almost identical to the one featured on the later Amiga 1200
Amiga 1200
The Amiga 1200, or A1200 , was Commodore International's third-generation Amiga computer, aimed at the home market...
. A number of Amiga peripherals were released by third-party developers for this connector including SRAM cards, CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
controllers, SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
controllers, network cards, sound samplers
Sampling (signal processing)
In signal processing, sampling is the reduction of a continuous signal to a discrete signal. A common example is the conversion of a sound wave to a sequence of samples ....
and video digitizers. Although PCMCIA was similar in spirit to Commodore's expansion architecture for its earlier systems
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, the intended capability for convenient external expansion through this connector was largely unrealized at the time of release because of the prohibitive expense of PCMCIA peripherals for a budget home computer. Later, a number of compatible laptop peripherals have been made to operate with the A600 including wired and wireless network cards, serial modems and CompactFlash
CompactFlash
CompactFlash is a mass storage device format used in portable electronic devices. Most CompactFlash devices contain flash memory in a standardized enclosure. The format was first specified and produced by SanDisk in 1994...
adaptors.
Operating system
The A600 shipped with AmigaOSAmigaOS
AmigaOS is the default native operating system of the Amiga personal computer. It was developed first by Commodore International, and initially introduced in 1985 with the Amiga 1000...
2.0, consisting of Workbench
Workbench (AmigaOS)
-Overview:Commodore named their Amiga computer's first operating system Workbench 1.0 and continued with the Workbench name until version 3.1, when it was changed to AmigaOS, prompted by Apple renaming their propriety OS from "System" to "MacOS"...
2.0 and a Kickstart
Kickstart (Amiga)
Kickstart is a commonly used term for the bootstrap firmware of the Amiga computers developed by Commodore.Most Amiga models were shipped with the Kickstart firmware stored on ROM chips...
ROM chip numbered as either revision 37.299, 37.300 or 37.350 (Commodore's internal revision numbers). Confusingly, all three ROMs were officially designated as version "2.05". Early revisions of the A600 shipped with Kickstart 37.299, which had neither support for the internal ATA controller, nor for the PCMCIA interface. Although it was possible to load the necessary drivers from a floppy disk, it wasn't possible to boot directly from ATA or PCMCIA devices. Models fitted with Kickstart 37.300 or 37.350 can utilize those devices at boot time. Due to bugs in Kickstart 37.300, the maximum supported size of a hard drive was limited to 40 MB. Everything above this size was a game of chance. In contrast, version 37.350 was capable of supporting hard drives up to 4 GB.
Later, it was possible to buy an updated Workbench 2.1. This features a localization of the operating system in several languages and has a "CrossDOS" driver providing read/write support for FAT (MS-DOS) formatted media, such as, floppy disks or hard drives. It is a pure software update. Kickstart ROMs designated as 2.1 never existed. Workbench 2.1 runs on all Kickstart ROMs of the 2.0x family.
Following release of AmigaOS 3.1 it was possible to upgrade the A600 by installing a compatible revision 40.xx Kickstart ROM.
Specifications
| Attribute | Specification |
|---|---|
| Processor Central processing unit The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in... |
Motorola 68000 Motorola 68000 The Motorola 68000 is a 16/32-bit CISC microprocessor core designed and marketed by Freescale Semiconductor... at 7.16 MHz (NTSC NTSC NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as... ) or 7.09 MHz (PAL PAL PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system... ) |
| RAM | 1 MB Megabyte The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000... Amiga Chip RAM; upgradeable by further 1 MB in "trapdoor" expansion slot Up to 4 MB in PCMCIA PC card In computing, PC Card is the form factor of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers. The PC Card standard was defined and developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association which itself was created by a number of computer industry companies in the United States... slot Up to 32 MB with unofficial expansions |
| ROM Read-only memory Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only... |
512 kB Kilobyte The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information... Kickstart Kickstart (Amiga) Kickstart is a commonly used term for the bootstrap firmware of the Amiga computers developed by Commodore.Most Amiga models were shipped with the Kickstart firmware stored on ROM chips... ROM |
| Chipset | Enhanced Chip Set (ECS) |
| Video | 12-bit color palette (4096 colors) Graphic modes from:
|
| Audio | 4 × 8-bit PCM channels (2 stereo Stereophonic sound The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective... channels) 28–56 kHz maximum DMA Direct memory access Direct memory access is a feature of modern computers that allows certain hardware subsystems within the computer to access system memory independently of the central processing unit .... sampling rate Sampling rate The sampling rate, sample rate, or sampling frequency defines the number of samples per unit of time taken from a continuous signal to make a discrete signal. For time-domain signals, the unit for sampling rate is hertz , sometimes noted as Sa/s... (dependent on video mode in use) 70 dB S/N ratio Signal-to-noise ratio Signal-to-noise ratio is a measure used in science and engineering that compares the level of a desired signal to the level of background noise. It is defined as the ratio of signal power to the noise power. A ratio higher than 1:1 indicates more signal than noise... |
| Removable storage | 3.5" DD Double density Double density, often shortened DD, is a capacity designation on magnetic storage, usually floppy disks. It describes the use of an encoding of information, which can encode on average twice as many bits per time unit compared to single density... floppy disk Floppy disk A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles... drive (880 kB capacity) |
| Internal Storage | 20 or 40 MB 2.5" hard disk drive (A600HD model only) |
| Audio/video out | Analog RGB video out (DB-23M D-subminiature The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smaller connectors used on computer systems.... ) Composite video out (RCA RCA connector An RCA connector, sometimes called a phono connector or cinch connector, is a type of electrical connector commonly used to carry audio and video signals... ) RF RF connector A coaxial RF connector is an electrical connector designed to work at radio frequencies in the multi-megahertz range.RF connectors are typically used with coaxial cables and are designed to maintain the shielding that the coaxial design offers. Better models also minimize the change in transmission... audio/video out (RCA) Audio out (2 × RCA) |
| Input/output ports | 2 × Mouse/Gamepad ports (DE9 D-subminiature The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smaller connectors used on computer systems.... ) RS-232 RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 is the traditional name for a series of standards for serial binary single-ended data and control signals connecting between a DTE and a DCE . It is commonly used in computer serial ports... serial port Serial port In computing, a serial port is a serial communication physical interface through which information transfers in or out one bit at a time... (DB-25M) Centronics style parallel port Parallel port A parallel port is a type of interface found on computers for connecting various peripherals. In computing, a parallel port is a parallel communication physical interface. It is also known as a printer port or Centronics port... (DB-25F) Floppy disk Floppy disk A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles... drive port (DB-23F) 44-pin ATA controller (internal) 16-bit Type II PCMCIA slot |
| Expansion slots | 80-pin expansion slot for 1 MB RAM upgrade |
| Operating system Operating system An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system... |
AmigaOS AmigaOS AmigaOS is the default native operating system of the Amiga personal computer. It was developed first by Commodore International, and initially introduced in 1985 with the Amiga 1000... 2.0 (Workbench Workbench (AmigaOS) -Overview:Commodore named their Amiga computer's first operating system Workbench 1.0 and continued with the Workbench name until version 3.1, when it was changed to AmigaOS, prompted by Apple renaming their propriety OS from "System" to "MacOS"... 2.05 and Kickstart Kickstart (Amiga) Kickstart is a commonly used term for the bootstrap firmware of the Amiga computers developed by Commodore.Most Amiga models were shipped with the Kickstart firmware stored on ROM chips... 2.05) |
| Physical dimensions | 350 × 240 ×75 mm (W × D × H) |
| Other | Integrated keyboard with 78 keys (without numeric keypad) |
Bundled software
In addition to the stock A600, mouse, power supply, and Workbench disks package, the A600 was available with the following software & hardware bundles:- 'Lemmings' bundle (1992): LemmingsLemmings (video game)Lemmings is a puzzle computer game developed by DMA Design and published by Psygnosis in . Originally developed for PC and Commodore Amiga, Lemmings was one of the most popular computer games of its time, and several gaming magazines gave it some of their highest review scores at the time...
and the Electronic ArtsElectronic ArtsElectronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
graphics package Deluxe Paint IIIDeluxe PaintDeluxe Paint is a bitmap graphics editor series originally created by Dan Silva for Electronic Arts .The original version was created for the Commodore Amiga and was released in November 1985...
. - 'Robocop 3D' bundle (1992): Robocop 3D, MythMyth: History in the MakingMyth: History in the Making is a 2D platform game published by British publishing house System 3 for the Commodore 64, Amiga, Amiga CD32, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. It was also released on the NES as "Conan: The Mysteries of Time"...
, Shadow of the Beast III, Graphic Workshop and Microtext - 'Wild, Weird and Wicked' bundle (late 1992, £349 launch price): Formula One Grand Prix, Pushover, Putty and Deluxe Paint IIIDeluxe PaintDeluxe Paint is a bitmap graphics editor series originally created by Dan Silva for Electronic Arts .The original version was created for the Commodore Amiga and was released in November 1985...
- A600HD 'Epic/Language' bundle (1992, £499 launch price): including internal 20 MB hard disk drive, a word processor, Trivial Pursuit, Myth, RomeRome: Pathway to PowerRome: Pathway to Power is an adventure game with strategic elements set in ancient Rome. The objective is to advance a character from a Roman slave throughout the ranks of Roman society and eventually become Caesar.Rome: Pathway to Power used an isometric interface and was based on an engine...
and EpicEpic (computer game)Epic is an action-based space flight simulator game developed by Digital Image Design and published by Ocean Software for the Amiga and Atari ST in early 1992, with ports for the PC DOS and NEC PC-9801 later the same year...
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