Amiga productivity software
Encyclopedia
With the term "productivity software" (also known as Application software
) is usually intended a category of tools and programs aimed at producing results dedicated to a specific purpose or job and literally it is the kind of tools and applications that are used to produce documents, presentations, databases, charts and graphs, create digital paintings, electronic music, make digital movies, etcetera. Usually the most common productivity tools are in order of importance: word processing
programs, that are used to create digital or printed text documents, immediately followed by spreadsheet
applications that are used to create charts of complex iterative calculations, and databases that are used to manage large amount of any kind of data. Productivity software could run on a computer directly (for example Commodore Plus/4
model of computer contained in ROM
four applications of productivity software) or the software could run hosted into an Operating System
. The existence of productivity software is one of the reasons why people use computers. Productivity software help the professional or common user to enhance and complete their anyday job. There is no computer or operating system that lacks of some sort of productivity software of any kind. It exists productivity software for Windows (see Windows productivity software), MacOS X (see MacOS productivity software), Linux (see Linux productivity software) and so on. This article deals with productivity software created for the Amiga line of computers and covers the AmigaOS
operating system and its derivates AROS
and MorphOS
and is a split of main article Amiga software
.
See also related articles Amiga Internet and communications software
, Amiga music software
, Amiga programming languages
, and Amiga support and maintenance software
for other information regarding software that run on Amiga.
originally supported such prestigious software titles as WordPerfect
, Electronic Arts
' Deluxe Paint
, and Lattice C
. Newtek
's Video Toaster
, one of the first all-in-one graphics and video editing packages, began on the Amiga. The Video Toaster was one of the few accessories for the "big box" Amigas (2000, 3000 and 4000) that used the video slot and enabled users to turn their Amiga into the heart of an entire TV production suite. The later addition of the Video Flyer by Newtek made possible the first non-linear video editing program for the Amiga. The Amiga made 3D raytracing graphics available for the masses with Sculpt 3D
. Before the Amiga, raytracing was only available for dedicated graphic workstations such as the SGI. Other raytracing software also included TurboSilver
. The Amiga was well known for its 3D rendering capability, with many titles being added to the mix as the years went by. Some titles were later ported to Microsoft Windows
and continue to thrive there, such as the rendering software Cinema 4D
from Maxon, and LightWave
from Newtek, which was originally part of the Video Toaster. The Video Toaster itself has even been ported to the Windows platform. LightWave was used for low-cost computer generated special effects during the early 1990s, with Babylon 5
being a notable example of a TV-series utilizing LightWave.
Even Microsoft
produced software for use on the Amiga. AmigaBASIC
, an advanced BASIC software development environment, complete with an integrated development environment (IDE), was written by Microsoft under contract.
and pilot it with DMA
(Direct Memory Access) privileges, and featured Bit Blitter
and Copper circuits capable to move ranges of pixels on the screen and deal directly with the electronic beam of the TV set. It could render graphic screens of various number of colors (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 4096 color HAM modes) starting from 320x200 up to 720x576 pixel graphic pages. Amiga released a vast number of graphic software like Graphicraft, Deluxe Paint
, TVPaint
, Professional Paint, Photon Paint
, Brilliance!
, (a program entirely realized upon the suggestions and wishes of well known computer artist Jim Sachs), Aegis Image, ArtEffect, Personal Paint from Cloanto, Photogenics
, Express Paint, Digi Paint, Perfect Paint, etc.
Amiga systems, new Amigas have no integrated multimedia chipsets. The new Amigas (AmigaONE, AmigaONE XE, Sam 440EP, Pegasos, etcetera), similar to Mac or PC, sport PPC processors, AGP graphic cards, embedded audio AC'97 sound system, and can use PCI
audio cards, even some professional models. The expanded capability of faster CPU performance, and the availability of standard expansion graphic cards, lead to a new generation of graphic software being born for the newer Amiga machines such as Hollywood "Visual Programming Suite"
. This made it also easy to port modern Open Source software like Blender3D.
suite of programs by german software house Airsoft SoftWair is a multimedia and presentation program available for all Amigas (AmigaOS
, MorphOS
, AROS
) and recently, as of 2010, a version of Hollywood became available for Microsoft
Windows as well. It is able to load Scala projects and Microsoft Powerpoint ".PPT
" files. Its module Hollywood Designer is not only a modern multimedia authoring software but also a true complete cross platform multimedia application layer capable of creating whole Amiga programs through a Visual design approach. It also can save executables in various formats: 68k Amiga, WarpUP
, AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS executables and Intel X86 code for AROS
. Recent versions of Hollywood allow for creating executable programs for Intel Windows machines, MacOS X for PPC processors and MacOS X for Intel processors.
was born in 1991, and it was one of the first commercial 32bit graphic software on the market. Latest Amiga version (3.59) was released in 1994 and actually is distributed publicly, but the source code is still proprietary. It is still a valid graphic program, and continues to be used despite its age, due to its ease of use and its vast number of features. Programs like Candy Factory
for AOS 4.0 are designed to create special effects for images, brushes and fonts to create gorgeous internet objects and buttons used in designing web pages. Pixel image editor
, formerly Pixel32 is available for MorphOS. Blender
3D is one of the best Open Source
cross platform software. Also a first pre-release of GIMP
is available on AmigaOS 4.0 through the AmiCygnix X11 graphic engine.
Beginning with release 2.1 in 2008, MorphOS has included its own standard Paint utility called Sketch, simple but powerful, and AROS
has bundled with the last free version of Luna Paint which become actually a commercial paint program for various operating systems.
DR2D. It originated from the fact that Amiga was the first platform on which ran GhostScript
natively, and also IFF DR2D was the original standard for vector graphics generated by Amiga ProVector and later adopted by other applications such as Art Expression and Professional Draw. Foremost used Amiga drawing and vector graphics utilities are Aegis Draw, ProDraw (Professional Draw) from Gold Disk Inc., DrawStudio, Art Expression, ProVector, and for some basic vector graphics, also the tools of Professional Page and PageStream
are useful. The most modern vector graphics programs on Amiga are actually MindSpace
1.1, which is aimed mainly at design flowcharts, mindtables, UML and diagrams, and Steam Draw a 2D simple vector paint program available for MorphOS.
is a collection of command line programs to convert and save various raster(bitmap) image formats from and to Flash SWF
vector animation format.
, XTrace which can run also in AROS
Amiga Open Source clone OS and MorphOS
Amiga-Like system. The Desktop Publishing software PageStream
has a tracing utility as bundled software.
, SVG, CGM
, GEM
, WMF, an example of converting tool that reads many formats and output DR2D is the Amiga program MetaView. It exists also a SVG Datatype to support directly in the OS, on any program, the feature of loading and saving files in SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format.
Comic Setter was an interesting tools to create printed comics by arranging brushes representing comic characters, joining it with background images and superimposing it the right frames and "ballons" with their own text speech and captions. It could then print in color the comics that were created. Comic Setter was an interesting tools to create printed comics by arranging brushes representing comic characters, joining it with background images and superimposing it the right frames and "ballons" with their own text speech and captions. It could then print in color the comics that were created.
Disney Animation Studio was one of the most powerful 2D programs for realizing cartoons. Born on Amiga, this program, equipped also with a complete cell-frame preview feature was used by many cartoon studios worldwide at its age and still used by some several studios in Europe as a useful preview tool.
, TurboSilver
, Aladdin4D
, Videoscape 3D, Caligari, Maxon Cinema4D, Imagine
, LightWave
from Newtek, Vista Pro and World Construction Set 3D terrain rendering programs.
Amiga and its video peripherals (mainly Genlock boxes and digitizing boxes) in the nineties were available at reasonable prices and then this made the Amiga to became one of the professional video market leader platforms. It was also capable of dealing with broadcast video production (Newtek VideoToaster), and in the age around the 1992-1994, despite of the Commodore demise, Amiga knew its golden age as a professional video platform and there were available for Amiga a vast amount of any kind of video software, graphic facilities and reselling of any of gfx and image gallery data files that could be applied to video productions. Amongst these software it is worth mentioning the main Amiga video-editing programs for desktop video
with both linear and non linear editing with 4.2.2 capabilities as the ones from Newtek available with VideoToaster Flyer external module for Video Toaster
and just called NLE! (Non Linear Editing), Amiga MainActor
, Broadcaster Elite, MovieShop for the expansion Amiga cards PAR
, VLab Motion, and VLab Pro.
Notable word processing programs for Amiga included the then-standard WordPerfect
up to version 4.1, Shakespeare, Excellence
, Final Writer, Amiga Writer, Scribble!, ProWrite, Wordworth and the little Personal Write by Cloanto.
The page layout software included Page Setter and Professional Page from Gold Disk, and PageStream
by Soft-Logik, known today as Grasshopper LLC). Only PageStream was ported to other platforms and continues to be developed and supported by the developers. Graphic software included vector drawing applications like Art Expression from Soft-Logik, ProVector by Taliesin, Draw Studio, and Professional Draw from Gold Disk.
Amiga lacked an office suite
as the term is meant now, but integrated software
was available. Pen Pal
was a word processor integrated with a database and a form editor. Scribble!, Analyze! and Organize! were bundled together as the Works! suite combining a word processor, spreadsheet and database. Despite the similarity in name, it had no connection to Microsoft Works
.
The page layout language LaTeX
was available in two ports: AmigaTeX, which is no longer available (the first LaTeX can be edited with a front end program), and PasTEX, available on Aminet
repository.
Modern software AbiWord
is available today on AmigaOS 4.0 through the AmiCygnix X11 graphical engine, and Papyrus Office pre-release is available for MorphOS
.
, Emacs
and MicroEMACS
, Cygnus Editor
also known as CED, and GoldED
, which then evolved in 2006 into Cubic IDE
. The UNIX
ne
editor was initially developed on the Amiga.
Development of Text editors never stopped in Amiga. Since 2001, in MorphOS, a limited edition version of GoldEd called MorphEd is available, and since 2008 Cinnamon Writer and NoWin ED, a universal editor which runs on any Amiga-like platform, are available. Cinnamon Writer is increasing new features to all new releases and aspires to became a full-featured WordProcessor.
and Macintosh
. Logistix (real name LoGisTiX), one of the first spreadsheets for Amiga, Microfiche Filer Plus was a database which gave the user the experience of exploring data as using microfilms. SuperBase
was one of the finest programs available for C64
. It was then ported on Atari
, Amiga, and later on PC
. But on Amiga, it would become a standard reference, available in two versions Superbase Personal and SuperBase Professional It could handle SQL
databases and had a query internal language such as BASIC
. It was capable of creating forms and masks on records and handling multimedia files into its records years before Microsoft Access
. Superbase also featured VCR control style buttons to browse records of any database. Softwood File II was another simple multimedia database which then evolved into Final Data, a good database available for Amiga from Softwood Inc. From the same firm there was Final Calc spreadsheet which evolved from TurboCalc ,which Softwood bought from another software manufacturer. ProChart was a tool to draw flow charts and diagrams. Analyze! was a fairly full featured (for the time) spreadsheet developed for the Amiga. Organize! was a flat file database package. Gnumeric
spreadsheet has also been ported on Amiga through an X11 engine called AmiCygnix.
In recent times MUIBase was born and mainly cross-platform MySQL
database language became a reference on Amiga also. SQLite
, a self-contained, embeddable, zero-configuration SQL database engine, can also be found available on AmigaOS 4.0/4.1.
In February 2010, Italian programmer Andrea Palmatè ported IODBC
standard to AmigaOS 4.X.
is one of the best general purpose mathematics software (a.k.a. Mathematic-CAD) ever made. It was available for Amiga also, and appreciated by many scientists using Amiga in its time. Distant Suns, Galileo, Digital Almanac and Amiga Digital Universe (from Bill Eaves for the OS4) were stellar sky exploring programs and astronomic calculators. During the age of CDTV
many historic, science, and art CDs like Timetable of Science, Innovation, Timetable of Business, Politics, Grolier's Encyclopedia, Guinness Disk of Records, Video Creator, American Heritage Dictionary, Illustrated Holy Bible, Illustrated Works of Shakespeare, etc. were available.
all the series of Barney Bear
software, the Discovery series, including Discovery trivia, Donald's Alphabet Chase, Mickey's 123's and Mickey's ABC's by Disney Software, the Electric Crayon
and Ferngully series of educational coloring book software (Ferngully was taken from the animation movie), Fun School
series of disks, Kid Pix
set of disks from the well known Broderbund Software house, which was famous in the nineties, Miracle Piano Teaching System to teach music to kids, various tales of Mother Goose
, and World Atlas by Centaur Software.
experience programs ever made on Amiga, if not on any platform. In 1989 the X-Specs 3D Glasses from Haitex Resources, one of the first interactive 3D solutions for home computers were created. Also created on Amiga, were the multimedia interactive TV non immersive Virtual reality
exploring software Mandala from Vivid Group Inc., and the Virtuality System
Virtuality 1000 CS 3D VRML all-immersive simulator from W-Industries (then Virtuality Inc.), for game entertainment in big arcade installations and theme parks, based on A3000.
Magellan v.1.1 (Artificial Intelligence Software), not to be confused with Directory Opus Magellan, was a program to emulate Artificial intelligence
responses on Amiga, by creating heuristic programmed rules based on machine learning
in its form of supervised learning
. The user would choose into decision tree
s and decision tables system of AI featured by the Magellan program, in which to input objects, and desired outputs and describe all associate conditions and rules which the machine should follow in order to output pseudo-intelligent solutions to given problems.
by Frédéric Rignault.
, CashMaster, Counting House, etc.
system originally developed by "Black Belt Systems" (USA) around 1990 for the Amiga home computer popular all over the world before the IBM PC family gained sufficient audio quality with the help of special sound cards.
Richmond Sound Design
(RSD) created both show control
(a.k.a. MSC or "MIDI Show Control
") and theatre sound design
software which was used extensively in the theatre, theme park, display, exhibit, stage managing, show and themed entertainment industries in the 1980s and 1990s and at one point in the mid 90s, there were many high profile shows at major theme parks around the world being controlled by Amigas through software simply called Stage Manager which then evolved into its Microsoft Windows version called ShowMan
. There were dozens at Walt Disney World alone and more at all other Disney
, Universal Studios
, Six Flags
and Madame Tussauds
properties as well as in many venues in Las Vegas including The Mirage
hotel Volcano and Siegfried and Roy show, the MGM Grand
EFX show, Broadway theatre
, London's West End
, the Royal Shakespeare Company
's many venues, most of Branson, Missouri
's theatres, and scores of theatres on cruise ships, amongst hundreds of others. RSD purchased used Amigas on the web and reconditioned them to provide enough systems for all the shows that specified them and only stopped providing new Amiga installations in 2000. There are still an unknown number of shows on cruise ships and in themed venues being run by Amigas.
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
) is usually intended a category of tools and programs aimed at producing results dedicated to a specific purpose or job and literally it is the kind of tools and applications that are used to produce documents, presentations, databases, charts and graphs, create digital paintings, electronic music, make digital movies, etcetera. Usually the most common productivity tools are in order of importance: word processing
Word processing
Word processing is the creation of documents using a word processor. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter.-External links:...
programs, that are used to create digital or printed text documents, immediately followed by spreadsheet
Spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper accounting worksheet. It displays multiple cells usually in a two-dimensional matrix or grid consisting of rows and columns. Each cell contains alphanumeric text, numeric values or formulas...
applications that are used to create charts of complex iterative calculations, and databases that are used to manage large amount of any kind of data. Productivity software could run on a computer directly (for example Commodore Plus/4
Commodore Plus/4
The Commodore Plus/4 was a home computer released by Commodore International in 1984. The "Plus/4" name refers to the four-application ROM resident office suite ; it was billed as "the productivity computer with software built-in"...
model of computer contained in 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...
four applications of productivity software) or the software could run hosted into an 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...
. The existence of productivity software is one of the reasons why people use computers. Productivity software help the professional or common user to enhance and complete their anyday job. There is no computer or operating system that lacks of some sort of productivity software of any kind. It exists productivity software for Windows (see Windows productivity software), MacOS X (see MacOS productivity software), Linux (see Linux productivity software) and so on. This article deals with productivity software created for the Amiga line of computers and covers the 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...
operating system and its derivates AROS
Aros
Aros may refer to:*Aros , a river in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium*AROS Research Operating System, a free software implementation of AmigaOS* Aros, the original Viking name of Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark...
and MorphOS
MorphOS
MorphOS is an Amiga-compatible computer operating system. It is a mixed proprietary and open source OS produced for the Pegasos PowerPC processor based computer, PowerUP accelerator equipped Amiga computers, and a series of Freescale development boards that use the Genesi firmware, including the...
and is a split of main article Amiga software
Amiga software
Amiga software covers a wide range of software for the Amiga computer, both productivity and games, commercial, freeware and hobbyist. The Amiga software market was particularly active in the late 1980s and early 1990s but has since the period 1996/1999 dwindled into almost only a hobbyist...
.
See also related articles Amiga Internet and communications software
Amiga Internet and communications software
This article is a split of main article Amiga software and refers to any communication and internet software that run on Amiga line of computers.See also related articles Amiga productivity software, Amiga music software, Amiga programming languages, Amiga support and maintenance software for other...
, Amiga music software
Amiga music software
This article deals with music software created for the Amiga line of computers and covers the AmigaOS operating system and its derivates AROS and MorphOS and is a split of main article Amiga software....
, Amiga programming languages
Amiga programming languages
This article deals with programming languages used in the Amiga line of computers, running the AmigaOS operating system and its derivatives AROS and MorphOS...
, and Amiga support and maintenance software
Amiga support and maintenance software
Support and maintenance software are those programs that perform service utilities on a computer. These services could be various ones, such as format media to be used with a specific filesystem, diagnose any failure that could occur on that media, recover the data after the failure of the media,...
for other information regarding software that run on Amiga.
History
The AmigaAmiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
originally supported such prestigious software titles as WordPerfect
WordPerfect
WordPerfect is a word processing application, now owned by Corel.Bruce Bastian, a Brigham Young University graduate student, and BYU computer science professor Dr. Alan Ashton joined forces to design a word processing system for the city of Orem's Data General Corp. minicomputer system in 1979...
, Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic 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...
' Deluxe Paint
Deluxe Paint
Deluxe 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...
, and Lattice C
Lattice C
Lattice C was the first C compiler for MS-DOS on the IBM PC, in 1982. It was ported to many other platforms, such as mainframes , minicomputers , workstations , OS/2, the Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and the Sinclair QL.The compiler was subsequently repackaged by Microsoft under a distribution...
. Newtek
NewTek
NewTek, Inc. is a San Antonio, Texas-based hardware and software company that produces live and post-production video tools and visual imaging software for personal computers...
's Video Toaster
Video Toaster
The NewTek Video Toaster is a combination of hardware and software for the editing and production of standard-definition and high-definition video in NTSC, PAL, and resolution independent formats on Commodore Amiga computers and subsequently on computers running the Windows operating system...
, one of the first all-in-one graphics and video editing packages, began on the Amiga. The Video Toaster was one of the few accessories for the "big box" Amigas (2000, 3000 and 4000) that used the video slot and enabled users to turn their Amiga into the heart of an entire TV production suite. The later addition of the Video Flyer by Newtek made possible the first non-linear video editing program for the Amiga. The Amiga made 3D raytracing graphics available for the masses with Sculpt 3D
Sculpt 3D
Sculpt 3D is a raytrace application released in October 1987 for Amiga computers programmed by Eric Graham. Sculpt 3D was the first ray tracing application released for the Amiga computers. It proved that raytracing could be done on home computers as well as on mainframes...
. Before the Amiga, raytracing was only available for dedicated graphic workstations such as the SGI. Other raytracing software also included TurboSilver
TurboSilver
TurboSilver was one of the original 3D raytracing software packages available for the Amiga and for personal computers in general. It was first revealed by its creator Impulse at the October 1986 AmiEXPO. Beaten to the line by Sculpt 3D which was released in July 1986.November 1987 saw the release...
. The Amiga was well known for its 3D rendering capability, with many titles being added to the mix as the years went by. Some titles were later ported to Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and continue to thrive there, such as the rendering software Cinema 4D
Cinema 4D
CINEMA 4D is a 3D modeling, animation and rendering application developed by MAXON Computer GmbH of Friedrichsdorf, Germany. It is capable of procedural and polygonal/subd modeling, animating, lighting, texturing, rendering, and common features found in 3d modelling applications.- Overview:The...
from Maxon, and LightWave
LightWave
LightWave 3D is a high end computer graphics program developed by NewTek. The latest release of LightWave runs on Windows and Mac OS X.- Overview:...
from Newtek, which was originally part of the Video Toaster. The Video Toaster itself has even been ported to the Windows platform. LightWave was used for low-cost computer generated special effects during the early 1990s, with Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
being a notable example of a TV-series utilizing LightWave.
Even Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
produced software for use on the Amiga. AmigaBASIC
AmigaBASIC
AmigaBASIC was an interpreted BASIC programming language implementation for the Amiga, designed and written by Microsoft. AmigaBASIC shipped with AmigaOS versions 1.1 to 1.3...
, an advanced BASIC software development environment, complete with an integrated development environment (IDE), was written by Microsoft under contract.
Graphics software
Amiga had its beginnings in 1985 with a strong attitude for graphics, more so than other PCs of its age due to its peculiar hardware, and its multimedia chipset. The graphical chip Agnus could access directly RAMRam
-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
and pilot it with 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 ....
(Direct Memory Access) privileges, and featured Bit Blitter
Blitter
In a computer system, a blitter is a circuit, sometimes as a coprocessor or a logic block on a microprocessor, that is dedicated to the rapid movement and modification of data within that computer's memory...
and Copper circuits capable to move ranges of pixels on the screen and deal directly with the electronic beam of the TV set. It could render graphic screens of various number of colors (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 4096 color HAM modes) starting from 320x200 up to 720x576 pixel graphic pages. Amiga released a vast number of graphic software like Graphicraft, Deluxe Paint
Deluxe Paint
Deluxe 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...
, TVPaint
TVPaint
TVP Animation is a 2D, bitmap-based digital animation software package, developed and distributed by TVPaint Developpement ....
, Professional Paint, Photon Paint
Photon Paint
Photon Paint is a Hold-And-Modify based bitmap graphics editor for the Commodore Amiga, first released in 1987. It was programmed by Oren Peli, Eyal Ofek & Amir Zbeda at Bazbo Soft and published by MicroIllusions....
, Brilliance!
Brilliance (graphics editor)
Brilliance is a bitmap graphics editor for the Amiga computer, published by Digital Creations in 1993. Although marketed as a single package, Brilliance in reality consisted of two separate applications. One was a register-based package also named Brilliance...
, (a program entirely realized upon the suggestions and wishes of well known computer artist Jim Sachs), Aegis Image, ArtEffect, Personal Paint from Cloanto, Photogenics
Photogenics
Photogenics is raster graphic editing software produced by Idruna Software.- Features :Photogenics can work with different color models like CMYK and HDR. HDR formats which are supported include OpenEXR, TIFF, Alias, Cineon/PDX, and so on...
, Express Paint, Digi Paint, Perfect Paint, etc.
Graphic applications on new Amigas
Unlike CommodoreCommodore 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...
Amiga systems, new Amigas have no integrated multimedia chipsets. The new Amigas (AmigaONE, AmigaONE XE, Sam 440EP, Pegasos, etcetera), similar to Mac or PC, sport PPC processors, AGP graphic cards, embedded audio AC'97 sound system, and can use PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect
Conventional PCI is a computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer...
audio cards, even some professional models. The expanded capability of faster CPU performance, and the availability of standard expansion graphic cards, lead to a new generation of graphic software being born for the newer Amiga machines such as Hollywood "Visual Programming Suite"
Hollywood (programming language)
Hollywood is a commercially distributed programming language developed by Andreas Falkenhahn which mainly focuses on the creation of multimedia-oriented applications. Hollywood is available for AmigaOS , AmigaOS 4 , MorphOS, WarpOS, AROS and Windows...
. This made it also easy to port modern Open Source software like Blender3D.
Visual programming
HollywoodHollywood (programming language)
Hollywood is a commercially distributed programming language developed by Andreas Falkenhahn which mainly focuses on the creation of multimedia-oriented applications. Hollywood is available for AmigaOS , AmigaOS 4 , MorphOS, WarpOS, AROS and Windows...
suite of programs by german software house Airsoft SoftWair is a multimedia and presentation program available for all Amigas (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...
, MorphOS
MorphOS
MorphOS is an Amiga-compatible computer operating system. It is a mixed proprietary and open source OS produced for the Pegasos PowerPC processor based computer, PowerUP accelerator equipped Amiga computers, and a series of Freescale development boards that use the Genesi firmware, including the...
, AROS
Aros
Aros may refer to:*Aros , a river in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium*AROS Research Operating System, a free software implementation of AmigaOS* Aros, the original Viking name of Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark...
) and recently, as of 2010, a version of Hollywood became available for Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Windows as well. It is able to load Scala projects and Microsoft Powerpoint ".PPT
PPT
- Organizations :* Parti progressiste tchadien, a political party active in Chad between 1947 and 1973* Patria Para Todos, a left-wing political party in Venezuela* Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, an international opinion tribunal founded in Bologna, 1979...
" files. Its module Hollywood Designer is not only a modern multimedia authoring software but also a true complete cross platform multimedia application layer capable of creating whole Amiga programs through a Visual design approach. It also can save executables in various formats: 68k Amiga, WarpUP
WarpUP
WarpUP is a high-speed kernel for PowerPC versions of Amiga.WarpUP forms a hardware abstraction layer between the hardware and software, and ensures that the applications function correctly on PowerPC architecture...
, AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS executables and Intel X86 code for AROS
Aros
Aros may refer to:*Aros , a river in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium*AROS Research Operating System, a free software implementation of AmigaOS* Aros, the original Viking name of Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark...
. Recent versions of Hollywood allow for creating executable programs for Intel Windows machines, MacOS X for PPC processors and MacOS X for Intel processors.
Modern graphic software
There are fairly modern, recent graphic software that is available for new generation Amiga machines, and some are still usable on legacy Amiga classic platforms. TV PaintTVPaint
TVP Animation is a 2D, bitmap-based digital animation software package, developed and distributed by TVPaint Developpement ....
was born in 1991, and it was one of the first commercial 32bit graphic software on the market. Latest Amiga version (3.59) was released in 1994 and actually is distributed publicly, but the source code is still proprietary. It is still a valid graphic program, and continues to be used despite its age, due to its ease of use and its vast number of features. Programs like Candy Factory
Candy Factory
Candace Kane's Candy Factory is an action video game for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS and Wii. The game lets players take the role of a factory-manager working for Candace or Colin Kane, two hard working and friendly candy makers, to fix up the factory in order to make their way to the Candy Cup...
for AOS 4.0 are designed to create special effects for images, brushes and fonts to create gorgeous internet objects and buttons used in designing web pages. Pixel image editor
Pixel image editor
Pixel Image Editor is an Image editor written by the Slovak programmer Pavel Kanzelsberger. It is written with Free Pascal.-Features:...
, formerly Pixel32 is available for MorphOS. Blender
Blender (software)
Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software product used for creating animated films, visual effects, interactive 3D applications or video games. The current release version is 2.60, and was released on October 19, 2011...
3D is one of the best Open Source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
cross platform software. Also a first pre-release of GIMP
GIMP
GIMP is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool and is freely available in versions tailored for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux.In addition to detailed image retouching and...
is available on AmigaOS 4.0 through the AmiCygnix X11 graphic engine.
Beginning with release 2.1 in 2008, MorphOS has included its own standard Paint utility called Sketch, simple but powerful, and AROS
Aros
Aros may refer to:*Aros , a river in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium*AROS Research Operating System, a free software implementation of AmigaOS* Aros, the original Viking name of Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark...
has bundled with the last free version of Luna Paint which become actually a commercial paint program for various operating systems.
Graphic utilities
As in any Operating Systems there can't exists only bitmap and vector paint software. All around these main software aimed at creating drawings directly by an author, or aimed at manipulating existing image files it exists a vast market of graphic utilities with peculiar features created in order to support main graphic programs. For example in Amiga it existed very professional software and it is noteworthy to mention at least some the most important and widely used into Amiga market like Cinematte, CineMorph, Morph Plus, Impact!, Essence, Magic Lantern and Pixel 3D Pro, that were only some of the most notorious ones in the vast range of graphic utilities that could be purchased by skilled and professional users of Amiga platform in its golden age. Cinematte utility allow the user to easily make complex photo-realistic composites of subjects that are photographed against a bluescreen, or green screen background. It uses the same sophisticated techniques used worldwide in motion picture technology for precise bluescreen compositing. CineMorph it is a program to automatically create morphing effects between two given original images, and create a compound third image, or even all the animation movie associated with the morphing effect. Morph Plus performed same effects as Cinemorph. Impact! created physics simulation in 3D scenes. Essence was a texture maker to apply textures on 3D surfaces of objects created by 3D tracing programs. Amiga Magic Lantern was a true color animation compressor and player for the Amiga, Pixel 3D Pro utility it was used to create models for 3D objects and save it in various 3D formats, or to transform any model object from a 3D file format to another.Vector graphics
Common widely used format for vector graphics in Amiga are EPS and IFFInterchange File Format
Interchange File Format , is a generic container file format originally introduced by the Electronic Arts company in 1985 in order to ease transfer of data between software produced by different companies....
DR2D. It originated from the fact that Amiga was the first platform on which ran GhostScript
Ghostscript
Ghostscript is a suite of software based on an interpreter for Adobe Systems' PostScript and Portable Document Format page description languages.- Features :...
natively, and also IFF DR2D was the original standard for vector graphics generated by Amiga ProVector and later adopted by other applications such as Art Expression and Professional Draw. Foremost used Amiga drawing and vector graphics utilities are Aegis Draw, ProDraw (Professional Draw) from Gold Disk Inc., DrawStudio, Art Expression, ProVector, and for some basic vector graphics, also the tools of Professional Page and PageStream
PageStream
PageStream is a desktop publishing software package by Grasshopper LLC , currently available for a variety of operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and Amiga...
are useful. The most modern vector graphics programs on Amiga are actually MindSpace
Mindspace
Mindspace is a full-service advertising, public relations and interactive agency based in Tempe, Arizona. Founded in 2002, the firm specializes in brand development, strategic planning, interactive marketing, public relations, advertising, channel marketing and new media.Mindspace has won dozens of...
1.1, which is aimed mainly at design flowcharts, mindtables, UML and diagrams, and Steam Draw a 2D simple vector paint program available for MorphOS.
Flash and SWF
SWFToolsSWFTools
SWFTools is an Open Source software tool suite for creating and manipulating SWF files. Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, it may be compiled from C source, to run under Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Apple Mac OSX...
is a collection of command line programs to convert and save various raster(bitmap) image formats from and to Flash SWF
SWF
SWF is an Adobe Flash file format used for multimedia, vector graphics and ActionScript. Originating with FutureWave Software, then transferred to Macromedia, and then coming under the control of Adobe, SWF files can contain animations or applets of varying degrees of interactivity and function.,...
vector animation format.
Tracing software
On AmigaOS are available the widely used free distributable vector to graphics conversion facilities Autotrace, PotracePotrace
Potrace is an open-source, cross-platform computer program which converts bitmapped images into vector graphics. It is written and maintained by Peter Selinger....
, XTrace which can run also in AROS
Aros
Aros may refer to:*Aros , a river in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium*AROS Research Operating System, a free software implementation of AmigaOS* Aros, the original Viking name of Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark...
Amiga Open Source clone OS and MorphOS
MorphOS
MorphOS is an Amiga-compatible computer operating system. It is a mixed proprietary and open source OS produced for the Pegasos PowerPC processor based computer, PowerUP accelerator equipped Amiga computers, and a series of Freescale development boards that use the Genesi firmware, including the...
Amiga-Like system. The Desktop Publishing software PageStream
PageStream
PageStream is a desktop publishing software package by Grasshopper LLC , currently available for a variety of operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and Amiga...
has a tracing utility as bundled software.
DXF, EMF, SVG file formats
Various programs can read DXF (almost all Amiga CAD programs), EMFEMF
- Music :* EMF , a British band** "EMF", a bonus track on EMF's album Schubert Dip* E.M.F. , a 1983 album by GG Allin* English Music Festival, a British music festival- Organizations :...
, SVG, CGM
Computer Graphics Metafile
Computer Graphics Metafile is a free and open international standard file format for 2D vector graphics, raster graphics, and text, and is defined by ISO/IEC 8632.-Overview:...
, GEM
GEM
-Broadcasting and entertainment:* G.E.M., a pop singer from Hong Kong* GEM , an Australian free-to-air TV Channel* Gem , stylized as GEM, an indie rock band from Utrecht, The Netherlands...
, WMF, an example of converting tool that reads many formats and output DR2D is the Amiga program MetaView. It exists also a SVG Datatype to support directly in the OS, on any program, the feature of loading and saving files in SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format.
Computer aided design
At its beginning Amiga was considered a very powerful graphic platform and it could be afforded at a reasonable price rather than other professional solutions, and, in fact, it had been released various CAD programs available for it, such as X-CAD, IntelliCAD, DynaCaDD, MaxonCAD, IntroCAD, and even programs to design and test electronic circuits, such as ElektroCAD.Animation, Comics and Cartoons
Due to the peculiar capabilities of Amiga in multimedia, and the features of the blit blitter circuit, Amiga was capable of performig advanced animation and video authoring at professional level in the eighties, and thus it was created a vast amount of software which filled also this segment of the professional video editing market. For Amiga there were available animation programs like: Aegis Animator, Lights!Camera!Action!, DeLuxe Video, Disney Animation Studio, versions later than 3 of Deluxe Paint, The Director (a BASIC-like language oriented to animation), Scala, Vision from Commodore itself, VisualFX from ClassX, Adorage Multi Effect program from Pro DAD, Millennium from Nova Design. ImageFX, and Art Department Pro.Comic Setter was an interesting tools to create printed comics by arranging brushes representing comic characters, joining it with background images and superimposing it the right frames and "ballons" with their own text speech and captions. It could then print in color the comics that were created. Comic Setter was an interesting tools to create printed comics by arranging brushes representing comic characters, joining it with background images and superimposing it the right frames and "ballons" with their own text speech and captions. It could then print in color the comics that were created.
Disney Animation Studio was one of the most powerful 2D programs for realizing cartoons. Born on Amiga, this program, equipped also with a complete cell-frame preview feature was used by many cartoon studios worldwide at its age and still used by some several studios in Europe as a useful preview tool.
Authoring and VideoFX
in its golden age Amiga can count on a vast range of animation and video authoring software; Aegis Animator, Lights!Camera!Action!, DeLuxe Video, Disney Animation Studio, versions later than 3 of Deluxe Paint, The Director (a BASIC-like language oriented to animation), Scala, Amiga Vision from Commodore itself, VisualFX from ClassX, Adorage Multi Effect program from Pro DAD, Millennium from Nova Design. ImageFX, and Art Department Pro.3D modeling, rendering and animation
3D rendering and animation software includes Sculpt 3DSculpt 3D
Sculpt 3D is a raytrace application released in October 1987 for Amiga computers programmed by Eric Graham. Sculpt 3D was the first ray tracing application released for the Amiga computers. It proved that raytracing could be done on home computers as well as on mainframes...
, TurboSilver
TurboSilver
TurboSilver was one of the original 3D raytracing software packages available for the Amiga and for personal computers in general. It was first revealed by its creator Impulse at the October 1986 AmiEXPO. Beaten to the line by Sculpt 3D which was released in July 1986.November 1987 saw the release...
, Aladdin4D
Aladdin4D
Aladdin4D is a software program for modeling and rendering three-dimensional graphics and animations, for the Amiga platform. Aladdin 4D was originally created by Greg Gorby at Adspec Programing in Ohio, and was an updated version of an earlier 3D program called Draw4D Pro, which integrated...
, Videoscape 3D, Caligari, Maxon Cinema4D, Imagine
Imagine (3D modeling software)
Imagine was the name of a cutting edge 3D modeling and raytracing program, originally for the Amiga computer and later also for MSDOS and Microsoft Windows. It was created by Impulse, Inc. It used the .iob extension for its objects. Imagine was a derivative of the software TurboSilver, which was...
, LightWave
LightWave
LightWave 3D is a high end computer graphics program developed by NewTek. The latest release of LightWave runs on Windows and Mac OS X.- Overview:...
from Newtek, Vista Pro and World Construction Set 3D terrain rendering programs.
Amateur and professional video editing
Amiga was one of the first commercial computer platform to allow amateur and professional video editing, due to its capability in connecting to TV sets, and deal with Chroma-Key, Genlock signal, at full screen with overscan features, and a good noise-gain ratio.Amiga and its video peripherals (mainly Genlock boxes and digitizing boxes) in the nineties were available at reasonable prices and then this made the Amiga to became one of the professional video market leader platforms. It was also capable of dealing with broadcast video production (Newtek VideoToaster), and in the age around the 1992-1994, despite of the Commodore demise, Amiga knew its golden age as a professional video platform and there were available for Amiga a vast amount of any kind of video software, graphic facilities and reselling of any of gfx and image gallery data files that could be applied to video productions. Amongst these software it is worth mentioning the main Amiga video-editing programs for desktop video
Desktop video
Desktop video refers to a phenomenon lasting from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s when the graphics capabilities of personal computers such as Commodore's Amiga, the Apple Macintosh II and specially-upgraded IBM PC compatibles had advanced to the point where individuals and local broadcasters...
with both linear and non linear editing with 4.2.2 capabilities as the ones from Newtek available with VideoToaster Flyer external module for Video Toaster
Video Toaster
The NewTek Video Toaster is a combination of hardware and software for the editing and production of standard-definition and high-definition video in NTSC, PAL, and resolution independent formats on Commodore Amiga computers and subsequently on computers running the Windows operating system...
and just called NLE! (Non Linear Editing), Amiga MainActor
MainActor
MainActor was video editing software from MainConcept for Windows and since July 15, 2004 also forLinux. The last version was 5.5, being available for SuSE 10.1 and Ubuntu6 distributions . In the beginning the software was written on the Amiga....
, Broadcaster Elite, MovieShop for the expansion Amiga cards PAR
Par
-In golf:* Par is a predetermined number of strokes that a scratch golfer should require to complete a hole.* Par , scoring format for golf used as an alternative to Stableford and stroke play-In television, video and on stage:...
, VLab Motion, and VLab Pro.
Word processing and page layout
While desktop video proved to be a major market for the Amiga, a surge of word processing, page layout and graphic software filled out the professional needs starting from the first Amiga text program Textcraft which was a mix between a real word processor and an advanced text editor, but capable of changing page layouts, fonts, enlarging or reducing their width, changing their colors and adding color images to the text.Notable word processing programs for Amiga included the then-standard WordPerfect
WordPerfect
WordPerfect is a word processing application, now owned by Corel.Bruce Bastian, a Brigham Young University graduate student, and BYU computer science professor Dr. Alan Ashton joined forces to design a word processing system for the city of Orem's Data General Corp. minicomputer system in 1979...
up to version 4.1, Shakespeare, Excellence
Excellence (software)
Excellence was a word processor for the Amiga computer, created by Micro-Systems Software as a follow-up to their earlier Scribble! word processor. The primary author was Steve Pagliarulo. It was one of the first WYSIWYG word processors for the Amiga.After the initial release there were two...
, Final Writer, Amiga Writer, Scribble!, ProWrite, Wordworth and the little Personal Write by Cloanto.
The page layout software included Page Setter and Professional Page from Gold Disk, and PageStream
PageStream
PageStream is a desktop publishing software package by Grasshopper LLC , currently available for a variety of operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and Amiga...
by Soft-Logik, known today as Grasshopper LLC). Only PageStream was ported to other platforms and continues to be developed and supported by the developers. Graphic software included vector drawing applications like Art Expression from Soft-Logik, ProVector by Taliesin, Draw Studio, and Professional Draw from Gold Disk.
Amiga lacked an office suite
Office suite
In computing, an office suite, sometimes called an office software suite or productivity suite is a collection of programs intended to be used by knowledge workers...
as the term is meant now, but integrated software
Integrated software
Integrated software is software for personal computers that combines the most commonly used functions of many productivity software programs into one application....
was available. Pen Pal
Pen pal
Pen pals are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail.-Purposes:A penpal relationship is often used to practice reading and writing in a foreign language, to improve literacy, to learn more about other countries and life-styles, and to make friendships...
was a word processor integrated with a database and a form editor. Scribble!, Analyze! and Organize! were bundled together as the Works! suite combining a word processor, spreadsheet and database. Despite the similarity in name, it had no connection to Microsoft Works
Microsoft Works
Microsoft Works is an integrated package software that is produced by Microsoft. Works is smaller, less expensive, and has fewer features than Microsoft Office or other major office suites. Its core functionality includes a word processor, a spreadsheet and a database management system...
.
The page layout language LaTeX
LaTeX
LaTeX is a document markup language and document preparation system for the TeX typesetting program. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as . The term LaTeX refers only to the language in which documents are written, not to the editor used to write those documents. In order to...
was available in two ports: AmigaTeX, which is no longer available (the first LaTeX can be edited with a front end program), and PasTEX, available on Aminet
Aminet
Aminet is the world's largest archive of Amiga-related software and files. Aminet was originally hosted by several universities' FTP sites, and is now available on CD-ROM and on the web.-History:...
repository.
Modern software AbiWord
AbiWord
AbiWord is a free and open source software word processor. It was originally started by SourceGear Corporation as the first part of a proposed AbiSuite. Development stopped when SourceGear changed their focus to Internet appliances. AbiWord was adopted by some open source developers and AbiWord...
is available today on AmigaOS 4.0 through the AmiCygnix X11 graphical engine, and Papyrus Office pre-release is available for MorphOS
MorphOS
MorphOS is an Amiga-compatible computer operating system. It is a mixed proprietary and open source OS produced for the Pegasos PowerPC processor based computer, PowerUP accelerator equipped Amiga computers, and a series of Freescale development boards that use the Genesi firmware, including the...
.
Text editors
Most advanced Text editors available on Amiga are VimVim (text editor)
Vim is a text editor written by Bram Moolenaar and first released publicly in 1991. Based on the vi editor common to Unix-like systems, Vim is designed for use both from a command line interface and as a standalone application in a graphical user interface...
, Emacs
Emacs
Emacs is a class of text editors, usually characterized by their extensibility. GNU Emacs has over 1,000 commands. It also allows the user to combine these commands into macros to automate work.Development began in the mid-1970s and continues actively...
and MicroEMACS
MicroEMACS
MicroEMACS is a small, portable Emacs-like text editor originally written by Dave Conroy in 1985, and further developed and maintained by Daniel M. Lawrence...
, Cygnus Editor
CygnusEd
CygnusEd is a text editor for the Amiga OS and MorphOS. It was developed in 1986-1987 by Bruce Dawson, Colin Fox and Steve LaRocque who were working for CygnusSoft Software...
also known as CED, and GoldED
Cubic IDE
Cubic IDE is a modular development environment for AmigaOS and MorphOS. Its central editor is GoldED 8, which supports file type centric configuration....
, which then evolved in 2006 into Cubic IDE
Cubic IDE
Cubic IDE is a modular development environment for AmigaOS and MorphOS. Its central editor is GoldED 8, which supports file type centric configuration....
. The UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
ne
Ne (text editor)
ne is a console text editor for POSIX computer operating systems such as Linux or Mac OS X. It uses the terminfo library, but it can also be compiled using a bundled copy of the GNU termcap implementation. There is also a Cygwin version...
editor was initially developed on the Amiga.
Development of Text editors never stopped in Amiga. Since 2001, in MorphOS, a limited edition version of GoldEd called MorphEd is available, and since 2008 Cinnamon Writer and NoWin ED, a universal editor which runs on any Amiga-like platform, are available. Cinnamon Writer is increasing new features to all new releases and aspires to became a full-featured WordProcessor.
Database and spreadsheets
In the first age of Amiga (1986–1989) there were cross-platform spreadsheets available, such as MaxiPlan, which was available also for MS-DOSMS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
and Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
. Logistix (real name LoGisTiX), one of the first spreadsheets for Amiga, Microfiche Filer Plus was a database which gave the user the experience of exploring data as using microfilms. SuperBase
Superbase database
Superbase is an end-user desktop database program that started on the Commodore PET and was ported from that to various operating systems over the course of more than 20 years...
was one of the finest programs available for C64
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...
. It was then ported on Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
, Amiga, and later on PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
. But on Amiga, it would become a standard reference, available in two versions Superbase Personal and SuperBase Professional It could handle SQL
SQL
SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....
databases and had a query internal language such as BASIC
BASIC
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
. It was capable of creating forms and masks on records and handling multimedia files into its records years before Microsoft Access
Microsoft Access
Microsoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsoft Office suite of...
. Superbase also featured VCR control style buttons to browse records of any database. Softwood File II was another simple multimedia database which then evolved into Final Data, a good database available for Amiga from Softwood Inc. From the same firm there was Final Calc spreadsheet which evolved from TurboCalc ,which Softwood bought from another software manufacturer. ProChart was a tool to draw flow charts and diagrams. Analyze! was a fairly full featured (for the time) spreadsheet developed for the Amiga. Organize! was a flat file database package. Gnumeric
Gnumeric
Gnumeric is a spreadsheet program that is part of the GNOME Free Software Desktop Project. Gnumeric version 1.0 was released December 31, 2001. Gnumeric is distributed as free software under the GNU GPL license; it is intended to replace proprietary and other spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft...
spreadsheet has also been ported on Amiga through an X11 engine called AmiCygnix.
In recent times MUIBase was born and mainly cross-platform MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
database language became a reference on Amiga also. SQLite
SQLite
SQLite is an ACID-compliant embedded relational database management system contained in a relatively small C programming library. The source code for SQLite is in the public domain and implements most of the SQL standard...
, a self-contained, embeddable, zero-configuration SQL database engine, can also be found available on AmigaOS 4.0/4.1.
In February 2010, Italian programmer Andrea Palmatè ported IODBC
IODBC
iODBC is an open source initiative managed by OpenLink Software. It is a platform-independent ODBC SDK and runtime offering that enables the development of ODBC-compliant applications and drivers outside the Windows platform...
standard to AmigaOS 4.X.
Science, entertainment and special use programs
Maple VMaple (software)
Maple is a general-purpose commercial computer algebra system. It was first developed in 1980 by the Symbolic Computation Group at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada....
is one of the best general purpose mathematics software (a.k.a. Mathematic-CAD) ever made. It was available for Amiga also, and appreciated by many scientists using Amiga in its time. Distant Suns, Galileo, Digital Almanac and Amiga Digital Universe (from Bill Eaves for the OS4) were stellar sky exploring programs and astronomic calculators. During the age of CDTV
CDTV
The CDTV was a multimedia platform developed by Commodore International and launched in 1991. On a technological level it was essentially a Commodore Amiga 500 home computer in a Hi-Fi style case with a single-speed CD-ROM drive. Commodore marketed the machine as an all-in-one home multimedia...
many historic, science, and art CDs like Timetable of Science, Innovation, Timetable of Business, Politics, Grolier's Encyclopedia, Guinness Disk of Records, Video Creator, American Heritage Dictionary, Illustrated Holy Bible, Illustrated Works of Shakespeare, etc. were available.
Entertainment
For Amiga there were literally hundreds of entertainment software. Some notable programs for kids and learning were: Adventures in Math series of floppy disks, from Free Spirit Software, Animal Kingdom series of disks from Unicorn Software, Art SchoolArt school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...
all the series of Barney Bear
Barney Bear
Barney Bear was a series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio. The titular character was an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a sluggish, sleepy bear who often is in pursuit of nothing but peace and quiet....
software, the Discovery series, including Discovery trivia, Donald's Alphabet Chase, Mickey's 123's and Mickey's ABC's by Disney Software, the Electric Crayon
Electric Crayon
Electric Crayon was a digital coloring company founded by Steve Buccellato, Marc Siry and Douglas Rosen in 1992. Based in Santa Monica, California, Electric Crayon mainly served the US comic book industry, providing digital color separations for many popular Marvel, DC, and Image titles, including...
and Ferngully series of educational coloring book software (Ferngully was taken from the animation movie), Fun School
Fun School
Fun School is the name of a series of educational packages developed and published in the United Kingdom by Europress Software, initially as Database Educational Software.-Under 6 Years:...
series of disks, Kid Pix
Kid Pix
Kid Pix is a bitmap drawing program aimed at children. Originally created by Craig Hickman, it was first released for the Macintosh in 1989 and subsequently published in 1991 by Brøderbund...
set of disks from the well known Broderbund Software house, which was famous in the nineties, Miracle Piano Teaching System to teach music to kids, various tales of Mother Goose
Mother Goose
The familiar figure of Mother Goose is an imaginary author of a collection of fairy tales and nursery rhymes which are often published as Mother Goose Rhymes. As a character, she appears in one "nursery rhyme". A Christmas pantomime called Mother Goose is often performed in the United Kingdom...
, and World Atlas by Centaur Software.
Fractals, virtual reality, artificial intelligence
ZoneXplorer from Elena Novaretti is considered amongst Amiga users one of the best fractalFractal
A fractal has been defined as "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity...
experience programs ever made on Amiga, if not on any platform. In 1989 the X-Specs 3D Glasses from Haitex Resources, one of the first interactive 3D solutions for home computers were created. Also created on Amiga, were the multimedia interactive TV non immersive Virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
exploring software Mandala from Vivid Group Inc., and the Virtuality System
Virtuality (gaming)
Virtuality is a line of virtual reality gaming machines produced by Virtuality Group, and found in video arcades in the late 1990s. The machines deliver real time gaming via a stereoscopic visor, joysticks, and networked units for multi-player gaming.Initially introduced in 1991, the systems were...
Virtuality 1000 CS 3D VRML all-immersive simulator from W-Industries (then Virtuality Inc.), for game entertainment in big arcade installations and theme parks, based on A3000.
Magellan v.1.1 (Artificial Intelligence Software), not to be confused with Directory Opus Magellan, was a program to emulate Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
responses on Amiga, by creating heuristic programmed rules based on machine learning
Machine learning
Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, is a scientific discipline concerned with the design and development of algorithms that allow computers to evolve behaviors based on empirical data, such as from sensor data or databases...
in its form of supervised learning
Supervised learning
Supervised learning is the machine learning task of inferring a function from supervised training data. The training data consist of a set of training examples. In supervised learning, each example is a pair consisting of an input object and a desired output value...
. The user would choose into decision tree
Decision tree
A decision tree is a decision support tool that uses a tree-like graph or model of decisions and their possible consequences, including chance event outcomes, resource costs, and utility. It is one way to display an algorithm. Decision trees are commonly used in operations research, specifically...
s and decision tables system of AI featured by the Magellan program, in which to input objects, and desired outputs and describe all associate conditions and rules which the machine should follow in order to output pseudo-intelligent solutions to given problems.
Route planning
AmiATLAS v.6, was a complete Route planner tool for Amiga computers. It provided worldwide interactive maps and found optimal routes for traveling from one place to another. It also featured multiple map loading, an integrated CityGuide-System with information to interesting towns, places or regions, some even with pictures, and information about many parks and points of interest.Personal organizer, notebook, diary software
Digita Organizer v.1.1 from Digita International was the best Amiga program to let the user to note about dates, meetings, remember expiry dates, etcetera. PolyOrga for MorphOSMorphOS
MorphOS is an Amiga-compatible computer operating system. It is a mixed proprietary and open source OS produced for the Pegasos PowerPC processor based computer, PowerUP accelerator equipped Amiga computers, and a series of Freescale development boards that use the Genesi firmware, including the...
by Frédéric Rignault.
Personal budget, home banking, accounts
Easy Banker, Home Accounts, Small Business Accounts, Small Business Manager, Account Master, Accountant, AmigaMoney, Banca Base III, HomeBankHomeBank
HomeBank is a personal accounting software package that runs on Linux, FreeBSD, Microsoft Windows and AmigaOS.Released under the GNU General Public License, HomeBank is free software...
, CashMaster, Counting House, etc.
Software for special purposes
AVT (Amiga Video Transceiver), was a software and hardware Slow-scan televisionSlow-scan television
Slow-scan television is a picture transmission method used mainly by amateur radio operators, to transmit and receive static pictures via radio in monochrome or color.A technical term for SSTV is narrowband television...
system originally developed by "Black Belt Systems" (USA) around 1990 for the Amiga home computer popular all over the world before the IBM PC family gained sufficient audio quality with the help of special sound cards.
Richmond Sound Design
Richmond Sound Design
Richmond Sound Design Ltd. is a theatre sound design and show control systems and software developer and manufacturer. It was founded in 1972 by Charlie Richmond. The company began as a manufacturer of specialty mixers and theatre sound design consoles...
(RSD) created both show control
Show control
Show control is the use of automation technology to link together and operate multiple entertainment control systems in a coordinated manner. It is distinguished from entertainment control , which coordinates elements within a single entertainment discipline such as lighting, sound, video, rigging...
(a.k.a. MSC or "MIDI Show Control
MIDI Show Control
MIDI Show Control, or MSC, is a significant Real Time System Exclusive extension of the international Musical Instrument Digital Interface standard...
") and theatre sound design
Sound design
Sound design is the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating audio elements. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking, television production, theatre, sound recording and reproduction, live performance, sound art, post-production and video game software...
software which was used extensively in the theatre, theme park, display, exhibit, stage managing, show and themed entertainment industries in the 1980s and 1990s and at one point in the mid 90s, there were many high profile shows at major theme parks around the world being controlled by Amigas through software simply called Stage Manager which then evolved into its Microsoft Windows version called ShowMan
ShowMan
ShowMan is show control software developed by Richmond Sound Design. It supersedes the original Amiga show control software named Stage Manager and is capable of reading shows created by that application. Show control is the use of technology to link together and operate multiple entertainment...
. There were dozens at Walt Disney World alone and more at all other Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
, Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, Six Flags
Six Flags
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is the world's largest amusement park corporation based on quantity of properties and the fifth most popular in terms of attendance. The company maintains 14 properties located throughout North America, including theme parks, thrill parks, water parks and family...
and Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud and was formerly known as "Madame Tussaud's", but the apostrophe is no longer used...
properties as well as in many venues in Las Vegas including The Mirage
The Mirage
The Mirage is a 3,044 room hotel and casino resort located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States.The Mirage is connected by a free tram to Treasure Island. The marquee in front of the Mirage is the largest free standing marquee in the world.-History:The Mirage was built by...
hotel Volcano and Siegfried and Roy show, the MGM Grand
MGM Grand Las Vegas
The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The MGM Grand is the third largest hotel in the world and largest hotel resort complex in the United States in front of The Venetian. The MGM Grand was the largest hotel in the world when it opened in...
EFX show, Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, London's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
's many venues, most of Branson, Missouri
Branson, Missouri
Branson is a city in Taney County in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was named after Reuben Branson, postmaster and operator of a general store in the area in the 1880s....
's theatres, and scores of theatres on cruise ships, amongst hundreds of others. RSD purchased used Amigas on the web and reconditioned them to provide enough systems for all the shows that specified them and only stopped providing new Amiga installations in 2000. There are still an unknown number of shows on cruise ships and in themed venues being run by Amigas.
- Notes:
- An interesting interview to Italian Cartoon Studio Strane Mani is available at Amiworld.it (In Italian language).
- Info on Virtuality at Amiga Hardware site