#jay miner

🇺🇸 Let's embark on a journey through the captivating history and unique features of the Commodore Amiga 1000—a groundbreaking computer that left an indelible mark on the world of computing.

💾 Introduced in 1985, the Commodore Amiga 1000 heralded a new era of multimedia computing, boasting advanced graphics and audio capabilities ahead of its time. It quickly became a favorite among creative professionals and gaming enthusiasts.

💻 Designed by Jay Miner and his team, the Amiga 1000 featured revolutionary architecture with custom chips for graphics and sound, offering unprecedented performance. Powered by a 7.14 MHz Motorola 68000 CPU, it also ran the unique AmigaOS, renowned for its multitasking capabilities and graphical user interface.

🐕‍🦺 The Amiga 1000's case design was inspired by a lunchbox, giving it a distinctive, compact form. Notably, it's the only model featuring the short-lived Amiga check-mark logo. The case's interior even bears the engraved signatures of the Amiga designers, including Jay Miner and his dog Mitchy's paw print.

🎮 Standout features included the ability to display up to 4096 colors and play stereo sound—unmatched by other personal computers of its time. The Amiga 1000 left a lasting impact, influencing digital art, animation, and video editing industries.

🕹️ A powerhouse for multimedia production, the Amiga 1000 enabled creative exploration for artists, musicians, and video creators. It was also a gaming pioneer, with iconic titles like "Defender of the Crown" and "Lemmings" showcasing its graphical prowess.

🎨 In the summer of 1985, Andy Warhol received his first Amiga 1000 home computer from Commodore International and became an enthusiastic brand ambassador. He famously created digital artworks, including a portrait of Debbie Harry using ProPaint software onstage at Lincoln Center, demonstrating the Amiga's capabilities to a live audience.

The Amiga1000 was introduced in the summer of 1985 and was the first machine in the Amiga family. Commodore acquired the technology through the acquisition of the Amiga company, which was originally developed by engineers Jay Miner and Larry Kaplan who had left Atari.

The goal was to develop a gaming platform with graphics and sound capabilities ahead of its time. This goal was achieved, but in the process, they created a complete computer instead of a game console.

The technical side of things went well enough, but financial problems meant they had to look for an investor, and ended up with Commodore.

The Amiga 1000 was a true multimedia computer. The 7MHz Motorola 68000 (PAL/7.09MHz PAL NTSC/7.16MHz) and 256kB of memory were roughly equivalent to those offered by the competition. In contrast, the 8-bit stereo sound and outstanding color graphics were well ahead of its contemporaries. However, neither the PC, Atari ST, nor even the Apple Macintosh had a multitasking operating system (AmigaOS). (although until the advent of faster machines, this was a disadvantage rather than an advantage) Read more about the story here: Geekometery - Jay Miner & The Amiga Computer

Check these out too if you are interested in retro computing

the iconic "Amiga ball" which seemed like a fantastic thing at the time.

A1000 cover sheet signed by the team members

Amazing Computing December 1997

Signatures of the original Amiga development team inside the A1000 case. The paw print belongs to Mitchy, Jay Miner’s beloved dog, who was always by Jay’s side and was an integral part of the team.