Commodore Amiga 600
After being on sale for only a few months the Amiga 500 Plus was replaced with the Amiga 600 in March 1992.
The smallest Amiga ever made, it is similar in size to a laptop and weighs just 6 lbs. Originally the A600 was to be sold alongside the A500+ as a budget model to be named the Amiga 300, but instead replaced the A500+ which required a name change.
Very early models of the A600 have A300 printed on their motherboards, an indication of the confusion that was taking hold at Commodore after the surprise launch of the A500+. These early models also have a slightly different version of AmigaOS (although it is still version 2.05, it has the internal revision number 37.299) which doesn't have built-in support for the IDE or PCMCIA interfaces, the drivers for which must be loaded from a floppy disk. Later revisions of the AmigaOS (versions 37.300 & 37.350) have these drivers built-in.
The small size of the A600 also added to the incompatibility problems of the A500+. The numeric keypad had been removed from the A600 and this added hardware incompatibility to the already existing AmigaOS incompatibilities. Problems occurred with software that used the numeric keypad for inputs, mostly flight sims but also things like spreadsheets or office software, although a numeric keypad emulator was later released to address this problem.
As usual with the Amiga there were a number of official and unofficial bundles were available, with prices starting at ?99. Also released was the Amiga 600HD which included a built-in hard drive.
But with the release of the powerful new Amiga 1200 later the same year, and at the same price as the A600, a great opportunity was missed. By this time sales of the Amiga's great rival the Atari ST were slowing considerably and instead of marketing the A600 as a budget machine (as it should have been originally), it was effectively pushed out of the market thanks to competition from Commodore themselves.
主要参数编辑本段回目录
| Released: | March 1992 |
| Price: | US $500 |
| CPU: | Motorola 68000 @ 7.16MHz |
| RAM: | 1MB stock |
| Display: | 32 colors @ 320x200 |
| 4,096 colors in HAM mode | |
| 640x400 maximum resolution | |
| Ports: | parallel, serial, floppy, audio |
| RGB video, mouse/joystick | |
| Expansion: | trapdoor, PCMCIA slot |
| Storage: | 880K 3.5-inch floppy |
| optional internal 20MB/40MB HD | |
| OS: | AmigaDOS 2.05 |
| "Workbench" GUI |
 |  |
| NAME | Amiga 600 |
| MANUFACTURER | Commodore |
| TYPE | Home Computer |
| ORIGIN | U.S.A. |
| YEAR | March 1992 |
| END OF PRODUCTION | 1993 |
| KEYBOARD | Built-in keyboard, 78 keys |
| CPU | Motorola MC68000 |
| SPEED | 7.09379 MHz (PAL) 7.15909 MHz (NTSC) |
| CO-PROCESSOR | ECS based chipset: 8375 Fat Agnus (memory controller and blitter), 8373 ECS Denise (video control chip), 8364R7 Paula (sound & I/O), Gayle (I/O, IDE interface) |
| RAM | 1 MB Chip RAM, expandable to 6 MB max (2 MB Chip RAM + 4 MB Fast RAM) |
| ROM | Kickstart 2.05: 512 KB |
| GRAPHIC MODES | 320x256, 320x512, 640x256, 640x480, 640x512, 1280x200, 1280x256 |
| COLORS | Palette: 4096 On screen: 4 in 1280 modes, 16 in 640 modes, 32 in 320 modes, 64 in EHB, 4096 in HAM |
| SOUND | 4 channel 8 bit PCM, stereo output |
| SIZE / WEIGHT | 14'' deep x 9.5'' wide x 3'' high / 6 lbs |
| I/O PORTS | RS-232 serial port, Centronics parallel port, external disk interface, 2x RCA audio, PCMCIA/JEIDA card interface, IDE hard drive interface, composite video out, RF out, 2x Atari joystick/mouse ports |
| BUILT IN MEDIA | 3.5'' floppy disk drive |
| OS | Workbench 2.05 |
| POWER SUPPLY | External PSU |
| PRICE | ?99 (U.K. 1992) |
详解编辑本段回目录
The Amiga 600 was the smallest Amiga computer ever released, as well as the last system in the Amiga "16-bit" line.
This was the first Amiga to use "surface-mount technology", reducing manufacturing costs and improving reliability.
The inclusion of the now-familiar PCMCIA expansion slot, yet another first for the Amiga line, potentially allowed unlimited expansion opportunities.
Although the internal chipset had been updated from the OCS to ECS allowing for more memory and better graphics, the Amiga 600 had the same processor as the original Amiga 1000 from 1985 (seven years earlier) running at the same speed.
The advanced construction and new features of the Amiga 600 were not enough to make it a success. Intended as a new, low-cost Amiga for the masses, the slow and out-of-date architecture and relatively high price deemed it a failure in the marketplace.
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相关网站编辑本段回目录
参考文献编辑本段回目录
http://oldcomputers.net/amiga600.html
http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/computer.asp?c=64
http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/computer.asp?c=64
