The Amiga 600, also known as the A600, and full title Commodore Amiga 600, is a

home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became 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 s ...

introduced in March 1992. It is the final Amiga model based on the

Motorola 68000 The Motorola 68000 (sometimes shortened to Motorola 68k or m68k and usually pronounced "sixty-eight-thousand") is a 16/32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, introduced in 1979 by Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector ...

and the 1990

Amiga Enhanced Chip Set The Enhanced Chip Set (ECS) is the second generation of the Amiga computer's chipset, offering minor improvements over the original chipset (OCS) design. ECS was introduced in 1990 with the launch of the Amiga 3000. Another version was developed a ...

. A redesign of the

Amiga 500 Plus The Amiga 500, also known as the A500, was the first popular version of the Amiga home computer, "redefining the home computer market and making so-called luxury features such as multitasking and colour a standard long before Microsoft or Apple ...

, it adds the option of an internal

hard disk drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

and a PCMCIA port. Lacking a

numeric keypad A numeric keypad, number pad, numpad, or ten key, is the calculator-style group of ten numeric keys accompanied by other keys, usually on the far right side of computer keyboard. This grouping allows quick number entry with right hand, ...

, the A600 is only slightly larger than an

IBM PC keyboard The Keyboard (computing), keyboard for IBM PC-compatible computers is standardized. However, during the more than 30 years of PC architecture being frequently updated, many keyboard layout variations have been developed. A well-known class of IB ...

, weighing approximately 6 pounds (2.72kg). It shipped with

AmigaOS AmigaOS is a family of proprietary native operating systems of the Amiga and AmigaOne personal computers. It was developed first by Commodore International and introduced with the launch of the first Amiga, the Amiga 1000, in 1985. Early versions ...

2.0, which was considered more user-friendly than earlier versions of the operating system. Like the A500, the A600 was aimed at the lower end of the market. Commodore intended it to revitalize sales of the A500-related line before the introduction of the 32-bit

Amiga 1200 The Amiga 1200, or A1200 (code-named " Channel Z"), is a personal computer in the Amiga computer family released by Commodore International, aimed at the home computer market. It was launched on October 21, 1992, at a base price of £399 in the ...

. According to Dave Haynie, the A600 "was supposed to be cheaper than the A500, but it came in at about that much more expensive."Haynie, Dave
"Re: Amiga CPU is similar to Mac CPU"

Usenet Usenet (), a portmanteau of User's Network, is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose UUCP, Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Elli ...

(comp.sys.mac.hardware.misc). Posted 4 November 2002, article retrieved from

Google Groups Google Groups is a service from Google that provides discussion groups for people sharing common interests. Until February 2024, the Groups service also provided a gateway to Usenet newsgroups, both reading and posting to them, via a shared user ...

archive on 9 November 2006. The A600 was originally to have been numbered the A300, positioning it as a lower-budget version of the Amiga 500 Plus. An A600HD model was sold with an internal 2.5" ATA hard disk drive of either 20 or 40 MB. Due to the inclusion of Kickstart 2.05, many software titles made for A1000 or A500 do not work properly or at all on A600 or later. A program, Relokick, was released (and included with the March 1993 issue of

CU Amiga ''Commodore User'', (also referred to as ''CU'') later renamed to ''CU Amiga'', is a British magazine initially published by Paradox Group before being acquired by EMAP. Timeline ''Commodore User'' was launched in October 1983 with an initial pr ...

) which loaded a Kickstart 1.3

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

image into memory and booted the machine into Kickstart 1.3, allowing most incompatible software to run. Because Relokick itself occupies 512 KB of memory, some titles would not work unless the A600 was fitted with a 1 MB trapdoor memory expansion.

Development and release

Commodore Business Machines began the process of drastically changing its management in late 1990, when

Irving Gould Irving Gould (1919–2004) was a Canadian businessman credited with both saving and sinking Commodore. Commodore was originally formed in Canada and initially produced mechanical typewriters and calculators. In 1965, Jack Tramiel, Commodore's fou ...

, its CEO and chairman, laid off six of its high-level executives. In the spring of 1991, Mehdi Ali, a former investment banker at Prudential Investments, was promoted to president of Commodore, and continued a program he started in 1989 involving cuts to the budget and staff, mostly from the sales and manufacturing divisions. After the release of the Amiga 3000T, Commodore's next project was a next-generation Amiga chipset, which became the

Advanced Graphics Architecture Amiga Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA) is the third-generation Amiga graphic chipset, first used in the Amiga 4000 in 1992. Before release AGA was codenamed Pandora by Commodore International. AGA was originally called AA for Advanced Archi ...

(AGA). Concurrently, engineers Dave Haynie, Jeff Porter, and Eric Lavitsky began work on Amiga 3000+, which would have been the first computer to use the AGA chipset, and Joe Augenbraun was behind the Amiga 1000+, which also would have used the chipset. Meanwhile, George Robbins designed another low-end project called the Amiga 300. The computer, codenamed '' June Bug'', had a floppy drive built in and was roughly the same size and weight as a

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

. Development took a turn on all three projects when Ali dismissed the engineering management team and appointed former IBM executive Bill Sydnes as the company's engineering manager. Sydnes canceled the A1000+ and A3000+ models and delayed the AGA chipset, but simply changed the A300's design goals. The model was launched in mid-March 1992 as the Amiga 600, superseding the A500. Units were manufactured in Commodore's production plants in

Irvine, Scotland Irvine ( ;
; ) is a town and former

Braunschweig, Germany; Kwai Chung, Hong Kong; and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. In the United States, it and its

variant, the Amiga 600HD, sold for and , respectively, the former of which was about $50 more than an A500 while the two systems were on sale, although the A600 was supposed to be sold for about that much less. Snydes canceled the still-popular A500 that year to ensure demand for the new system, and development on the Amiga series stalled for the first six months as he and Ali focused on targeting the PC marketplace while selling the new model. The Amiga 600 was discontinued in late 1993. The machine is reported to have sold 193,000 units in Germany.

Bundled software

In addition to the stock A600, mouse, power supply, and Workbench disk package, the A600 was available with the following software and hardware bundles: *'Lemmings' bundle (1992): ''

Lemmings A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also incl ...

'' and the

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

graphics package '' Deluxe Paint III'' *'Robocop 3D' bundle (1992): ''Robocop 3D'', ''

Myth Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

'', '' 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 PuTTY () is a free and open-source terminal emulator, serial console and network file transfer application. It supports several network protocols, including SCP, SSH, Telnet, rlogin, and raw socket connection. It can also connect to a se ...

'' and '' Deluxe Paint III'' * A600HD 'Epic/Language' bundle (late 1992, £499 launch price): including an internal 20 MB hard disk drive, ''Deluxe Paint III'', a word processor, ''

Trivial Pursuit ''Trivial Pursuit'' is a board game in which winning is determined by a player's ability to answer trivia and popular culture questions. Players move their pieces around a board, the squares they land on determining the subject of a question the ...

'', ''

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

'' and ''

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

Technical information

The A600 shipped with a

CPU, running at 7.09 MHz (

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

) or 7.16 MHz (

NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...

) and 1 MB "chip" RAM with 80 ns access time.

Graphics and sound

The A600 is the last Amiga model to use Commodore's

Enhanced Chip Set The Enhanced Chip Set (ECS) is the second generation of the Amiga computer's chipset, offering minor improvements over the original chipset (OCS) design. ECS was introduced in 1990 with the launch of the Amiga 3000. Another version was developed ...

(ECS), which can address 2 MB of

Amiga Chip RAM Chip RAM is a commonly used term for the integrated RAM used in Commodore's line of Amiga computers. Chip RAM is shared between the central processing unit (CPU) and the Amiga's dedicated chipset (hence the name). It was also, rather misleadingly, k ...

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, with different frequency sync. 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 "

HAM Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term '' ...

" 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. The A600 was the first Amiga model since the original Amiga 1000 with built-in color composite video (RCA), which allowed the A600 to be used with a standard CRT television without the need for a Commodore A520 RF Modulator adaptor.

Peripherals and expansion

The A600 features Amiga-specific connectors including two DB9M ports for

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, 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. Also known as the control column, it is the principal control devic ...

mice A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

, and

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 cathode-ray tube (CRT) display. It allows the user to point to displayed objects or draw on the screen in a similar way to a to ...

s, a standard 25-pin

RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such as a compu ...

serial port A serial port is a serial communication Interface (computing), interface through which information transfers in or out sequentially one bit at a time. This is in contrast to a parallel port, which communicates multiple bits simultaneously in Pa ...

and a 25-pin

Centronics Centronics Data Computer Corporation was an American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface that bears its name, the Centronics connector. History Foundations Centronics began as a divisio ...

parallel port In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers ( personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once (paralle ...

. As a result, the A600 is compatible with many peripherals available for earlier Amiga models, such as

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

, sound samplers and video-capture devices. Expansion capabilities new to the Amiga line were the

PCMCIA The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) was an industry consortium of computer hardware manufacturers from 1989 to 2009. Starting with the PCMCIA card in 1990 (the name later simplified to ''PC Card''), it created v ...

Type II slot and the internal 44-pin ATA interface both most commonly seen on

laptop A laptop computer or notebook computer, also known as a laptop or notebook, is a small, portable personal computer (PC). Laptops typically have a Clamshell design, clamshell form factor (design), form factor with a flat-panel computer scree ...

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 is 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-computer market, although only 16-bit PCMCIA cards are hardware-compatible; newer 32-bit PC Card (CardBus) peripherals are incompatible. Mechanically, only Type I and Type II cards fit in the slot; thicker Type III cards will not fit (although they may connect if the A600 is removed from its original case). The port is also 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 a later Amiga, the 1200. A number of Amiga peripherals were released by third-party developers for this connector including SRAM cards,

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

controllers,

SCSI Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, ) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices, best known for its use with storage devices such as hard disk drives. SCSI was introduced ...

controllers, network cards, sound samplers, and video-capture devices. 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 lower-budget personal computer. Later, a number of compatible laptop-computer peripherals have been made to operate with the A600, including network cards (both wired and wireless), serial modems and

CompactFlash CompactFlash (CF) is a flash memory mass storage device used mainly in portable electronic devices. The format was specified and the devices were first manufactured by SanDisk in 1994. CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the e ...

adapters.

Operating system

The A600 shipped with

2.0, consisting of

Workbench A workbench is a sturdy table at which manual work is done. They range from simple flat surfaces to very complex designs that may be considered tools in themselves. Workbenches vary in size from tiny jewellers benches to the huge benches used by ...

2.0 and a Kickstart ROM revision 37.299, 37.300 or 37.350 (Commodore's internal revision numbers). Confusingly, all three ROM revisions were officially designated as version "2.05". Some early A600s shipped with Kickstart 37.299, which had neither support for the internal ATA controller, nor for the PCMCIA interface. Although it is possible to load the necessary drivers from floppy disk, it is not 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. Version 37.350 improved compatibility with ATA hard disks by increasing the wait time for disks to spin up during boot.

Specifications

Upgrades

CPU

Despite that the 68000 is soldered to the motherboard, unofficial CPU upgrades include the Motorola

68000 The Motorola 68000 (sometimes shortened to Motorola 68k or m68k and usually pronounced "sixty-eight-thousand") is a 16/32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, introduced in 1979 by Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector ...

(at higher clock speeds than the default 7.16 MHz or 7.09 MHz),

68010 The Motorola MC68010 and Motorola MC68012 are 16/32-bit microprocessors from Motorola, released in 1982 as successors to the Motorola 68000. The 68010 and 68012 added virtualization features, optimized loops and fixed several small flaws to the ...

68020 The Motorola 68020 is a 32-bit microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1984. A lower-cost version was also made available, known as the 68EC020. In keeping with naming practices common to Motorola designs, the 68020 is usually referred to as t ...

(at up to 25 MHz),

68030 The Motorola 68030 ("''sixty-eight-oh-thirty''") is a 32-bit microprocessor in the Motorola 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 ge ...

(at up to 50 MHz) and

FPGA A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is a type of configurable integrated circuit that can be repeatedly programmed after manufacturing. FPGAs are a subset of logic devices referred to as programmable logic devices (PLDs). They consist of a ...

-based processors which are programmed to utilize the Motorola 680x0 instruction set. The processor is upgraded not by replacing the 68000, but rather by fitting a connector over the CPU and commandeering the system bus.

Memory

RAM can be upgraded to a maximum of 2 MB Chip RAM using the trap-door expansion slot. An additional 4 MB of Fast RAM can be added in the

PC Card PC Card is a technical standard specifying an expansion card interface for laptops and personal digital assistants, PDAs. The PCMCIA originally introduced the 16-bit Industry Standard Architecture, ISA-based PCMCIA Card in 1990, but renamed it to ...

slot using a suitable SRAM card to reach a capacity of 6 MB. However, additional 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 512 MB.

Operating system

It is possible to upgrade the A600 to 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 In nutrition science, nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such chemical compound, compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food. The term often refers specif ...

(MS-DOS)-formatted media such as floppy disks or hard drives. Workbench 2.1 was a software only update which runs on all Kickstart ROMs of the 2.0x family. Following the release of AmigaOS 3.1 in 1994 it is possible to upgrade the A600 by installing a compatible revision 40.63 Kickstart ROM. The A600 also supports AmigaOS 3.2.x, which is maintained by Hyperion Entertainment. This requires the installation of a compatible revision 47.96 Kickstart ROM and additional memory over and above the default 1 MB.

Other

The

-driven Apollo Vampire V2 adds 128 MB Fast RAM,

HDMI High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary digital interface used to transmit high-quality video and audio signals between devices. It is commonly used to connect devices such as televisions, computer monitors, projectors, gam ...

output, SD card for HDD storage and a 64-bit core with full 32-bit compatibility. Additionally, the Apollo Manticore (Apollo Vampire V4) adds 512 MB DD3 RAM (500Mb Fast RAM and 12Mb Chip RAM),

output, SD card for HDD storage (this device cannot be booted from), 64-bit "68080" core with full 32-bit compatibility, 2 x

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...

ports, 8/16-bit, 56 kHz, 24-bit audio with 16 DMA voices, 44-pin FastIDE for

Compact Flash CompactFlash (CF) is a flash memory mass storage device used mainly in portable electronic devices. The format was specified and the devices were first manufactured by SanDisk in 1994. CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the ea ...

or 2.5" IDE hard disk support, 10/100 RJ45

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

port, RTC support and RTG video capable of 3D graphics up to 1920x1080 resolution at 60Hz. The Apollo Manticore also includes a "Super AGA" FPGA-driven chipset. Apart from providing RTG, it allows the Amiga 600 to run AGA software titles which would normally only run on the

Amiga 4000 The Amiga 4000, or A4000, from Commodore is the successor of the Amiga 2000 and Amiga 3000 computers. There are two models: the A4000/040 released in October 1992 with a Motorola 68040 CPU, and the A4000/030 released in April 1993 with a M ...

or Amiga 4000T.

Reception

Contemporaneous reviews of the Amiga 600 were mixed. The magazine ''Amazing Computing'' called it "an Amiga Warrior that offers an enormous opportunity to Amiga computing and the consumer market", saying that it struck a balance between two markets of cartridge-based game consoles and home and business computers. It wrote that the changes to the model were incremental, rather than revolutionary, as only its design was substantially revised and not the Amiga computer itself—an important consideration for potential buyers who already owned an Amiga 500. The decision to solder all circuitry other than the ROM chip on the motherboard, it said, allowed Commodore to manufacture a model that was more compact and more reliable, albeit with new hurdles on internal upgrading. The PCMCIA slot was viewed as an advantageous measure eliminating almost all possibilities of

software piracy Online piracy or software piracy is the practice of downloading and distributing copyrighted works digitally without permission, such as music, movies or software. History Nathan Fisk traces the origins of modern online piracy back to similar ...

, and while the magazine noted that a majority of expansion hardware for the A500 would not work with this model, it believed the same community that reversed the expansion hardware's A1000 ports for use by A500 systems would supply the A600 with many peripherals. ''

Amiga Computing ''Amiga Computing'' is a discontinued monthly computer magazine Computer magazines are about computers and related subjects, such as networking and the Internet. Most computer magazines offer (or offered) advice, some offer programming ...

'' reviewed the original and hard drive models and was more favorable to the latter. It found that the A600 model performed about as fast as an Amiga 500 Plus computer, but it praised the A600HD variant's use of a hard drive as offering the user more storage space and functionality than any other low-end Amiga model. Regarding both models, it praised the addition of an RF port, but criticized the power supply brick as the only impediment to the computers' advertised portability. It considered compatibility issues arising from software requiring the numeric keypad to be insignificant. However, while writing that the move to use surface-mounted technology made the computer more reliable and less prone to error, it conceded that it also meant that attempts to upgrade it internally had more obstacles. It also criticized the lack of the DMA expansion slot. Nevertheless, the magazine predicted that the A600HD model would capture the hobbyist market and stimulate the production of hard drive-installable games. Conversely, editor-in-chief of '' Amiga World'' Doug Barney took a more negative stance on the A600. He similarly criticized the need for the power brick, and also questioned Commodore's design choices, in particular, removing the expansion slot, retaining the Motorola 68000 processor, and replacing an A501 connector with an A601 one, although not minding the loss of the numeric keypad. He further took issue with the barriers to upgrading the machine internally. He said the model was best suited for users who needed to travel with it and are not interested in expanding their systems but saw no incentive for users who wanted upgradeability. Internal reception among Commodore employees was also negative. The managing director of Commodore UK, David Pleasance, described the A600 as a "complete and utter screw-up". Disgruntled Commodore engineers nicknamed the model the "Amiga Junior", a reference to Sydnes' previous project of which he was in charge while at IBM, the

IBM PCjr The IBM PCjr (pronounced "PC junior") was a home computer produced and marketed by IBM from March 1984 to May 1985, intended as a lower-cost variant of the IBM PC with hardware capabilities better suited for video games, in order to compete mor ...

, which was a critical and commercial failure. Nonetheless, in Germany, it became the second-best-selling Amiga model, with 193,000 units sold. Dave Haynie, who worked as a senior engineer for Commodore, described the new features the A600 provided as bloat and noted its compatibility issues with A500 peripherals and lack of numeric keypad. Another Commodore engineer Bil Herd, pointed to a disconnect between the company's design team, its marketing team, and the demands of the marketplace. ''

Ars Technica ''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...

'' considers it to be the worst of Commodore's Amiga models, citing its higher price and fewer features compared to the Amiga 500, while also noting that markets were overstocked with A600 units at the same time that the more popular A500 and A1200 models were under-manufactured.

References

Works cited

* * Karl Foster (ed), "10 Totally Amazing Euro-Amiga Facts", ''

Amiga Format ''Amiga Format'' was a British monthly computer magazine for Amiga computers, published by Future Publishing. The magazine lasted 136 issues from 1989 to 2000. The magazine was formed when Future split '' ST/Amiga Format'' into two separate pub ...

'', Annual 1993, p 55.

External links

History page

The Extreme A600 Upgrade Page

A600 specifications and motherboard photos

* ttp://www.amiga-stuff.com/hardware/ Amiga-Stuff hardware information
Famous Amiga Uses
{{Commodore International Amiga 68000-based home computers Computer-related introductions in 1992

Development and release

Bundled software

Technical information

Graphics and sound

Peripherals and expansion

Operating system

Specifications

Upgrades

CPU

Memory

Operating system

Other

Reception

See also

References

Works cited

External links