Amiga 600
The smallest Amiga: no numeric keypad, with PCMCIA and an internal hard drive.
The 1992 Amiga 600 is a compact, surface-mount ECS Amiga, with a PCMCIA port and room for a 2.5-inch IDE drive. It was conceived as a cheap Amiga and ended up competing with the A500 Plus itself.
A pocket-sized Amiga
The A600, codenamed June Bug, started life as a low-cost Amiga, the A300, to replace the A500. Along the way it gained the number 600 and a price close to the A500 Plus, which was still on sale. It reached the shops in 1992.
It is much smaller: the keyboard lost its numeric keypad, the case is 35 cm wide and the board is almost entirely surface-mount components, which lowered the manufacturing cost.
Inside
It is still a 68000 at 7.09 MHz with the ECS chipset and 1 MB of Chip RAM. The new features are in the connections: a Type II PCMCIA port (for memory cards, networking and later CompactFlash cards with an adapter) and an IDE controller for a 2.5" drive inside the case, both handled by a new chip, Gayle.
The Kickstart is 2.05. It lost the A500's side expansion connector; in exchange, the trapdoor takes the A604, with memory and a clock. The A600HD version came with a hard drive already fitted.
On the bench
The A600 is very popular today: it is small, quiet and easily takes CompactFlash cards in place of the hard drive. But it has an Achilles' heel shared with the A1200, the CD32 and the A4000: surface-mount electrolytic capacitors, which over the years leak electrolyte onto the board and corrode traces, especially around the audio and video sections.
Trivia
- 10 REM
It is the only classic Amiga without a numeric keypad.
- 20 REM
Its PCMCIA port was one of the first on a home computer.
- 30 REM
It was the last Amiga made with the original 68000 processor.
- 40 REM
Replacing all the SMD capacitors (the recap) is almost mandatory on an A600 that is more than 30 years old.
Try it
An Amiga running right here in your browser: press Switch on, wait for it to boot and explore the desktop with the mouse. It's the same kind of machine we have on the bench, only emulated.
It runs AROS, a free operating system compatible with AmigaOS: Commodore's original Kickstart ROMs are still under copyright and can't be distributed.
Emulation by vAmigaWeb (GPL-3.0).
AROS · vAmigaWeb
The family: Commodore Amiga
- 1985 Amiga 1000
- 1987 Amiga 500
- 1987 Amiga 2000
- 1990 Amiga 3000
- 1991 Amiga CDTV
- 1991 Amiga 500 Plus
- 1992 Amiga 600
- 1992 Amiga 1200
- 1992 Amiga 4000
- 1993 Amiga CD32
Compared with the other models
| Model | Year | Processor | Memory | Video | Sound | System |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amiga 1000 | 1985 | 68000 · 7,16 MHz | 256 KB | OCS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 1.0–1.3 (disco) |
| Amiga 500 | 1987 | 68000 · 7,09 MHz | 512 KB | OCS / ECS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 1.2 / 1.3 |
| Amiga 2000 | 1987 | 68000 · 7,09 MHz | 1 MB | OCS / ECS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 1.2 / 1.3 |
| Amiga 3000 | 1990 | 68030 · 16 / 25 MHz | 2 MB | ECS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 2.0 |
| Amiga CDTV | 1991 | 68000 · 7,09 MHz | 1 MB | OCS / ECS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 1.3 + CDTV |
| Amiga 500 Plus | 1991 | 68000 · 7,09 MHz | 1 MB | ECS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 2.04 |
| ▶ Amiga 600 | 1992 | 68000 · 7,09 MHz | 1 MB | ECS | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 2.05 |
| Amiga 1200 | 1992 | 68EC020 · 14 MHz | 2 MB | AGA | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 3.0 / 3.1 |
| Amiga 4000 | 1992 | 68040 · 25 MHz | 6 MB | AGA | Paula · 4 × 8 bit | Kickstart 3.0 / 3.1 |
| Amiga CD32 | 1993 | 68EC020 · 14 MHz | 2 MB | AGA + Akiko | Paula · 4 × 8 bit + CD | Kickstart 3.1 + CD32 |
Let me know when one arrives: Amiga 600
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