The Amiga 600 — also known as the A600 — is a home computer released in March 1992. This Amiga is the last Amiga model based on the Motorola 68000 and the Amiga Enhanced Chip Set (ECS). The Amiga 600 is essentially the Amiga 500 Plus redesigned with a built-in hard disk and PCMCIA port option. Without a numeric keypad, the Amiga 600 is only slightly larger than an IBM PC keyboard and weighs about 6 pounds.

This computer shipped with AmigaOS 2.0 — easier to use than previous versions. Like the Amiga 500, the Amiga 600 targeted the lower end of the market. Commodore intended to boost Amiga 500-related sales before introducing their next 32-bit Amiga.

According to Dave Haynie, the Amiga 600 "was supposed to be $50-60 cheaper than the Amiga 500, but it sold for about $30 more" — far more expensive than the market expected. The Amiga 600 was originally going to be named the Amiga 300 and numbered as a cheaper version of the Amiga 500 Plus. The A600HD model shipped with a built-in 20 or 40 MB 2.5-inch ATA hard disk.

Compatibility between the Amiga 600 and previous Amiga models was initially very poor — due to the lack of Kickstart 1.3 ROM — and about one third of games and demos made for the Amiga 1000 or Amiga 500 would not run on the Amiga 600 because of the version 2 ROM.

Production and Pricing

In the late 1980s, Commodore began a significant management change process by dismissing six senior executives — including CEO and Chairman Irving Gould. In spring 1991, Mehdi Ali was promoted to head Commodore to continue a program that included budget and personnel reductions with more focus on sales and production.

After the Amiga 3000T launch, Commodore's next project was the next-generation Amiga chipset — Advanced Graphics Architecture or AGA. Meanwhile, engineers Dave Haynie, Jeff Porter, and Eric Lavitsky began work on the Amiga 3000 Plus, while Joe Augenbraun worked on the Amiga 1000 Plus — both using the AGA chipset. George Robbins designed another low-end project called the Amiga 300. Codenamed June Bug, this computer had one floppy drive and was the size and weight of a Commodore 64.

When all three projects were on track, Ali dismissed the engineering management team and appointed Bill Sydnes — a former IBM executive — as the company's engineering manager. Sydnes canceled the Amiga 1000 Plus and Amiga 3000 Plus models, delayed the AGA chipset, and only changed the design goals for the Amiga 300.

This model replaced the Amiga 500 in mid-March 1992 as the Amiga 600. It was built at Commodore's Irvine, Scotland plant. The Amiga 600 and Amiga 600HD sold for $499.99 and $749.99 respectively — about $50 more than the Amiga 500 at the time. As a result, the Amiga 600 sold far less than the Amiga 500 due to the price difference.

Hardware

The Amiga 600 has a Motorola 68000 processor running at 7.09 MHz (PAL) or 7.16 MHz (NTSC) and 1MB of "chip" RAM with 80 nanosecond access time. The Amiga 600 is the last Amiga model using Commodore's Enhanced Chip Set (ECS) which can address 2MB of chip RAM and add high-resolution display modes. This graphics was made possible by the Paula, Agnus, and Denise chips.

The Super Agnus display chips can drive various screen modes from 320×200 to 1280×512 pixels using different frequency syncs. Like the original Amiga chipset, it can display up to 32 colors from a 12-bit palette (4096 colors) even at lower resolutions. Extra HalfBrite mode allows each of the 32 palette colors to be reduced to half brightness — giving 64 colors simultaneously. A 4096-color HAM mode is available at lower resolution.

Sound is unchanged from the original Amiga design — four DMA-based 8-bit channels, two in the left speaker and two in the right. The Amiga 600 was the first Amiga model with built-in composite color video (RCA), allowing use with standard CRT TVs without the A520 RF modulator adapter.

Peripherals and Expansion

The Amiga 600 has Amiga-specific connectors including two DB9M ports for joysticks, mouse, and light pen, a standard 25-pin RS-232 serial port, and a 25-pin Centronics parallel port. As a result, it is compatible with many peripherals from previous Amiga models — including MIDI, sound samplers, and video recording devices.

The new additions to the Amiga series were the PCMCIA Type II slot and the internal 44-pin ATA interface — more commonly found in laptop computers. Both interfaces are controlled by the custom "Gayle" chip. The Amiga 600 has an internal bay for a 2.5-inch hard disk connected to an ATA controller.

The Amiga 600 is the first of two Amiga models with a PCMCIA Type II interface. Only 16-bit PCMCIA cards are compatible — newer 32-bit CardBus peripherals are not. Mechanically, only Type I and Type II cards fit in the slot.

PCMCIA's broad capabilities were largely unrealized at release due to high costs. Since then, many compatible laptop peripherals like network cards — both wired and wireless — serial modems, and CompactFlash adapters have worked with the Amiga 600.

Operating System and Upgrades

The Amiga 600 shipped with OS 2 including Workbench 2 and Kickstart ROM version 37.299, 37.300, or 37.350. Confusingly, all three ROM revisions were officially designated "version 2.05". Some early Amiga 600s shipped with Kickstart 37.299 and did not support the internal ATA hard controller or PCMCIA interface — loading drivers from floppy was possible but direct booting from ATA or PCMCIA was not.

It is possible to upgrade the Amiga 600 to Workbench 2.1 — adding OS localization features and a CrossDOS driver providing read/write support for FAT-formatted media. After AmigaOS 3.1 was released in 1994, upgrading the Amiga 600 with a compatible Kickstart 3.1 ROM became possible.

Unofficial processor upgrades include the Motorola 68010, 68020 (up to 25 MHz), and 68030 (up to 50 MHz). Memory can be expanded to 2MB of "chip RAM" via the trapdoor expansion slot underneath, plus 4MB of "fast RAM" through a suitable PCMCIA SRAM card for 6MB total. The A608 board adds up to 8MB RAM by connecting to the 68000 processor. Read about the Amiga 600 upgrade in the exclusive article.

Upgraded Amiga 600 — View Products

Although the Amiga 600 failed to attract Amiga enthusiasts at launch in 1992, it has gained much popularity in recent years. Its compact size and built-in hard disk interface, combined with PCMCIA expansion, make data transfer from modern machines easy. The availability of upgrades offering faster processors, faster memory, modern display interfaces — and even the Vampire II 600 — can turn the smallest Amiga into one far faster than even a 68060 Amiga. Visit the AmigaStore shop to get these products.