Today in tech history: the Commodore Amiga

Photo courtesy of the Obsolete Technology Website
Photo courtesy of the Obsolete Technology Website

In 1985, the Commodore Amiga was unveiled in New York City (later re-branded as the Amiga 1000). For the low price of $1,295 the system featured a 7MHz Motorola 68000 CPU, 256KB RAM, a multitasking “windowing” operating system, color graphics with a 4,096-color palette TV output, stereo sound, and a 880KB 3.5-inch disk drive.

In 1994 Byte Magazine said that the Amiga was “far ahead of its time” and “the first multimedia computer.” In 2006, PC World rated the Amiga 1000 as the seventh greatest PC of all time. I say, it’s a blast from the past and pretty high tech compared to the Commodore 64 (with cassette tape drive!) I used in middle school.

Missy works on the Corporate Communications team and reports stories to TDS employees and customers. This is right up her alley because she’s an extrovert and also a big fan of research (really, she’ll look up just about anything that strikes her interest). Missy is a native of Madison, Wis. with an undergraduate in Anthropology and a master’s degree in Life Sciences Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her interest in the Internet as a mass media shaped her work towards a PhD in Journalism and Mass Communications. She’s also worked as an editorial assistant, copywriter, and production artist. In her off hours, Missy is a crafter, Pinterest addict, reader, wife, and mom of two kids.

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