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1. AmigaLove (amigalove@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 08-Mar-2024 01:26:20 JST AmigaLove

   Commodore’s mythological 5128T

   #commodore #amiga #retrocomputing

   • AmigaLove (amigalove@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 08-Mar-2024 02:56:56 JST AmigaLove

     in reply to

     • Metin Seven 🎨

     @metin for attractive product design I'd probably rank it:
     the A1K as # 1 (that's easy).

     But once you get past the A1K it gets really tough. The C128 wedge and A500 aren't vastly different shapes. The A3000 is a pretty machine for Commodore standards, but it isn't exactly jaw dropping in the vast world of PC design. But it's an interesting conversation if we stay within C= only.

     I guess I'd go
     1) A1K
     2) A500
     3) A3K

     But the C128D might tie # 2, which sure looks a lot like the A1K, too. :)

   • Metin Seven 🎨 (metin@graphics.social)'s status on Friday, 08-Mar-2024 02:56:58 JST Metin Seven 🎨

     in reply to

     @amigalove In my humble opinion, the top two machines are among Commodore's most beautiful designs. The A2000 is more of a workhorse, but could not be called elegant. 🙂

   • Charlie Balogh (chainq@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 08-Mar-2024 03:19:16 JST Charlie Balogh

     in reply to

     • Metin Seven 🎨

     @amigalove @metin I think the best looking Amiga is clearly the Amiga 1200. The 4000T can be also impressive, just because of its sheer size. But I admit, I'm more of a 90s design kind of person, when it comes to computers.

     I'm also very fond of the A2000, especially because of it's unassuming workhorse look. But the engineering in it is beautiful. There are pretty machines with a lot of problems (A3K *cough*), and then there is the "ugly" A2000, that will just go and go and go...

   • AmigaLove (amigalove@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 08-Mar-2024 03:24:42 JST AmigaLove

     in reply to

     • Charlie Balogh
     • Metin Seven 🎨

     @chainq @metin I agree with the A2K's practicality. A3K has shaved a few of my knuckles over the years.

     With the A1200 your young European-ness is showing. :) I bet I'm older. I like having the keyboard garage, L-shaped mouse connector and a place to rest my monitor. I bet you're focused on the internals. I meant the exterior product design.

     To me, the A1200 isn't visually novel as there were several C= wedge computers with similar design language. But if it was your first love, I get it. ;)

   • GK (gklka@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 08-Mar-2024 03:30:45 JST GK

     in reply to

     • Charlie Balogh
     • Metin Seven 🎨

     @chainq @amigalove @metin can you tell some of the things which A2000 design nailed but other Amigas don’t?

   • AmigaLove (amigalove@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 08-Mar-2024 03:30:45 JST AmigaLove

     in reply to

     • Charlie Balogh
     • Metin Seven 🎨
     • GK

     @gklka @chainq @metin
     In my anecdotal, non-engineer opinion, the way I like to put it is thus:
     With the A2000 everything just works.

     Highly and easily expandable, with the most 3rd-party hardware support for any machine when C= was alive. As a result it provides a vast tech-archeology supply of expansions that, again, simply just work right out of the box. And it was relatively affordable. It was stocked in tons of broadcast studios for this very reason. Not the prettiest, but very capable.

   • Charlie Balogh (chainq@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 08-Mar-2024 03:39:28 JST Charlie Balogh

     in reply to

     • Metin Seven 🎨
     • GK

     @amigalove @gklka @metin This. Good summary. And basically how the A2000 put together everything to basically "define" the big box Amiga going forward.

     It standardized the Zorro II and CPU expansions, the video slot, yet especially the later US design that was based on the A500 chipset was a relatively simple design, that made it very reliable. It provided a blueprint and testing ground for a lot of expansions and machines that came after it.

   • AmigaLove (amigalove@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 08-Mar-2024 03:48:16 JST AmigaLove

     in reply to

     • Metin Seven 🎨

     @metin I want to go back in time and be you.

   • Metin Seven 🎨 (metin@graphics.social)'s status on Friday, 08-Mar-2024 03:48:18 JST Metin Seven 🎨

     in reply to

     • Charlie Balogh
     • GK

     @chainq @amigalove @gklka Love this discussion. ❤️

     After careful consideration, this is my Commodore design top 5:

     1. A1000 (also because I had one in 1986)
     2. C128 (also because I had one in 1985)
     3. C128D
     4. A3000
     5. A1200 (also because I had one in 1993)

     The classic C64 breadbin gets an honorable mention, just because it's iconic. 😊

   • Charlie Balogh (chainq@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 08-Mar-2024 03:54:30 JST Charlie Balogh

     in reply to

     • Metin Seven 🎨

     @amigalove @metin True, I'm younger (mid-40s) and Europe, especially the former East-Bloc where I'm from lagged behind a few years, and that adds up. My first Amiga was an A1200 indeed, but I think it's objectively a very pretty machine.

     Wedge shaped home computers might be very similar, but tiny changes can make them stand out. The Falcon is the best looking by far from the wedge Atari ST lineup, and all they changed was the color of the case and the keycaps...