Commodore: The Amiga Years

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p. 20 p. 40 p. 190 p. 210 p. 300

Contents

1. Introduction p. 1
2. Prologue p. 3
3. Larry Kaplan p. 4
4. Jay Miner p. 5
5. Zymos p. 7
6. The Proposal p. 8
7. Dave Morse, Founder of Amiga p. 9
8. The Pixel System p. 12
9. Joe p. 15
10. Ron p. 17
11. Name Change p. 20
12. 1982-1983 p. 21
13. Chip Designers p. 21
14. Graphics p. 23
15. Blitter p. 26
16. Audio p. 29
17. Game Machines p. 32
18. Splitting the Chipset p. 34
19. Timing p. 36
20. 1983 p. 38
21. Business Plan 2.0 p. 38
22. The Power System p. 40
23. American International Toy Fair p. 44
24. Joyboard p. 46
25. The Great Video Game Crash p. 48
26. 1983 p. 50
27. Joe Leaves Amiga p. 50
28. Growing Amiga p. 51
29. Chu and Shieu p. 52
30. Glenn Keller p. 52
31. Dave Dean p. 55
32. Portia p. 56
33. Dave Needle p. 58
34. Prototype Chip Boards p. 60
35. 1983 p. 64
36. The Software Developers p. 64
37. Bob Pariseau p. 65
38. Second Wave p. 66
39. Life at Amiga p. 76
40. Peace p. 77
41. RJ p. 79
42. Bob “Kodiak” Burns p. 80
43. Rob Peck p. 81
44. Dancing Fools p. 82
45. 1983 p. 87
46. Losing InterMedics p. 87
47. Atari Enters the Picture p. 91
48. Pivot p. 93
49. Steve Jobs p. 96
50. Lorraine and the Rush for CES p. 97
51. The Divorce p. 99
52. 1984 p. 103
53. The Boing Demo p. 103
54. Back to the Lab Again p. 107
55. Bill Hart and the Quest for Funding p. 109
56. Dealing with Atari p. 111
57. Joe Pillow p. 115
58. HAM Version 1 p. 117
59. Chip Layout p. 118
60. Amiga Chips Fabbed p. 123
61. 1984 p. 125
62. Marshall Smith p. 125
63. Meanwhile... p. 126
64. Coherent Unix OS p. 128
65. Testing the Waters p. 131
66. Tramel Technology Limited p. 134
67. Earthquakes p. 135
68. The Exodus p. 138
69. 1984 p. 141
70. Commodore Optoelectronics p. 141
71. The LCD Portable p. 146
72. Jeff Porter p. 147
73. Commodore Modems p. 148
74. 1984 p. 151
75. Gerard Bucas p. 151
76. VAX Machine p. 153
77. Unix Project Design and Goals p. 155
78. Board Redesign p. 156
79. C900 Design Team Assembled p. 157
80. C900 Video Card p. 161
81. C900 X-Windows GUI p. 163
82. Chasing IBM p. 164
83. 1984 p. 167
84. June 1984 CES p. 167
85. Amiga and Atari Clause p. 172
86. Post-CES Amiga Changes p. 173
87. Post-CES Commodore-Amiga Talks p. 176
88. 1984 p. 182
89. Jack Buys Atari p. 182
90. Dismissing Ron p. 187
91. Commodore Buys Amiga p. 189
92. Atari Lawsuit p. 194
93. It’s Official p. 196
94. Bill Hart Exits p. 197
95. 1984 p. 199
96. Backward Compatibility p. 199
97. Conceiving the Next 8-Bit p. 201
98. LCD Project Post-Herd p. 204
99. LCD Portable Software p. 207
100. Choosing a Processor p. 208
101. The C128 Animals p. 211
102. Building the Herdware p. 216
103. Games Are Dead. Long Live Games. p. 218
104. 1984 - 1985 p. 222
105. Brian Dougherty p. 222
106. GEOS Inspiration p. 228
107. 1984 p. 231
108. Velvet p. 231
109. A Business Machine p. 234
110. HAM6 and Denise p. 238
111. CAOS Chaos p. 240
112. Microsoft BASIC p. 241
113. The Search for a GUI p. 242
114. UI Scripting Language p. 244
115. 1984 - 1985 p. 245
116. Video Display Controller p. 245
117. CP/M p. 247
118. Plus/4 Sales p. 250
119. Quality Assurance p. 252
120. Braindead Company p. 256
121. Looking for a New CEO p. 257
122. The Big Party p. 257
123. The CES Panic p. 258
124. 1985 p. 263
125. January 1985 CES p. 263
126. The Mad Scientist p. 272
127. Intuition p. 277
128. TRIPOS p. 279
129. Atari Lawsuit Intensifies p. 281
130. Amiga Chipset Fabrication p. 283
131. Zorro p. 284
132. System Software and WCS p. 285
133. Commodore Reinforcements p. 287
134. 1985 p. 289
135. Nosedive p. 289
136. The Choice of a New Generation p. 291
137. The End for LCD p. 296
138. Hannover Fair p. 298
139. 1985 p. 303
140. C128 Production p. 303
141. A Yen for Japan p. 304
142. A Costly Mistake p. 307
143. Quantum Link p. 311
144. June 1985 CES p. 316
145. 1985 p. 322
146. Atari 520ST p. 322
147. Amiga Launch Party p. 323
148. The Interview p. 330
149. Amiga Production p. 333
150. An Uphill Marketing Battle p. 335
151. 1985 p. 341
152. Financial Problems Deepen p. 341
153. Selling Off Commodore Optoelectronics p. 343
154. C128D is All Business p. 345
155. C64-CR p. 346
156. Marketing Success p. 349
157. C900 Pilot Production p. 352
158. 1985 p. 356
159. First Round Layoffs p. 356
160. Un-Advertising the Amiga p. 357
161. Amiga Wide Release p. 362
162. Launch Titles p. 363
163. Critical Reception p. 366
164. November 1985 COMDEX p. 368
165. 1985 p. 370
166. Ranger p. 370
167. The Euro Amiga p. 373
168. MS-DOS Compatibility p. 378
169. Braunschweig’s Amiga p. 380
170. 1985 p. 383
171. Showtime for GEOS p. 383
172. Habitat p. 385
173. Quantum Link Goes Online p. 389
174. UUCP, Usenet and JAUG p. 392
175. 1986-1987 p. 396
176. Winter CES p. 396
177. Second Round Cuts p. 397
178. The Results Are In p. 399
179. Someone to Blame p. 402
180. Selling Out p. 404
181. Bankers and Lobster p. 408
182. 1986 p. 412
183. Carl and RJ Depart p. 412
184. Bil Herd Moves On p. 416
185. Amiga-CR Study p. 417
186. German Amiga Revealed p. 421
187. COMDEX p. 422
188. 1986 p. 428
189. Pre-Launch Politics p. 428
190. Basel, Switzerland launch p. 430
191. Frankfurt Launch p. 431
192. CeBIT 1986 p. 432
193. Commodore UK Amiga Launch p. 433
194. Amigas Arrive in Europe p. 435
195. 1986 p. 437
196. Amiga Ranger at a Standstill p. 437
197. PC Clones p. 438
198. Come to Jesus p. 439
199. Retail Retail Retail p. 440
200. The Marching Orders p. 441
201. The Next Mass Products p. 443
202. Backing the A2500 p. 449
203. 1986 p. 451
204. GEOS Comes to Commodore p. 451
205. 1351 Mouse p. 453
206. 1986 p. 459
207. Executive Cuts p. 460
208. Mike Evans to CFO p. 461
209. Marketing and Sales Canned p. 462
210. Project Shutdowns p. 463
211. The Axe Swings p. 464
212. Special Projects p. 465
213. Amiga Layoffs p. 467
214. 1986 p. 471
215. Empty Cubicles p. 471
216. Rattigan’s Spies p. 472
217. B52 Project Begins p. 475
218. B52 Case Design p. 475
219. Fat Agnus and Gary p. 477
220. Visiting Jay Miner p. 478
221. B52 Chip Design p. 483
222. GRR p. 484
223. 1986 p. 488
224. Ranger Shut Down p. 488
225. Choosing Products p. 490
226. June 1986 CES p. 492
227. A2500 Product Review p. 495
228. Debate to Sell off CSG p. 496
229. Atari ST and Apple Competition p. 500
230. Genlock Video p. 501
231. 1986 p. 506
232. B52 Schedule Issues p. 506
233. Porter on B52 p. 507
234. BMW Axed p. 509
235. Switching Projects p. 511
236. George Robbins Hired p. 512
237. Wanted: Experienced Engineers p. 513
238. FAT Agnus Results p. 514
239. GRR Rebels p. 515
240. Dave Haynie p. 516
241. B2000 Begins p. 519
242. 1986-1987 p. 522
243. Engineering vs Marketing p. 522
244. Henri Rubin p. 523
245. Raising Morale p. 526
246. Bucas and Rattigan p. 528
247. Bucas and Rubin p. 529
248. The Return of the Dancing Fools p. 530
249. Amiga Delays p. 535
250. 1986 p. 537
251. C64c release p. 537
252. GEOS Reception p. 539
253. 1351 Manufacturing Delay p. 540
254. Nintendo Moves In p. 544
255. January 1987 CES p. 545
256. Results of 1986 p. 549
257. 1986-1987 p. 551
258. Amiga 500 vs. FCC p. 551
259. Boston Computer Society p. 554
260. A500 and A2000 Launch at CeBIT p. 555
261. International A2000 Release p. 556
262. Settling Old Lawsuits p. 558
263. Ranger Chipset Done p. 559
264. Closing Down Los Gatos p. 560
265. 1986-1987 p. 564
266. The Last Straw p. 564
267. Coup d'état! p. 568
268. One Last Try p. 571
269. Contract Dispute p. 573
270. End of an Era p. 575