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Amiga Corporation

 

 

Company Pedigree

 

 Ascendant Companies

Descendent Companies

Company

Comments

Company

Comments

Atari Jay G. Miner left Atari in 1982 to co-found Amiga. Commodore Business Machines, Inc. In 1984, Commodore out bid Atari and  bought Amiga, Inc.

 

Company Overview

Amiga was was originally a startup called Hi-Torro and was founded by Jay Miner (Atari), Dave Morse (Mattel) and RJ Mical (Williams Electronics) in 1982. The startup's vision was to create the next generation gaming console. When the gaming market collapsed in 1983, they regrouped and reworked their chipset in a computer concept code named Lorraine. In the process they developed the most an advanced microcomputer with robust graphics and audio. The Lorraine prototype was the direct model for the future Amiga 1000. In search of funding, Amiga reached out to Atari and Commodore. In the end Commodore won the bidding battle and Amiga became a subsidiary of Commodore Business Machines with Commodore Semiconductor Group (MOS Technology) as its chip making foundry.

 

Major Achievements

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Development of the Amiga chipset

 

Chip Identification

All Amiga chips bear MOS, CBM, or CSG logos and copyrights.

Amiga Chips

 

Nickname Identification Description Comments
Akiko

Akiko Rev A

  CPN: 391563-01

I/O Controller Found in the CD32. Packaged in a 156-lead Quad SMD.

Alice

8374 - Alice

  CPN: 391010-01

Replaced Agnus

Found in the A4000. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC

Amber

51-Amber

  CPN: 390538-03

Video control (flicker)

Found in the A3000. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC.

Agnus

8370 (NTSC)

  CPN: 318070-01

Worked with Denise for video scan control. 512KB of memory

Part of the original chipset. Found in A500, A2000. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC.

8361 (NTSC)

  CPN: 252125-01

Part of the original chipset

Found in A1000, A2000-A. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC.

8371 (PAL)

  CPN: 318071-01

Part of the original chipset. Found in A500, A2000. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC.

8367R0 (PAL)

Part of the original chipset

Found in A1000, A2000-A. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC.

8372A (Fat Agnus)

  CPN: 318069-01

Worked with Denise for video scan control. 1024KB of memory

Found in the A2500. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC.

8375 (Fat Agnus)

  CPN: 390544-01

  CPN: 318069-10 (A600)

Found in the A300, A500+ and A600. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC.

8372B (Super Agnus)

  CPN: 318069-03

Worked with Denise for video scan control. 2048KB of memory

Found in the A3000. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC.

Beauty CPN:  391246-01 ECS chips unique the the CDTV-CR (CDTV-II) Found in the CDTV-CR (did not reach production)

Budgie

CPN: 391425-01

Bus Controller

Found in the A1200, Packaged as a 128 Quad SMD.

Buster

5721

Bus Interface

Found in the A2000 and A2500. Packaged as a 40-lead DIP.

45-Super Buster

  CPN: 390539-11

Found in the A4000. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC.

CIA

8520

  CPN: 391078-01/03

Complex Interface Adapter - parallel, serial, and keyboard communications

Found in the A3000. Packaged as 40-lead DIP.

Denise

8362R5 (Denise)

Worked with Agnus for video control. Came in NTSC and PAL versions

Part of the original chipset. Found in the A500, A1000, A2000 Packaged as a 48-lead DIP.

8362R6 (Denise)

  CPN: 252126-01

Part of the original chipset. Found in the A500, A1000, A2000 Packaged as a 48-lead DIP.

8362R8 (Denise)

  CPN: 252126-02

Found in the A500, A2000, and CDTV. Packaged as a 48-lead DIP

8373R4 (Super Denise)

  CPN: 390433-01

  CPN: 391081-10 (A600)

Found in the A300, A600, A500+ and A3000. Packaged as a 48-lead DIP

DMAC

DMAC

  CPN: 390537-02

DMA controller for SCSI

Found in the A3000. Packaged as a 84-contact PLCC.

 

Gary

5719R2 (Gary)

  CPN: 318072-01

Gary was an I/O type processor. He coordinated access to bus, the floppy drive, and the IDE port. In his spare time he did address decoding and also handled some self-diagnostic functions.

Part of the original chipset. Found in the A500 and A2000. Packaged as a 48-lead DIP

41-Fat Gary (Fat Gary)

  CPN: 390540-02

Gary was an I/O type processor. He coordinated access to bus, the floppy drive, and the IDE port. In his spare time he did address decoding and also handled some self-diagnostic functions.

Found in the A3000 and A4000.  Packaged as a 84-contact PLCC.

Gayle

AA-Gayle-R5

  CPN: 391424-02

Replaced the Gary chip

Found in the A1200. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC

45-Gayle

  CPN: 391155-01

Found in the A300 and A600. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC.
Grace CPN:  391245-02 ECS chips unique the the CDTV-CR (CDTV-II) Found in the CDTV-CR (did not reach production)

Lisa

Lisa 1204R0

  CPN: 391227-01

Replaced the Denise chip

Found in the A1200, A4000, and CD32. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC

Paula

8364

  CPN: 252127-01

Handled peripheral interfaces, audio, UART, interrupt Lines, and bus arbitration

Part of the original chipset. Packaged in a 48-lead DIP

8364R7

  CPN: 252127-02

Packaged in a 48-lead DIP

8364R7

  CPN: 391077-01

Found in the A300, A600, A1200 and A2500. Packaged in 52-Contact PLCC.

Ramsey

51-Ramsey

  CPN: 390541-04

RAM controller

Found in the A3000. Packaged in 84-Contact PLCC

Vidiot

Not made by CSG. Outsourced to hybrid makers like Analog Devices.

12-bit hybrid monitor driver interfaced with Denise

Found in the A300, A500, A500+, A600,  A1000,  A2000 and A3000.

 

CPN = Commodore Part Number

 

Related Sites

Free Online Dictionary of Computing - Commodore Amiga

Kuff's Commodore Online Museum

Sothius' Home of Ancient Microcomputers - Commodore Amiga

 

  

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Last updated: September 28, 2004.