Another primary feature of the Amiga hardware is the ability to dynamically control which
part of the chip memory is used for the background display. audio, and sprites. The Amiga
is not limited to a small, specific area of RAM for a frame buffer. Instead, the system
allows display bitplanes, sprite processor control lists, coprocessor instruction lists, or
audio channel control lists to be located anywhere within chip memory.
This same region of memory can be accessed by the bit blitter. This means, for example,
that the user can store partial images at scattered areas of chip memory and use these
images for animation effects by rapidly replacing on screen material while saving and
restoring background images. In fact, the Amiga includes firmware support for display
definition and control as well as support for animated objects embedded within playfields.
VCR AND DIRECT CAMERA INTERFACE
In addition to the connectors for monochrome composite, and analog or digital RGB
monitors, the Amiga can be expanded to include a VCR or camera interface. This system
is capable of synchronizing with an external video source and replacing the system
background color with the external image. This allows development of fully integrated
video images with computer generated graphics. Laser disk input is accepted in the same
manner.
PERIPHERALS
Floppy disk storage is provided by a built in, 3.5 inch floppy disk drive. Disks are 80 track,
double sided, and formatted as 11 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector (over 900,000
bytes per disk). The disk controller can read and write 320/360K IBM PC (MS-DOS)
formatted 3.5 or 5.25 inch disks, and 640/720K IBM PC (MS-DOS) formatted 3.5 inch
disks. External 3.5 inch or 5.25 inch disk drives can be added to the system through the
expansion connector. Circuitry for some of the peripherals resides on Paula. Other chips
handle various signals not specifically assigned to any of the custom chips, including
modem controls, disk status sensing, disk motor and stepping controls, ROM enable,
parallel input/output interface, and keyboard interface.
The Amiga includes a standard RS-232-C serial port for external serial input/output
devices.
A keyboard with numeric keypad, cursor controls and 10 function keys is included in the
base system. For maximum flexibility, both key-down and key-up signals are sent. The
Amiga also supports a variety of international keyboards. Many other types of controllers
can be attached through the two controller ports on the base unit. You can use a mouse,
joystick, keypad, track-ball, light pen, or steering wheel controller in either of the
controller ports.
- Introduction 5 -
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