BYOPC: Raspberry Pi 3 + Amiga (Premium)

As you may know, I was a long-time Amiga user, and I remain a fan of this innovative platform. There will never be another computer like it, and the Amiga is the only computing platform I’ve ever used for which I am still truly nostalgic. Someone noted on Twitter the other day that the Amiga was the first computer with a soul. I added that it was also the last.

So what made Amiga so special?

First, it offered capabilities—like multiprocessing and true multitasking—that PCs and Macs wouldn’t gain for decades. And it provided 4096 colors and unique video and multimedia functionality at a time when the the PC was mostly text with 16 colors and the Mac was black and white.

Second, and this was key for a young man who grew up on the Commodore 64 and computers that were as powerful as game machines as they were as computers, the Amiga was an astonishingly-good game machine that offered bitblit, sprite, parallax scrolling, and stereo sound capabilities at a time when the PC and Mac were, of course, laughable in this regard. The Amiga’s innards were initially aimed at arcade game machines, and this computer was the first to provide better graphics and sound than actual arcade machines.

I could go on, but better men than me have already documented this wonderful system. If you’re looking for a complete history of the Amiga, I strongly recommend Commodore: The Amiga Years by Brian Bagnall, which I previously backed on Kickstarter. It’s the definitive history, as told by the people who were really there. Fans will also want to check out Viva Amiga, a 60-minute documentary that is available on iTunes, Amazon Video, Google, and other services.

20 years later, the Amiga is still impressive in many ways. But today’s PCs and Macs can easily emulate any Amiga, even the high-end models that I never owned because they were so expensive. In fact, there is a great emulation package called Amiga Forever ($10 to $50, depending on the version), which I own and recommend. This provides access to VMs of all Amiga models and the ability to run Amiga apps and games on them. As important for the purposes of this BYOPC project, Amiga Forever also provides legal versions of the Amiga ROMs, which include both BIOS-like Kickstart ROMs and Workbench (OS) ROMs.

Which means that, yes, even a lowly Raspberry Pi 3—whose processor is so unsophisticated that it is literally immune to the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities—is powerful enough to emulate any Amiga. That such a thing is possible in such a tiny package says a lot about the passage of time and the incredible advances that technology has made since the 1980’s. In some ways, this is as miraculous today as was the original Amiga back in 1985.

In recreating the Amiga in a modern mini-PC like the Raspberry Pi 3, there are two basic approaches, I think. You could try to build something you might actually use as a general purpose computer, which I don’t think makes any sense given the immaturity and low-resolution of Amiga-based productivity software. Or you could build a mini-gaming machine, a Raspberry Pi 3 that is designed to play Amiga games.

That latter approach makes more sense, I think, so I will focus on the Pi3 as an Amiga gaming machine. That doesn’t mean I won’t tool around in various versions of Workbench (1.3 and 2.04 being the key versions from my youth), and explore how this thing might be used as PC of sorts. But let’s be honest. This is really about the games. Many of which are still incredible today.

So, a number of things are needed for this project, none of which are particularly expensive. They include:

Raspberry Pi 3. Obviously, you’ll need a Raspberry Pi 3 board mini-PC, plus the usual Raspberry Pi 3 accessories, like an SD card (2 GB or bigger), a power supply, and a case. You can buy all this individually, of course, but I went with a kit, called the CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 Complete Starter Kit – 32 GB Edition, that includes everything I need for $70. In fact, it may be overkill.

Amiga Forever Plus. You have to buy Amiga Forever Plus Edition (or better), which costs $30. This provides all Kickstarter ROM and Workbench versions, which are necessary for the emulator, plus over 50 games and 100 demos, and some other extras. The games that come with Amiga Forever will be great for the Pi 3 Amiga.

A joystick. You will need a USB-based joystick or gamepad of some kind. I’ve not yet decided on the right model, but I’ll be shopping over the weekend.

Amibian. If you’re familiar with the Raspberry Pi, you know that there are various Linux and other OSes made specifically for this hardware, including the Raspian Linux distribution that is provided through the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Amibian is a lightweight disk image that makes those Amiga ROMs work on Raspberry Pi. In other words, you use this free software in tandem with the ROMs from Amiga Forever to turn your Pi 3 into an Amiga.

A fun custom case. I haven’t ordered this bit yet, but there is a fun retro Amiga 500-style case for the Raspberry Pi 3 that will complete this project nicely. I haven’t ordered this yet, but I will soon.

You will also need a PC keyboard and mouse, and an HDMI-capable display. I assume you have one of each laying around.

If you grab everything listed here, the total cost is about $135 to $160 for a fully-functioning Amiga Pi 3 that can emulate any and all Amigas that ever existed. You even get over 50 free games, so this is a pretty great value. I already owned Amiga Forever Plus 2016, but I upgraded to the latest version for $20. So my total outlay so far is about $90, though I still want to get that fun Amiga case and I need a joystick. So about $125 to $150 when it’s all said and done. (Unless you need a keyboard, mouse, and/or display.)

My Pi 3 kit is on the way, so I should be able to write about my initial experiences setting up this little PC soon.