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Amiga 4000

An Amiga 4000 desktop
Manufacturer	Commodore
Type	Personal computer
Release date	21 October 1992; 32 years ago (1992-10-21)
Discontinued	1994 (1994)
Units sold	11,300 units in Germany
Operating system	AmigaOS 3.0
CPU	Motorola 68EC030 or68040 @ 25 MHz
Memory	2-18MB
Predecessor	Amiga 3000
Successor	Amiga 4000T

The Amiga4000, orA4000, fromCommodore is the successor of theAmiga 2000 andAmiga 3000 computers. There are two models: the A4000/040 released in October 1992 with aMotorola 68040CPU, and the A4000/030 released in April 1993 with aMotorola 68EC030.

The Amiga 4000 system design was generally similar to that of the A3000, but introduced theAdvanced Graphics Architecture (AGA) chipset with enhanced graphics. TheSCSI system from previous Amigas was replaced by the lower-costParallel ATA.

The original A4000 is housed in a beige horizontal desktop box with a separate keyboard. Later, Commodore released an expandedtower version called theA4000T.

The machine is reported to have sold 11,300 units in Germany.^[1]

The stock A4000 shipped with either aMotorola 68EC030 or68040CPU, 2 MB ofAmiga Chip RAM and up to 16 MB of additional RAM in 32-bitSIMMs.^[2] There is a non-functional jumper that was intended to expand the "chip RAM" to 8MB.^[3] Later, third-party developers created various CPU expansion boards featuring higher-rated68040,68060 andPowerPC CPUs. Such hardware also typically offers faster and higher-capacity RAM (128 MB or greater).

Unlike previous Amiga models, early A4000 machines have the CPU mounted in an expansion board; themotherboard does not have an integrated CPU. Later revisions of the A4000 have the CPU and 2 MB RAMsurface-mounted on the motherboard in an effort to reduce costs. These machines are known as the A4000-CR (cost-reduced) and the surface-mounted CPU is a 68EC030. The cost-reduced models also make use of a non-rechargeable lithium battery for real-time clock battery backup rather than a rechargeableNiCad battery. The NiCad backup battery is one of the most common causes of problems in an aging device that uses one because it has a tendency to eventually leak. The released fluids are somewhat corrosive and can eventually damage the circuitry.

The A4000 is the first Amiga model to have shipped with Commodore's third-generation Amiga chipset, the 32-bitAdvanced Graphics Architecture (AGA). As the name implies, AGA introduces improved graphical abilities, specifically, a palette expanded from 12-bit color depth (4,096 colors) to 24-bit (16.8 million colors) and new 64, 128, 256 and 262,144 (HAM-8) color modes. Unlike earlier Amiga chipsets, all color modes are available at all display resolutions. AGA also improves sprite capacity and graphics performance. The on-board sound hardware remains identical to that of the original Amiga chipset (thePaula sound chip), namely, fourDMA-driven 8-bitPCM channels, with two channels for the left speaker and two for the right.

The A4000 has a number of Amiga-specific connectors, including twoDE-9 ports forjoysticks,mice, andlight pens, a standard 25-pinRS-232serial port and a 25-pinCentronicsparallel port. As a result, at launch the A4000 was compatible with many existing Amiga peripherals, such asMIDI devices, serialmodems andsound samplers.^[2]

Like the just-earlier Amiga model, the3000, the A4000 has four internal 32-bitZorro III expansion slots. This expansion bus allows the use of devices which comply with theAutoConfig standard, such as graphic cards, audio cards, network cards, SCSI controllers, and later evenUSB controllers.^[4] One of the most notable hardware items of the era is theNewTekVideo Toaster system which became popular in the 1990s for amateur and commercialdesktop video production ofstandard-definitionbroadcast quality video, consisting of tools forvideo switching,chroma keying,character generation,animation, andimage manipulation.

The threeISA slots can be activated by use of a bridgeboard, which connects the Zorro and ISA buses. Such bridgeboards typically feature on-boardIBM-PC-compatible hardware, includingIntel 80286,80386, or80486 microprocessors allowing emulation of an entire IBM-PC system in hardware. Compatible ISA cards may then be installed into the two remaining ISA slots.

Later, in an effort to offer modern expansion options third-party developers created replacement expansion boards for the A4000 which providePCI slots allowing use of higher performance and widely available PCI hardware, such as graphic, sound, and network cards.

The A4000 shipped withAmigaOS 3.0, consisting of Workbench 3.0 andKickstart 3.0, which together provide a single-user multi-tasking operating system and support for the built-in hardware. Following release of AmigaOS 3.1 it became possible to upgrade the A4000 by installing compatible Kickstart 3.1 ROM chips. The later AmigaOS 3.5 and 3.9 releases were software-only updates requiring Kickstart 3.1.

AmigaOS 4, aPowerPC-native release of the operating system, can be used with the A4000 provided aCyberStorm PPC board is installed. Likewise,MorphOS, an alternative Amiga-compatible operating system, can be used with this hardware.

Variants of platform-independent operating systems, such asLinux andBSD, can also be used with the A4000.

Digital Domain used an Amiga 4000 formotion control effects in films such asTrue Lies,Apollo 13, andTitanic.^[8]

• Amiga models and variants

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