My Amiga 1000

[clebin]

I recently got an A1000 on eBay and I'm curious about its origin. A few things don't add up:

• It was originally sold in Australia in 1987 (it even includes the receipt)
  
• However, it's an NTSC model. I haven't stripped it down, but I can see it has the duaghterboard and Workbench is NTSC.
  
• It has a 230v power supply so it wasn't a straight US import.
  
• It also has the Commodore logo on the front which I thought was usually on PAL models.
  
• Back in 1987, the computer shop sealed the case with a sticker that had never been broken. So it's not a recent frankenstein creation.

So, what's going on? Why would a computer shop in Australia sell a sort of hybrid US/Aus model - was this common?

[Jope]

The first PAL A1000s were semi-NTSC, they only swapped the Agnus and perhaps the crystal. The composite output was not changed to PAL.

Perhaps it's one of those.

[clebin]

Originally Posted by Jope

The first PAL A1000s were semi-NTSC, they only swapped the Agnus and perhaps the crystal. The composite output was not changed to PAL.

Perhaps it's one of those.

How very Commodore!

I'll have to get it home and try some PAL stuff on it. As it was sold in 1987, I assumed it was a later model, but could have been old stock.

If it's an early model, will it have a specific motherboard revision? Anything I should look for?

[clebin]

Reading BBOAH, it must have been old stock in '87 as I have the signatures inside the case.

The serial number is: XM5051022NP. Anyone know how Commodore counted these? I know they didn't sell 5 million A1000s!

Other serial numbers I've seen online lack the 'P', I'm guessing that's PAL. Should be PP for 'Pseudo-PAL' really!

[Jope]

All A1000s have the signatures in there.

You should be able to use whichamiga or sysinfo to determine what Agnus is in there, of course if you opened it up, you can just read it off the chip.

[clebin]

Originally Posted by Jope

All A1000s have the signatures in there.

Hmm, that's what I thought originally. BBOAH is wrong then:

Rev 6 (NTSC June 1985, motherboard used copper traces. Designers signatures on case)
Rev A (NTSC June 1986, motherboard uses cheaper tin traces. Designers signatures on case)
Rev B (September 1986. No signatures on case)

Thanks for the info!

[Jope]

Curious. Never came across one without them myself. I wonder if it was a usa thing? We only got the a1k in Finland in late 1986 so the majority of them should have been without.

[NorthWay]

I remember a number of magazine tests that reported the first machines being NTSC ones. Possibly hybrids with new PS.

Sigh... wish it was me that had an A1000!

[xArtx]

Hi, I had an A1000 single board from Australia.
Maybe I should have taken pics of the serial label underneath while I had it.

I’ve got a mate who worked for an authorised Commodore distributor here in Australia
almost the whole time they were open, who says many more of the machine you have
sold in Australia than the single board one.

[glenn]

I also think all have signatures, I have a late PAL-machine sold in sweden and yes it have the signatures.

[clebin]

Originally Posted by xArtx

I’ve got a mate who worked for an authorised Commodore distributor here in Australia
almost the whole time they were open, who says many more of the machine you have
sold in Australia than the single board one.

Thanks for the extra info. Again, sounds like classic Commodore! Probably selling too many machines in Europe to worry about importing real PAL machines to Australia so did a bodge job instead. The sort of thing I can imagine reading in Brian Bagnall's next book.