Hardware : Amibench 1200NG/600GS

Introduction

Amigakit a UK long-established Amiga retailer and supporter, have developed their own custom Amiga compatible emulation system designed to run their new OS, Amibench. The hardware is ARM based CPU, a departure from PPC or 68k CPU that AmigaOS / systems have normally targeted. The systems so far seem to be powered by Orange Pi Zero 3, which is a small credit card like computer very similar to Raspberry Pi boards. So far two system have been announced, A600GS, that was released in June 2024 and A1200NG due in 2025. Both systems feature custom hardware by Rabbit Hole Computers, which connects to the GPIO Pins of the Orange Pi and add features that Amiga users should find useful.

A600GS

The system features Wifi, ARM CPU, three USB ports, HDMI at the back of the device and Two D9 pin ports at the front to allow classic Amiga mouses and joysticks support. The board feature a easter egg name "Good Stuff" an Amiga tradition to take a Song name from The B52 music band, something almost all classic Amiga had. The GS part of the name A600GS can however both mean Good Stuff and Gaming System according to AmigaKit.

Specs

Orange Pi Zero 3
- CPU - All Winner H618 Quad-Core Cortex-A53 ARM - 1.5Ghz
- GPU - Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU
- LPDDR4 - 4Gb Ram
- MicroSD Card
- 26 Pin Header
- Ethernet / Wifi 5 / Blu Tooth 5
64Gb Storage (MicroSD Card)
2x 9 Pin D-Sub connection for Classic 9 Pin Amiga Joysticks/mouse
3.5mm Audio Port
3 x USB 2.0 ports
Micro HDMI Port
USB-C ( For Power )

In the Box

A600GS Computer
USB A600GS GamePad
HDMI Cable
USB-C Power Cable
Quick Start Guide
Released : 2024
£134.99

This system features a Allwinner H618 Quad-Core Cortex-A53 CPU running at 1.5Ghz, for context this is slightly faster than a Pi3 and A500Mini system, but not as fast as Pi4 boards. Below is the SysInfo benchmark for the system.

A1200NG

Specs

Orange Pi Zero 3
- CPU - All Winner H618 Quad-Core Cortex-A53 ARM - 1.5Ghz
- GPU - Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU
- LPDDR4 - 4Gb Ram
- MicroSD Card
- 26 Pin Header
- Ethernet / Wifi 5 / Bluetooth 5
64Gb Storage (MicroSD Card)
2x 9 Pin D-Sub connection for Classic 9 Pin Amiga Joysticks/mouse
Compact Flash Reader
Stereo Audio Ports
4 x USB 2.0 ports (2 rear, 1 on board, 1 on Orange Pi)
Micro HDMI Port / Composite (no driver support)
A1200 Keyboard Connector
25 Pin Serial Port
Power Port

Internal Connectors

34-pin Floppy Disk Drive header (Greaseweazle compatible)
1 USB header
A1200 LED module header
A1200 keyboard ribbon header (31 pin)
4-pin Power header for optional floppy disk drive
4-pin Power header for optional SATA/IDE hard drive
2-pin Fan header

In the Box

A1200NG Computer
Metal backplate for ports
Power Supply Unit
A1200NG Case Badge
Silver foil serial case sticker
Hex Bolts and Screws
Pre-order price £169.99

This system is designed to fit an original or reproduction Amiga 1200 case and give you similar features and abilities. You will be able to connect a real floppy disk drive thanks to Greaseweazle and DrawBridge technology built into the board. You will also be able to connect original or compilable A1200 keyboards internally. The NG in the name stands for Next Generation. The system is due early 2025.

Software

OS - Amibench V46 (Aros / Custom )
PPaint 7.4
OctaMED v8
Final Writer v7
Directory Opus 4 GPL
Emulation Powered by Amiberry

Thunderhell
Super SkidMarks
Virtual Grand Prix
Utilities: EaglePlayer, HippoPlayer, Dock,
Clock, Calendar
YAM (yet another mail)

Amibench v46 (https://wiki.amiga.org/index.php/AmiBench) is a newly developed OS by Amigakit, the system doesn't have an official deal with Clonato/Amiga Inc and so is powered by a modified Aros OS and Aros Kickstart Replacement Rom. Importantly, new features and features that were developed for AmigaOS4.1 Enhancer Pack have been ported to the OS. A new ARM graphics library has also been developed to bypass 68K code and better utilise the ARM GPU chip on Amibench systems. This will allow for much faster graphic rendering performance, already some OS data type and OS mini applications have been optimised to use this new library.

The systems will allow internet access and have updates provided from AmiSphere an online service ran by Amigakit. It will also come with some well known Amiga software by A-EON, PPaint, OctaMED, Final Writer and Directory Opus4 by GP Software. Amistore an digital App store that was previously only available on AmigaOS4 will also be ported over. Below is video of the official intro for the A600GS and a Presentation at Amiwest 2023 by Matthew Leaman all about the aims and goals of the project.

Unlike the A500 mini the system doesn't official support WHDload, but uses JST, which is basically a very similar program as WHDload, like WHDload it allows for many older Amiga games that were designed only to be run from floppy disk to run on a hard drive. JST converts the game files to run on the A600GS hard drive. It also allows and supports many WHDload Slave files. There is still a old website that has a few JST ready files here, http://jffabre.free.fr/amiga/patches.html But most WHDload files should also work, which has become the more popular way to distribute old Amiga Software. Also because users have access to the OS, unlike the A500 mini, there will be nothing stopping you from install WHDLoad which work on the system.

WHDLoad Website

https://www.whdownload.com/ - Loads of Amiga games and goodies ready to go.

http://whdload.de/ - Official WHDLoad website

https://mega.nz/folder/gdozjZxL#uI5SheetsAd-NYKMeRjf2A - Retroplays WHDload

https://archive.org/details/Amiga_WHD_Games - Achive.org collection

http://www.whdownload.com/demos.php - WHDLoad Amiga Demoscene

https://archive.org/details/super-skidmarks-v-2.2-cd - WHDload 2Gb A500 mini collection

Hacks / Mods / Distros for the A600GS

As the system is only an Orange Pi 3 Zero, you could always open up the case and replace the Sd Card with a different one. Orange Pi board systems already supports a number of Os's, Linux, Android and even Windows system are supported. Link below for list of them.

http://www.orangepi.org/html/hardWare/computerAndMicrocontrollers/service-and-support/Orange-Pi-Zero-3.html