All Photos removed due to hotlinking


In 1986-87 Commodore realized that the A500 and A1000 would not fit the needs of the high end business and graphics markets. They needed an machine that was the essentially the same as the A500, but had the "industrial" look and expandability of a PC. They also knew that Unix was needed on a business machine and luckily they had a "Unix" division that had recently been working on a Unix machine called the C900 and was canceled. They even took the box from the Unix machine and called it the A2000.

Amiga 2000
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Commodore Amiga 2000
Type Personal computer
Release date 1986
Discontinued 1991
Operating system Amiga OS 1.2/1.3 ~ 2.0
CPU Motorola 68000 @ 7.16 MHz 7.09 MHz (PAL)
Memory 512 KB (9 MB maximum)

The A2000, also known as the Commodore Amiga 2000, was released in 1986. Although aimed at the high-end market it was technically very similar to the A500, so similar in fact that the A2000B revision was outright based on the A500 design. What the A2000 had over the A500 was a bigger case with room for five Zorro II proprietary expansion slots, two 16-bit and two 8-bit ISA slots, a CPU upgrade slot, a video slot, and a battery-backed clock.
It should also be noted that, like the Amiga 1000 and unlike the Amiga 500, the A2000 came in a desktop case with a separate keyboard. The case was more PC-like than the A1000 - taller to accommodate the expansion cards and lacking the space beneath for the keyboard.
The A2000 was eventually succeeded by the Amiga 3000 in 1990.

Technical specifications


Model A (Revisions 3.0-4.0)/ B (Revisions 4.1-5.0) - 1986

* CPU: Motorola 68000 (7.16 MHz NTSC, 7.09 MHz PAL)
o The CPU can be upgraded with CPU cards
* Chipset: OCS (Original Chipset)
o Audio (Paula):
+ 4 voices / 2 channels (Stereo)
+ 8-bit resolution / 6-bit volume
+ 28 kHz sampling rate
+ 70 dB S/N Ratio
o Video (Common resolutions):
+ 320×200/256 with 32 colors, 64 colors in Halfbrite or 4096 in HAM-6
+ 640×400/512i with 16 colors
o Battery-backed clock
* Memory:
o 256 KB ROM for Kickstart code.
o 512 KB (Max) / (1 MB Max) of Chip RAM.
o 512 KB Fast RAM in MMU slot (in some Model As only) / Soldered on motherboard
+ Practical limit of 8 MB total Fast RAM memory without the use of a CPU expansion card, due to the 24-bit address bus.
* Storage:
o 3.5" DD Floppy drive, capacity 880 KB
o SCSI Hard drive in A2000HD systems.
* Input/Output connections:
o Composite TV out (Black & White, not present on Model A)
o Analogue RGB video plug (Male DB23)
o RCA audio plugs
o 2 x Game/Joy/Mouse ports (Male DE9)
o Keyboard port (5 pin DIN)
o RS232 Serial port (Male DB25)
o Centronics Parallel port (Female DB25)
o Port for external floppy drive (Female DB23)
* Internal connectors:
o 5 Zorro II slots (16-bit, AutoConfig)
o 2 16-bit ISA slots (Inactive per default, only usable with a PC emulation bridgeboard or bus bridge installed)
o 2 8-bit ISA slots (also inactive, some models could be fitted with extension edge connectors, upgrading these slots to 16 bits)
o 1 32 Pin Internal floppy connector
o 1 MMU / CPU Slot
o 1 Genlock slot in Rev A models.
o 1 video slot connector in model Bs for genlocks, flicker fixers, Video Toaster etc
* Casing:
o 200-205 Watt switching power supply
o 2 3.5" drive bays for 3.5" floppy drives or other peripherals
o 1 5.25" drive bay for 5.25" floppy drive or other peripherals
* Software (Bundled):
o AmigaOS 1.2 / 1.3 operation system.
o Kickstart 1.2 / 1.3 (In ROM)
o Voice synthesis library


Model C (Revisions 6.0-6.5) - 1991

Also known as the A2000+ it is for the most part identical to its forerunner.

* Chipset: OCS in Revisions 6.0-6.2, ECS (Enhanced Chip Set) in revisions 6.3-6.5
o Video (New resolutions for ECS):
+ 640×480 with 4 colors (Productivity)
+ 800×600i with 2 colors (Super72)
* Memory:
o 512 KB ROM for Kickstart code.
o 1 MB of Chip RAM, (2 MB Max) with third party adaptors
* Software (Bundled):
o AmigaOS 2.0 operation system. (Kickstart 2.0/Workbench 2.0)

Commodore UK sold a variant of the A2000, the A1500. The A1500 shipped with dual floppy drives, and 1MB of RAM as standard, along with the ECS chipset and Amiga OS 2.04. The A2500 was an A2000 sold with either an A2630 (with 25MHz 68030 and 2 or 4MB RAM) or A2620 (Motorola 68020 @ 14MHz) accelerator, A2091 SCSI controller and in some models an
A2320 VGA card (flicker fixer).

Amiga 2500


The Amiga 2500, also known as the A2500, was not a distinct Amiga model, but simply a marketing name for a Commodore Amiga 2000 bundled with a Motorola 68020 or 68030-based
accelerator card. The accelerator cards used by the A2500 (the A2620 and A2630) were also available separately as upgrades for the A2000.Because the A2500 had a Motorola 68000 on the motherboard that was otherwise unused, the design was not very cost-effective. A cost-reduced version omitting the accelerator board was proposed but never got past the prototype stage. Also, because the A2500 was not a fully 32-bit machine, its performance was slower than an A3000 running at the same clock speed.The A2500 remained in production after the release of the A3000, however, because the original Video Toaster would not fit in an unmodified A3000 case. Until the release of the Video 4000, the A2500 was the fastest computer available for use with the Toaster.


Cool Facts
The A2000 is the best (IMHO) machine for a hardware junkie to start out with. The base units are relative inexpensive, and you can add Zorro Cards to customise the machine to your needs. With literally thousands of expansion cards. The possibilities are endless, and you can run all the old software/games on it.
Most A2000's are very common, although A2000UX and tower systems are quite rare (there was never an "official" Commodore A2000 T or Tower system, but many aftermarket tower kits. All the A2000 variants (A2000HD,A25000,etc) are quite easily (the 2500 is a bit harder) to get.
The "Video Toaster" is more rare, but pops up from time to time -all the difference is stickers on outside of case, and has a toaster card.
Can be hooked up to a regular TV again with a A520 or B&W with just an RCA cable.
There are in fact 3 Versions, the older "German" designed version and the 2 newer US versions designed by legendary Amiga Guru Dave Haynie


Ebay Auctions
A2000's regularly go for as low as $50 USD for base units, to the sky's the limit for what cards are included.
Ver. 6x motherboards are the ones that are worth more money.
Be warned, the battery is a barrel battery and is more likely to have exploded and caused corrosion. Make sure you check on this when bidding on one, or list it when selling one.


My Collection. as of Jan 2010.
I have had 6-A2000's. I have given them up due to space considerations here at my tiny Apartment. I do have a soft spot for the tank though, it is by far, the best Amiga to start out with. The upgrades are inexpensive compared to othe models, and it is easy to work on.