Another primary feature of the Amiga hardware is the ability to dynamically control which part of the chip memory is used for the background display. audio, and sprites. The Amiga is not limited to a small, specific area of RAM for a frame buffer. Instead, the system allows display bitplanes, sprite processor control lists, coprocessor instruction lists, or audio channel control lists to be located anywhere within chip memory. This same region of memory can be accessed by the bit blitter.
This means, for example, that the user can store partial images at scattered areas of chip memory and use these images for animation effects by rapidly replacing on screen material while saving and restoring background images. In fact, the Amiga includes firmware support for display definition and control as well as support for animated objects embedded within playfields. VCR AND DIRECT CAMERA INTERFACE In addition to the connectors for monochrome composite, and analog or digital RGB monitors, the Amiga can be expanded to include a VCR or camera interface. This system is capable of synchronizing with an external video source and replacing the system background color with the external image.
This allows development of fully integrated video images with computer generated graphics. Laser disk input is accepted in the same manner. PERIPHERALS Floppy disk storage is provided by a built in, 3.5 inch floppy disk drive. Disks are 80 track, double sided, and formatted as 11 sectors per track, 512 bytes per sector (over 900,000 bytes per disk). The disk controller can read and write 320/360K IBM PC (MS-DOS) formatted 3.5 or 5.25 inch disks, and 640/720K IBM PC (MS-DOS) formatted 3.5 inch disks. External 3.5 inch or 5.25 inch disk drives can be added to the system through the expansion connector. Circuitry for some of the peripherals resides on Paula.
Other chips handle various signals not specifically assigned to any of the custom chips, including modem controls, disk status sensing, disk motor and stepping controls, ROM enable, parallel input/output interface, and keyboard interface. The Amiga includes a standard RS-232-C serial port for external serial input/output devices. A keyboard with numeric keypad, cursor controls and 10 function keys is included in the base system. For maximum flexibility, both key-down and key-up signals are sent. The Amiga also supports a variety of international keyboards. Many other types of controllers can be attached through the two controller ports on the base unit.
You can use a mouse, joystick, keypad, track-ball, light pen, or steering wheel controller in either of the controller ports. - Introduction 5 -