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Alpha Centauri
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Alpha Centauri A
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Alpha Centauri A
Alpha Centauri A, also known as Rigil Kentaurus, is the principal member, or primary, of the binary system. It is a solar-like main-sequence star with a similar yellowish colour, whose stellar classification is spectral type G2-V; it is about 10% more massive than the Sun, with a radius about 22% larger. When considered among the individual brightest stars in the night sky, it is the fourth-brightest at an apparent magnitude of +0.01, being slightly fainter than Arcturus at an apparent magnitude of −0.05.
The type of magnetic activity on Alpha Centauri A is comparable to that of the Sun, showing coronal variability due to star spots, as modulated by the rotation of the star. However, since 2005 the activity level has fallen into a deep minimum that might be similar to the Sun's historical Maunder Minimum. Alternatively, it may have a very long stellar activity cycle and is slowly recovering from a minimum phase.
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Alpha Centauri
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Alpha Centauri B
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Alpha Centauri B
Alpha Centauri B, also known as Toliman, is the secondary star of the binary system. It is a main-sequence star of spectral type K1-V, making it more an orange colour than Alpha Centauri A; it has around 90% of the mass of the Sun and a 14% smaller diameter. Although it has a lower luminosity than A, Alpha Centauri B emits more energy in the X-ray band. Its light curve varies on a short time scale, and there has been at least one observed flare. It is more magnetically active than Alpha Centauri A, showing a cycle of compared to 11 years for the Sun, and has about half the minimum-to-peak variation in coronal luminosity of the Sun. This cycle was recently re-estimated based on more than 20 years of high-resolution spectroscopic observations of the CaIIH&K lines showing a cycle of . Alpha Centauri B has an apparent magnitude of +1.35, slightly dimmer than Mimosa.
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Alpha Centauri
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Alpha Centauri C
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Alpha Centauri C
Alpha Centauri C, better known as Proxima Centauri, is a small main-sequence red dwarf of spectral class M6-Ve. It has an absolute magnitude of +15.60, over 20,000 times fainter than the Sun. Its mass is calculated to be . It is the closest star to the Sun but is too faint to be visible to the naked eye.
thumb|upright=5|center|Relative positions of Sun, Alpha Centauri AB and Proxima Centauri. Grey dot is projection of Proxima Centauri, located at the same distance as Alpha Centauri AB.|alt=Very wide rectangle with a dot labelled "Sun" on the left and two dots respectively labelled "Alpha Centauri AB" and "Proxima Centauri" on the right side, joined by lines labelled with distances and angles
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Alpha Centauri
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Planetary system
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Planetary system
The Alpha Centauri system as a whole has two confirmed planets, both of them around Proxima Centauri. While other planets have been claimed to exist around all of the stars, none of the discoveries have been confirmed.
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Alpha Centauri
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Planets of Proxima Centauri
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Planets of Proxima Centauri
Proxima Centauri b is a terrestrial planet discovered in 2016 by astronomers at the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It has an estimated minimum mass of 1.17 (Earth masses) and orbits approximately 0.049 AU from Proxima Centauri, placing it in the star's habitable zone.
The discovery of Proxima Centauri c was formally published in 2020 and could be a super-Earth or mini-Neptune. It has a mass of roughly 7 and orbits about from Proxima Centauri with a period of . In June 2020, a possible direct imaging detection of the planet hinted at the presence of a large ring system. However, a 2022 study disputed the existence of this planet.
A 2020 paper refining Proxima b's mass excludes the presence of extra companions with masses above at periods shorter than 50 days, but the authors detected a radial-velocity curve with a periodicity of 5.15 days, suggesting the presence of a planet with a mass of about . This planet, Proxima Centauri d, was detected in 2022.
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Alpha Centauri
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Planets of Alpha Centauri A
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Planets of Alpha Centauri A
thumb|upright=1.6|The discovery image of Alpha Centauri's candidate Neptunian planet, marked here as "C1"
In 2021, a candidate planet named Candidate 1 (or C1) was detected around Alpha Centauri A, thought to orbit at approximately with a period of about one year, and to have a mass between that of Neptune and one-half that of Saturn, though it may be a dust disk or an artifact. The possibility of C1 being a background star has been ruled out. Kevin Wagner's (lead author of paper?) video of discovery If this candidate is confirmed, the temporary name C1 will most likely be replaced with the scientific designation Alpha Centauri Ab in accordance with current naming conventions.
GO Cycle 1 observations are planned for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to search for planets around Alpha Centauri A, as well as observations of Epsilon Muscae. The coronographic observations, which occurred on July 26 and 27, 2023, were failures, though there are follow-up observations in March 2024. Pre-launch estimates predicted that JWST will be able to find planets with a radius of 5 at . Multiple observations every 3–6 months could push the limit down to 3 . Post-launch estimates based on observations of HIP 65426 b find that JWST will be able to find planets even closer to Alpha Centauri A and could find a 5 planet at . Candidate 1 has an estimated radius between and orbits at . It is therefore likely within the reach of JWST observations.
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Alpha Centauri
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{{anchor
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Planets of Alpha Centauri B
The first claim of a planet around Alpha Centauri B was that of Alpha Centauri Bb in 2012, which was proposed to be an Earth-mass planet in a 3.2-day orbit. This was refuted in 2015 when the apparent planet was shown to be an artifact of the way the radial velocity data was processed.
A search for transits of planet Bb was conducted with the Hubble Space Telescope from 2013 to 2014. This search detected one potential transit-like event, which could be associated with a different planet with a radius around . This planet would most likely orbit Alpha Centauri B with an orbital period of 20.4 days or less, with only a 5% chance of it having a longer orbit. The median of the likely orbits is 12.4 days. Its orbit would likely have an eccentricity of 0.24 or less. It could have lakes of molten lava and would be far too close to Alpha Centauri B to harbour life. If confirmed, this planet might be called . However, the name has not been used in the literature, as it is not a claimed discovery.
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Alpha Centauri
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Hypothetical planets
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Hypothetical planets
Additional planets may exist in the Alpha Centauri system, either orbiting Alpha Centauri A or Alpha Centauri B individually, or in large orbits around Alpha Centauri AB. Because both stars are fairly similar to the Sun (for example, in age and metallicity), astronomers have been especially interested in making detailed searches for planets in the Alpha Centauri system. Several established planet-hunting teams have used various radial velocity or star transit methods in their searches around these two bright stars. All the observational studies have so far failed to find evidence for brown dwarfs or gas giants.
In 2009, computer simulations showed that a planet might have been able to form near the inner edge of Alpha Centauri B's habitable zone, which extends from from the star. Certain special assumptions, such as considering that the Alpha Centauri pair may have initially formed with a wider separation and later moved closer to each other (as might be possible if they formed in a dense star cluster), would permit an accretion-friendly environment farther from the star. Bodies around Alpha Centauri A would be able to orbit at slightly farther distances due to its stronger gravity. In addition, the lack of any brown dwarfs or gas giants in close orbits around Alpha Centauri make the likelihood of terrestrial planets greater than otherwise. A theoretical study indicates that a radial velocity analysis might detect a hypothetical planet of in Alpha Centauri B's habitable zone.
Radial velocity measurements of Alpha Centauri B made with the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher spectrograph were sufficiently sensitive to detect a planet within the habitable zone of the star (i.e. with an orbital period P = 200 days), but no planets were detected.
Current estimates place the probability of finding an Earth-like planet around Alpha Centauri at roughly 75%. The observational thresholds for planet detection in the habitable zones by the radial velocity method are currently (2017) estimated to be about for Alpha Centauri A, for Alpha Centauri B, and for Proxima Centauri.
Early computer-generated models of planetary formation predicted the existence of terrestrial planets around both Alpha Centauri A and B, but most recent numerical investigations have shown that the gravitational pull of the companion star renders the accretion of planets difficult. Despite these difficulties, given the similarities to the Sun in spectral types, star type, age and probable stability of the orbits, it has been suggested that this stellar system could hold one of the best possibilities for harbouring extraterrestrial life on a potential planet.
In the Solar System, it was once thought that Jupiter and Saturn were probably crucial in perturbing comets into the inner Solar System, providing the inner planets with a source of water and various other ices. However, since isotope measurements of the deuterium to hydrogen (D/H) ratio in comets Halley, Hyakutake, Hale–Bopp, 2002T7, and Tuttle yield values approximately twice that of Earth's oceanic water, more recent models and research predict that less than 10% of Earth's water was supplied from comets. In the system, Proxima Centauri may have influenced the planetary disk as the system was forming, enriching the area around Alpha Centauri with volatile materials. This would be discounted if, for example, happened to have gas giants orbiting (or vice versa), or if and B themselves were able to perturb comets into each other's inner systems, as Jupiter and Saturn presumably have done in the Solar System. Such icy bodies probably also reside in Oort clouds of other planetary systems. When they are influenced gravitationally by either the gas giants or disruptions by passing nearby stars, many of these icy bodies then travel star-wards. Such ideas also apply to the close approach of Alpha Centauri or other stars to the Solar system, when, in the distant future, the Oort Cloud might be disrupted enough to increase the number of active comets.
To be in the habitable zone, a planet around Alpha Centauri A would have an orbital radius of between about 1.2 and so as to have similar planetary temperatures and conditions for liquid water to exist. For the slightly less luminous and cooler , the habitable zone is between about 0.7 and .
With the goal of finding evidence of such planets, both Proxima Centauri and were among the listed "Tier-1" target stars for NASA's Space Interferometry Mission (S.I.M.). Detecting planets as small as three Earth-masses or smaller within two AU of a "Tier-1" target would have been possible with this new instrument. The S.I.M. mission, however, was cancelled due to financial issues in 2010.
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Alpha Centauri
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Circumstellar discs
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Circumstellar discs
Based on observations between 2007 and 2012, a study found a slight excess of emissions in the 24 μm (mid/far-infrared) band surrounding , which may be interpreted as evidence for a sparse circumstellar disc or dense interplanetary dust. The total mass was estimated to be between to the mass of the Moon, or 10–100 times the mass of the Solar System's zodiacal cloud. If such a disc existed around both stars, disc would likely be stable to and would likely be stable to This would put A's disc entirely within the frost line, and a small part of B's outer disc just outside.
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Alpha Centauri
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View from this system
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View from this system
thumb|upright=1.2|Looking towards the sky around Orion from Alpha Centauri with Sirius near Betelgeuse, Procyon in Gemini, and the Sun in Cassiopeia generated by Celestia |alt=Simulated night-sky image centred on Orion labelled with constellation names in red and star names in yellow, including Sirius very close to Betelgeuse and the Sun near Cassiopeia.
thumb|upright=1.2|Simulated night-sky image with a "W" of stars from Cassiopeia connected by lines, and the Sun, labeled "Sol", as it would appear to the left of the "W"
The sky from would appear much as it does from the Earth, except that Centaurus's brightest star, being itself, would be absent from the constellation. The Sun would appear as a white star of apparent magnitude +0.5, roughly the same as the average brightness of Betelgeuse from Earth. It would be at the antipodal point of current right ascension and declination, at (2000), in eastern Cassiopeia, easily outshining all the rest of the stars in the constellation. With the placement of the Sun east of the magnitude 3.4 star Epsilon Cassiopeiae, nearly in front of the Heart Nebula, the "W" line of stars of Cassiopeia would have a "/W" shape.
Other nearby stars' placements may be affected somewhat drastically. Sirius, at 9.2 light years away from the system, would still be the brightest star in the night sky, with a magnitude of -1.2, but would be located in Orion less than a degree away from Betelgeuse. Procyon, which would also be at a slightly further distance than from the Sun, would move to outshine Pollux in the middle of Gemini.
A planet around either or B would see the other star as a very bright secondary. For example, an Earth-like planet at from (with a revolution period of 1.34 years) would get Sun-like illumination from its primary, and would appear 5.7–8.6 magnitudes dimmer (−21.0 to −18.2), 190–2,700 times dimmer than but still 150–2,100 times brighter than the full Moon. Conversely, an Earth-like planet at from (with a revolution period of 0.63 years) would get nearly Sun-like illumination from its primary, and would appear 4.6–7.3 magnitudes dimmer (−22.1 to −19.4), 70 to 840 times dimmer than but still 470–5,700 times brighter than the full Moon.
Proxima Centauri would appear dim as one of many stars, being magnitude 4.5 at its current distance, and magnitude 2.6 at periastron.
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Alpha Centauri
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Future exploration
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Future exploration
thumb|upright=1.2|Diagram of the closest stars to the Sun, within 7.5 light years|alt=Series of partial circles centred on a small yellow disk labelled "Sun", each circle labelled with a distance, and several other small disks labelled with the names of stars
Alpha Centauri is a first target for crewed or robotic interstellar exploration. Using current spacecraft technologies, crossing the distance between the Sun and Alpha Centauri would take several millennia, though the possibility of nuclear pulse propulsion or laser light sail technology, as considered in the Breakthrough Starshot program, could make the journey to Alpha Centauri in 20 years. An objective of such a mission would be to make a fly-by of, and possibly photograph, planets that might exist in the system. The existence of Proxima Centauri b, announced by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in August 2016, would be a target for the Starshot program.
NASA released a mission concept in 2017 that would send a spacecraft to Alpha Centauri in 2069, scheduled to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the first crewed lunar landing in 1969, Even at speed 10% of the speed of light (about 108 million km/h), which NASA experts say may be possible, it would take a spacecraft 44 years to reach the constellation, by the year 2113, and would take another 4 years for a signal, by the year 2117 to reach Earth. The concept received no further funding or development.
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Alpha Centauri
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In culture
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In culture
Alpha Centauri has been recognized and associated throughout history, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere. Polynesians have been using Alpha Centauri for their star navigation and have called it Kamailehope. In the Ngarrindjeri culture of Australia, Alpha Centauri represents with Beta Centauri two sharks chasing a stingray, the Southern Cross, and in Incan culture it with Beta Centauri form the eyes of a llama-shaped dark constellation embedded in the band of stars that the visible Milky Way forms in the sky. In ancient Egypt it was also revered and in China it is known as part of the South Gate asterism.
The Sagan Planet Walk in Ithaca, New York, is a walkable scale model of the solar system. An obelisk representing the scaled position of Alpha Centauri has been added at ʻImiloa Astronomy Center in Hawaii.
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Alpha Centauri
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See also
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See also
Project Longshot
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Alpha Centauri
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Notes
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Notes
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Alpha Centauri
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References
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References
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Alpha Centauri
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External links
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External links
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Alpha Centauri
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Hypothetical planets or exploration
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Hypothetical planets or exploration
Category:G-type main-sequence stars
Category:K-type main-sequence stars
Category:M-type main-sequence stars
Centauri, Alpha
Category:Maunder Minimum
Category:Triple star systems
Category:Hypothetical planetary systems
Category:Centaurus
Rigil Kentaurus
Centauri, Alpha
PD-60 05483
0559
128620 and 128621
071681 and 071683
5759 and 5760
Category:Articles containing video clips
16891215
Category:Astronomical objects known since antiquity
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Alpha Centauri
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Table of Content
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Short description, Etymology and nomenclature, Other names, Observation, Observational history, Location and motion, Historical distance estimates, Kinematics, Predicted future changes, Stellar system, Orbital properties, Physical properties, Alpha Centauri AB System, Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, Alpha Centauri C, Planetary system, Planets of Proxima Centauri, Planets of Alpha Centauri A, {{anchor, Hypothetical planets, Circumstellar discs, View from this system, Future exploration, In culture, See also, Notes, References, External links, Hypothetical planets or exploration
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Amiga
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Short description
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Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-bit or 16/32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphics and audio compared to previous 8-bit systems. These include the Atari ST—released earlier the same year—as well as the Macintosh and Acorn Archimedes. The Amiga differs from its contemporaries through custom hardware to accelerate graphics and sound, including sprites, a blitter, and four channels of sample-based audio. It runs a pre-emptive multitasking operating system called AmigaOS, with a desktop environment called Workbench.
The Amiga 1000, based on the Motorola 68000 microprocessor, was released in July 1985. Production problems kept it from becoming widely available until early 1986. While early advertisements cast the computer as an all-purpose business machine, especially with the Sidecar IBM PC compatibility add-on, the Amiga was most commercially successful as a home computer with a range of video games and creative software. The bestselling model, the Amiga 500, was introduced in 1987 along with the more expandable Amiga 2000. The 1990 Amiga 3000 includes a minor update to the graphics hardware via the Enhanced Chip Set also used in subsequent models.
The Amiga established a niche in audio and multimedia. The first music tracker was written for the Amiga, and it became a popular platform for music creation. The 3D rendering packages LightWave 3D, Imagine, and Traces (a predecessor to Blender) originated on the system. The 1990 third-party Video Toaster made the Amiga a comparatively low cost option for video production. In later years, the Amiga started losing market share to IBM PC compatibles and video game consoles, eventually leading to Commodore's bankruptcy in 1994 and the end of Amiga. Commodore is estimated to have sold 4.85 million Amigas. Various groups have since released spiritual successors.
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Amiga
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History
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History
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Amiga
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Concept and early development
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Concept and early development
Jay Miner joined Atari, Inc. in the 1970s and led development of the Atari Video Computer System's graphics and sound chip, the Television Interface Adaptor. When complete, the team began developing a much more sophisticated set of chips, CTIA, ANTIC, and POKEY, that formed the basis of the Atari 8-bit computers.
With the 8-bit line's launch in 1979, the team once again started looking at a next generation chipset. Nolan Bushnell had sold the company to Warner Communications in 1978, and the new management was much more interested in the existing lines than development of new products that might cut into their sales. Miner wanted to start work with the new Motorola 68000, but management was only interested in another 6502 based system. Miner left the company, and, for a time, the industry.
In 1979, Larry Kaplan left Atari and founded Activision. In 1982, Kaplan was approached by a number of investors who wanted to develop a new game platform. Kaplan hired Miner to run the hardware side of the newly formed company, "Hi-Toro". The system was code-named "Lorraine" in keeping with Miner's policy of giving systems female names, in this case the company president's wife, Lorraine Morse. When Kaplan left the company late in 1982, Miner was promoted to head engineer and the company relaunched as Amiga Corporation.New York Times, 29 August 1984, p. D1
thumb|The Boing Ball
The Amiga hardware was designed by Miner, RJ Mical, and Dale Luck. A breadboard prototype for testing and development was largely completed by late 1983, and shown at the January 1984 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).Wallich, Paul: Amiga: The Computer That Wouldn't Die, spectrum.ieee.org 1 March 2001. Accessed on 3 February 2020.
A further developed version of the system was demonstrated at the June 1984 CES and shown to many companies in hopes of garnering further funding, but found little interest in a market that was in the final stages of the video game crash of 1983.
In March, Atari expressed a tepid interest in Lorraine for its potential use in a games console or home computer tentatively known as the . The talks were progressing slowly,New York Times, 29 August 1984, p. D16 and Amiga was running out of money. A temporary arrangement in June led to a $500,000 loan from Atari to Amiga to keep the company going. The terms required the loan to be repaid at the end of the month, otherwise Amiga would forfeit the Lorraine design to Atari.
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Amiga
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Commodore
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Commodore
By the end of the video game crash of 1983, Warner was desperate to sell Atari. In January 1984, Jack Tramiel resigned from Commodore, taking some Commodore employees to his new company, Tramel Technology. This included a number of the senior technical staff, where they began development of a new 68000-based machine. In June, Tramiel arranged a no-cash deal to take over Atari, reforming Tramel Technology as Atari Corporation.
Commodore was left without a workable path to creating a next-generation home computer, and it offered to fund Amiga development. The two companies were initially arranging a license agreement before Commodore offered to purchase Amiga outright.
By late 1984, the prototype breadboard chipset had successfully been turned into integrated circuits, and the system hardware was being readied for production. At this time, the operating system was not ready, and led to a deal to port TRIPOS. TRIPOS was a multitasking system written in BCPL during the 1970s for the PDP-11 minicomputer. This early version was known as AmigaDOS and the GUI as Workbench. The BCPL parts were later rewritten in the C language, and the entire system became AmigaOS.
The system was enclosed in a pizza-box form factor case. A late change was the introduction of vertical supports on either side of the case to provide a "garage" under the main section of the system where the keyboard could be stored.
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Amiga
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Launch
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Launch
The first model was announced in 1985 as simply "The Amiga from Commodore", later to be retroactively dubbed the Amiga 1000. They were first offered for sale in August, but by October only 50 had been built, all of which were used by Commodore. Machines only began to arrive in quantity in mid-November, meaning they missed the Christmas buying rush. By the end of the year, they had sold 35,000 machines, and severe cashflow problems made the company pull out of the January 1986 CES. Bad or entirely missing marketing, forcing the development team to move to the east coast, notorious stability problems and other blunders limited sales in early 1986 to between 10,000 and 15,000 units a month. 120,000 units were reported as having been sold from the machine's launch up to the end of 1986.
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Amiga
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Later models
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Later models
In late 1985, Thomas Rattigan was promoted to COO of Commodore, and then to CEO in February 1986. He immediately implemented an ambitious plan that covered almost all of the company's operations. Among these was the long-overdue cancellation of the now outdated PET and VIC-20 lines, as well as a variety of poorly selling Commodore 64 offshoots and the Commodore 900 workstation effort.
Another one of the changes was to split the Amiga into two products, a new high-end version of the Amiga aimed at the creative market, and a cost-reduced version that would take over for the Commodore 64 in the low-end market. These new designs were released in 1987 as the Amiga 2000 and Amiga 500, the latter of which went on to widespread success and became their best selling model.
Similar high-end/low-end models would make up the Amiga line for the rest of its history; follow-on designs included the Amiga 3000/Amiga 500 Plus/Amiga 600, and the Amiga 4000/Amiga 1200. These models incorporated a series of technical upgrades known as the ECS and AGA, which added higher resolution displays among many other improvements and simplifications.
The Amiga line sold an estimated 4,910,000 machines over its lifetime. The machines were most popular in the UK and Germany, with about 1.5 million sold in each country, and sales in the high hundreds of thousands in other European nations. The machine was less popular in North America, where an estimated 700,000 were sold. In the United States, the Amiga found a niche with enthusiasts and in vertical markets for video processing and editing. In Europe, it was more broadly popular as a home computer and often used for video games.
Beginning in 1990, the Amiga overlapped with the European release of the 16-bit Mega Drive, then the Super NES in 1992. Commodore UK's Kelly Sumner did not see Sega or Nintendo as competitors, but instead credited their marketing campaigns which spent over or for promoting video games as a whole and thus helping to boost Amiga sales. Some games were released for both 16-bit consoles and the Amiga, such as Chuck Rock and Zool.
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Amiga
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Bankruptcy and aftermath
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Bankruptcy and aftermath
In spite of his successes in making the company profitable and bringing the Amiga line to market, Rattigan was soon forced out in a power struggle with majority shareholder, Irving Gould. This is widely regarded as the turning point, as further improvements to the Amiga were eroded by rapid improvements in other platforms.
Commodore shut down the Amiga division on April 26, 1994, and filed for bankruptcy three days later. Commodore's assets were purchased by Escom, a German PC manufacturer, who created the subsidiary company Amiga Technologies. They re-released the A1200 and A4000T, and introduced a new 68060 version of the A4000T. Amiga Technologies researched and developed the Amiga Walker prototype. They presented the machine publicly at CeBit, but Escom went bankrupt in 1996. Some Amigas were still made afterwards for the North American market by QuikPak, a small Pennsylvania-based firm who was the manufacturer of Amigas for Escom.
After a reported sale to VisCorp fell through, a U.S. Wintel PC manufacturer, Gateway 2000, eventually purchased the Amiga branch and technology in 1997. QuickPak attempted but failed to license Amiga from Gateway and build new models. Gateway was then working on a brand new Amiga platform, likely encouraged by a desire to be independent of Microsoft and Intel. However this did not materialize and in 2000, Gateway sold the Amiga brand to Amiga, Inc., without having released any products. Amiga, Inc. licensed the rights to sell hardware using the AmigaOne brand to Eyetech Group and Hyperion Entertainment. In 2019, Amiga, Inc. sold its intellectual property to Amiga Corporation.
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Amiga
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Hardware
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Hardware
thumb|Amiga 1000 front and back
thumb|Amiga 600
thumb|Amiga 1200
thumb|CD32
The Amiga has a custom chipset consisting of several coprocessors which handle audio, video, and direct memory access independently of the central processing unit (CPU). This architecture gave the Amiga a performance edge over its competitors, particularly for graphics-intensive applications and games.
The architecture uses two distinct bus subsystems: the chipset bus and the CPU bus. The chipset bus allows the coprocessors and CPU to address "Chip RAM". The CPU bus provides addressing to conventional RAM, ROM and the Zorro II or Zorro III expansion subsystems. This enables independent operation of the subsystems. The CPU bus can be much faster than the chipset bus. CPU expansion boards may provide additional custom buses. Additionally, "busboards" or "bridgeboards" may provide ISA or PCI buses.
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Amiga
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Central processing unit
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Central processing unit
The most popular models from Commodore, including the Amiga 1000, Amiga 500, and Amiga 2000, use the Motorola 68000 as the CPU. From a developer's point of view, the 68000 provides a full suite of 32-bit operations, but the chip can address only 16 MB of physical memory and is implemented using a 16-bit arithmetic logic unit and has a 16-bit external data bus, so 32-bit computations are transparently handled as multiple 16-bit values at a performance cost. The later Amiga 2500 and the Amiga 3000 models use fully 32-bit, 68000-compatible processors from Motorola with improved performance and larger addressing capability.
CPU upgrades were offered by both Commodore and third-party manufacturers. Most Amiga models can be upgraded either by direct CPU replacement or through expansion boards. Such boards often included faster and higher capacity memory interfaces and hard disk controllers.
Towards the end of Commodore's time in charge of Amiga development, there were suggestions that Commodore intended to move away from the 68000 series to higher performance RISC processors, such as the PA-RISC. Those ideas were never developed before Commodore filed for bankruptcy. Despite this, third-party manufacturers designed upgrades featuring a combination of 68000 series and PowerPC processors along with a PowerPC native microkernel and software. Later Amiga clones featured PowerPC processors only.
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Amiga
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Custom chipset
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Custom chipset
The custom chipset at the core of the Amiga design appeared in three distinct generations, with a large degree of backward-compatibility. The Original Chip Set (OCS) appeared with the launch of the A1000 in 1985. OCS was eventually followed by the modestly improved Enhanced Chip Set (ECS) in 1990 and finally by the partly 32-bit Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA) in 1992. Each chipset consists of several coprocessors that handle graphics acceleration, digital audio, direct memory access and communication between various peripherals (e.g., CPU, memory and floppy disks). In addition, some models featured auxiliary custom chips that performed tasks such as SCSI control and display de-interlacing.
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Amiga
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Graphics
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Graphics
thumb|4096 color HAM picture created with Photon Paint in 1989
thumb|An image in PAL 640x512 16 color mode displayed by an Amiga 2000 on a Commodore 1084 monitor
All Amiga systems can display full-screen animated planar graphics with 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 (EHB Mode), or 4096 colors (HAM Mode). Models with the AGA chipset (A1200 and A4000) also have non-EHB 64, 128, 256, and 262144 (HAM8 Mode) color modes and a palette expanded from 4096 to 16.8 million colors.
The Amiga chipset can genlock, which is the ability to adjust its own screen refresh timing to match an incoming NTSC or PAL video signal. When combined with setting transparency, this allows an Amiga to overlay an external video source with graphics. This ability made the Amiga popular for many applications, and provides the ability to do character generation and CGI effects far more cheaply than earlier systems. This ability has been frequently utilized by wedding videographers, TV stations and their weather forecasting divisions (for weather graphics and radar), advertising channels, music video production, and desktop videographers. The NewTek Video Toaster was made possible by the genlock ability of the Amiga.
In 1988, the release of the Amiga A2024 fixed-frequency monochrome monitor with built-in framebuffer and flicker fixer hardware provided the Amiga with a choice of high-resolution graphic modes (1008×800 for NTSC and 1008×1024 for PAL) with 4 Grayscale levels.https://www.infania.net/misc/gona/Commodore/monitor/manuals/Commodore_A2024_High_Resolution_Monitor_Users_Guide.pdf
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Amiga
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ReTargetable Graphics
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ReTargetable Graphics
ReTargetable Graphics is an API for device drivers mainly used by 3rd party graphics hardware to interface with AmigaOS via a set of libraries. The software libraries may include software tools to adjust resolution, screen colors, pointers and screenmodes. The standard Intuition interface is limited to display depths of 8 bits, while RTG makes it possible to handle higher depths like 24-bits.
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Amiga
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Sound
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Sound
The sound chip, named Paula, supports four PCM sound channels (two for the left speaker and two for the right) with 8-bit resolution for each channel and a 6-bit volume control per channel. The analog output is connected to a low-pass filter, which filters out high-frequency aliasing when the Amiga is using a lower sampling rate (see Nyquist frequency). The brightness of the Amiga's power LED is used to indicate the status of the Amiga's low-pass filter. The filter is active when the LED is at normal brightness, and deactivated when dimmed (or off on older A500 Amigas). On Amiga 1000 (and first Amiga 500 and Amiga 2000 model), the power LED had no relation to the filter's status, and a wire needed to be manually soldered between pins on the sound chip to disable the filter. Paula can read arbitrary waveforms at arbitrary rates and amplitudes directly from the system's RAM, using direct memory access (DMA), making sound playback without CPU intervention possible.
Although the hardware is limited to four separate sound channels, software such as OctaMED uses software mixing to allow eight or more virtual channels, and it was possible for software to mix two hardware channels to achieve a single 14-bit resolution channel by playing with the volumes of the channels in such a way that one of the source channels contributes the most significant bits and the other the least.
The quality of the Amiga's sound output, and the fact that sound hardware is part of the standard chipset and easily addressed by software, were standout features of Amiga hardware unavailable on IBM PC compatibles for years. Third-party sound cards exist that provide DSP functions, multi-track direct-to-disk recording, multiple hardware sound channels and 16-bit and beyond resolutions. A retargetable sound API called AHI was developed allowing these cards to be used transparently by the OS and software.
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Amiga
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Kickstart firmware
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Kickstart firmware
Kickstart is the firmware upon which AmigaOS is bootstrapped. Its purpose is to initialize the Amiga hardware and core components of AmigaOS and then attempt to boot from a bootable volume, such as a floppy disk or hard disk drive. Most models (excluding the Amiga 1000) come equipped with Kickstart on an embedded ROM-chip.
There are various editions of Kickstart ROMs starting with Kickstart v1.1 for the Amiga 1000, v1.2 and v1.3 for the A500, Kickstart v2.1 on A500+, Kickstart v2.2 for A600 and dual ROMs for Kickstart v3.0 and 3.1 for A1200 and A4000. After Commodore's demise there have been new Kickstart v3.1 ROMs made available for both the A500 and A600 Computers. Amiga Software is mostly backward compatible, but v2.1 ROMs and newer differ slightly, which can cause software glitches with earlier programs. To help address this and to get earlier programs to work with later Kickstart ROMs, some tools have been produced such as RELOKIK 1.4 and MAKE IT WORK! for the A600 and A1200. They revert the system to temporarily boot in Kickstart v1.3.
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Amiga
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Keyboard and mouse
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Keyboard and mouse
thumb|upright|left|Amiga mouse
The keyboard on Amiga computers is similar to that found on a mid-80s IBM PC: Ten function keys, a numeric keypad, and four separate directional arrow keys. Caps Lock and Control share space to the left of A. Absent are Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys: These functions are accomplished on Amigas by pressing shift and the appropriate arrow key. The Amiga keyboard adds a Help key, which a function key usually acts as on PCs (usually F1). In addition to the Control and Alt modifier keys, the Amiga has 2 "Amiga" keys, rendered as "Open Amiga" and "Closed Amiga" similar to the Open/Closed Apple logo keys on Apple II keyboards. The left is used to manipulate the operating system (moving screens and the like) and the right delivers commands to the application. The absence of Num lock frees space for more mathematical symbols around the numeric pad.
Like IBM-compatible computers, the mouse has two buttons, but in AmigaOS, pressing and holding the right button replaces the system status line at the top of the screen with a Maclike menu bar. As with Apple's Mac OS prior to Mac OS 8, menu options are selected by releasing the button over that option, not by left clicking. Menu items that have a Boolean toggle state can be left clicked whilst the menu is kept open with the right button, which allows the user – for example – to set some selected text to bold, underline and italics in one visit to the menus.
The mouse plugs into one of two Atari joystick ports used for joysticks, game paddles, and graphics tablets. Although compatible with analog joysticks, Atari-style digital joysticks became standard. Unusually, two independent mice can be connected to the joystick ports; some games, such as Lemmings, were designed to take advantage of this.
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Amiga
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Other peripherals and expansions
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Other peripherals and expansions
thumb|upright|8-bit sound sampling hardware for the Amiga
The Amiga was one of the first computers for which inexpensive sound sampling and video digitization accessories were available. As a result of this and the Amiga's audio and video capabilities, the Amiga became a popular system for editing and producing both music and video.
Many expansion boards were produced for Amiga computers to improve the performance and capability of the hardware, such as memory expansions, SCSI controllers, CPU boards, and graphics boards. Other upgrades include genlocks, network cards for Ethernet, modems, sound cards and samplers, video digitizers, extra serial ports, and IDE controllers. Additions after the demise of Commodore company are USB cards. The most popular upgrades were memory, SCSI controllers and CPU accelerator cards. These were sometimes combined into one device.
Early CPU accelerator cards used the full 32-bit CPUs of the 68000 family such as the Motorola 68020 and Motorola 68030, almost always with 32-bit memory and usually with FPUs and MMUs or the facility to add them. Later designs feature the Motorola 68040 or Motorola 68060. Both CPUs feature integrated FPUs and MMUs. Many CPU accelerator cards also had integrated SCSI controllers.
Phase5 designed the PowerUP boards (Blizzard PPC and CyberStorm PPC) featuring both a 68k (a 68040 or 68060) and a PowerPC (603 or 604) CPU, which are able to run the two CPUs at the same time and share the system memory. The PowerPC CPU on PowerUP boards is usually used as a coprocessor for heavy computations; a powerful CPU is needed to run MAME for example, but even decoding JPEG pictures and MP3 audio was considered heavy computation at the time. It is also possible to ignore the 68k CPU and run Linux on the PPC via project Linux APUS, but a PowerPC-native AmigaOS promised by Amiga Technologies GmbH was not available when the PowerUP boards first appeared.
24-bit graphics cards and video cards were also available. Graphics cards were designed primarily for 2D artwork production, workstation use, and later, gaming. Video cards are designed for inputting and outputting video signals, and processing and manipulating video.
In the North American market, the NewTek Video Toaster was a video effects board that turned the Amiga into an affordable video processing computer that found its way into many professional video environments. One well-known use was to create the special effects in early series of Babylon 5. Due to its NTSC-only design, it did not find a market in countries that used the PAL standard, such as in Europe. In those countries, the OpalVision card was popular, although less featured and supported than the Video Toaster. Low-cost time base correctors (TBC) specifically designed to work with the Toaster quickly came to market, most of which were designed as standard Amiga bus cards.
Various manufacturers started producing PCI busboards for the A1200, A3000 and A4000, allowing standard Amiga computers to use PCI cards such as graphics cards, Sound Blaster sound cards, 10/100 Ethernet cards, USB cards, and television tuner cards. Other manufacturers produced hybrid boards that contained an Intel x86 series chip, allowing the Amiga to emulate a PC.
PowerPC upgrades with Wide SCSI controllers, PCI busboards with Ethernet, sound and 3D graphics cards, and tower cases allowed the A1200 and A4000 to survive well into the late nineties.
Expansion boards were made by Richmond Sound Design that allow their show control and sound design software to communicate with their custom hardware frames either by ribbon cable or fiber optic cable for long distances, allowing the Amiga to control up to eight million digitally controlled external audio, lighting, automation, relay and voltage control channels spread around a large theme park, for example. See Amiga software for more information on these applications.
Other devices included the following:
Amiga 501 with 512 KB RAM and real-time clock
Trumpcard 500 Zorro-II SCSI interface
GVP A530 Turbo, accelerator, RAM expansion, PC emulator
A2091 / A590 SCSI hard disk controller + 2 MB RAM expansion
A3070 SCSI tape backup unit with a capacity of , OEM Archive Viper 1/4-inch
A2065 Ethernet Zorro-II interface – the first Ethernet interface for Amiga; uses the AMD Am7990 chip The same interface chip is used in DECstation as well.
Ariadne Zorro-II Ethernet interface using the AMD Am7990
A4066 Zorro II Ethernet interface using the SMC 91C90QF
X-Surf from Individual Computers using the Realtek 8019AS
A2060 Arcnet
A1010 floppy disk drive consisting of a 3.5-inch double density (DD), , drive unit connected via DB-23 connector; track-to-track delay is on the order of . The default capacity is . Many clone drives were available, and products such as the Catweasel and KryoFlux make it possible to read and write Amiga and other special disc formats on standard x86 PCs.
NE2000-compatible PCMCIA Ethernet cards for Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200
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Amiga
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Serial ports
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Serial ports
The Commodore A2232 board provides seven RS-232C serial ports in addition to the Amiga's built-in serial port. Each port can be driven independently at speeds of 50 to . There is, however, a driver available on Aminet that allows two of the serial ports to be driven at . The serial card used the 65CE02 CPU clocked at . This CPU was also part of the CSG 4510 CPU core that was used in the Commodore 65 computer.
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Amiga
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Networking
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Networking
Amiga has three networking interface APIs:
AS225: the official Commodore TCP/IP stack API with hard-coded drivers in revision 1 (AS225r1) for the A2065 Ethernet and the A2060 Arcnet interfaces. In revision 2, (AS225r2) the SANA-II interface was used.
SANA-II: a standardized API for hardware of network interfaces. It uses an inefficient buffer handling scheme, and lacks proper support for promiscuous and multicast modes.
Miami Network Interface (MNI): an API that doesn't have the problems that SANA-II suffers from. It requires AmigaOS v2.04 or higher.
Different network media were used:
Type Speed Example Ethernet A2065 090428 amiga-hardware.com ARCNET A560, A2060 Floppy disk controller Amitrix: Amiga-Link Serial port RS-232 Parallel port ≈1,600 kbit/s Village Tronic: Liana Token Ring 1,500 kbit/s Nine Tiles: AmigaLink (9 Tiles) AppleTalk / LocalTalk 230.4 – PPS-Doubletalk
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Amiga
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Models and variants
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Models and variants
The original Amiga models were produced from 1985 to 1996. They are, in order of production: 1000, 2000, 500, 1500, 2500, 3000, 3000UX, 3000T, CDTV, 500+, 600, 4000, 1200, CD32, and 4000T. The PowerPC-based AmigaOne computers were later marketed beginning in 2002. Several companies and private persons have also released Amiga clones and still do so today.
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Amiga
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Commodore Amiga
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Commodore Amiga
thumb|The Amiga 1000 (1985) was the first model released.
The first Amiga model, the Amiga 1000, was launched in 1985. In 2006, PC World rated the Amiga 1000 as the seventh greatest PC of all time, stating "Years ahead of its time, the Amiga was the world's first multimedia, multitasking personal computer".
Commodore updated the desktop line of Amiga computers with the Amiga 2000 in 1987, the Amiga 3000 in 1990, and the Amiga 4000 in 1992, each offering improved capabilities and expansion options. The best-selling models were the budget models, however, particularly the highly successful Amiga 500 (1987) and the Amiga 1200 (1992). The Amiga 500+ (1991) was the shortest-lived model, replacing the Amiga 500 and lasting only six months until it was phased out and replaced with the Amiga 600 (1992). The A600 was only intended as a temporary gap filler until the A1200 was available for sale. The A600 was actually designed as a portable system, hence the lack of numeric Keypad, and it was originally to be named Amiga 300. Some early A600 models have retained the original A300 logo printed on the mainboard. The Amiga 600 was quickly replaced by the Amiga 1200.
The CDTV, launched in 1991, was a CD-ROM-based game console, Computer and multimedia appliance based on the Amiga A500 with the same v1.3 Kickstart ROM, several years before CD-ROM drives were common. The cost of CDTV media production and the CD-ROM drives at the time discouraged potential buyers and the system never achieved any real success. The CDTV was however one of the first ever CD-ROM-based machines that were mass-produced. A CDTV legacy is the external A570 CD-ROM drive expansion for the A500 computer.
Commodore's last Amiga offering before filing for bankruptcy was the Amiga CD32 (1993), a 32-bit CD-ROM games console produced until mid 1994. Although discontinued after Commodore's demise it met with moderate commercial success in Europe. The CD32 was a next-generation CDTV, and it was designed and released by Commodore before the PlayStation. It was Commodore's last attempt to enter the ever growing video-game console market.
Following purchase of Commodore's assets by Escom in 1995, the A1200 and A4000T continued to be sold in small quantities until 1996, though the ground lost since the initial launch and the prohibitive expense of these units meant that the Amiga line never regained any real popularity.
Several Amiga models contained references to songs by the rock band The B-52's. Early A500 units had the words "B52/ROCK LOBSTER" silk-screen printed onto their printed circuit board, a reference to the song "Rock Lobster" The Amiga 600 referenced "JUNE BUG" (after the song "Junebug") and the Amiga 1200 had "CHANNEL Z" (after "Channel Z"), and the CD-32 had "Spellbound."
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Amiga
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AmigaOS 4 systems
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AmigaOS 4 systems
AmigaOS 4 is designed for PowerPC Amiga systems. It is mainly based on AmigaOS 3.1 source code, with some parts of version 3.9. Currently runs on both Amigas equipped with CyberstormPPC or BlizzardPPC accelerator boards, on the Teron series based AmigaOne computers built by Eyetech under license by Amiga, Inc., on the Pegasos II from Genesi/bPlan GmbH, on the ACube Systems Srl Sam440ep / Sam460ex / AmigaOne 500 systems and on the A-EON AmigaOne X1000.
AmigaOS 4.0 had been available only in developer pre-releases for numerous years until it was officially released in December 2006. Due to the nature of some provisions of the contract between Amiga Inc. and Hyperion Entertainment (the Belgian company that is developing the OS), the commercial AmigaOS 4 had been available only to licensed buyers of AmigaOne motherboards.
AmigaOS 4.0 for Amigas equipped with PowerUP accelerator boards was released in November 2007. Version 4.1 was released in August 2008 for AmigaOne systems, and in May 2011 for Amigas equipped with PowerUP accelerator boards. The most recent release of AmigaOS for all supported platforms is 4.1 update 5. Starting with release 4.1 update 4 there is an Emulation drawer containing official AmigaOS 3.x ROMs (all classic Amiga models including CD32) and relative Workbench files.
Acube Systems entered an agreement with Hyperion under which it has ported AmigaOS 4 to its Sam440ep and Sam460ex line of PowerPC-based motherboards. In 2009 a version for Pegasos II was released in co-operation with Acube Systems. In 2012, A-EON Technology Ltd manufactured and released the AmigaOne X1000 to consumers through their partner, Amiga Kit who provided end-user support, assembly and worldwide distribution of the new system.
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Amiga
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Amiga hardware clones
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Amiga hardware clones
Long-time Amiga developer MacroSystem entered the Amiga-clone market with their DraCo non-linear video editing system. It appears in two versions, initially a tower model and later a cube. DraCo expanded upon and combined a number of earlier expansion cards developed for Amiga (VLabMotion, Toccata, WarpEngine, RetinaIII) into a true Amiga-clone powered by the Motorola 68060 processor. The DraCo can run AmigaOS 3.1 up through AmigaOS 3.9. It is the only Amiga-based system to support FireWire for video I/O. DraCo also offers an Amiga-compatible Zorro-II expansion bus and introduced a faster custom DraCoBus, capable of transfer rates (faster than Commodore's Zorro-III). The technology was later used in the Casablanca system, a set-top-box also designed for non-linear video editing.
In 1998, Index Information released the Access, an Amiga-clone similar to the Amiga 1200, but on a motherboard that could fit into a standard -inch drive bay. It features either a 68020 or 68030 CPU, with a AGA chipset, and runs AmigaOS 3.1.
In 1998, former Amiga employees (John Smith, Peter Kittel, Dave Haynie and Andy Finkel to mention few) formed a new company called PIOS. Their hardware platform, PIOS One, was aimed at Amiga, Atari and Macintosh users. The company was renamed to Met@box in 1999 until it folded.
The NatAmi (short for Native Amiga) hardware project began in 2005 with the aim of designing and building an Amiga clone motherboard that is enhanced with modern features. The NatAmi motherboard is a standard Mini-ITX-compatible form factor computer motherboard, powered by a Motorola/Freescale 68060 and its chipset. It is compatible with the original Amiga chipset, which has been inscribed on a programmable FPGA Altera chip on the board. The NatAmi is the second Amiga clone project after the Minimig motherboard, and its history is very similar to that of the C-One mainboard developed by Jeri Ellsworth and Jens Schönfeld. From a commercial point of view, Natami's circuitry and design are currently closed source. One goal of the NatAmi project is to design an Amiga-compatible motherboard that includes up-to-date features but that does not rely on emulation (as in WinUAE), modern PC Intel components, or a modern PowerPC mainboard. As such, NatAmi is not intended to become another evolutionary heir to classic Amigas, such as with AmigaOne or Pegasos computers. This "purist" philosophy essentially limits the resulting processor speed but puts the focus on bandwidth and low latencies. The developers also recreated the entire Amiga chipset, freeing it from legacy Amiga limitations such as two megabytes of audio and video graphics RAM as in the AGA chipset, and rebuilt this new chipset by programming a modern FPGA Altera Cyclone IV chip. Later, the developers decided to create from scratch a new software-form processor chip, codenamed "N68050" that resides in the physical Altera FPGA programmable chip.
In 2006, two new Amiga clones were announced, both using FPGA-based hardware synthesis to replace the Amiga OCS custom chipset. The first, the Minimig, is a personal project of Dutch engineer Dennis van Weeren. Referred to as "new Amiga hardware", the original model was built on a Xilinx Spartan-3 development board, but soon a dedicated board was developed. The minimig uses the FPGA to reproduce the custom Denise, Agnus, Paula and Gary chips as well as both 8520 CIAs and implements a simple version of Amber. The rest of the chips are an actual 68000 CPU, ram chips, and a PIC microcontroller for BIOS control. The design for Minimig was released as open-source on July 25, 2007. In February 2008, an Italian company Acube Systems began selling Minimig boards. A third party upgrade replaces the PIC microcontroller with a more powerful ARM processor, providing more functionality such as write access and support for hard disk images. The Minimig core has been ported to the FPGArcade "Replay" board. The Replay uses an FPGA with about three times more capacity and that does support the AGA chipset and a 68020 soft core with 68030 capabilities. The Replay board is designed to implement many older computers and classic arcade machines.
The second is the Clone-A system announced by Individual Computers. As of mid-2007 it has been shown in its development form, with FPGA-based boards replacing the Amiga chipset and mounted on an Amiga 500 motherboard.
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Amiga
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Operating systems
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Operating systems
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Amiga
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AmigaOS
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AmigaOS
thumb|AmigaOne X1000 running AmigaOS 4.1
AmigaOS is a single-user multitasking operating system. It was one of the first commercially available consumer operating systems for personal computers to implement preemptive multitasking. It was developed first by Commodore International and initially introduced in 1985 with the Amiga 1000. John C. Dvorak wrote in PC Magazine in 1996:
AmigaOS combines a command-line interface and graphical user interface. AmigaDOS is the disk operating system and command line portion of the OS and Workbench the native graphical windowing, graphical environment for file management and launching applications. AmigaDOS allows long filenames (up to 107 characters) with whitespace and does not require filename extensions. The windowing system and user interface engine that handles all input events is called Intuition.
The multi-tasking kernel is called Exec. It acts as a scheduler for tasks running on the system, providing pre-emptive multitasking with prioritised round-robin scheduling. It enabled true pre-emptive multitasking in as little as 256 KB of free memory.
AmigaOS does not implement memory protection; the 68000 CPU does not include a memory management unit. Although this speeds and eases inter-process communication because programs can communicate by simply passing a pointer back and forth, the lack of memory protection made the AmigaOS more vulnerable to crashes from badly behaving programs than other multitasking systems that did implement memory protection, and Amiga OS is fundamentally incapable of enforcing any form of security model since any program had full access to the system. A co-operational memory protection feature was implemented in AmigaOS 4 and could be retrofitted to old AmigaOS systems using Enforcer or CyberGuard tools.
The problem was somewhat exacerbated by Commodore's initial decision to release documentation relating not only to the OS's underlying software routines, but also to the hardware itself, enabling intrepid programmers who had developed their skills on the Commodore 64 to POKE the hardware directly, as was done on the older platform. While the decision to release the documentation was a popular one and allowed the creation of fast, sophisticated sound and graphics routines in games and demos, it also contributed to system instabilityas some programmers lacked the expertise to program at this level. For this reason, when the new AGA chipset was released, Commodore declined to release low-level documentation in an attempt to force developers into using the approved software routines.
The latest version for the PPC Amigas is the AmigaOS 4.1 and for the 68k Amigas is the AmigaOS 3.2.2
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Amiga
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Influence on other operating systems
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Influence on other operating systems
AmigaOS directly or indirectly inspired the development of various operating systems. MorphOS and AROS clearly inherit heavily from the structure of AmigaOS as explained directly in articles regarding these two operating systems. AmigaOS also influenced BeOS, which featured a centralized system of Datatypes, similar to that present in AmigaOS. Likewise, DragonFly BSD was also inspired by AmigaOS as stated by Dragonfly developer Matthew Dillon who is a former Amiga developer. WindowLab and amiwm are among several window managers for the X Window System seek to mimic the Workbench interface. IBM licensed the Amiga GUI from Commodore in exchange for the REXX language license. This allowed OS/2 to have the WPS (Workplace Shell) GUI shell for OS/2 2.0, a 32-bit operating system.
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Amiga
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Unix and Unix-like systems
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Unix and Unix-like systems
Commodore-Amiga produced Amiga Unix, informally known as Amix, based on AT&T SVR4. It supports the Amiga 2500 and Amiga 3000 and is included with the Amiga 3000UX. Among other unusual features of Amix is a hardware-accelerated windowing system that can scroll windows without copying data. Amix is not supported on the later Amiga systems based on 68040 or 68060 processors.
Other, still maintained, operating systems are available for the classic Amiga platform, including Linux and NetBSD. Both require a CPU with MMU such as the 68020 with 68851 or full versions of the 68030, 68040 or 68060. There is also a version of Linux for Amigas with PowerPC accelerator cards. Debian and Yellow Dog Linux can run on the AmigaOne.
There is an official, older version of OpenBSD. The last Amiga release is 3.2. MINIX 1.5.10 also runs on Amiga.
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Amiga
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Emulating other systems
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Emulating other systems
The Amiga Sidecar is a complete IBM PC XT compatible computer contained in an expansion card. It was released by Commodore in 1986 and promoted as a way to run business software on the Amiga 1000.
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Amiga
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Amiga software
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Amiga software
In the late 1980s and early 1990s the platform became particularly popular for gaming, demoscene activities and creative software uses. During this time commercial developers marketed a wide range of games and creative software, often developing titles simultaneously for the Atari ST due to the similar hardware architecture. Popular creative software included 3D rendering (ray-tracing) packages, bitmap graphics editors, desktop video software, software development packages and "tracker" music editors.
Until the late 1990s the Amiga remained a popular platform for non-commercial software, often developed by enthusiasts, and much of which was freely redistributable. An on-line archive, Aminet, was created in 1991 and until the late-1990s was the largest public archive of software, art and documents for any platform.
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Amiga
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Marketing
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Marketing
thumb|Logo used in the US on some product packaging for the Amiga 500
thumb|Amiga Technologies logo incorporating the "Boing Ball" (1996)
The name Amiga was chosen by the developers from the Spanish word for a female friend, because they knew Spanish, and because it occurred before Apple and Atari alphabetically. It also conveyed the message that the Amiga computer line was "user friendly" as a pun or play on words.
The first official Amiga logo was a rainbow-colored double check mark. In later marketing material Commodore largely dropped the checkmark and used logos styled with various typefaces. Although it was never adopted as a trademark by Commodore, the "Boing Ball" has been synonymous with Amiga since its launch. It became an unofficial and enduring theme after a visually impressive animated demonstration at the 1984 Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1984 showing a checkered ball bouncing and rotating. Following Escom's purchase of Commodore in 1996, the Boing Ball theme was incorporated into a new logo.
Early Commodore advertisements attempted to cast the computer as an all-purpose business machine, though the Amiga was most commercially successful as a home computer. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s Commodore primarily placed advertising in computer magazines and occasionally in national newspapers and on television.
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Amiga
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Legacy
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Legacy
Since the demise of Commodore, various groups have marketed successors to the original Amiga line:
Genesi sold PowerPC based hardware under the Pegasos brand running AmigaOS and MorphOS;
Eyetech sold PowerPC based hardware under the AmigaOne brand from 2002 to 2005 running AmigaOS 4;
Amiga Kit distributes and sells PowerPC based hardware under the AmigaOne brand from 2010 to present day running AmigaOS 4;
ACube Systems sells the AmigaOS 3 compatible Minimig system with a Freescale MC68SEC000 CPU (Motorola 68000 compatible) and AmigaOS 4 compatible Sam440 / Sam460 / AmigaOne 500 systems with PowerPC processors;
A-EON Technology Ltd sells the AmigaOS 4 compatible AmigaOne X1000 system with P.A. Semi PWRficient PA6T-1682M processor, X5000 and A1222+ computers.
AmigaKit Ltd produce the A600GS and A1200NG computers systems. They also manufacture and sell a wide range of aftermarket components to refurbished classic systems.
ASB Computer Spain sell numerous items from aftermarket components to refurbished classic systems.
AmigaOS and MorphOS are commercial proprietary operating systems. AmigaOS 4, based on AmigaOS 3.1 source code with some parts of version 3.9, is developed by Hyperion Entertainment and runs on PowerPC based hardware. MorphOS, based on some parts of AROS source code, is developed by MorphOS Team and is continued on Apple and other PowerPC based hardware.
There is also AROS, a free and open source operating system (re-implementation of the AmigaOS 3.1 APIs), for Amiga 68k, x86 and ARM hardware (one version runs Linux-hosted on the Raspberry Pi). In particular, AROS for Amiga 68k hardware aims to create an open source Kickstart ROM replacement for emulation purpose and/or for use on real "classic" hardware.
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Amiga
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Magazines
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Magazines
Amiga Format continued publication until 2000. Amiga Active was launched in 1999 and was published until 2001.
Several magazines are in publication today: Print magazine Amiga Addict started publication in 2020.Amiga Future, which is available in both English and German; Bitplane.it, a bimonthly magazine in Italian; and AmigaPower, a long-running French magazine.
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Amiga
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Trade shows
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Trade shows
The Amiga continues to be popular enough that fans to support conferences such as Amiga37 which had over 50 vendors.
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Amiga
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Uses
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Uses
The Amiga series of computers found a place in early computer graphic design and television presentation. Season 1 and part of season 2 of the television series Babylon 5 were rendered in LightWave 3D on Amigas. Other television series using Amigas for special effects included SeaQuest DSV and Max Headroom.
In addition, many celebrities and notable individuals have made use of the Amiga:
Andy Warhol was an early user of the Amiga and appeared at the launch, where he made a computer artwork of Debbie Harry. Warhol used the Amiga to create a new style of art made with computers, and was the author of a multimedia opera called You Are the One, which consists of an animated sequence featuring images of actress Marilyn Monroe assembled in a short movie with a soundtrack. The video was discovered on two old Amiga floppies in a drawer in Warhol's studio and repaired in 2006 by the Detroit Museum of New Art. The pop artist has been quoted as saying: "The thing I like most about doing this kind of work on the Amiga is that it looks like my work in other media".
Artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud credits the Amiga he bought for his son as a bridge to learning about "using paint box programs". He uploaded some of his early experiments to the file sharing forums on CompuServe.
Futurist and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke used an Amiga computer to calculate and explore Mandelbrot sets in the 1988 documentary film God, the Universe and Everything Else.
The "Weird Al" Yankovic film UHF contains a computer-animated music video parody of the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing", titled "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*". According to the DVD commentary track, this spoof was created on an Amiga home computer.
Rolf Harris used an Amiga to digitize his hand-drawn art work for animation on his television series Rolf's Cartoon Club.
Debbie Harry appeared together with Andy Warhol (see above) at launch.
Todd Rundgren's video "Change Myself" was produced with Toaster and Lightwave.
Scottish pop artist Calvin Harris composed his 2007 debut album I Created Disco with an Amiga 1200.
Susumu Hirasawa, a Japanese progressive-electronic artist, is known for using Amigas to compose and perform music, aid his live shows and make his promotional videos. He has also been inspired by the Amiga, and has referenced it in his lyrics. His December 13, 1994 "Adios Jay" Interactive Live Show was dedicated to (then recently deceased) Jay Miner. He also used the Amiga to create the virtual drummer TAINACO, who was a CG rendered figure whose performance was made with Elan Performer and was projected with DCTV. He also composed and performed "Eastern-boot", the AmigaOS 4 boot jingle.
Electronic musician Max Tundra created his three albums with an Amiga 500.
Bob Casale, keyboardist and guitarist of the new wave band Devo, used Amiga computer graphics on the album cover to Devo's album Total Devo.
Most of Pokémon Gold and Silver's music was created on an Amiga computer, converted to MIDI, and then reconverted to the game's music format.
American professional skateboarder Tony Hawk used an Amiga 2000 during the late 1980s to early 1990s. NewTek sent him a Video Toaster for his Amiga in exchange for appearing in a promotional video alongside Wil Wheaton and Penn Jillette, which he later used for editing a promotional video for the TurboDuo game Lords of Thunder in 1993.
Veteran actor Dick Van Dyke also owned an Amiga equipped with a Video Toaster, where he is credited with the creation of 3D-rendered effects used on Diagnosis: Murder and The Dick Van Dyke Show Revisited. Van Dyke has displayed his computer-generated imagery work at SIGGRAPH, and continues to work with LightWave 3D.
A number of notable producers used OctaMED for composition and live performance of Drum and Bass, Jungle, and various other sub-genres of electronic dance music on Amiga systems, occasionally in conjunction with additional synthesizers. These include: Aphrodite, DJ Zinc, Omni Trio, and Paradox, among others.
Electronic musician Deaton Chris Anthony uses an Amiga to produce music (in addition to a modern Mac-based setup). Anthony has referred to the computer as his "inspiration creator".
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Amiga
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Special purpose applications
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Special purpose applications
Amigas were used in various NASA laboratories to keep track of low orbiting satellites until 2004. Amigas were used at Kennedy Space Center to run strip-chart recorders, to format and display data, and control stations of platforms for Delta rocket launches.
Palomar Observatory used Amigas to calibrate and control the charge-coupled devices in their telescopes, as well as to display and store the digitized images they collected.
London Transport Museum developed their own interactive multi-media software for the CD32 including a virtual tour of the museum.
Amiga 500 motherboards were used, in conjunction with a LaserDisc player and genlock device, in arcade games manufactured by American Laser Games.
A custom Amiga 4000T motherboard was used in the HDI 1000 medical ultrasound system built by Advanced Technology Labs.
, the Grand Rapids Public School district uses a Commodore Amiga 2000 with 1200 baud modem to automate its air conditioning and heating systems for the 19 schools covered by the GRPS district. The system has been operating day and night for decades.
The Weather Network used Amigas to display the weather on TV.
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Amiga
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See also
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See also
Amiga Forever
List of Amiga games
Amiga emulation
SAGE Computer Technology
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Amiga
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Notes
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Notes
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Amiga
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References
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References
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Amiga
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Works cited
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Works cited
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Amiga
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External links
|
External links
Official AmigaOS website
History of the Amiga at Ars Technica
Amiga, Inc. Website
Amiga Software Database
Amiga Hardware Database
Big Book of Amiga Hardware
Lemon Amiga: Amiga Fanbase
RUN Magazine Issue 21, September 1985 article on the introduction of the Amiga
Amiga.org: community forums and support
English Amiga Board: Amiga community forums and support
The Hall of Light: the database of Amiga games
The Amiga Museum
Category:68k-based computers
Category:American inventions
Category:Computer-related introductions in 1985
Category:Desktop computers
Category:Home computers
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Amiga
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Table of Content
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Short description, History, Concept and early development, Commodore, Launch, Later models, Bankruptcy and aftermath, Hardware, Central processing unit, Custom chipset, Graphics, ReTargetable Graphics, Sound, Kickstart firmware, Keyboard and mouse, Other peripherals and expansions, Serial ports, Networking, Models and variants, Commodore Amiga, AmigaOS 4 systems, Amiga hardware clones, Operating systems, AmigaOS, Influence on other operating systems, Unix and Unix-like systems, Emulating other systems, Amiga software, Marketing, Legacy, Magazines, Trade shows, Uses, Special purpose applications, See also, Notes, References, Works cited, External links
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Absorption
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Wiktionary
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Absorption may refer to:
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Absorption
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Chemistry and biology
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Chemistry and biology
Absorption (biology), digestion
Absorption (small intestine)
Absorption (chemistry), diffusion of particles of gas or liquid into liquid or solid materials
Absorption (skin), a route by which substances enter the body through the skin
Absorption (pharmacology), absorption of drugs into the body
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Absorption
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Physics and chemical engineering
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Physics and chemical engineering
Absorption (acoustics), absorption of sound waves by a material
Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption of light or other electromagnetic radiation by a material
Absorption air conditioning, a type of solar air conditioning
Absorption refrigerator, a refrigerator that runs on surplus heat rather than electricity
Dielectric absorption, the inability of a charged capacitor to completely discharge when briefly discharged
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Absorption
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Mathematics and economics
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Mathematics and economics
Absorption (economics), the total demand of an economy for goods and services both from within and without
Absorption (logic), one of the rules of inference
Absorption costing, or total absorption costing, a method for appraising or valuing a firm's total inventory by including all the manufacturing costs incurred to produce those goods
Absorbing element, in mathematics, an element that does not change when it is combined in a binary operation with some other element
Absorption law, in mathematics, an identity linking a pair of binary operations
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Absorption
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See also
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See also
Adsorption, the formation of a gas or liquid film on a solid surface
CO2 scrubber, device which absorbs carbon dioxide from circulated gas
Digestion, the uptake of substances by the gastrointestinal tract
Absorption (psychology), a state of becoming absorbed by mental imagery or fantasy
Flow (psychology), a state of total mental "absorption"
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Absorption
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Table of Content
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Wiktionary, Chemistry and biology, Physics and chemical engineering, Mathematics and economics, See also
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Actinophryid
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Short description
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The actinophryids are an order of heliozoa, a polyphyletic array of stramenopiles, having a close relationship with pedinellids and Ciliophrys. They are common in fresh water and occasionally found in marine and soil habitats. Actinophryids are unicellular and roughly spherical in shape, with many axopodia that radiate outward from the cell body. Axopodia are a type of pseudopodia that are supported by hundreds of microtubules arranged in interlocking spirals and forming a needle-like internal structure or axoneme. Small granules, extrusomes, that lie under the membrane of the body and axopodia capture flagellates, ciliates and small metazoa that make contact with the arms.
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Actinophryid
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Description
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Description
Actinophryids are largely aquatic protozoa with a spherical cell body and many needle-like axopodia. They resemble the shape of a sun due to this structure, which is the inspiration for their common name: heliozoa, or "sun-animalcules". Their bodies, without arms, range in size from a few tens of micrometers to slightly under a millimeter across.
The outer region of cell body is often vacuolated. The endoplasm of actinophryids is less vacuolated than the outer layer, and a sharp boundary layer may be seen by light microscopy. The organisms can be either mononucleate, with a single, well defined nucleus in the center of the cell body, or multinucleate, with 10 or more nuclei located under the outer vacuolated layer of cytoplasm. The cytoplasm of actinophryids is often granular, similar to that of Amoeba.
Actinophryid cells may fuse when feeding, creating larger aggregated organisms. Fine granules that occur just under the cell membrane are used up when food vacuoles form to enclose prey.Patterson, D. J. & Hausmann, K. 1981. Feeding by Actinophrys sol (Protista, Heliozoa): I. Light microscopy. Microbios 31: 39–55. Actinophryids may also form cysts when food is not readily available. A layer of siliceous plates is deposited under the cell membrane during the encystment process.Patterson, D.J. 1979. On the organization and classification of the protozoon Actinophrys sol Ehrenberg, 1830. Microbios 26: 165–208.
thumb|Video of a contractile vacuole collapse in Actinosphaerium
Contractile vacuoles are common in these organisms, which are presumed to use them to maintain body volume by expelling fluids to compensate for the entry of water by osmosis. Contractile vacuoles are visible as clear bulges from the surface of the cell body that slowly fill then rapidly deflate, expelling their contents into the environment.
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Actinophryid
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Axopodia
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Axopodia
thumb|Cross-section of the double spiral microtubule structure in an axopod
The most distinctive characteristic of the actinophryids is their axopodia. These axopodia consist of a central, rigid rod which is coated in a thin layer of ectoplasm. In Actinophrys the axonemes end on the surface of the central nucleus, and in the multicellular Actinosphaerium they end at or near nuclei. The axonemes are composed of microtubules arranged in a double spiral pattern characteristic of the order. Due to their long, parallel construction, these microtubules demonstrate strong birefringence.
These axopodia are used for prey capture, in movement, cell fusion and perhaps division. They are stiff but may flex especially near their tips, and are highly dynamic, undergoing frequent construction and destruction. When used to collect prey items, two methods of capture have been noted, termed axopodial flow and rapid axopodial contraction. Axopodial flow involves the slow movement of a prey item along the surface of the axopod as the ectoplasm itself moves, while rapid axopodial contraction involves the collapse of the axoneme's microtubule structure. This behavior has been documented in many species, including Actinosphaerium nucleofilum, Actinophrys sol, and Raphidiophrys contractilis. The rapid axopodial contraction occurs at high speed, often in excess of 5mm/s or tens of body lengths per second.
The axopodial contractions have been shown to be highly sensitive to environmental factors such as temperature and pressure as well as chemical signals like Ca2+ and colchicine.
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Actinophryid
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Reproduction
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Reproduction
thumb|Actinophrys undergoing multiple plasmotomy
Reproduction in actinophryids generally takes place via fission, where one parent cell divides into two or more daughter cells. For multinucleate heliozoa, this process is plasmotomic as the nuclei are not duplicated prior to division. It has been observed that reproduction appears to be a response to food scarcity, with an increased number of divisions following the removal of food and larger organisms during times of food excess.
Actinophryids also undergo autogamy during times of food scarcity. This is better described as genetic reorganization than reproduction, as the number of individuals produced is the same as the initial number. Nonetheless, it serves as a way to increase genetic diversity within an individual which may improve the likelihood of expressing favorable genetic traits.
Plastogamy has also been extensively documented in actinophryids, especially in multinucleate ones. Actinosphaerium were observed to combine freely without the combination of nuclei, and this process sometimes resulted in more or less individuals than originally combined. This process is not caused merely by contact between two individuals but can be caused by damage to the cell body.
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Actinophryid
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Cyst function and formation
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Cyst function and formation
Under unfavourable conditions, some species will form a cyst. This is often the product of autogamy, in which case the cysts produced are zygotes. Cells undergoing this process withdraw their axopodia, adhere to the substrate, and take on an opaque and grayish appearance. This cyst then divides until only uninucleate cells remain. The cyst wall is thickly layered 7–8 times and includes gelatinous layers, layers of silica plates, and iron.
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Actinophryid
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Taxonomy
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Taxonomy
Originally placed in Heliozoa (Sarcodina), the actinophryids are now understood to be part of the stramenopiles. They are unrelated to centrohelid and desmothoracid heliozoa with which they had been previously classified.
There are several genera included within this classification. Actinophrys are smaller and have a single, central nucleus. Most have a cell body 40–50 micrometer in diameter with axopods around 100 μm in length, though this varies significantly. Actinosphaerium are several times larger, from 200 to 1000 μm in diameter, with many nuclei and are found exclusively in fresh water. A third genus, Camptonema, has a debated status. It has been observed once and was treated as a junior subjective synonym of Actinosphaerium by Mikrjukov & Patterson in 2001, but as a valid genus by Cavalier-Smith & Scoble (2013). Heliorapha is a further debated taxon, it being a new generic vehicle for the species azurina that was initially assigned to the genus Ciliophrys.
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Actinophryid
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Classification
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Classification
According to the latest review of actinophryid classifications, they are organized into two suborders, three families and three genera.
Order Actinophryida Hartmann 1913 [Actinophrydia Kühn 1926; Actinophrydea Hartmann 1913]
Suborder Actinosphaerina
Family Actinosphaeriidae
Actinosphaerium Ritter von Stein 1857 [Echinosphaerium Hovasse 1965] — 4 species.
Actinosphaerium eichhornii
Actinosphaerium nucleofilum
Actinosphaerium akamae
Actinosphaerium arachnoideum
Suborder Actinophryina
Family Actinophryidae Dujardin 1841
Actinophrys Ehrenberg 1830 [Trichoda Müller 1773 nomen oblitum; Peritricha Bory de St.Vincent 1824 nomen dubium non Stein 1859] — 4 species.
Actinophrys sol
Actinophrys pontica
Actinophrys salsuginosa
Actinophrys tauryanini
Family Helioraphidae
Heliorapha — 1 species.
Heliorapha azurina
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Actinophryid
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Gallery
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Gallery
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Actinophryid
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References
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References
Category:Amoeboids
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Actinophryid
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Table of Content
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Short description, Description, Axopodia, Reproduction, Cyst function and formation, Taxonomy, Classification, Gallery, References
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Abel Tasman
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Short description
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thumb|upright=1.3|Routes taken by Tasman in the Australasian region, on his first and second voyages
Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer and explorer, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first European to reach New Zealand, which he named Staten Landt. He was also the eponym of Tasmania.
Likely born in 1602 or 1603 in Lutjegast, Netherlands, Tasman started his career as a merchant seaman and became a skilled navigator. In 1633, he joined the VOC and sailed to Batavia, now Jakarta, Indonesia. He participated in several voyages, including one to Japan. In 1642, Tasman was appointed by the VOC to lead an expedition to explore the uncharted regions of the Southern Pacific Ocean. His mission was to discover new trade routes and to establish trade relations with the native inhabitants. After leaving Batavia, Tasman sailed westward to Mauritius, then south to the Roaring Forties, then eastward, and reached the coast of Tasmania, which he named Van Diemen's Land after his patron, Anthony van Diemen. He then sailed north east, and was the first European to discover the west coast of New Zealand, which he named Staten Landt. It was later renamed Nieuw Zeeland, after the Dutch province of Zeeland, by Joan Blaeu, official Dutch cartographer to the Dutch East India Company.
Despite his achievements, Tasman's expedition was not entirely successful. The encounter with the Māori people on the South Island of New Zealand resulted in a violent confrontation, which left four of Tasman's men dead. He returned to Batavia without having made any significant contact with the native inhabitants or establishing any trade relations. Nonetheless, Tasman's expedition paved the way for further exploration and colonization of Australia and New Zealand by the British. Tasman continued to serve the Dutch East India Company until his death in 1659, leaving behind a legacy as one of the greatest explorers of his time.
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Abel Tasman
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Biography
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Biography
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Abel Tasman
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Early life
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Early life
Abel Tasman was likely born in 1602 or 1603 in Lutjegast, a village in the Province of Groningen. He married Claesgie Heyndrix, with whom he had a daughter named Claesjen. A proclamation of his second marriage, given in December 1631 at Amsterdam, describes him as a widower and sailor. On 27 December 1631 as a 28-year old seafarer living in Amsterdam, he married 21-year-old Jannetje Tjaers, of Palmstraat in Amsterdam.
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Abel Tasman
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Relocation to the Dutch East Indies
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Relocation to the Dutch East Indies
Uneducated, but employed by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), Tasman learned navigation and seamanship on the job. In 1634, he was appointed skipper of the Mocha, and, under the command of Frans Valck, he went on a two-year voyage to the Maluku Islands.
Tasman sailed from Texel (Netherlands) to Batavia, now Jakarta, in 1633 taking the southern Brouwer Route. While based in Batavia, Tasman took part in a voyage to Seram Island (in what is now the Maluku Province in Indonesia) because the locals had sold spices to other European nationalities than the Dutch.
Tasman docked to find wood for repairs and was separated from the other ships; a fight broke out with local villagers and at least two of Tasman's men were killed.
By August 1637, Tasman had returned to Amsterdam, and in 1638 he signed on for another ten years and took his wife with him to Batavia via a six-month journey. On 25 March 1638, he tried to sell his property in the Jordaan, but the purchase was cancelled.
He was second-in-command of a 1639 expedition of exploration into the north Pacific under Matthijs Quast. The fleet included the ships Engel and Gracht and reached Fort Zeelandia (Dutch Formosa) and Deshima (an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan).
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Abel Tasman
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First major voyage
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First major voyage
In August 1642, the Council of the Indies, consisting of Antonie van Diemen, Cornelis van der Lijn, Joan Maetsuycker, Justus Schouten, Salomon Sweers, Cornelis Witsen, and Pieter Boreel in Batavia dispatched Tasman and Franchoijs Jacobszoon Visscher on a voyage of exploration to little-charted areas east of the Cape of Good Hope, west of Staten Land (near the Cape Horn of South America) and south of the Solomon Islands.Andrew Sharp, The Voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1968, p. 25.
One of the objectives was to obtain knowledge of "all the totally unknown" Provinces of Beach.J.E. Heeres, "Abel Janszoon Tasman, His Life and Labours", Abel Tasman's Journal, Los Angeles, 1965, pp. 137, 141–142; cited in Andrew Sharp, The Voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1968, p. 24. This was a purported yet phantom island said to have plentiful gold, which had appeared on European maps since the 15th century, as a result of an error in some editions of Marco Polo's works.
The expedition was to use two small ships, Heemskerck and Zeehaen.
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Abel Tasman
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Mauritius
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Mauritius
In accordance with Visscher's directions, Tasman sailed from Batavia on 14 August 1642 and arrived at Mauritius on 5 September 1642, according to the captain's journal. The reason for this was the crew could be fed well on the island; there was plenty of fresh water and timber to repair the ships. Tasman got the assistance of the governor Adriaan van der Stel.
Because of the prevailing winds, Mauritius was chosen as a turning point. After a four-week stay on the island, both ships left on 8 October using the Roaring Forties to sail east as fast as possible. (No one had gone as far as Pieter Nuyts in 1626/27.) On 7 November, snow and hail influenced the ship's council to alter course to a more north-easterly direction, with the intention of having the Solomon Islands as their destination.
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Abel Tasman
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Tasmania
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Tasmania
thumb|Coastal cliffs of Tasman Peninsula
On 24 November 1642, Tasman reached and sighted the west coast of Tasmania, north of Macquarie Harbour. He named his discovery Van Diemen's Land, after Antonio van Diemen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.
Proceeding south, Tasman skirted the southern end of Tasmania and turned north-east. He then tried to work his two ships into Adventure Bay on the east coast of South Bruny Island, but he was blown out to sea by a storm. This area he named Storm Bay. Two days later, on 1 December, Tasman anchored to the north of Cape Frederick Hendrick just north of the Forestier Peninsula. On 2 December, two ship's boats under the command of the Pilot, Major Visscher, rowed through the Marion Narrows into Blackman Bay, and then west to the outflow of Boomer Creek where they gathered some edible "greens".Burney, J (1813) A Chronological History of the Voyage and Discoveries in the South Sea of Pacific Ocean L Hansard & Sons, London, p. 70, cited in Potts, B.M. et al (2006) Janet Sommerville's Botanical History of Tasmania University of Tasmania and TMAG Tasman named the bay, Frederick Hendrik Bay, which included the present North Bay, Marion Bay and what is now Blackman Bay. (Tasman's original naming, Frederick Henrick Bay, was mistakenly transferred to its present location by Marion Dufresne in 1772). The next day, an attempt was made to land in North Bay. However, because the sea was too rough, a ship's carpenter swam through the surf and planted the Dutch flag. Tasman then claimed formal possession of the land on 3 December 1642.
For two more days, he continued to follow the east coast northward to see how far it went. When the land veered to the north-west at Eddystone Point, he tried to follow the coast line but his ships were suddenly hit by the Roaring Forties howling through Bass Strait. Tasman was on a mission to find the Southern Continent not more islands, so he abruptly turned away to the east and continued his continent-hunting.
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Abel Tasman
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New Zealand
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New Zealand
thumb|Murderers' Bay, drawing by Isaack Gilsemans
thumb|Māori haka
thumb|Tongatapu, the main island of Tonga; drawing by Isaack Gilsemans
thumb|The bay of Tongatapu with the two ships; drawing by Isaack Gilsemans
Tasman had intended to proceed in a northerly direction but as the wind was unfavourable he steered east. The expedition endured a rough voyage and in one of his diary entries Tasman claimed that his compass was the only thing that had kept him alive.
On 13 December 1642 Tasman and his crew became the first Europeans to reach New Zealand when they sighted the north-west coast of the South Island. Tasman named it Staten Landt "in honour of the States General" (Dutch parliament). He wrote, "it is possible that this land joins to the Staten Landt but it is uncertain", referring to Isla de los Estados, a landmass of the same name at the southern tip of South America, encountered by the Dutch navigator Jacob Le Maire in 1616. However, in 1643 Brouwer's expedition to Valdivia found out that Staaten Landt was separated by sea from the hypothetical Southern Land. Tasman continued: "We believe that this is the mainland coast of the unknown Southland." Tasman thought he had found the western side of the long-imagined Terra Australis that stretched across the Pacific to near the southern tip of South America. On 14 December 1642 Tasman's ships anchored 7 km offshore c. 20km south of Cape Foulwind near Greymouth. The ships were observed by Māori who named a place on this coast Tiropahi (the place were a large sailing ship was seen).
After sailing north then east for five days, the expedition anchored about from the coast off what is now Golden Bay. A group of Māori paddled out in a waka (canoe) and attacked some sailors who were rowing between the two Dutch vessels. Four sailors were clubbed to death with patu. As Tasman sailed out of the bay he observed 22 waka near the shore, of which "eleven swarming with people came off towards us". The waka approached the Zeehaen which fired and hit a man in the largest waka holding a small white flag. Canister shot also hit the side of a waka.Diary of Abel Tasman pp. 21–22. Random House. 2008 Archaeologist Ian Barber suggests that local Māori were trying to secure a cultivation field under ritual protection (tapu) where they believed the Dutch were attempting to land. December was at the mid-point of the locally important sweet potato/kūmara (Ipomoea batatas) growing season. Tasman named the area "Murderers' Bay".
The expedition then sailed north, sighting Cook Strait, which separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand, and which it mistook for a bight and named "Zeehaen's Bight". Two names that the expedition gave to landmarks in the far north of New Zealand still endure: Cape Maria van Diemen and Three Kings Islands. (Kaap Pieter Boreels was renamed Cape Egmont by Captain James Cook 125 years later.)
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Abel Tasman
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Return voyage
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Return voyage
En route back to Batavia, Tasman came across the Tongan archipelago on 20 January 1643. While passing the Fiji Islands Tasman's ships came close to being wrecked on the dangerous reefs of the north-eastern part of the Fiji group. He charted the eastern tip of Vanua Levu and Cikobia-i-Lau before making his way back into the open sea.
The expedition turned north-west towards New Guinea and arrived back in Batavia on 15 June 1643.
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Abel Tasman
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Second major voyage
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Second major voyage
Tasman left Batavia on 30 January 1644 on his second voyage with three ships: Limmen, Zeemeeuw and the tender Braek. He followed the south coast of New Guinea eastwards in an attempt to find a passage to the eastern side of New Holland. However, he missed the Torres Strait between New Guinea and Australia, probably due to the numerous reefs and islands obscuring potential routes, and continued his voyage by following the shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria westwards along the north Australian coast. He mapped the north coast of Australia, making observations on New Holland and its people.Quanchi, Historical Dictionary of the Discovery and Exploration of the Pacific Islands, p. 237 He arrived back in Batavia in August 1644.
From the point of view of the Dutch East India Company, Tasman's explorations were a disappointment: he had neither found a promising area for trade nor a useful new shipping route. Although Tasman was received courteously on his return, the company was upset that Tasman had not fully explored the lands he found, and decided that a more "persistent explorer" should be chosen for any future expeditions. For over a century, until the era of James Cook, Tasmania and New Zealand were not visited by Europeans; mainland Australia was visited, but usually only by accident.
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Abel Tasman
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Later life
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Later life
On 2 November 1644, Abel Tasman was appointed a member of the Council of Justice in Batavia. He went to Sumatra in 1646, and in August 1647 to Siam (now Thailand) with letters from the company to the King. In May 1648, he was in charge of an expedition sent to Manila to try to intercept and loot the Spanish silver ships coming from America, but he had no success and returned to Batavia in January 1649. In November 1649, he was charged and found guilty of having in the previous year hanged one of his men without trial, was suspended from his office of commander, fined, and made to pay compensation to the relatives of the sailor. On 5 January 1651, he was formally reinstated in his rank and spent his remaining years at Batavia. He was in good circumstances, being one of the larger landowners in the town. In 1653, he retired; at that time he owned 288 acres of land in Batavia and captained a small cargo ship, of which he was a part-owner.
In April 1657, Tasman wrote his will and testament, describing himself as ill but not bedridden. Tasman died at Batavia on 10 October 1659 and was survived by his second wife and a daughter by his first wife. His property was divided between his wife and his daughter. In his will, he left 25 guilders to the poor of his village, Lutjegast.
Although Tasman's pilot, Frans Visscher, published Memoir concerning the discovery of the South land in 1642,A translation of part of Visscher's memoir may be read on pp. 24–27 of Andrew Sharp, The voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman, Oxford: Clarendon, 1968, p. 82, n. 1. Tasman's detailed journal was not published until 1898. Nevertheless, some of his charts and maps were in general circulation and used by subsequent explorers. The journal signed by Abel Tasman of the 1642 voyage is held in the Dutch National Archives at The Hague.Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Aanwinsten Eerste Afdeling, nummer toegang 1.11.01.01, inventarisnummer 121
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Abel Tasman
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Legacy
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Legacy
Tasman's ten-month voyage in 1642–43 had significant consequences. By circumnavigating Australia (albeit at a distance) Tasman proved that the small fifth continent was not joined to any larger sixth continent, such as the long-imagined Southern Continent. Further, Tasman's suggestion that New Zealand was the western side of that Southern Continent was seized upon by many European cartographers who, for the next century, depicted New Zealand as the west coast of a Terra Australis rising gradually from the waters around Tierra del Fuego. This theory was eventually disproved when Captain Cook circumnavigated New Zealand in 1769.
thumb|Abel Tasman National Park
Multiple places have been named after Tasman, including:
The Australian island and state of Tasmania, renamed after him, formerly Van Diemen's land. It includes features such as:
The Tasman Peninsula.
The Tasman Bridge.
The Tasman Highway.
The Tasman Sea.
In New Zealand:
The Tasman Glacier.
Tasman Lake.
The Tasman River.
Mount Tasman.
The Abel Tasman National Park.
Tasman Bay.
The Tasman District.
Abel Tasman Monument.
Also named after Tasman are:
Tasman Pulp and Paper company, a large pulp and paper producer in Kawerau, New Zealand.
Abel Tasman Drive, in Tākaka.
The former passenger/vehicle ferry Abel Tasman.
The Able Tasmans – an indie band from Auckland, New Zealand.
Tasman, a layout engine for Internet Explorer.
6594 Tasman (1987 MM1), a main-belt asteroid.
Tasman Drive in San Jose, California, and its Tasman light rail station, named after the Tasman Sea.
Tasman Road in Claremont, Cape Town, South Africa.
HMNZS Tasman, shore-based training establishment of the Royal New Zealand Navy.
HMAS Tasman is a Hunter-class frigate that is expected to enter service with the Royal Australian Navy in the late 2020s.
His portrait has been on four New Zealand postage stamp issues, on a 1992 5 NZD coin, and on 1963, 1966 and 1985 Australian postage stamps.
In the Netherlands, many streets are named after him. In Lutjegast, the village where he was born, there is a museum dedicated to his life and travels.
Tasman's life was dramatised for radio in Early in the Morning (1946) a play by Ruth Park.
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Abel Tasman
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Portraits and depictions
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Portraits and depictions
thumb|right|Portrait of disputed provenance held by the National Library of Australia, purported to depict Tasman and his family
A drawing titled Abel Janssen Tasman, Navigateur en Australie is held by the State Library of New South Wales as part of "a portfolio of 26 ink drawings of 16th and 17th century Dutch admirals, navigators and governor-generals of the VOC". The portfolio was acquired at an art auction in The Hague in 1862. However, it is unclear if the drawing is of Tasman and its original source is unknown, although it has been said to resemble the work of Dutch engraver Jacobus Houbraken. The drawing has been assessed as having the "most reliable provenance" of any depiction of Tasman with "no strong reason to doubt that the drawing is not genuine".
In 1948, the National Library of Australia acquired from Rex Nan Kivell a portrait purporting to depict Tasman with his wife and stepdaughter, which was attributed to Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp and dated to 1637. In 2018 the painting was exhibited by the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands which identified it as "the only known portrait of the explorer". However, the Netherlands Institute for Art History has instead attributed the painting to Dirck van Santvoort and concluded that the painting does not depict Tasman and his family.
The provenance provided from Nan Kivell for the family portrait has been unable to be verified. Nan Kivell claimed that the portrait was passed down through the Springer family – relatives of Tasman's widow – and was sold at Christie's in 1877. However, Christie's records indicate that the portrait was not owned by the Springer family or associated with Tasman, and was instead sold as "Portrait of an astronomer" by "Anthonie Palamedes" [sic]. Nan Kivell additionally claimed that the portrait was sold at Christie's a second time in 1941, however no records exist to support this. A survey of portraits of Tasman published in 2019 concluded that the provenance was "either invented by Rex Nan Kivell or by the unnamed art dealer who sold it to Rex Nan Kivell", and that the painting "should therefore not be considered a portrait of Abel Tasman's family".
Outside of the Nan Kivell painting, another purported portrait of Tasman was "discovered" in 1893 and eventually acquired by the Tasmanian government in 1976 for the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG). The painting is unsigned and was attributed to Bartholomeus van der Helst at the time of its discovery, but this attribution was disputed by Dutch art historian Cornelis Hofstede de Groot and Alec Martin of Christie's. In 1985, TMAG curator Dan Gregg stated that "the painter of the life-sized portrait is unknown [...] there is some uncertainty as to whether the portrait is really of Tasman".
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Abel Tasman
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Tasman map
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Tasman map
thumb|'Bonaparte Tasman map,' includes inset with Mauritius, Indonesia and Sumatra, c. 1644
thumb|State Library of New South Wales vestibule, showing a mosaic of the Tasman map inlaid in the floor
Held within the collection of the State Library of New South Wales is the Tasman map,Tasman, Abel Janszoon, 1603?–1659. : 1644.| thought to have been drawn by Isaac Gilsemans, or completed under the supervision of Franz Jacobszoon Visscher. The map is also known as the Bonaparte map, as it was once owned by Prince Roland Bonaparte, the great-nephew of Napoleon. The map was completed sometime after 1644 and is based on the original charts drawn during Tasman's first and second voyages. As none of the journals or logs composed during Tasman's second voyage have survived, the Bonaparte map remains an important contemporary artefact of Tasman's voyage to the northern coast of the Australian continent.
The Tasman map reveals the extent of understanding the Dutch had of the Australian continent at the time. The map includes the western and southern coasts of Australia, accidentally encountered by Dutch voyagers as they journeyed by way of the Cape of Good Hope to the VOC headquarters in Batavia. In addition, the map shows the tracks of Tasman's two voyages. Of his second voyage, the map shows the Banda Islands, the southern coast of New Guinea and much of the northern coast of Australia. However, the land areas adjacent to the Torres Strait are shown unexamined; this is despite Tasman having been given orders by VOC Council at Batavia to explore the possibility of a channel between New Guinea and the Australian continent.
There is debate as to the origin of the map. It is widely believed that the map was produced in Batavia; however, it has also been argued that the map was produced in Amsterdam. The authorship of the map has also been debated: while the map is commonly attributed to Tasman, it is now thought to have been the result of a collaboration, probably involving Franchoijs Visscher and Isaack Gilsemans, who took part in both of Tasman's voyages. Whether the map was produced in 1644 is also subject to debate, as a VOC company report in December 1644 suggested that at that time no maps showing Tasman's voyages were yet complete.
In 1943, a mosaic version of the map, composed of coloured brass and marble, was inlaid into the vestibule floor of the Mitchell Library in Sydney. The work was commissioned by the Principal Librarian William Ifould, and completed by the Melocco Brothers of Annandale, who also worked on the ANZAC War Memorial in Hyde Park and the crypt at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney.
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Abel Tasman
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See also
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See also
Dieppe maps
Willem Janszoon
Janszoon voyage of 1605–06
Theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia
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Abel Tasman
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References
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References
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Abel Tasman
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Sources
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Sources
Edward Duyker (ed.) The Discovery of Tasmania: Journal Extracts from the Expeditions of Abel Janszoon Tasman and Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne 1642 & 1772, St David's Park Publishing/Tasmanian Government Printing Office, Hobart, 1992, pp. 106, .
Mack, Rudiger (2024), First Encounters: The Early Pacific and European Narratives of Abel Tasman’s 1642 Voyage. Feilding, New Zealand: Heritage Press.
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Abel Tasman
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External links
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External links
Category:17th-century Dutch explorers
Category:1603 births
Category:1659 deaths
Category:Dutch explorers of the Pacific
Category:Explorers of Australia
Category:Explorers of New Zealand
Category:Explorers of Tasmania
Category:Maritime history of the Dutch East India Company
Category:People from Grootegast
Category:Sailors on ships of the Dutch East India Company
Category:Early modern Netherlandish cartography
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Abel Tasman
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Table of Content
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Short description, Biography, Early life, Relocation to the Dutch East Indies, First major voyage, Mauritius, Tasmania, New Zealand, Return voyage, Second major voyage, Later life, Legacy, Portraits and depictions, Tasman map, See also, References, Sources, External links
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August 5
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pp-pc1
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August 5
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Events
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Events
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August 5
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Pre-1600
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Pre-1600
AD 25 – Guangwu claims the throne as Emperor of China, restoring the Han dynasty after the collapse of the short-lived Xin dynasty.
70 – Fires resulting from the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem are extinguished.
642 – Battle of Maserfield: Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Northumbria.
910 – The last major Danish army to raid England for nearly a century is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward the Elder and Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians.
939 – The Battle of Alhandic is fought between Ramiro II of León and Abd-ar-Rahman III at Zamora in the context of the Spanish Reconquista. The battle resulted in a victory for the Emirate of Córdoba.
1068 – Byzantine–Norman wars: Italo-Normans begin a nearly-three-year siege of Bari.
1100 – Henry I is crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
1278 – Spanish Reconquista: the forces of the Kingdom of Castile initiate the ultimately futile Siege of Algeciras against the Emirate of Granada.
1305 – First Scottish War of Independence: Sir John Stewart of Menteith, the pro-English Sheriff of Dumbarton, successfully manages to capture Sir William Wallace of Scotland, leading to Wallace's subsequent execution by hanging, evisceration, drawing and quartering, and beheading 18 days later.
1388 – The Battle of Otterburn, a border skirmish between the Scottish and the English in Northern England, is fought near Otterburn.
1460 – The Kingdom of Scotland captures Roxburgh, one of the last English strongholds in Scotland, following a siege.
1506 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Crimean Khanate in the Battle of Kletsk.
1583 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at what is now St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
1600 – The Gowrie Conspiracy against King James VI of Scotland (later to become King James I of England) takes place at Gowrie House (Perth, Scotland).Jenny Wormald, "The Gowrie Conspiracy", Miles Kerr-Peterson & Steven J. Reid, James VI and Noble Power (Routledge, 2017), pp. 194–206.
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August 5
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1601–1900
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1601–1900
1620 – The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England, carrying would-be settlers, on its first attempt to reach North America; it is forced to dock in Dartmouth when its companion ship, the Speedwell, springs a leak.
1689 – Beaver Wars: Fifteen hundred Iroquois attack Lachine in New France.
1716 – Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718): One-fifth of a Turkish army and the Grand Vizier are killed in the Battle of Petrovaradin.
1735 – Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.
1763 – Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run: British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.
1772 – First Partition of Poland: The representatives of Austria, Prussia, and Russia sign three bilateral conventions condemning the "anarchy" of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and imputing to the three powers "ancient and legitimate rights" to the territories of the Commonwealth. The conventions allow each of the three great powers to annex a part of the Commonwealth, which they proceed to do over the course of the following two months.
1781 – The Battle of Dogger Bank takes place.
1796 – The Battle of Castiglione in Napoleon's first Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars results in a French victory.
1816 – The British Admiralty dismisses Francis Ronalds's new invention of the first working electric telegraph as "wholly unnecessary", preferring to continue using the semaphore.
1824 – Greek War of Independence: Konstantinos Kanaris leads a Greek fleet to victory against Ottoman and Egyptian naval forces in the Battle of Samos.
1858 – Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It will operate for less than a month.
1860 – Charles XV of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Norway in Trondheim.
1861 – American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US$800; rescinded in 1872).
1861 – The United States Army abolishes flogging.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge: Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops attempt to take the city, but are driven back by fire from Union gunboats.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Mobile Bay begins at Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
1874 – Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in the United Kingdom.
1882 – Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, today known as ExxonMobil, is established officially. The company would later grow to become the holder of all Standard Oil companies and the entity at the center of the breakup of Standard Oil.
1884 – The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor.
1888 – Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim and back in the first long distance automobile trip, commemorated as the Bertha Benz Memorial Route since 2008.
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August 5
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1901–present
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1901–present
1901 – Peter O'Connor sets the first World Athletics recognised long jump world record of , a record that would stand for 20 years.
1906 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar, King of Iran, agrees to convert the government to a constitutional monarchy.
1914 – World War I: The German minelayer lays a minefield about off the Thames Estuary (Lowestoft). She is intercepted and sunk by the British light-cruiser .
1914 – World War I: The guns of Point Nepean fort at Port Phillip Heads in Victoria (Australia) fire across the bows of the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamer which is attempting to leave the Port of Melbourne in ignorance of the declaration of war and she is detained; this is said to be the first Allied shot of the War.
1914 – In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
1916 – World War I: Battle of Romani: Allied forces, under the command of Archibald Murray, defeat an attacking Ottoman army under the command of Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, securing the Suez Canal and beginning the Ottoman retreat from the Sinai Peninsula.
1925 – Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language that is at the time in danger of dying out.
1926 – Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.
1939 – The Thirteen Roses: Thirteen female members of the Unified Socialist Youth are executed by Francoist forces in Madrid, Spain.Egido León, Ángeles. El perdon de Franco. La represión de las mujeres en el Madrid de posguerra..Los libros de la catarata. 2009. Madrid.p.63
1940 – World War II: The Soviet Union formally annexes Latvia.
1944 – World War II: At least 1,104 Japanese POWs in Australia attempt to escape from a camp at Cowra, New South Wales; 545 temporarily succeed but are later either killed, commit suicide, or are recaptured.
1944 – World War II: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp (Gęsiówka) in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
1944 – World War II: The Nazis begin a week-long massacre of between 40,000 and 50,000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.
1949 – In Ecuador, an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6,000.
1949 – In Montana, 12 smokejumper firefighters and 1 US Forest Service fire guard are killed in the Mann Gulch Fire.
1957 – American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
1960 – Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta, becomes independent from France.
1962 – Apartheid: Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
1962 – American actress Marilyn Monroe is found dead at her home from a drug overdose.
1963 – Cold War: The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
1964 – Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow: American aircraft from carriers and bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
1965 – The Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 begins as Pakistani soldiers cross the Line of Control dressed as locals.
1966 – A group of red guards at Experimental High in Beijing, including Deng Rong and Liu Pingping, daughters of Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi respectively, beat the deputy vice principal, Bian Zhongyun, to death with sticks after accusing her of counter-revolutionary revisionism, producing one of the first fatalities of the Cultural Revolution.
1969 – The Lonesome Cowboys police raid occurs in Atlanta, Georgia, leading to the creation of the Georgia Gay Liberation Front.
1971 – The first Pacific Islands Forum (then known as the "South Pacific Forum") is held in Wellington, New Zealand, with the aim of enhancing cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean.
1973 – Mars 6 is launched from the USSR.
1974 – Watergate scandal: President Richard Nixon, under orders of the US Supreme Court, releases the "Smoking Gun" tape, recorded on June 23, 1972, clearly revealing his actions in covering up and interfering investigations into the break-in. His political support vanishes completely.
1979 – In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake the Bala Hissar uprising against the Leninist government.
1981 – President Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
1984 – A Biman Bangladesh Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship crashes on approach to Zia International Airport, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing all 49 people on board.
1995 – Yugoslav Wars: The city of Knin, Croatia, a significant Serb stronghold, is taken by Croatian forces during Operation Storm. The date is celebrated in Croatia as Victory Day.
2003 – A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.
2008 – The New England Revolution win the 2008 North American SuperLiga final against the Houston Dynamo.
2010 – The Copiapó mining accident occurs, trapping 33 Chilean miners approximately below the ground for 69 days.
2010 – Ten members of International Assistance Mission Nuristan Eye Camp team are killed by persons unknown in Kuran wa Munjan District of Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan.
2012 – The Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting took place in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six victims; the perpetrator committed suicide after being wounded by police.
2015 – The Environmental Protection Agency at Gold King Mine waste water spill releases three million gallons of heavy metal toxin tailings and waste water into the Animas River in Colorado.
2019 – The revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (state) occurred and the state was bifurcated into two union territories (Jammu and Kashmir (union territory) and Ladakh).
2021 – Australia's second most populous state Victoria enters its sixth COVID-19 lockdown, enacting stage four restrictions statewide in reaction to six new COVID-19 cases recorded that morning.
2024 – Following the non-cooperation movement against the government of Bangladesh, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigns and flees the country, ending her rule of 15 consecutive years and a total of almost two decades.
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August 5
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Births
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Births
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August 5
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Pre-1600
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Pre-1600
79 BC – Tullia, Roman daughter of Cicero (d. 45 BC)
1262 – Ladislaus IV of Hungary (d. 1290)
1301 – Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (d. 1330)
1397 – Guillaume Du Fay, Belgian-Italian composer and theorist (d. 1474)
1461 – Alexander Jagiellon, Polish king (d. 1506)
1540 – Joseph Justus Scaliger, French philologist and historian (d. 1609)
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