Beginning of 1989 (afair) here. One of my schoolmates show a500 to me (September 1988) and I was amazed (he used an old non-color monitor, don't remember why, or his 1080 was in repairs or he didn't have yet). Until that I was familiar with Amstrad, C64, IBM XT. Then about half a year later I convinced my dad to buy me one too. There was a long walk through the shops to see all those XTs ans PS2s out there before he was convinced. A500 price was same as PS2 with 20MB hd and greyscale monitor. Then gradually came used a501 memory, then used a590+20MB XT hd, then swapped for 1/2MB fast ram that could be set up as chip ram via switch. In the end it was a killer machine, 3MB ram 40MB SCSI hd (I got from some mac user). In 1992 it went to sale in favour of an used A1200 (1/2 year after being imported privately by the same schoolmate, he bought it shortly after it's release). Still have that a1200, towerized and kicking.
Jack
"the expression, 'atonal music,' is most unfortunate--it is on a par with calling flying 'the art of not falling,' or swimming 'the art of not drowning.'. A. Schoenberg
I can't remember for sure but it was about the late 1987 to early 1989 time, I got my first A500 with 1.2 rom (not the one I now own this I got last year).
A1XE G4 800Mhz, 512Mb, Sil0680, ATI9200se 128Mb, Sounblaster Live & Catweazle Mk3 with SID chip +OS4.1. A4000 233MhzPPC/04025Mhz, 112Mb, CyberPPC, OS3.9 Other Amiga's A4000, A2000 A500+, A500 & various hardware. 15+ other retro machines.
Ah, Marble Madness! My first game, I think. My first A1000 was early in 1987 - like JurassicC, had to get the upgrade to get KS1.3 and the extra 256 kB RAM.
At the time I had had a C64 for about 3 years and my own home-brewed computer in a 19" rack (B&W text only) for about 12 years. It wasn't long before I had to buy the kids their own A500 so that I could get the A1000 back.
Then the first A4000 in 1993, the second a year later, the A1 in 2003. Never had a 1200.
Gave away the A1000 some years ago - it had 2 MB fast RAM, built-in SCSI + HD, WB 3.1 ROMs and a switch to fall back to 1.3.
Because it would be in a land fill today unlike your A1200
In 1992 I traded away my only PC at the time ( a top of the line 486) for my first Video Toaster. Probably the best deal I ever made. Still have the toaster, but I bet that 486 is dust.
I got my A500 in 1987 , 256 kb 1.2 workbench i think. the next year i bought an A2000 no HD. wich i upgraded HD 20MB and 2MB RAM. and an Citizen printer (more noise than a Hoover)
I don't recall the year.. I tried to get an A1000 when they were first released, after reading a great article in Byte magazine about it. But I couldn't get credit, and I didn't have the cash. So I waited and saved. When they offered $1000 off to trade in your 1000 on a 2000, I went to the local Amiga dealer, gave him $1000, and told him I wanted the best A1000 that he had taken on trade. I also bought Soundscape right there, and picked up "Lattice C" (later Sas) very soon after.
It's been a long time since then, and I'm still involved in MIDI on the Amiga platform. I guess some things just stay.
I can't remember the year it all started now but I got hold of a Vic 20, which was about ?110.00 in those days, from one of the large stores. Imagine the big stores stocking A1's now eh? I think it was 1983/84 but once I got it I was hooked, I never went over to the dark side. Upgraded to C64, A500, A1200, A1XE as they came out. Unfortunately the dark side caught up and I now have to use that for work but Amikit does a great job of disguising it.
I first used an Amiga in 1983...yes that's right...1983. I was working on Robot Odyssey for the Radio Shack Color computer and was in Palo alto California in 1983...one of my fellow programmers had friends who worked at Electronic Arts and we stopped by because he wanted to show me something "amazing". We went into a computer lab and there was a group of huge boards, all wire-wrapped, tied together by bundles of cables. He showed me a screen that had lots of colors (32 in fact) with a little symbol (pointer) shaped like the paw of an animal. "What do you think that is?" he asked me, refering to the pointer. ?I didn't get it. "Pause!"....i.e. "paws". Cute. Anyway, I think the program was one of Electronic Arts construction set programs.....I also played with a very early version of Deluxe Paint....
I was using a family friends A1000 which he got very soon after the UK release, and messed around on a few friends A2000s and A500s until I finally managed to afford my own A500 in a Screen Gems pack at the World of Commodore show at the Hammersmith Novotel, November (?) 1990.
Sven Harvey Amiga Mart in Micro Mart (in 2 out of 4 issues on average with a following wind)
I got my A1k when Workbench 1.1 had newly arrived. I'm not sure when that was, but I think it was in January or February 1986.
I got the A1k with extra 256 kB chipmem, an extra diskdrive and a few programs - Marble Madness, Instant Music and DeLuxeMusic.
... and no. Wisdom doesn't have to come from having a computer a long time (or with age for that matter) - who has claimed that? Who is ever wise? The one who claims he's wise, is most probably not so wise ...
One doesn't become a Pel? because one owns a football.