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I recently listened to the interview with Matthew Leaman of AmigaKit Ltd. on The Retro Hour podcast. They were discussing the upcoming release of the mini-computer called A600GS. Here is the video (starts at the time the interview started):

Many of you are most likely familiar with THEA500 Mini, a games console offering a selection of 25 in-built Amiga games. It is plug-and-play, making it easy for people who have not used an Amiga for ages to start playing old classics. You can add games to it as well through a USB stick. A distribution called AMiNIMiga exists that gives it Workbench. Installing it requires some skill.

So, what might the A600GS offer that THEA500 Mini does not?

The A600GS does come with AmiBench, an operative system based on AROS. It is pre-installed and ready to go. You do not need to download a distribution based on Workbench. Due to this, it is more of a computer than a games console. According to Leaman, it will also come bundled with Personal Paint and OctaMED Soundstudio.

In the interview, Leaman mentioned AMIStore, an “app store” currently in use on AmigaOS 4. It will now be featured on the A600GS as well. Here you can purchase games, applications, and drivers. It will be interesting to see what kind of software they’ll have on offer. This will likely be a good arena for developers to sell their products, such as games.

As for launching games, it looks a bit similar to THEA500 Mini in that you have a specific menu for this.

Another thing I heard was that it supports Bluetooth. This is very handy when it comes to using audio devices, such as headphones and soundboards.

It also has two joystick ports, the same as those on classic Amiga computers. You can use one of your old joysticks, such as the TAC-2 and the ZipStik to mention two.

One disadvantage is that the A600GS does not have built-in support for running WHD-Load games. AmigaKit Ltd. did not manage to get a deal for this, unfortunately. You must use ADF or JST instead.

If you want to learn more about it, here is the link to the official wiki. There you’ll get an overview of the specifications.

https://wiki.amiga.org/index.php/A600GS

You can sign up for updates via e-mail here:

https://www.a600gs.com

Now, how much will it cost? When will it be released?

According to a post on Facebook by AmigaKit Ltd., it will be available in about two months’ time. Another post said £119 as the target price.

It will be interesting to see how this will develop and how many people will purchase it. Are you considering getting one?

That was all for this time. Thanks for reading! See you in another post here on Old School Game Blog. 🙂