Clever Geek Handbook

NASA has offered for sale its old computer Amiga 2500





NASA put out its old Amiga computer for sale. You can purchase rare technology with history on eBay . According to the agency, the computer is a “workhorse”, which has long been located in the agency’s telemetry laboratory. This is a very specific model of the device - Amiga 2500.



The workhorse was very actively used in the 80s of the last century. The system is not in perfect condition, but it has all the necessary stickers to certify that it is the property of the agency. In the photo, exhibited in an online auction, it is clear that the working software is registered in the name of Dave Brown (in the 90s he served as chief programmer at the NASA telemetry laboratory).





Most personal computers of this class were decommissioned by NASA in 2006. Some of them were not thrown away, but remained in the collections of the staff and the agency itself. The model, which was put up for sale, stood in storage for several years, after which the representatives of the telemetry laboratory had an idea to sell a computer.



This system was created in 1989. Amiga 2500 computers were very popular in the USA and Canada. The model is an Amiga 2000 with modified hardware. In particular, an expansion card is installed inside which contains a more powerful 68RC030 25 MHz processor (the first Commodore accelerator). A minor difference of 2500 from 2000 is a modified nameplate on the system unit.







The computer itself for its time was quite powerful, and after it went on sale, they began to actively buy up. Nevertheless, it did not become very popular due to its complexity and high cost of living. For example, a 68000 processor was installed on the Amiga 2500 motherboards, which was not fully used, since it was replaced by the 68020 or 68030 processor on the accelerator. Thus, the system's potential was not fully disclosed. Model 2500 was inferior in performance model Amiga 3000.



It should be noted that even after the release of the updated “three thousandth” sales of 2500 still went some time. The fact is that a Video Toaster card was compatible with this computer. But 3000 did not support it.



According to Wikipedia, there were three different versions of the Amiga 2500:









In a copy owned by NASA, two specialized cards were installed that allowed to receive and record telemetry data from different space systems. One of the cards was called Amiga 2000 Serial Interface. The second is the 2000 Remote DMA Output Controller. They both worked with a kit that looked like SCSI cables with 50 pins. As far as you can understand, external drives or other equipment were connected to the connectors, which allowed recording large blocks of information.



Still preserved project files, dated 1988 year. According to a NASA employee who launched a computer on eBay, this device may have been used by one of the NASA astronauts, who tragically died during the Cape Canaveral catastrophe in 2003 when the shuttle Columbia was launched.







The most interesting is the price of the lot. It is sold for $ 5200. On eBay, similar models are sold for $ 150 or so. Delivery to Europe will cost another $ 80. According to the seller, files of such projects as AC.135, 141, 164, AURA, GP8, MS10, MS11, MS7, MS9, P91, TITAN, PEGASUS, TAURUS are stored in the system. For each of the project there is a source on the "C". These sources, if desired, can be turned into working software. Previously, it was used to communicate with different spacecraft.



The website of the Canadian PC Museum states that the price of such computers reached $ 3000 in the late 80s of the last century. Thus, a personal computer is sold at a price significantly higher than the purchase price.


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