The Amiga 1500 Story | Commodore Vs Checkmate Digital

● Stephens Links to find out more

● Cave Links

● Description
In 1988 Checkmate Digital took on Commodore with their A500 desktop conversion kit. Today we hear the story of the Checkmate A1500, the Commodore Amiga 1500 and the new Checkmate A1500 Plus. A story which spans over 30 years and is still being written.

● Music
Etherial Choir Ascends - Doug Maxwell/Media Right Productions
Cool Club Through The Wall - Doug Maxwell/Media Right Productions
Breathing Planet - Doug Maxwel
Lights Out - Jimmy Fontanez/Doug Maxwell
Zen Valley - Josh Kirsch/Media Right Productions

[RMCRetro]

Thank you for watching, do you remember seeing Checkmate's adverts in magazines? Did you own an A1500 or A2000? What are your memories. If you'd like to find out more about the 1500+ project you can find links below. Neil - RMC

[Checkmate]

This is going to sound a little childish, but really pleased to have my history make it into the Retro Man Cave popular videos group :-)

[RetroJay]

I am a proud owner of one of the original Checkmate 1500's, complete with an A500 board, keyboard etc. But the original owner of mine went further! They created a custom power supply. Fitted an A590 inside, created all sorts of little clever ways of holding things up and together etc. They really went to town on it and afaik! it was used for serious work.

[somecoder]

Honestly, with Commodore having buggered off, it'd be a good time to come up with a case based on the 1500/2000/3000 cases for whatever unit or project you want.

[HisVirusness]

As an American, whose first computer was a Commodore 64, in 1992, at the age of 6, I love learning more about micros and the scene in Europe that revolved around them in the past.

I love your channel. Please, do not stop making these very informative videos.

[philscomputerlab]

Oh my, that third case / machine shown right at the start, it looks really lovely. What an interesting machine, I had no idea there even was a 1500 :O

[jean_mollycutpurse_winchester]

I used an A500 to make the video animation graphics for the film, Murder by Moonlight (TV Movie 1989 with Brigitte Nielsen) Great machine.

[pkf]

Great to have the gaps in my history filled.
Back in the day my local computer stockist had the Checkmate kits in stock. I managed to scrape up the cash to get one, arrived at the store to see the last one they had walking out the door with its new owner. They never did get any more. It was that one kit that got me into case modding building at first my own knock off and now putting PC's into all sorts of cases and boxes. It lead to where I am today working in IT.
Its a shame to see that the Commodore squash them like a bug tactic is still in use in the computer and electronics industry today.

[anqzavok]

Ah, good old Commodore management, pissing off everyone.

[danwood_uk]

Another fantastic video Neil, I've always found the story of the 1500 fascinating so it's great to see you covering it. Stephen is an awesome guy too, and great to see his passion for the Amiga continuing.

[thepenultimateninja]

I did work experience at Birmingham university in the early 90s.
One of the people who worked there used a computer, which if I recall correctly was an Acorn Archimedes.
It must have originally been one of the all-in-one models, because he had re-cased it in a homemade desktop case to make it into a workstation.
He had done a very neat job of it, with indicator leds and toggle switches on the front of the unit, and legends made using Letraset transfers to show what each one did.
I think he said that he had re-cased it to allow some internal upgrades, but this was a long time ago, and I don't remember what they were.
One thing that did really stick in my mind though was the fact that it had a cooling fan.
Most computers have fans now, but at the time, I was very excited and impressed at the idea of a computer with a cooling fan.
I got all fired up with the idea of doing the same thing with my Atari ST, but a quick look through the Maplin catalog when I got home soon put paid to that idea. They had enclosures and fans that would have worked, but I couldn't afford them.
I guess this is all a roundabout way of saying that the idea of rehoming all-in-one computers to make them into more 'mature' workstations was seen as quite a desirable thing back then.
I can certainly understand why there would have been a demand for products like the Checkmate (and, as I later found out, similar aftermarket cases for the ST).

[kevincozens]

My first Amiga computer was an A1000. One of the things I liked about it was how the keyboard could be slid underneath the main box. I later updated my A1000 with an add-on board which changed the CPU running the machine to a 68020. I eventually sold my A1000 and bought an A2000. It was eventually updated with a bridgeboard and an add-in 68030 based CPU board. I still have the A2000 main hardware but not the monitor or most of the software.

[amerigocosta]

I think Commodore should have bought these guys company or hired them. But then I remember why there is no Commodore anymore, and it all makes sense.

[JasonStevens]

I didn't know that Stephen was part of the A1500. His continuing dedication to the platform is nothing short of Amazing.

[reallybrokenalways]

The colour of the case needs to be in that beige/cream...would really throw it back to the good old days.

[Checkmate]

Just a small point I met with one of the Sumner brothers at Commodore, shame I did not meet David Pleasance as things may have gone very differently. Hopefully people will buy David's book and learn more :-)

[jbdragon]

I remember these things. I really wanted one back then but didn't have the money. I did have the A500 and later the A1200.

[trekintosh]

Awesome that this guy is sort of reviving his original concept. I might back one of these once the case finalized.

[phils]

Omg I drove to London to where they made those checkmate cases to get mine.

[richardlincoln]

Did exactly that with the Commodore A1500 back in the day, I think mine ended up with a GVP 68030 accelerator/HD card. Sort of mix and match A2000 built up in stages.
Good machine.