Emulating the Amiga
The easiest way is to get Amiga Forever (opens in a new tab/window), and this is the only legal way if you don’t own an Amiga anyway…
But which edition? And after that, what next?
Fear not, as this page will attempt to help you emulate an Amiga system and set it up the way that suits your intended purpose.
First of all, you need to work out what you wish to do with your emulated Amiga system. Having said that, a well setup expanded Amiga 1200 emulation will be able to do almost everything you may wish to do, however it will require much more setup than emulating an Amiga 500 or CD32.
So first of all, we’ll detail how to setup an Amiga 500 emulation, emulating a basic Amiga 500 system from the late 1980s. We’ll then detail how to setup an emulation of a CD32, and finally an expanded Amiga 1200 which can use most Amiga applications, as well as use WHDLoad to play most games from the emulated hard disk drive. It is possible to setup an emulation of an Amiga with a PPC upgrade and use PPC software, including AmigaOS 4, but that is well outside the scope of this page. If that interests you, I suggest you have a look at Flower Pot, which I highly recommend.
So, first of all, how to emulate an Amiga 500.
For this you will only need the ‘Value edition‘ of Amiga Forever. But be warned, that edition of Amiga Forever does not include files for later machines, such as the Amiga 1200 or CD32. In all honesty, if this is what you want to do, than the Value Edition of Amiga Forever makes it incredibly easy, so much so that I’d say purchasing that and following their instructions will be enough, and if you really get stuck you can turn to Colanto for support.
If you’re still reading, perhaps you wish to emulate the mighty CD32. If that’s the case, you’ll need the ‘Plus edition‘ or the ‘Premium edition‘ of Amiga Forever. The difference is that the premium edition comes with an extra DVD full of content relevant to the Amigas story, but the Plus edition has everything you’ll need if your only interest is in emulating any Amiga system. The Premium edition contains content that I’d love to share on TheAmigaMuseum, but I’m unable to, as Colanto hold the rights to it. If you like this site, I strongly suggest you get the ‘Premium edition‘ of Amiga Forever.