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An Amiga screen is a software-defined display area, not the physical monitor. To choose a usable screen mode, match its resolution, color options, interlace and scan timing to the Amiga’s chipset, active monitor driver and connected display. Pixel dimensions alone do not guarantee compatibility.
What is an Amiga screen?
A screen is a display area that software opens using a particular mode and settings such as resolution and color depth. The monitor is the physical device that shows the resulting signal. An Amiga can have several screens open at once; they may overlap, and a screen larger than the visible area can scroll into view. Workbench is the first screen shown after startup, while applications may open their own screens.
Screen-mode choices describe separate properties: horizontal and vertical pixel dimensions, colors, interlace state, and the monitor timing or driver used to produce the signal. The Workbench Monitors manual’s dimensions are representative mode values, not a guarantee of the exact visible area: overscan settings can extend the picture beyond nominal dimensions. See the AmigaOS Workbench Fundamentals manual and Workbench Monitors manual.
Which Amiga screen mode should I use?
Start with the display you have and the task you need to do. For ordinary Workbench use, choose a mode the connected monitor can display and that your Amiga’s chipset and installed monitor drivers provide. If you need more detail across the screen, hires or SuperHires may help, but classic modes commonly trade horizontal resolution for fewer colors. If you need a broad color range, consider a supported HAM or EHB mode. For moving images or video hardware, standard 15 kHz PAL or NTSC output may be required.
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| Representative mode | Nominal dimensions | Color capability | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|---|
| NTSC lores | 320×200 | Up to 32 colors in representative classic modes | Standard mode example; actual visible area can vary with overscan and configuration. |
| PAL lores | 320×256 | Up to 32 colors in representative classic modes | Standard mode example; actual visible area can vary with overscan and configuration. |
| NTSC hires | 640×200 | Up to 16 colors in representative classic modes | Standard mode example; availability and display support depend on configuration. |
| PAL hires | 640×256 | Up to 16 colors in representative classic modes | Standard mode example; availability and display support depend on configuration. |
| ECS SuperHires | 1,280 pixels wide | 4 colors in the representative mode table | Requires ECS support; the listed width is not a universal compatibility promise. |
These figures come from the AmigaOS Workbench Monitors manual and Classic Graphics Primitives. They describe documented mode examples, not every Amiga model, overscan setting or monitor.
How PAL and NTSC affect dimensions
In the standard examples above, PAL modes have more nominal vertical pixels than their NTSC counterparts: 256 rather than 200. The horizontal dimensions remain 320 in lores and 640 in hires. PAL or NTSC timing is part of the signal, not just a label for pixel size, so check the mode’s timing against the monitor as well as its dimensions.
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How color modes differ
In representative classic modes, lores allows up to 32 colors and hires up to 16. ECS SuperHires is wider but its representative mode table lists four colors. These are mode-dependent capabilities, not universal limits for every Amiga generation.
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- HAM (Hold-And-Modify): Uses pixel encoding constraints to produce a much broader range than a conventional fixed-color mode. The documented original-chipset PAL and NTSC HAM examples are 320×256 and 320×200 respectively, and can display colors from a 4,096-color palette.
- AGA: The AGA monitor documentation describes standard color modes with up to 256 simultaneous colors chosen from a 16.8-million-color palette. Its HAM-8 mode can display over 256,000 colors at once, subject to the mode’s encoding.
These color figures are documented for the specific modes and chipsets in Classic Graphics Primitives and the Workbench Monitors manual; they should not be read as a promise that all Amigas offer them.
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Why does my Amiga screen flicker?
Interlace increases vertical pixel count by alternating fields, but the resulting picture can flicker on some displays. The Workbench Monitors documentation includes interlaced versions of standard modes with doubled vertical resolution. That extra detail can come with a less comfortable picture, depending on the display and viewing conditions.
On AGA systems, mode promotion can provide higher-resolution display options that reduce flicker on standard 15 kHz screens. This is chipset-specific, not a general feature of older Amigas; older machines may need additional hardware to reduce flicker. If an application or video device requires standard 15 kHz output, use a standard PAL or NTSC mode or turn off AGA Mode Promotion as the manual advises.
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Will my monitor work with an Amiga?
Check the monitor’s supported horizontal and vertical scan ranges, its input connector, and the full Amiga output path against the selected mode. A mode’s pixel dimensions do not tell you whether a particular monitor accepts its signal timing.
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| Display type | Documented compatibility guidance | What to verify |
|---|---|---|
| 15 kHz video monitor or television | Accepts standard PAL/NTSC video modes. The manual gives the Commodore 1084 series as an example. | Confirm the chosen mode’s timing and that the Amiga’s output connection matches the display input. |
| 31 kHz VGA-only monitor | Accepts 31 kHz modes; it should not be assumed to support 15 kHz video modes. | Check the monitor’s scan-range specifications and the mode’s timing. |
| Multiscan monitor | Supports a range of scan rates rather than just one standard. | Check that the specific mode falls within its supported ranges. |
The Commodore 1084 reference is historical context, not a claim about the condition or compatibility of any individual unit. AGA’s DBLNTSC and DBLPAL modes are chipset-specific, and the manual notes that some VGA-only monitors do not support them. Consult the monitor’s documentation and the relevant Amiga configuration before selecting a mode; the available documentation does not establish compatibility for every modern converter or cable.
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How to try a mode without making it the default
Workbench’s ScreenMode preferences list modes made available by the active monitor drivers. Use is a temporary test; Save makes the selected mode the Workbench default. Applications can use their own supported modes, so changing the Workbench default does not ensure that every application will display the same way.
- Open Workbench ScreenMode preferences. The ScreenMode preference editor is documented at Workbench/Prefs/ScreenMode.
- Choose a mode listed by the active monitor driver, after checking it against the Amiga’s chipset and the connected display’s scan-rate support.
- Select Use to try the mode for the current session. The Workbench preferences manual recommends testing first so an incompatible choice is easier to recover from.
- If the display works as expected, select Save to make that mode the Workbench default. Do not save a mode that the monitor cannot display.
The labels and behavior described here are those documented for Workbench ScreenMode preferences. Available modes vary with the active monitor drivers and system configuration.
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