Amiga Sidecar - History

History

Early in its life, the Amiga was strong in entertainment and graphics software but lacked general productivity software such as word processors, spreadsheets and database software. These are the areas where the de facto business standard IBM PC excelled. Commodore's intent was to let the Amiga take advantage of PC compatibility to shore up its weakness in this category of software.

The Sidecar was developed by Commodore Germany, as all of the Commodore PC-architecture based development was performed in that department.

The Sidecar was relatively expensive and it required a non-trivial amount of desktop space compared to the Amiga 1000 by itself. The device was also taller than the Amiga 1000, which made it seem even further disconnected to the main system, aesthetically.

Besides the high price and the aesthetic issues, other factors contributed to the lack of adoption of the Sidecar. Newer Amiga models like the Amiga 2000 provided internal expansion slots, with the optional Bridgeboard expansion card replacing the functionality of the Sidecar, but without the need for a bulky external chassis. The popular Amiga 500 could not be used with the Sidecar at all, due to the expansion slot on the A500 residing on the left side of the chassis, as opposed to the right side on the A1000. Also, decent business and productivity software began to be released for AmigaOS, reducing the need to run MS-DOS applications on the Amiga. Simultaneously, the ever-decreasing cost of IBM PC compatible hardware, along with that platform's growing entertainment and graphics software base, began to make the PC a viable competitor in areas where the Amiga had typically held an edge.