Why does AmiKit XE cost money?
I spent an unbelievable amount of time and effort putting everything together, an enormous amount of work that included the following:
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A complete system re-design, including custom programs, enhanced functionality and overall integration
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Every included program has been pre-installed, pre-configured and integrated, and most include optimizations that go far beyond the default installation settings
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Extensive, fine-tuned UI enhancements, comprehensive testing and debugging
All of this requires time, time that I must balance with the needs of my family & day job. The fact is, paying for AmiKit XE Vampire ensures that I can continue providing user support, and also facilitates ongoing development, the hallmarks of a dependable & superior product!
All this said, I also provide
FREE EDITIONS of AmiKit 8 for Windows, AmiKit 9 for Mac and even a Bootable edition if you prefer. Thy represent 12 years of intensive development and they are all fully functional and free forever. Enjoy!
-- Ján, the author of AmiKit
What do I need to run AmiKit?
Short answer: Windows or Mac or Linux computer and AmigaOS & ROM files.
AmiKit runs as a regular application on your Windows, Mac or Linux (x86/x64) system.
You also need original AmigaOS and ROM files. They cannot be included due to copyright, of course. However, during AmiKit installation, they will be automagically imported from your source. For details please check our
AmiKit Quick Guide.
What is the "Rabbit Hole" ?
This special feature of AmiKit allows you to launch Windows, Mac or Linux applications (depends on your host computer) directly from your emulated Amiga and run them on your Amiga desktop.
Cool, isn't it? But that's not all. You can also open Amiga files with your favourite Windows, Mac or Linux apps. At the moment, the following file types are supported, if double-clicked in AmiKit:
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AVI, DVD, Flash, FLC, FLI, FLV, GIF, MOV, MPEG, WMV, MS Office, PDF, RTF, Video, Documents, HTML and others
To fully enjoy the Rabbit Hole feature, you have to run AmiKit in Full-windowed mode.
Press F12 (or Fn+F12 on a Mac with TouchBar) to display the WinUAE config panel. Go to Display options and change RTG from Windowed to Full-window (not Fullscreen). You might want to save your new settings. Go to “Configurations” and click the “Save” button.
For Mac users: You might also want to hide your Menu bar as well as Dock. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu and click General and enable ‘Automatically hide and show the menu bar’. Then go back and click Dock and enable ‘Automatically hide and show the Dock’.
Now you can enjoy your Windows or Mac apps on the AmiKit desktop. Note that they always disappear if you click on AmiKit desktop again. Simply use Alt-Tab (or Command+Tab on Mac) to display them again.
NOTE: If your AmiKit desktop looks distorted in Full-windowed mode or you have issues with screen switching when AmiKit boots to the desktop, please refer to
Default AmiKit Resolution of
AmiKit Quick Guide.
What is the difference between AmiKit and Amiga Forever?
Both AmiKit and Amiga Forever are Amiga emulators based on the very same emulation engine (
WinUAE). But the content of each package is very different.
While Amiga Forever includes barebone Amiga environment including original AmigaOS 3.x and ROM files, AmiKit includes 420 pre-installed and pre-configured Amiga programs but does not include any AmigaOS nor ROM files.
Still confused? No worries. Simply said, if you prefer to run basic Amiga environment on your Windows, you're good to go with Amiga Forever.
But if you want to experience a modern retro Amiga desktop showing how far ahead of its time the Amiga software design really was, AmiKit is what you want. It includes tons of pre-configured programs and it runs on Windows, Mac and Linux too.
However, AmiKit cannot include AmigaOS and ROM files so you have to provide them from an external source (like Amiga Forever, for instance). We made everything as easy as possible - AmiKit will import those required files from your source automagically.
What is the difference between AmiKit and Flower Pot?
Yes, they are two completely different applications. AmiKit emulates AmigaOS 3.x and includes many pre-installed applications, while Flower Pot emulates AmigaOS 4.1 and includes just few applications.
None of the packages includes AmigaOS & ROM files themselves, of course, so you have to install them from external source.
Generally speaking, AmiKit can run almost any application or game created for Classic Amiga systems. The word "Classic" in this context means AmigaOS 1.x up to 3.x systems based on Motorola 680x0 CPU as an opposite to "New Generation" (or NG) AmigaOS 4.x system based on PowerPC CPU emulated by Flower Pot.
Which Amiga model is emulated?
All classic Amiga models based on Motorola processors. AmiKit is specifically based on Amiga 1200 with Motorola 68020 CPU and 68882 FPU running AmigaOS 3.x.
AmiKit can also run any Amiga 4000 programs for 68040/060 CPU as well as most of Amiga 500/600 programs and games for 68000 CPU. Amiga 3000 with 68030 CPU is also supported, of course.
