P-Vision GFX: an upcoming PCMCIA graphics card upgrade for the Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200

If you told an Amiga owner in 1993 that their computer would still be getting new hardware upgrades more than 30 years later, they probably would have laughed. Yet here we are. The Amiga scene keeps surprising us, and the latest project doing the rounds is something quite unusual: P-Vision, a graphics card that plugs into the PCMCIA slot of the Amiga 600 and Amiga 1200. On paper, that might not sound like a big deal. But for people who know these machines, it’s actually a pretty wild idea. The PCMCIA slot on these Amigas was originally meant for things like network cards or memory cards. Nobody ever expected it to become the home of a modern graphics solution with HDMI output. And yet, that’s exactly what the P-Vision project is trying to do. Classic Amigas already had impressive graphics for their time. The custom chips made games smooth, colorful, and far ahead of most PCs in the late ’80s and early ’90s. But by modern standards, even the A1200’s AGA graphics feel pretty limited. Workbench in high resolution can be slow, and connecting an Amiga to a modern monitor often involves adapters, scan doublers, or old CRT displays.

That’s where RTG comes in. RTG, or ReTargetable Graphics, lets the Amiga display graphics through a dedicated framebuffer instead of the original chipset. With drivers like Picasso96, the system suddenly gains access to modern resolutions, higher color depth, and a far more comfortable desktop environment. Think bigger screens, smoother windows, and a Workbench that actually feels quick and spacious. Most RTG upgrades for the Amiga usually involve fairly expensive internal graphics cards, and if you’re using a system like the Amiga 1200, things can get even more complicated. Many setups require a tower conversion to accommodate the extra expansion hardware. P-Vision tries something completely different. Instead of opening your Amiga and installing hardware inside, you simply plug a card into the PCMCIA slot. The card then handles graphics itself and sends the image out through HDMI. Yes, HDMI. That means you could potentially plug an Amiga directly into a modern monitor or TV without any complicated video adapters. It’s a simple idea on the surface, but technically it’s pretty ambitious!

The project uses an FPGA-based design, which means the graphics hardware is implemented in programmable logic rather than fixed chips. This allows the developers to experiment with new features and improve performance as the design evolves. Early information suggests the card could offer HDMI video output, audio over HDMI, up to 32 MB of framebuffer memory using MMU bank switching, and resolutions around 1280×1024 in true colour. For a machine originally designed in the early 1990s, that’s quite a leap. Of course, there’s a catch. The PCMCIA slot on the Amiga is only a 16-bit interface, and it was never designed for something as demanding as a graphics card. Bandwidth is limited, which means the developers have to be clever about how data moves between the Amiga and the graphics hardware. In other words, getting this to work well is a serious technical puzzle. But that’s also what makes the project so interesting. It’s not just about building a new accessory—it’s about pushing the Amiga architecture in ways Commodore probably never imagined.

The P-Vision project is being developed by Oliver Achten, with software support from well-known Amiga programmer Thomas Richter. Richter’s involvement is especially encouraging because he has worked extensively on Picasso96. Good drivers are just as important as good hardware, so having experienced developers involved is a strong sign for the project. Part of the charm of the Amiga scene is that people never stopped experimenting with these machines. Every few years, someone comes along with a clever new idea—an accelerator, a sound card, a storage solution—and the community rallies around it. P-Vision fits right into that tradition. If it works as planned, it could offer a relatively affordable and easy graphics upgrade for two of the most popular Amiga models ever made (Of course, some Amiga enthusiasts may disagree—especially when it comes to the A600). And for many users, the idea of giving their Amiga modern HDMI graphics without opening the machine is incredibly appealing. The P-Vision PCMCIA graphics card is expected to be officially unveiled on May 16th, 2026, during the ARC Amiga Ruhrpott Convention. If everything goes according to plan, the developers hope to make the card available for purchase.

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