New peripheral devices may be easily added to all Amiga models. These devices are automatically recognized and used by system software through a well defined, well documented linking procedure called AUTOCONFIG(TM). AUTOCONFIG is short for automatic configuration and is the process which allows memory or I/O space for an expansion board to be dynamically allocated by the system at boot time. Unlike some other systems, there is no need to set DIP switches to select an address space from a fixed range reserved for expansion devices. On the A500 and A1000 models, peripheral devices can be added using the Amiga's 86-pin expansion connector. Peripherals that can be added include hard disk controllers and drives, or additional external RAM. Extra floppy disk units may be added from a connector at the rear of the unit. The A2000 and A3000 models provide the user with the same features as the A500 or A1000, but with the added convenience of simple and extensive expandability through the Amiga's 100-pin Zorro expansion bus. The A2000 contains 7 internal slots and the A3000 contains 4 internal slots plus a SCSI disk controller that allow many types of expansion devices to be quickly and easily added inside the machine. Available options include RAM boards, coprocessors, hard disk controllers, video cards, and I/O ports. The A2000 and A3000 also support the special Bridgeboard(TM) coprocessor card. This provides a complete IBM PC(TM) on a card and allows the Amiga to run MS-DOS(TM) compatible software, while simultaneously running native Amiga software. In addition, both machines have expansion slots capable of supporting standard, IBM PC(TM) style boards.
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