home computer, and the A1200 as a power machine for all home hobbyists. 3Positioning1 The A1200 is much more powerful than the A500 or A600. It is the first keyboard-integrated machine with the AA Chip set and a 32-bit processor. This will permit 256 colours from a palette of 16.8 million, compared to the A500 and A600's 32 colors from a 2TITLE:1 A1200 Preliminary Information palette of 4096. This new Chip set A1200 Product Overview also supports an enhanced HAM mode allowing near photo-realistic images 3Introduction1 in all resolutions with up to 256,000 colors. The new AA Chip set will support VGA productivity screens (640 The A1200 is the most significant x 480, 256 colors) at refresh rates product Commodore has released since up to 72Hz. 600 x 800, 256 color we introduced the Amiga 500.The A1200 screens are also supported at 72Hz is seen as the A500 of the 1990s. We interlaced. Sprite sizes have been should view the A600 as the entry increased from 16 bits to 32 and 64 bits wide. Also, sprites can be dis- in the A600. played in screen borders and have resolutions independent of play The A1200 retains the PCMCIA card fields. The A1200 will come with 2 port for memory and I/O expansion, megabytes of chip RAM, thus chip RAM but also adds a 32-bit processor bus expansion is not needed. expansion port accessible via a door on the bottom of the unit. This port The A1200 is a true 32-bit system is similar to the A500 expansion with 32-bit RAM and ROM using the 14 port, but is not compatible. This MHz clock speed (2x A500/A600) 32bit port is enhanced to 32 bits and 14MHz 68E020 processor. This processor not operation. Cards/Adapters can have only runs at twice the speed of the access to the port allowing: A500/A600, but also has a 256 byte instruction cache. These capabilities 2* Accelerator processors1 enable the A1200 to achieve perform- 2* DSP processors1 ance that is up to 5 times that of 2* SCSI adapters1 the A500/A600. 2* Fast RAM expansion1 2* Bridge cards1 The A1200 is packaged in the new A600-style case, but is slightly Boards added to the expansion bus can larger to include the addition of a have external cable connector access numeric keypad, as in the A500+. This via a rear panel knock out. package also supports the addition of an internal 2.5" IDE hard drive, as With the new package, AA chip set, better expansion and high speed features, the A1200 supports 8 bit- 32-bit processor, the A1200 is a very planes, allowing display of 256 sim- exciting and competitive product. ultaneous colors chosen from a palette of 16,777,216 colors. In size The new A1200s are shipped with Amiga and design, the A1200 is similar to OS Release 3, a backward compatible the A600 but is slightly larger. The extension to the industry standard larger design allows for use of a Release 2, which provides full full-size keyboard, including numeric support for new Chip set enhanced keypad. graphics, and is "localized" or over 14 languages and countries. 3Features1 2TITLE:1 A1200 Preliminary 14.32 MHz 68EC020 NTSC A1200 Preliminary Technical Inform- 14.18 MHz 68EC020 PAL ation 24 bit Address space Subject To Change Without Notice 32 bit Data path Note: System Configuration may vary 3Memory and Expansion1 between Commodore Sales Companies. 2MB chip memory standard on mother- The A1200 represents Commodore's board organized as 512k x 32bit 150 first low-end, low-cost system to Pin internal CPU slot-type expansion incorporate the Advanced Amiga Chip card-edge Set ("AA" chip set). Among the new Standard Amiga 23 pin analog RGB, 512KB, 120ns, Release 3 Kickstart Digital RGBI Color composite video Mask ROM (V39.106) organized as 128K output (PAL or NTSC) RF output for x 32 bit standard TV (PAL or NTSC) The A1200 ROM includes PCMCIA code. The PCB can accomodate either PAL or This code is absent from the A4000 NTSC. The actual components placed on ROM, and is the only content the board determine which of these difference between the ROMs. two video standards is supported. 3Mass Storage1 System I/O Internal slim 3.5" Floppy Disk Drive External System I/O (880k capacity) External Floppy Capacity for 2.5" IDE Hard Disk Drive Serial with 20MB or 40MB+ formatted drive. Parallel Mouse 3Operating System1 Joystick Stereo Audio ports Release 3, Workbench 39.29, Kickstart 39.106 Internal System I/O 3Video Output1 Internal Floppy Signal and Power IDE Signal and Power of functionality of the chips follows Keyboard membrane is 31 pins 2* * * * *1 3Expansion1 3Alice1 PCMCIA PC Card Alice is based on the 2MB ECS Agnus Follows PCMCIA Standard 2.0. Memory chip, and continues to act as the and I/O cards are supported. main Amiga Chip bus controller. Although Alice retains the same 16 3CPU Slot1 bit data bus as the ECS Agnus, it can now direct 32 bit and/or double CAS Additional technical information on page mode transactions on the Chip the 150-pin CPU Slot Card Edge will bus, and has a stripped down inter- be available shortly. face to a 32-bit Chip memory bus. External logic is used for memory 3AA Custom Chips1 selection and decode. The A1200 uses the same AA chip set 3Lisa1 as the A4000 (Alice, Lisa and Paula). The AA chips are software compatible Lisa is a new full custom design with the original and ECS chipsets, replacement for Denise implemented in with the exception of the ECS "super- CMOS technology. In addition to a 32- hires" mode palette. A brief summary Bit Chip interface, Lisa improves video output to 24 bits of digtal RGB Page Mode RAM. The same bandwidth video. Coupled with 80ns DRAM, Lisa enhancements are available for can use double fetch cycles to obtain sprites. Also, the maximum number of 64 bits of data in a single Chip bus bitplanes usable in all modes has cycle resulting in an overall four increased to eight. fold increase in Chip memory band- width for video. The Color Palette has been expanded to 256 colors deep and 25 bits wide 3Paula1 (8 Red, 8 Green, 8 blue, 1 Genlock). This permits the display of 256 The same Paula chip continues to simultaneous colors in all resolut- perform the same functions such as 8 ions. A palette of 216,777,2161 colors bit audio with four voices configured is available in all resolutions. as two stereo channels, floppy disk I/O, RS-232 serial I/O, potentiometer A new register bit allows sprites to inputs, and interrupt control. appear in the screen border regions. 3AA Chip Set Feature Summary1 A bitplane mask field of 8 bits allows an address offset into the The 32-bit wide data bus supports colour palette. Two 4-bit mask fields input of 32-bit bitplane data and do the same for odd and even sprites. allows the doubling of \s\smemory bandwidth. Additional doubling of In dual playfield modes, two 4- bandwidth is achieved by using Fast bitplane playfields are now possible in all resolutions. This is intended to allow 15KHz screens to be intelligently displayed Two extra high-order playfield scroll on a 31 Khz monitor, sharing the bits allow seamless scrolling of up display with 31 KHZ screens. to 64 bit wide bitplanes in all resolutions. Resolution of bitplane 3Power Supply1 scroll, display window,and horizontal sprite position has been improved to Output Voltage Current (max) 35ns in all resolutions. + 5V 3.0A +12V 500mA A new 8 bitplane HAM mode has been -12V 100sA created, 6 for colours and 2 for control bits. All HAM modes are - Well, the A1200 is now available in available in all resolutions. most good shops, so check it out today, and if anybody buys one of Sprite resolution can be set to these then please write an article 2LORES1, 2HIRES1, and 2SHRES1 independent about it and send it to Amnesia - of bitplane resolution. Article By:???/Commodore Attached sprites are now available in Clipart By:Punisher/Eclipse all resolutions. Hardware scan doubling support has been added for bitplanes and sprites.