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Visual Intensity 4
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Visual Intensity - Issue 4 (1994-05-29)(Dual 4Mat)(Disk 2 of 3).adf
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Computing
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061
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061
Wrap
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1978-01-04
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3KB
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85 lines
{ta{M{6 C D - R O M 1 2 0 0 . . A R E A L I T Y A T L A S T ?
{C{8
BY ATOM/DUAL 4MAT
{A{7
Many thought that the 1200 would never
see the elusive CD32 compatible drive
appear, due to Commodore's excuse that
the trapdoor or card slot were not a
viable option of connecting the
drive!, and because of this everyone
who wanted to move over to CD-ROM
either brought a CD32 or a PC! (tough
choice huh?) but in spite of rumours
at the CeBIT '94 show in Germany
Commodore unveiled none other than the
CD1200!! Speculation had turned into
reality!
After the glitzy unveiling the CD1200
is to be expected to go on sale in
German shops at the end of May priced
at around DM 500 (about 199 quid our
money!)
Looks wise, the CD1200 is near
identical to the left hand drive (eh?)
side of the CD32 but colour matched to
the 1200. The Drive itself is
connected to the trapdoor slot
underneth the 1200 via a small
interfacing unit to the CD1200 itself,
which in practise looks fairly crap!
But hey we're talking about good 'ol
Commodore here. Power to the unit
comes from a separate power supply as
in the A570 CD unit! This has the
advantage of not overloading the
1200's power unit, so hard drives and
stuff can still be used.
{ta{A{7The one big disadvantage though is
that as you may have already guessed
the trapdoor slot is now fully booked
so to speak, and memory cards or other
expansions can no longer be plugged
in! But to overcome this problem
(slightly) The CD1200 has provision
for extra memory in the form of a
single SIMM socket. This will
probably amount to a 4MB card for the
machine, things aren't so bad after
all.
Another feature that the CD1200 has to
ensure CD32 compatibility is that of
the elusive AIKIKO chip for converting
PC chunky to AMIGA planar gfx, more
points for CBM.
NOW comes the major flaw with the
CD1200 and a problem that could
prevent us Brits from ever seeing the
unit and that is one of compatibility
with FULL MOTION VIDEO or FMV titles,
being as FMV is currently the 'in
thing' at the moment, everyone wants
to muscle in on it! But the fact is
the CD1200 has no provision for the
FMV cartridge and unless CBM can work
miracles there's no way they're ever
gonna get one inside it! So this is
where problems start arising. CBM UK
are big advocates of FMV and without
this compatibility are not prepared to
market a unit without it! And at this
point it's unclear whether or not we
will see the CD1200 in the UK until
much later this year! Will this be
too late? We shall see.
{A{:
End.