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- From: barrett@cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
- Subject: TRUE A5000 TRUE FACTS (was Re: The A50000000?)
- Date: 27 Jan 1994 17:41:06 GMT
-
- In article <2i8kgs$k8v@nntp.hut.fi> samzait@snakemail.hut.fi
- (Samza Itkonen) writes:
- >The following is an excerpt from an article in the Amiga Report electronic
- >magazine, Issue 201 [about the Amiga 5000, written by Richard Johnson]....
-
- And here is the TRUTH behind those rumors. Oooooh, how exciting!!!!
-
- >A5000.
- >* Completely new architecture.
-
- Yes, it's true: a COMPLETELY new architecture. NOTHING about this
- architecture will be the same as previous versions: no CPU, no disks, no
- monitor, etc. Instead, the A5000 consists of a 3-meter-square block of
- granite with mystical runes carved on it, with a TV antenna on the top (for
- genlock compatibility).
-
- >* 040, 060 versions (simply change CPU modules).
-
- Also true: there will be between 40 and 60 different versions of
- the A5000. I don't know why that silly writer stuck a leading "0" on those
- numbers... how pretentious.
-
- >* AAA chipset (of course).
-
- Of course. The "Advanced Amiga Atari" chipset will have both
- monochrome and color modes... and software will use one or the other, but
- not both.
-
- >* DSP on the motherboard.
-
- Unfortunately true. In order to use the DSP, you have to open
- up your computer and play with little jumpers and microswitches.
-
- >* upto 16MB chip ram, upto 128MB fast ram (probably 2/8 standard).
-
- Yup. Two-eighths of of a meg (256K) of RAM standard, expandable to
- the amounts you say, in increments of 83K.
-
- >* ALL memory is *64* bits wide. Fast ram may even be 128 bits wide, if it
- >improves performance significantly.
-
- Hmm... let's see. A "bit" is approximately 0.000000000007
- millimeters wide, meaning that a 1 MB RAM chip will be only 0.007516192768
- millimeters wide. It's going to be awfully tricky installing those chips!!
- Better get a VERY small tweezers and a few cups of coffee.
-
- >* 64 bit PCI slots (confirmed!)
-
- Absolutely true! There will be sixty-four, 1-bit PCI slots.
-
- >* Four Zorro III slots....
-
- Nope -- three Zorro IV slots. Zorro IV is a super-secret, very high
- bandwidth bus that allows fifteen cards to be inserted into each slot
- simultaneously. (Mostly thanks to those tiny RAM chips I mentioned above.)
- In addition, cards inserted together will automatically share data. For
- example, you can insert a Picasso graphics card and a Sunrize audio
- digitizer card into the same slot, and voila! A new, integrated peripheral
- that handles both graphics and sound!! You can also insert a Video Toaster
- together with a modem, creating a video telephone with 24-bit graphics.
- The possibilities are endless.
-
- >* 3.6MB floppy drive.
-
- No, sorry: it's a 3.6 INCH floppy drive. Just slightly wider than
- a standard 3.5" drive, to accommodate those copy-protected games with
- extra disk tracks.
-
- >* AmigaOS 4.0 with RTG, networking standard.
-
- Has anybody realized yet that the correct abbreviation for
- "Retargetable Graphics" should actually be "RG", not "RTG"? Well, you are
- very clever if you did. You see, the 'T' in "RTG" actually stands for
- "Telepathic". So not only will the Amiga 5000 be able to use ANY graphics
- board, but also it will be able to read your mind and display whatever
- you are thinking, in glorious HAM24 color!
-
- >* Price well under $4000 (goal is $1500-$2000). Different models with
- >various configurations of chip ram, ram and HD.
-
- Each of the 40-60 models mentioned above will have a different
- price, determined by the ultra-reliable Commodore Marketing Department
- Automated Dice-Rolling Machine And Pasta Maker.
-
- >There will be nothing out there like this machine.
-
- Yes, I guarantee it!!
-
- Dan
-
- //////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
- | Dan Barrett -- Dept of Computer Science, Lederle Graduate Research Center |
- | University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 -- barrett@cs.umass.edu |
- \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////////
- ---
- Copyright 1994 by Daniel J. Barrett. All rights reserved.
- This article may be freely distributed as long as it is distributed in its
- entirety. It may not be included in any publication without the written
- permission of the author. So nyaaah.
-