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1985-11-20
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94 lines
Article from Crackling Computer World Weekly Feb '93
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THE WONDER MACHINE:- Myth Made Reality by POWAPIXEL COMPUTER RESEARCH
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What??? You're kidding!!! Powapixel Computers have done it. Nobody thought it
was possible, but using a brand new CPU unveiled only last month from the
cloud of shrouded mystery, a new breed of universal computer will be hitting
the market worldwide. Powapixel will soon finally release the
COMMOTARININSEGATOSHIMEDES PC 9000+ CCS
---------------------------------------
Just in case you were wondering, CCS stands for Computer Console System.
Powapixel have managed to re-build a 'unique' mother board with the stylistics
of many other computers. The heart of this wonder machine is Powapixel's new
baby... the INTEROLA 99850 DX CPU, which runs at a top speed of 930MHz. The
company wouldn't fully explain how they managed to achieve creating such a
cheap CPU (approx. price 23 pounds) to reach this amazing rate of processing
power, but they did say that it has an astonishing 256 bit address bus, and a
similar 256 bit data bus. They boast that the CPU is so powerful that
bothering to use other co-processors would be a complete waste of time; they
might as well not be there. This CPU also has cut down instruction set which,
the company say is still as flexible, if not, more flexible than any other
CPU. Inside there are 128 data registers, and 128 address registers which are
all 256 bits wide. Another thing that PCR boast is that the address registers
are in fact 'dynamic data registers' and reckon that much of the processing
with the computer's memory is mainly dealt with internally to maintain speed.
The 9000+ CCS comes standard with a 32768 MByte memory, and a wacking 1048576
MByte super fast hard disk. To our amazement the power demand of this machine
is very low (at a consumption rate of 40W).
This disk drive is the most compatible one ever made, and the
operating system (still under development) utilises it wery well. It's a far
cry from the Amiga's drive which people claim that it can read such formats as
PC, ST and even the MAC. The 9000+ CCS has an ISU (Integrated Slot Unit).
Again PCR wouldn't fully reveal the secret of this marvel of equipment, but
they claim that you can insert PC,MAC,ST,AMIGA,Nintendo or Sega disks and
cartridges and the 9000+ CCS will recognise it. One of the researchers even
reckon that it can even recognise the format of a slice of toast, a cream
cracker and a Garibaldi biscuit, if they were inserted into the ISU.
The main thing that really attracts the users though, are its graphics
and sound capabilities. It has ports on the back for MIDI, and also
incredible IN OUT for the internal 64 bit sampling system. Researchers are
jumping on this to see if they can create the first ever voice activated
operating system, and from what we've seen it looks very promising. Unlike
the MAC where it only ejects the disk (or in the 9000+ CCS's case any small
flat object) this new operating system can actually put the disk in for you.
It has to be seen to be believed. The Sound Manager (not just a sound chip)
has 128 channels in conjunction with the internal sampler. To save
programmers trouble, PCR have set the sampling to work at the lowest rate
which is still surprisingly crystal clear, and the playback resources in the
Sound Manager don't even bother the CPU. However the sound generated on this
machine can only be a sampled sound. The days of the tone generating chip are
numbered should this kind of technology continue to be utilised.
The ports also include in out for video cameras. It'll be as easy as
connecting your camera to a video say PCR. The graphics are quite simply
'astonishing'. As the 9000+ CCS has a certain 256 bit theme to it, like many
other computers there are the usual RGB colour registers, but these can hold
256 bit values (so that means 2^ 256 different levels each of RED, GREEN &
BLUE), giving a number of colours in the total palette that you cannot even
work out on your calculator. At the moment the system is only able to display
upto about 128 million colours on screen at once, but PCR say they're still
working on this to see if more can be achieved. Like the Sound Manager, the
Graphics Manager (a better Video Shifter chip), has resources for 2D and 3D
graphics, making it easy for programmers to develop fast, effective and
universal software (not only on disk but also on slices of toast). PCR
wouldn't give us the full specification of the capabilities of the Graphics
Manager, but they did give us a demonstration of the power of the resources.
An entire five minute animated sequence was made faster than it took the time
to play it back. With special thanks to Iterated System in Atlanta, Georgia by
using fractal techniques, compression of pictures (and other data) makes storage
more or less totally efficient. Digital Research Inc. better take a second
look at "DR DOS".
There are a host of facilities available on this wonder machine, but
PCR won't allow us to mention them, as they say that competition is a deadly
game, and they don't want other companies stealing their ideas. But they did
allow us to say that the wonder machine, plus extras, will be hopefully
available in June '93, at the incredible price of 349 pounds. PCR say they
want to hit the competition where it hurts, and by the look of it, it seems
they have. In the meantime, they also say "don't eat any biscuits, crackers
or toast... there might be an incredible piece of software on it!"
CCWW issue Feb '93 B. Uwalaka
-----------------------------
Note:
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"Apple" and "Macintosh" are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc.
DR DOS is a registered product of Digital Reseacher Inc.
"COMMOTARININSEGATOSHIMEDES PC", "9000+ CCS", "PCR" and the Powapixel logo are
trademarks of Powapixel Computer Research Inc. (So there!!!)