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*** Area: AMIGA                                   Date: 11 Dec 93 14:45:06
*** From: Tim Lloyd (6:730/9.64)
*** To  : All
*** Subj: Just thought you'd be interested


Just thought this might be of interest.... :)


Sb: #HP & Commodore Deal
Fm: Steve Pietrowicz/SYSOP 76701,250
To: ALL

I was just able to get a copy of this article, from EE Times August 6th issue.
It's an article about set-top-boxes ... those gizmos that go on top of your TV
to connect to cable (and who knows what else in the future).  Anyway, I
thought people here would find this interesting:


"Commodore International, which earilier this year launched the 32-bit,
graphics-intensive Amiga CD32 game machine, has signed a major deal to supply
HP with its high-performance graphics chip set, EE Times has learned.  HP will
adopt the Amiga CD32 architecture and employ the Amiga graphics chip set in
its first-generation set-top model.

"Jeffery Porter, director of product development of Commodore's technology
group, acknowleged that one of the terminal prototypes demonstrated at HP's
booth used Commodore's Amiga [chip] set.  HP officials declined to comment on
the prototype's architecture."

"Total Solution


"Commodore's strength lies in its ability to provide, today, a total solution
for set-top vendors, including a development platform for set-top
applications, a system architecture and a graphics chip set that can generate
35-ns pixel resolution, Porter explained.  What's more important, he said, is
price.  "Our CD32 game machine costs only $400, including CD-ROM drive. 
Without CD-ROM, our system can fit pretty nicely into a set-top price range.

"Commodore's custom Amiga chip set, originally designed for the company's
32-bit real-time multitasking OS computer, is composed of a pair of graphics
engines and an audio subsystem, assisted by hardware accelerators.  Using
Motorola's 14-MHz 68EC020, the machine produces what the company claims are
arcade-quality videogames".


Sb: #124550-#HP & Commodore Deal
Fm: Roy Pahnke 74316,254
To: Steve Pietrowicz/SYSOP 76701,250 (X)

Steve -

   One question, please.  What is a "first-generation set-top model"?  I'm a
little confused as to what a 'Set-Top' is.


Sb: #124637-HP & Commodore Deal
Fm: Dale Larson 76702,654
To: Roy Pahnke 74316,254

A "set-top box" is what everyone with cable is going to have in the next
couple of years, replacing the current cable converters.  Basically, it's the
computer you'll use to help you access the new services -- displaying
information about what's playing on your 500 channels, ordering from
home-shopping channels, playing along with game shows, ordering
movies-on-demand, etc.

--  Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing --  INTERNET:dale@iam.com



*** Area: AMIGA                                   Date: 12 Dec 93 23:44:00
*** From: John Hoog (1:374/3.0)
*** To  : All
*** Subj: CD32 - Wow!

I walked into Intelligent Machines here in Orlando and they had a CD32 from
the Toronto WOCA show on display.  What a game machines, that floppy copy of
Jurassic Park jumped back onto the shelf!  I played ZOOL2, basically the same
game as my A1200 version with enhanced sound (full 16 bit audio for the
background sound) what a difference.  This machine will sell VERY well here in
the states, just as it is flying off the shelves in Europe.  CU Amiga had a
article on Microcosm, wow talk about a game! Pick up the mag and check it out
for yourselves.  They had 5 NTSC disks, all A1200 ports but still impressive
in comparison to the originals.

All you naysayers who wanted to see them on the shelves will shortly after the
CES show in Janurary.  Yes its after christmas, but there is still next
christmas....

My A1200 only gets productivity s/w from now on.  Games will be either CD32 or
CD32 ala the expansion port of the A1200.



*** Area: AMIGA                                   Date:  2 Dec 93  6:57:00
*** From: Joe Hobson (1:362/508.5)
*** To  : All
*** Subj: SIMM Prices!

  Saw this in the paper and thought I'd share it with you. No excuse for high
SIMM prices anymore! Good news. (Reprinted without permission.) 


                       "Computer chip worries dissipate"


  NEW YORK- The Semiconductor Industry Association declared Tuesday there was
no longer a need to worry about disruption in the supply of computer memory
chips.
   Prices for the chips rose sharply last summer <tell me about it!> after an
explosion and fire destroyed a Sumitomo Chemical Corp. factory in Japan
responsible for half the world production of a key ingredient in chips, 'epoxy
resin'.
  A module of three chips that represent 1 megabyte of memory cost dealers
about $33 before the fire. It rose to around $95 in late July and August as
speculation grew that production of memory chips would be slowed.
  Prices fell to the $40-$50 range this fall as those fears abated and reached
the $30 range as Sumitomo resumed production of epoxy resin.