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%% Rumors from the Amiga Side                         By Richard Johnson %%
%%                                                        (911:5000/3.0) %%
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Here's the latest set of rumors I've come across.  Remember, these are just
RUMORS,  so  take  them with a grain of salt.  (however, personaly, I'd say
most of these are right on the mark..).
 
----
 
After all the other worthless rumors, many of which are just plain
impossible, here are some rumors that are REAL!  And things are looking
good for Commodore now!  We'll save the best for last, so enjoy!
 
First of all, how is Commodore doing now?
 
*   They   are  shipping  in  excess  of  20,000  CD32's  a  week  just  in
Europe/Australia.
 
*  Over 320,000 CD32's have already been sold (And Atari is hopeing to sell
a mere 50,000 Jaguars this year!).
 
*  There  are  now  far more CD32's than 3DO's (and it's going to stay that
way), and will soon (if not already) pass by the Sega CD in numbers.
 
*  They are shipping 40,000 A4000's a month (worldwide).
 
* Commodore ONLY makes AGA machines:  CD32, A1200, A4000, and soon A4000T.
 
* At the rate Commodore is selling Amiga's, they will ship 2 million this
fiscal year!  Which is more than they've ever sold in one year, and all AGA
machines.
 
* AGA games are starting to come.  Lots of big name developers who dropped
the Amiga are now back.
 
 
Comming real soon:
 
*  FMV  module for the CD32.  Supports the Video CD standard *and* Philips'
proprietary CD-I video CD's!  The FMV module is in production now.
 
* A4000T.  Tower case, 5 Zorro III slots, 2 video slots, lots of drive
bays, SCSI-II, AmigaOS/Workbench 3.1.
 
* New A4000.  A new, lower price A4000.  The 030 version has the CPU on the
motherboard.  The floppy drive is now a normal sized unit, so you can fit
two of them into the A4000 (it also fits in the A1200...).
 
(These two new machines should be in manufacturing now!)
 
* CD32 modules for the A1200 and A4000:
 
  A1200 version has a SIMM socket, supporting a 1-8 MB SIMM; FPU socket,
  Akiko chip, and external CD-ROM unit.
 
  A4000 version sports the MPEG stuff on a Zorro III card, as well as Akiko
  and the same external CD-ROM unit.  It will also work on the A3000,
  although some games probably won't work since they require AGA.
 
* AmigaOS/Workbench 3.1 upgrade for ALL Amiga's.  Includes new Datatypes
(ANIM, CDXL), new multimedia extensions (realtime.library,
tapedeck.gadget), CD-ROM support, tons of bug fixes and optimizations.
 
* Envoy.  Amiga networking system!  Yes, contrary to what some individuals
have said, Commodore's networking system is here.  Useable over the serial
ports or any networking card.
 
 
Coming in early 1994:
 
 
* CD32 will be released in the US in January.  Everybody thinks they will
screw up again, but I don't.  Game magazines are starting to rave about it.
We're going to have a ton of games -- more than Jaguar or 3DO (or "3-DOH!"
as Homer Simpson would say after blowing $700 on one) or Sega CD.  Sega CD
games pale in comparison and will lag far behind in every way.  3DO games
will be great, though, but will be few and far between.  Jaguar games will
probably be fast and relatively cool, but will have little graphics or
sound because the carts are so small compared to a CD-ROM -- and will cost
more.  CD32 has the largest market, is the easiest to develop for, and
offers a good amount of profit per disk (low cost compared to a cartridge,
and Commodore's royalty is small and reasonable).  The price will rapidly
go down to $300 (it's already around $370) and a cost reduced model will
get that down to $250 in 1994.
 
* CEI 4000M.  An Amiga/Mac hybrid!  It's an A4000 with 10MB of ram, and the
EMPLANT card; with 256K Mac ROMs and System 7.1.  For a price around $2500.
And of course, for another $100 you can get the IBM emulation module.  It's
funny since Apple just released their Mac with IBM compatibility.  I bet
Apple messes bricks when they see this Amiga that does EVERYTHING!
Especialy since they plan to advertise in MAC magazines!
 
* 3DO emulator for the Amiga!  This would be a card containing the 3DO's
custom chips and should cost around $300.  A Sega emulator is in the works,
but I don't know why you'd want one.
 
* All machines shipped with AmigaOS 3.1.
 
* Reduced A1200 and A4000 prices.  A1200 should get down to $300, A4000/030
down to $1200, and A4000/040 to $1500.  AGA actualy costs LESS to make than
ECS does, which is why the A1200 is so cheap.  It would be even cheaper if
they could make enough chips!
 
 
And coming sometime in mid 94:
 
 
* A4000C?:  Based on A4000, has only 2 Zorro slots and a small ("pizza
box") case without the 5.25" drive bay.  Uses a 25Mhz EC030 CPU on the
motherboard.  2MB chip, 4MB fast, 120MB HD.  Cost will be less than the
A4000/030 is, around $1000 street price.  Looks a lot like an A1000...
Also available with the 040 CPU card.
 
* A4000-040/40:  40Mhz A4000, 8MB fast, 240MB HD.  $2000.
 
* A4000T-40:  40Mhz A4000T.  The ultimate Toaster workstation.
 
 
And finaly, in late 1994 (probably to be released at the September WOC) the
ones you've all been waiting for:  AAA Amigas!  (names are tentative)
 
A1200 and CD^32:  Prices down to $250.
 
CD^64.
 
* 4 x speed CD-ROM
 
* Low end AAA chipset, 2MB DRAM.
 
* 25Mhz EC030 (twice as fast!)
 
* 1MB fast ram.
 
A1400.
 
* Detached keyboard.
 
* High speed 1.8MB floppy disk.
 
* Low profile "pizza box" case.  3.5" floppy and HD bays.
 
* 25Mhz 030, '882 socket.
 
* Low end AAA chipset.  1MB chip ram (exp to 16MB), 2MB fast ram (upto
  16MB).
 
* CPU slot.
 
A4500.
 
* Detached keyboard
 
* High speed 1.8MB floppy disk.
 
* Low profile case, two 3.5" floppy bays and HD bays.
 
* 25Mhz LC040.
 
* Mid-range AAA chipset.  2MB 64 bit chip ram (exp to 16MB), 4MB fast ram
  (upto 32MB).
 
* SCSI-II
 
* 3 Zorro III slots.
 
A5000.
 
* Completely new architecture.
 
* 040, 060 versions (simply change CPU modules).
 
* RISC model in early 1995.  Will use HP's PA-RISC chip.
 
* AAA chipset (of course).
 
* DSP on the motherboard.
 
* upto 16MB chip ram, upto 128MB fast ram (probably 2/8 standard).
 
* ALL memory is *64* bits wide.  Fast ram may even be 128 bits wide, if it
improves performance significantly.
 
* 64 bit PCI slots (confirmed!)
 
* Four Zorro III slots, five in the A5000T.
 
* 3.6MB floppy drive.
 
* High speed SCSI-II interface.
 
* AmigaOS 4.0 with RTG, networking standard.
 
* Price well under $4000 (goal is $1500-$2000).  Different models with
various configurations of chip ram, ram and HD.
 
There will be nothing out there like this machine.
 
 
AAA chipset specs:
 
* Many different types of arrangements are possible, from low end to high
end.
 
  Low end:  uses 32 bit DRAM memory, lacks Linda chip.  >57MB/sec bandwidth
  shared between video and processors (IE, it slows down in hires/hicolour
modes).
  Can be expanded to 64 bit ram (mid range).
 
  Resolutions:  640 x 480 x 16 bit (72Hz non-interlaced)
                640 x 400 x 24 bit (60Hz non-interlaced)
                1280 x 400 x 24 bit (60Hz interlaced)
                800 x 600 x 8 bit (72Hz non-interlaced)
                1024 x 768 x 8 bit (60Hz non-interlaced)
                1280 x 800 x 6 bit (60Hz non-interlaced)
 
  Mid range:  uses 64 bit DRAM memory, lacks Linda chip.  >114MB/sec
  bandwidth shared.
 
  Resolutions:  640 x 480 x 24 bit (72Hz non-interlaced)
                800 x 600 x 16 bit (72Hz non-interlaced)
                1024 x 768 x 16 bit (60Hz non-interlaced)
                1280 x 1024 x 8 bit (72Hz non-interlaced)
 
  High end:  uses 64 bit VRAM memory and Linda chip.  >114MB/sec bandwidth
  for blitter, CPU, copper, and other DMA; >228MB/sec bandwidth for
  *video*.  Does not slow down at all in hires/hicolour modes.
 
  Resolutions:  1280 x 800 x 24 bit (65Hz non-interlaced)
                1280 x 1024 x 16 bit (72Hz non-interlaced)
 
* 8 to 16MB of chip RAM!  Can be added in 1 or 2MB increments (for 8 or
16MB).
 
* Chip RAM can be a mix of DRAM and VRAM.  With VRAM, there is *NO
CONTENTION* (remember how hires gets REAL slow in 16 colours [ECS] or 256
colours [AGA]?  Well no more!).  The blitter will be just as fast at 1280 x
1024 as it is at 320 x 200.  DRAM of course is cheaper.  But you could
have, say, 4MB of VRAM and 4MB of DRAM and use the VRAM for the screen and
DRAM for images for optimum cost/performance.
 
* Much faster, 32 bit blitter.  Can blit 24 bit images FASTER than AGA can
blit 8 bit images!!  And thus certainly faster than any Mac or IBM..
 
* Support for Quad-density floppy drives (3.6MB formated with FFS).
 
* Support for CD-ROM.
 
* Two 32 bit chips: Andrea (AKA Agnus/Alice) and Mary (AKA Paula).
 
  Andrea:  32 bit blitter and copper, burst mode memory access, 110Mhz
  display rate (4 x AGA).
 
  Mary: 8 channels of 16 bit CD quality audio, floppy and CD-ROM support.
 
* Two 64 bit chips: Linda and Monica (AKA Denise/Lisa).
 
  Linda:  video line buffer, controled by Andrea.
 
  Monica:  Chunky and planar video modes, HAM/HAM8, true colour, and a new
  compressed video mode.  Any display mode can be programed.
 
* Two high speed buffered serial ports.
 
A prototype AAA based Amiga is up and running NOW.
 
BEYOND AAA chips(!):
 
* Real time 3D rendering.
 
* Gfx pipeline.
 
* Scaling, rotation, texture mapping.