home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
EnigmA Amiga Run 1995 November
/
EnigmA AMIGA RUN 02 (1995)(G.R. Edizioni)(IT)[!][issue 1995-11][Skylink CD].iso
/
earcd
/
docs
/
mb_sep.lha
/
DOCS
/
MB_15.txt
/
MB_15.txt
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-08-27
|
5KB
|
85 lines
Power CD-ROM for the Amiga by Power Computing & HiSoft
======================================================
Price £199 double speed, £299 quad speed.
Compatible with the A600 or the A1200.
Review version double speed.
Tested on a A1200 with 2meg of chip, 4meg of fast RAM and a Hard Drive,
A1200 with 2meg chip ram and a Hard Drive and a A1200 with 2meg Chip no
Hard Drive.
Yes you read the title right '..by Power Computing and HiSoft'. This is
because the CD-ROM drive is a standard drive that has been encased in an
external casing by Power Computing. The connection to the Amiga (A1200
or A600) is by the now infamous Squirrel supplied by HiSoft.
Though it should be noted that Power Computing do a version for the A4000
but it comes with out a SCSI interface.
Having run a BBS for a few months I thought it was about time to splash
out on a upgrade for the BBS so it was one of two choices, get a bigger
hard drive or a CD-ROM drive? Obviously I opted for a CD-ROM. After
looking at the various drives on the market I chose the Power Computing
double speed CD-ROM. The main reason for this choice was the extra
expansion capabilities of the Power Computing CD-ROM and the software
bundled with it.
The CD-ROM comes with the Squirrel SCSI interface and software for
emulation of the CD32 also software for MPEG film decoding, Photo CD
reader and Audio CD player. The drive also features two SCSI connectors
and stereo input/output sockets for sound, [CLICK FIG BUTTON] it also
comes with two small manuals. One manual is from the CD-ROM drive
manufactures and the other is from Power Computing. The one from the
CD-ROM manufactures deals with how to install the CD-ROM into a standard
PC and the specifications of the drive. The manual from Power Computing
deals with how to install the required software and how to link the
Squirrel (SCSI interface) to the CD-ROM and the Amiga together.
You have four options when installing the CD-ROM driver, two for the
A1200 and two for the A600. The first is for installation for hard disk
users and the second is for floppy users, both options being available
for A600 and A1200 users. The Hard drive option installs all the
relevant software to your hard drive and the floppy option makes a
CD32/CD-ROM boot disk. All said and done the installation of the
software and the linking up of the CD-ROM and the Squirrel is hassal free
thanks in part to the standard Commodore Install software. Once the
software is installed and the CD-ROM connected all you need to do to play
a CD32 game or an Amiga CD-ROM game is to put the CD in the CD-ROM drive
and reset the computer (if using a floppy based amiga you must also put
the CD32 boot disk in the Amigas floppy drive). The Amiga will then boot
as normal and during the start-up it will check to see if there is a CD
in the CD-ROM drive. If it finds one it will check to see if it is a
bootable CD, if so it will boot the CD and start the software on it. If
it finds no CD in the drive or that the CD in the drive is non-bootable
it will then carry on with the start-up sequence and load Work Bench.
Once Workbench is loaded you can use the CD-ROM as a standard CD-ROM
drive, I.e.. read, copy, run software etc. from it.
Though it must be said that the re-booting of the Amiga will now take
about 5 seconds longer as usual, as the Amiga has to check the CD-ROM
every time it boots to see if a bootable disk is in the CD-ROM.
Another nice feature of the Power CD-ROM is the ability to plug in and
unplug the CD-ROM and interface while the computer is on. This can save
time if you have more than one Amiga as you don't have to switch off the
Amiga using the drive before removing it. Or if you have booted your
Amiga and are in the middle of a document and need say some clipart from
a CD but the CD-ROM isn't plugged in, its not a problem all you do is
plug it in and away you go as normal. These feature has saved me loads
of hassal time and time again.
So if you are in the market for a CD-ROM for you Amiga 1200/600 then I
would recommend the Power CD-ROM for this major reason. It has the
option to ad extra SCSI devices unlike many of the other CD-ROMs on the
market. Although if you just want a CD-ROM for playing games you might
be better getting another make that bundles a few games with it. This
brings me to the only criticism of the Power CD-ROM and that is it comes
with no CDs or control pad and maybe the price could be slightly lower?
Madness (Editor MiggyByte)
END
===