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1996-02-14
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Computer '95 Ami
ADRIAN MAGGS
I went on Friday, the first of three days to avoid the crowd and get
there while there is still any hardware left :) Here are my impressions:
Amiga Technologies was present with Dr. Peter Kittel, Petro Tyschenko,
Gilles Bourdin and others. They showcased the A1200, the AT1438S monitor
and A4000T. The atmosphere was good, although the presentation was not
quite complete: Most machines were old stock with stickers bearing the
AT logo hurriedly stuck on or just layed on equipment, a haphazard
collection of monitors and fonts/screenmodes on the Workbenches. Most
not even running background pictures or some kind of enhancement like
MagicWB or NewIcons, also in very little colour. Unsharp and dreary 4
colour WB's is not the way to show it off.. If they had some tinkerer
(like me :) who would have played with the showmachines for a day or so
they could have made them look great.. They showed the I-glasses with
the A1200 and a simple 3D view, this was somewhat disappointing too, but
I guess you would need some programs that take advantage directly of the
hardware or movies specially made for them. Again it seemed like a
hurried job, showing how busy they are with other things.
I talked to Dr. Peter Kittel, mainly about the AT1438S monitor and some
other tidbits, nothing shocking that we already didn't know came out
though. He stated that the genlock problem will be solved (top line
flickering) and that later bigger monitors (e.g. 17") will be available
under AT tutelage. He agreed with me that a horizontal width adjustment
would be welcome and maybe Microvitec will implement it for AT in time.
I didn't really invest the time though to quiz him or other AT
representatives thoroughly enough since I was hunting some hardware and
other interests of my own :) I ran into Ruud Dingemans and Michel van der
Ven, editors of the Dutch Amiga Magazine, they did some deeper probing,
maybe they'll post about it. (Plug, plug) Buy Amiga Magazine and read
about it in the next issue, you may find some articles of yours truly too
:) All in all the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, yes, optimistic is
the word. My faith in AT has been strengthened somewhat by their
presence, although the booth was not the perfect example of marketing.
In some way similar to the first showcasing days of the 'dancing fools' I
guess :) Apple was present too, surprisingly enough, with a flashy booth
and some high tech stuff like a three monitor, stereo speaker flight
simulator controlled by some hip looking analogue 'flight equipment'. I
liked their monitors well enough.. Flash, but little content though,
there was a far more vibrant 'buzz' on the AT grounds.
I also ran into Fred Fish, briefly expressing my gratitude for the great
work he has done in the past.
Next to the AT booth was Phase 5's stand, featuring the much talked about
PowerUp card. Among some socketed developmental chips there was a
PPC604FE66 chip and an MC68030 on a CPU daughterboard type card. The
design looked clean though and it surprised me that Phase 5 has done this
already, it looked indeed like a real card instead of a mock-up. Upon
quizzing the representatives it seemed like it was very new to them too,
the lady (I suspect little technical background) told me that it was
basically a very early prototype, not running anything like AmigaOS yet
:) She gave me a professional looking brochure and told me that she just
got it too. Some of the highlights from the four page brochure:
- two types: low-end: MPC603e 100+ MHz, availability towards mid 1996
- high-end: MPC620 up to 300+ MHz (drool), though this is as yet
vapourware
- 64 bit wide memory expansion bus
- 64 bit wide Local Bus system (with optional PCI bridge)
- Prices around 1000 DM up to 2000 DM
- A1200, A3000, A4000 versions and maybe others later (A2000? A500? :^)
- CyberGraphX 3.0 Native
And the most interesting feature:
- porting of AmigaOS (native exec and 68k emulator on top of that),
compatible with KS3.0+
- at first 68k emulation of the rest of the OS, later gradual porting to
native code with the help of new libraries
It elaborates on the native CyberGraphX 3.0 software: it will speed up
graphics enormously on graphics cards, but with AGA only too. Say
'chunky to planar' 3 times in a row, fast :) I know where my money is
going next year.. The CyberGraphX software will also include interfaces
for 3D (say I-glasses) and multimedia applications of the next
generation. (VR Netsurfing, hello William Gibson :^)
'We're not alone'
The PowerUp project is, according to the brochure, supported by
Almathera, Maxon Computer, ProDad and Softwood amongst others. Many
productivity applications will be ported by the time the PowerUp board is
shipping. Evaluation Boards will be available to developers in the first
quarter of 1996, development tools are in the works. Thorough support
and coordination planned, of strategic applications even in conjunction
with Motorola. I would wager that to be VR and related features that
maybe require some custom hardware enhancements. Very good news indeed.
On the bottom of page three there is an informational coupon; one of the
items you can tick off is 'UpGrade' programs for CyberStorm card owners.
Interesting.
Also, software developers, be it commercial or PD/shareware are asked to
fill in the form. This is a very good move too, something the old
Commodore never quite understood.
The UpGrade program consists of downpricing the PPC board for 68k based
accelerator card users who purchased after 01-Sep-95. For 68060
accelerator card users a replacement upgrade will be offered. For
further information contact:
Phase 5 digital products Tel. : +49-6171-583787
In der Au 27 Tech. Hotline: +49-6171-583788
D-61440 Oberursel Fax : +49-6171-583789
Germany
Their motto is 'Where do you want to be tomorrow' :)
And now for something completely different: MUI 3.0 is out and was on
sale for 40 DM. I haven't had the time to take a look at it yet, but
have an autographed copy :) Personally, I am not impressed by the MUI
2.3/AMosaic beta-beta-pl-something combo, so I asked one of the beta
testers for IBrowse, who was present too, how long it will take until we
see it. He replied with: "One month.. two months.. I don't know".
Hmm..
My list of acquisitions was topped by the VoB EIDE/ATAPI CD-ROM 4 way
adapter and quadspeed CD-ROM player annex CD32 emulator software/hardware
combo package, heh :). 339 DM later I can confirm that their 'Speedup'
software works like a charm and even the CD32 disc of Impossible Mission
2025 that I bought runs perfectly. Unlike the name suggests I haven't
seen any speedup though: my system, being an Amiga, still runs just as
smoothly :^) Next item of interest was what I came for really: The
CyberVision card. Priced as low as 625 DM for the 2 MB version, I almost
couldn't resist taking my wallet out again, was it not for a shocking
telephone bill just received the day before :( After quizzing one of the
programmers of CyberGraphX about the planned MK II version it became
clear that I really need one :) The MK II will feature a faster memory
structure by what I think I heard to be new VRAMs. Also the blitter will
be upgraded, ninehundred something is the version, though this again was
not quite clear. Further cross examination revealed (in spite of tight
lipped 'no comment'-s :) that AT is working with Phase 5 to include
CyberGraphX into the next coming release of AmigaOS, though this could be
gleaned from their PowerUp brochure already. Seems like Phase 5 is the
hardware partner, not Be Inc. :) On the way out I picked up a poster
with the red-square-jumps-out-of-grey- mass-of-balls theme, proudly
stating 'Amiga, back for the future'. There is only so much room left on
the walls of my room, I hope AT is going to bring only one more poster
saying 'Bill Gates? Who's that?' which will stay valid until the plaster
drops off ;)
There were not as much visitors as last year, though this is mainly
attributable to the fact that last year I went on sunday and this year on
a working day. The general feeling was a sharp contrast to last year's
too: the buzz is back! Instead of last year's apprehensive and even
somewhat threatened, aggressive feeling this year was a light hearted
affair, smiling and energetic faces everywhere. Amiga Technologies did
well to attend the show, in spite of the rough edged presentation that a
perfectionist like me would like to see done better. Though maybe adding
that feeling of 'David is back with a vengeance, watch it Goliath!' :-)
This might not interest the reader, but for the comic relief contect: on
the way back we managed to get lost in some German villages that had only
uphill roads, for a nice scenic detour of nearly two and a half hours :)
I tried to phone the local radio station where I work on fridays with the
little change we had left: "Hi, I can't make it, I'm lost in Germany!"..
Some baffled moments later: "But, but, you have to sit here! We're on
the air already!", "But I'm in Germany and I'm lost! And my money is
running..
END
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