#Hot News 1200 CD-ROM dri
47 messages in this thread
Commodore are going into make a CD-ROM drive for the 1200.
I saw an article in a mag while reading it in a shop. It said that Commodore
have announced that a CD-ROM drive for the 1200 will be released shortly. It
will not be FMV compatable because of the Gate Array thingy, and will probably
cost around 200.
Commodore were very reluctant to produce such a device because of the lack of
FMV, but hopes that a solution would be found in the near future. They were
quoted as saying this would be unlikely. The mag said reviews and pictures next
month.
–Richard Daniel.
Hi Richard,
Apparently, CBM showed the CD32 compatible 1200 CD drive at CeBit'94 in
Hannover.
Paul
Yeh, some one on CIS said they saw a Prototype there. It looked like (I think),
a disc-man.
—Richard Daniel
What mag and issue, who was quoted?
Paul
It was a European mag called CU AMIGA. I`m not sure what issue it was, but I
think it has only just gone on sale in the last week. I suppose it must be
issue MAY at least. If you need accurate info, I can find out tomorrow.
I am not quite sure who was quoted, I think it was David Pleasance. Again I can
find out tomorrow.
—Richard Daniel
The new edition of Amiga Format magazine has pictures of the A1200 CD
drive. It uses the expansion port underneath the A1200 and will probably
allow memory expansion using a 4MB SIMM. It has AKIKO and the CD drive is
the same spec as the CD32. They say it should be on sale in Germany this
May, and in England this September.
Peter Wade
Autopiloting from London, England
Arghh. So it's useless for accelerated 1200s? Ah, who cares, I got me a
SCSI controller already! <g>
Paul
When did that come out?!?!
When I looked, Saturday, they had the old issue on the shelves! Whats going on?
I `m out to buy it right now!!
—Richard Daniel
I bought it on Saturday. It was on sale in the Games department of HMV but
the nearby newsagents still had the old issue on show. The game shops
often seem to have Amiga Format on sale before the newsagents.
Peter Wade
Autopiloting from London, England
My local newsagents still haven`t got a copy in. BTW Whats on the coverdisks
and are they any good?
—-Richard Daniel
The newsagents I go past on the way to work haven't got it either. It's
quite common for one shop to get Amiga Format days before any others do,
there seems to be no logic or pattern to how they distribute it.
The first coverdisc has a database called "Interbase" and an indexing
program called "Indexer" which comes with an index of Amiga Format
articles in it. The second coverdisc has a new level of the game Syndicate
and a demo of a scrolling shoot up game called "Calephar". The Synicate
level comes from a Sydicate mission disc which you can order from the
magazine for 12.99 pounds.
I haven't had time to do much with the coverdiscs yet. The indexer looks
confusing, and the shoot up is nothing special IMHO.
Peter Wade
Autopiloting from London, England
>The first coverdisc has a database called "Interbase"
That should be interesting. Borland's new high end database server is called
Interbase also.
> That should be interesting. Borland's new high end database server is
> called Interbase also.
If you mean it might be an interesting database, its by some company
called Interactivision Aps, no apparent connection with Borland. If you
mean it could be interesting from the legal point of view, well
Interactivision claim copyright 1991 for their database, how new is the
Borland one ?
Peter Wade
Autopiloting from London, England
I was thinking from the trademark standpoint. The Borland one isn't even
shipping yet, so I guess they might have to do some rethinking.
Paul,
We have Interbase from Borland for SCO-UNIX!
Juergen (via Amiga AutoPilot from Germany)
Thanks for the info on the Coverdisks. Sydicate should be worth a look at, the
game itself is very good. However, I don`t know about the others
—Richard Daniel.
Peter,
I'm a subscriber and I haven't even got my copy yet and we're supposed to
get the mag BEFORE is goes on the shelves…
Serves me right for believing the marketing blurb in the issues…
Kevin 68030/40 A1200…
Flying AutoPilot from Surrey in the UK
That's what you call good advertising, cbm should take lessons.
Charles,
You're not wrong there, however C= could take lessons from anybody 😉
Kevin 68030/40 A1200…
Flying AutoPilot from Surrey in the UK
Peter,
I think AF may have got that wrong. I heard that it is a PCMCIA fit and
that it would not be 100 percent compatible with the CD-32.
Pete Jones, flying on AutoPilot from Brussels, Belgium
Hi there !
It is NOT a PCMCIA-card (which is a pity). I saw the CD1200 myself at he
Hannover fair – only a prototype was on show.
There is some doubt here about whether it STILL allows fitting of Turbo
Cards/Memory Cards (i.e. Blizzard) despite being fitted in the expansion slot.
My impression is that 3rd party expansions such as Blizzard cannot be connected
as well as the CD1200 at the same time. However since the hannover show I heard
that the CD1200 may be connected to the Clock Slot within the expansion slot. (
To be honest I din't check that out). In any case, the CD1200 shown was only a
prototype. We were told to wait a good 3 months before production commences. I
also understand that it is being developed in the States. With Commo's US
problems that just puts back the release day further !
After talking to the Managing Director of Commo in Germany I certainly got the
impression that Commo would rather promote the Communicator + CD32 solution.
This would not cost more than the CD1200 and would give Commo the chance to
sell more CD32. Users would also benefit from the MPEG capabilities etc.
Forget the CD1200 (my opinion) – the Communicator + CD32 is the one to go for
!
Regards
Richard
Thats all good and fine, but what about us 1200 owners wanting to run CD32 CDs?
Don`t we get something? We can`t be ignored as there are thousands of such
machines in the UK alone. BTW the second issue of the CoverDisc CD has
interviews in CDXL (video) format, with film starts and reviews of games, plus
two game demos, pictures and more!
—Richard Daniel
Sure no problem.
Buy a CD32 (price reduced in Germany to under 200 pounds equiv. price in UK
bound to drop very shortly) together with the Communicator Interface (from
Eureka Holland – full version ca. 100 pounds, light version probably around
60-70 pounds).
Then you can use CD32 either on its own or connected to the Amiga 1200 as an
external CDROM drive. As the connection is through the serial port the transfer
rate is very fast and there is no interference with Memory/Turbo add-ons !
Overall it doesnt cost you a lot more than the proposed CD1200 but you get a
lot more for your money and can forget all about incompatibility problems.
During the summer many dealers (in germany at least – probably also in UK) will
start offering CD32 + Communicator packages at attractive prices. What more
could you want !
Cheers
Richard
Exactly right. Over in Macintosh land, the PowerCD's chief perceived
virtue is that you can unplug it from the Mac and use it as a walkaround
audio CD player. A Communicator CD32 would be an order of magnitude more
useful to an A1200 owner, and maybe even to owners of other Amiga models
as well.
By the way I heard yesterday that Eureka will also include the CD32 Photo CD
software "Photolite" in the package !
Cheers Richard
So how do you get it!
From Eureka in Holland or us in germany. Email me if you want exact details as
I do not want to advertise here. I dont think they have any distributors lined
up for USA yet but that should not be a problem. On the other hand if I hear of
any I will let you know. The Communicator is due out around mid-May.
Cheers Richard
Richard,
What is the Communicator, is it the add-ons which turn the CD32 into an
A1200? or something else.
Commodore have messed up on this one as most people I know with A1200's
don't play games and only want a CD-ROM for PD/PhotoCD stuff and hence
have bought a SCSI adaptor and CD-ROM (myself included) so C= aren't going
to get _Large_ sales of the CD1200…
Kevin 68030/40 A1200…
Flying AutoPilot from Surrey in the UK
KS >>What is the Communicator, is it the add-ons which turn the CD32 into
an A1200? or something else.<<
Here is a press release I found on the Internet.
========================================================================
EUREKA
Adsteeg 10
6191 PX Beek(L)
The Netherlands
International:
Tel. +31-46370800
Fax. +31-46360188
For immediate release
Commodore's CD32 communicates!
Eureka delivers low-cost CD32 expansion interface.
The Communicator enables CD32 to communicate with other Amiga's. With the
Communicator, you can use CD32 as intelligent CDrom drive. Control your
CD32 from Scala and start Audio or even Mpeg tracks.* Or View iff
aga/pcx/gif and other CD's even on non-aga machines.
* needs Mpeg cartridge.
Uploading and starting programs on the CD32 is possible making CD32 a
powerful stand alone Computer with communication and graphics capacities
far better than CD-I! The Communicator plugs in the keyboard plug and
doesn't occupy the expansion slot.
Intelligent CDrom drive
The CD32 is a state of the art dual speed, multi-session drive. With the
Communicator up- and download files from amiga to CD32 is achievedwith a
speed of upto 115200 baud! Because of intelligent multi-tasking, both the
CD32 and amiga can perform other tasks while exchanging data, the internal
logic of the communicator takes care of error correction and insures error
free data transfer.
SCALA, CD32, the Communicator and how they work together.
Scala specially wrote a new EX module for Eureka's Communicator. With
this EX module and the communicator it is now possible to control both
audio CD's and Full motion video CD's (when an MPEG cartridge is
installed), starting audio and Mpeg tracks on CD32 from SCALA on the
remote machine. This makes CD32 a full blown Mpeg player station for
scala. At last full motion video can be played in SCALA by using the
Communicator, the CD32 and the Mpeg cartridge.
The MIDI interface
This popular music interface MIDI is supported. The Communicator comes
with high speed MIDI IN/OUT and TRU plug. MIDI can be used from the
CD32- or the amiga-side. The Communicator can also be used as stand
alone MIDI interface on the amiga or CD32. Popular programs such as
Bars&Pipes, Helm, Scala and many more can use Midi to control anything
from keyboards upto drum-computers.
Connectivity and safety
The Communicator connects to the CD32 keyboard plug, leaving the
expansionport free for Mpeg cartridges or memory expansion boards and
allowing still the keyboard plug being used (ported tru), all circuits are
protected against wrong connection and static electricity so you can
safely connect and disconnect two machines.
Viewing CD disks
Now you can view IFF (including AGA), PCX, GIF and other pictures on your
CD32 by simply loading the picture CD in your CD32. You can also copy
pictures to your Amiga. Viewing aga pictures can be very handy when the
connected machine is non-aga such as the A500 and A2000. The Communicator
supports also a unique Photo-mode which enables it to display PhotoCD
disks.
Control
CD32's control pad emulates the mouse. The workbench , a terminal program
and Scala backgrounds are available on the CD. Spare room of the CD is
filled with spectacular PD software.
The Communicator package contains:
1 Communicator hardware with MIDI/Serial/keyboard plug.
1 Communicator CD crowded with the Communicator program, utilities
and PD software.
1 Amiga disk for installing the amiga side and manual in
English/German and Dutch.
Eureka's Communicator has 1 year warranty.
Retail price will be around 250 DM including taxes. Available by the end
of february 1994.
Eureka company backgrounds
Eureka, based in Beek(L) near Maastricht, the Netherlands. Was founded in
1989. In 1992 Eureka started developing hardware products for the amiga.
It's first product was the Eurocomp, a broadcast quality composiet and Y/C
video encoder. After some custom hardware projects for the Dutch
government, Eureka decided to concentrate fully on designing products for
the Amiga market. Further products are the Afterburner 50mhz 68030 turbo
for the A4000/A3000 and a Photoviewer for CD32.
==================================================================
Ron.
– ap'ing with AP. (Eagles may fly, but weasels aren't sucked
into jet engines.)
I too read somewhere (your post?? that the A1200 CD32 peripheral prototype
would not permit MPEG add-in capability because of addressing problems.
Assuming it ever sees light of day, at this point. The Communicator
sounds like the way to go.
My thoughts exactly, if only cbm could think like that. If they make
a cd drive just for the 1200 they will lose money.
I was told by an Amiga distributor here in Brussels that he saw a PCMCIA
CD32 add-on for the 1200 when he visited Commodore UK a couple of weeks
ago. Could it be that he was looking at a third-party product?
Pete Jones, flying on AutoPilot from Brussels, Belgium
Never heard of that myself . A PCMCIA add-on make a lot more sense than the
CD1200 – ask him if he noticed who was developing it ?
(By he way was that Sam in Almathera Belgium who told you that ?)
Cheers
Richard
The only problem with a PCMCIA conection is that it is only 16bits wide. This
means no 32 bit compatable. This means that it would not be able to cope with
the 32 bit transfers needed by the CD32 and the CD1200 add-on. This would make
such a device probably incomptable with current CD32 titles.
—Richard Daniel.
How come CD32 software doesn't run on an A1200 or A4000 equppied with a SCSI
CD-ROM drive? or why don't developers make their CD work on both? Some CD32
games like Liberation do.
"This means no 32 bit compatable. This means that it would not be able to
cope with the 32 bit transfers needed by the CD32 and the CD1200 add-on."
What are you alking about? 16bits is fast enough for the fastest CDROM
drives. Its the 32bit access to RAM / Chip busses that count.
-Chris
Chris-
The only question is about the custom chips on the CD32 that aren't on
the 1200. I don't know what they are, really. But isn't one a
chunky-to-planar chip? Still, I expect a 16bit bus would be more than
sufficient. But what is the actual bandwidth of a PCMCIA bus?
Paul – Minus Pins!
You are right about the chunky-to-planar chip. It is called the AIKIKO chip and
is intergrated into the CD1200 add-on that fits into the underside of the Amiga
1200.
I have said about the PCMCIA port because, and I quote from a magazine doing a
sort of review of the CD1200;
"The whole interface set-up is proprietary and supports the fast throughput
needed to access the drive. – AMIGA FORMAT.
The data bus conector is 32 Bits wide and so can support the fast through put
as it said.
Don`t you think that C= would have tried to make a CD ROM drive that fitted to
the PCMCIA slot idf they could? and try to avoid people`s upgrades (through the
slot) being useless?) The device that you explained (or someone else) has only
been seen by a few people. The device I talk about has been seen, and indeed I
have pictures of. It also works!!
—–Richard Daniel
You never know what C= might have done or why they did or didn't do it.
Marketing, liscense fees, stupidity, or just that like you say an I-card
version might have been impossible.
But fast throughput from what? I guaruntee you that a CD-ROM doesn't need
a 32bit bus.
Paul – Minus Pins!
Fair enough!!
–Richard Daniel
Actually, the PCMCIA slot was pretty good idea for the A600. I just
haven't found a good use for the A1200… 'cept maybe an Emplant card
(cough cough)
Later
Chris – Fast and Low on my '020!
Is it significant that my spell checker doesn't know "Quit"?
The bandwidth of the PCMCIA is faster than Zorro II, so no problem with it
being fast enough to to SCSI CDROM.
However, the AIKIKO (sp?) chip wouldn't work on the PCMCIA bus without a
lot of trouble.
Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on Autopilot!
Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
What would the AKIKO problem be?
Paul
I'm not real sure, but I believe the Akiko chip normally sits on a 32 bit
bus, and do to what it does, it would need another chip to interface it to
a 16 bit bus. (Which would slow it down a LOT.)
I could be wrong whoever… (I wish I am, as I have an A1200 too, and an
unused PCMCIA slot!)
Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on Autopilot!
Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
Actually, I saw the prototype (or should I say THE prototype 🙂 at ECTS
in London. It looks like a white CD32 chopped off at the edge of the half
where you put the CD in.