Amiga portables
23 messages in this thread
Second the notion of Amiga portables, though I know it'll never happen. As for
color being "required", I've been using a green-and-white Apple /// monitor
with my Amiga since I got it. I gig with the damn thing, and for that I use a
cute little monochrome 9" Apple //c monitor that cost about $60, but it isn't
an LCD.
–rbt
Robert,
PMJI
AT WOC Toronto last November I was speaking to one C= rep and he said that
the AGA chipset opened the door to a laptop version (due to power
requirements) and that "unofficially" we should see something later in
'93. So now it's later in '93 and one local dealer I spoke with said
there were NO plans for portables. IMHO, I think that if C= wants to be
taken seriously in the multimedia market then a laptop is an absolute
necessity. Look a Dolch computers & portable CDI as examples.
Andrew Porter
Toronto, Ontario
Andrew…
The chances of you having actually spoken with someone at C= Canada that
actually KNOWS what's going on as far as development is concerned, is minimal.
Most of the guys there are just sales folks, and really don't follow it in a
realistic light. I suspect that's about the same for sales reps of all shapes
and sizes.
Lew Eggebrecht said that the AGA chipset does indeed paint the first steps
necessary if someone WANTED to design a laptop Amiga, but went further to say
that this was not something that anyone should interpret as plans for a laptop.
He did say a laptop Amiga would be a nice thing to have, but again, wondered
aloud if they could sell enough of them to make it worthwhile. As the argument
goes, an Amiga isn't really an Amiga without color, and the whole nine yards.
To do an Amiga screen justice, you would need a high end color screen.
Anyways, I know all the sales reps at C= Canada, and I'm surprised that one
of them would have said what you've stated, though. They should know better. Oh
well. 🙂
Jim
I actually got a picture of an Amiga Portable. It was from Relax Technologies(
guys make a lot of mac stuff especially memory subsystems and photoshop
accellerators if I remember correctly. I got the literature at Comdex in Las
Vegas. From what I read it was an ECS machine not AGA. I think the plan was to
repackage amiga 500 or 2000 mother boards into a portable system. This should
not be that hard, I have never seen a shipping model.
Jorge…
Portable, sure. But a portable based on an A500 or A2000 motherboard would
not only be large, but it would not be able to run on any kind of battery
scheme (save for a couple of car batteries on your back).
That's the whole point behind the low power consumption chips, and you'd
need them to build a true marketable portable computer. It would definitely
have to be under 8 or 9 pounds, and be easy to cart about.
I saw a "picture" of an Amiga portable too. It was to be shown at a WOC
show, but never made it there. As far as I know, no one ever saw one. A picture
of an Amiga portable isn't a terribly convincing thing. All that is, in
marketing terms, is a feeler to determine what kind of buying market there
would be for such a device.
Jim
Jorge,
Funny this should come up just as I was posting about Relax's lack of
Amiga awareness. I remember seeing the picture of the portable also but I
can assur you the company in question is not the same Relax Technology
that deals with the Mac product.
-Richard
So, the upshot of all of this seems to be: don't hold your breath. I agree
with the assessment made earlier about color, however, that taking a composite
output to an overhead or separate monitor would probably do fine. The LCD
screen I need for my work only needs to be monochrome, albeit pretty good
resolution for large Workbench screens.
I know it's feasible: at one of the old shows several years back, I saw someone
with a homemade LCD hooked into a 500 (!). In a nice wooden box, yet 🙂 He
said he'd strung it together for fun and was trying to convince his company
that it was a worthwhile thing to market. They weren't biting. Doesn't sound
like much is chang- ing.
Ah well. I got a look at a friend's 600 the other day, and it sure looks cute.
It's just begging for a little 9" foldup display.
–rbt
I would love to talk to that guy with the LCD/500. It always seemed to me
there should be a way to use an ICD Flicker-Free-Video to generate VGA
signals and feed it to a VGA compatible LCD screen without the horrible
R&D expense everyone assumes is necessary to create this option. The first
time I tried to get serious on that project however I could only find one
company making an LCD with a VGA interface built in and it cost way too
much for what it was. Anyone know of a way to find these screens at normal
OEM quantity prices?
I have a serious reason; I really need to use this for the vocally
handicapped to create an artificial voice, and I think the Amiga is the
ideal instrument to create it with. I just don't want to put it in a
little red RadioFlyer wagon for them to haul around a monitor. The Mac
portable has the icons I want to make it easy for them to use, but no
built-in voice and much more expensive.
If there were some serious business users that wanted one, that helps
offset the cost of production and that would be even better. If I had a
plan I might be able to get the VA, private industry and government to
help.
Thanks
Tom, Oklahoma City
PMFJI, but I have it on good authority that Apple is about to introduce a
speech manager in their next system upgrade. I've seen it run and it's
damn good. Of course, it occupies about 2 MB of HD space, but hey, it's
Apple, right? 8)
Couple the above with their ~$1000 Color Classic and you're looking at a
decent machine.
Miguel ——– AP, AP, and away!
I do wish C= would get a portable out the door fast, or license someone to
do it for them. Even if it needed an AC cord, it'd still sell. A portable
with a MIDI port, color NTSC or PAL out and optional DSP would really be
something for multimedia presentations or pro music applications. Or what
about using it on location as a real-time titler/effects generator for
portable video cameras? The Powerbooks have really helped the Mac market,
especially the one that docks in a desktop unit. That's selling to
customer needs instead of simply offering them a take it or leave it
option.
I agree wholeheartedly. I just bought a 486/33 portable… I took a 1200
on a trip and found that despite the diminuative size of the computer
itself, even a small monitor adds unacceptably to the bulk. The
convenience of the portable is undeniable and if there was such a critter
(portable Amiga) I'd immediately purchaase one – as would a number of
others, I'm sure. Portables sort of have a unique market niche; and if
there's only one model, that's the one people will buy.
I like the 486/33, but the burden of having to learn new tools for the
things that I need to do on the road is something that I blame on CBM in
the wee hours of the morning. :^(
–Ben
…via AutoPilot
Ben,
My next Amiga computer would be a laptop, TOMORROW!, if it were available.
Chris
Chris,
I second the Amiga laptop idea!
Dom Fontana
–> Sent from NY via AP <–
Mine too. I am dying to get my hands on one. I told my dealer that if C=
would release a laptop I would be the first in line to buy it.
Frank,
I think a few extra million Amigas could be added to sales real fast if C=
would release an '030 laptop, color or no color display. Just include the ports
for it on the back.
Chris
Your probably right but I would definitely prefer color. I know it would cost
more but an Amiga without color just doesn't seem right to me. I'd still buy a
monochrome version but I wouldn't like it as much.
I would even buy a monochrome Amiga just to do letters etc…
-Jonathan
I would as well, assuming that there was the ability to hook it to an
external color monitor (HDD-15 for multisync, composite or RF for TV
hookups). A 1200-like laptop would be enough for me — now. Later,
who knows? God knows the 1200's power requirements are almost low
enough for battery-powered use.
Jim,
It's possible the guy I spoke to didn't know what he was talking about but
he seemed to be quite knowledgable. Perhaps back in November they where
throwing around the idea of a laptop and then decided not to. So, there I
got my hopes up all fur nuthin' 8( .
The colour argument definitely has some validity but I'd think that the
majority of multimedia uses for a laptop would be either a portable
multimedia system that would be hooked up to a conference display or
overhead colour LCD. That would be taken care of with colour output (as
with the 1200). It could also be used by itself for presentations where
the colour screen would be more useful.
For me, the main reason for a laptop is to be more productive for doing
the boring stuff like writing, planning and data entry. Of coarse, those
are the areas that are currently shrinking compared to video, etc. The
Amiga, however, can not survive on just the vertical markets, I believe.
C= needs the support of the "common" people and laptops ARE popular. Why
couldn't they implement a single system with optional, detachable displays
(grey scale, pastive matrix and active matrix.) They would be innovative
in the laptop industry (providing upgradability) and they could position
it in different sectors of the market.
I know for myself that the next computer I buy may be a PC laptop instead
of an AGA Amiga. If that happens to other people then it's that much less
money on Amiga products and a shift away from Amiga. But then, on the
other hand, the 1200 is semi-portable so perhaps C= thinks that is
sufficient. I guess it's better not to have it than to have C= lose R&D
money on a peripheral product that may or may not be accepted.
Andrew,
> an Amiga isn't really an Amiga without color, and the whole nine yards.
Guess CBM forgot that when they made that 2042 or whatever, mono
monitor.:^}
wmc – via Autopilot!
Wayne…
Yeah. The 2024. That was a really cheezy solution for dtp type folks. It
obviously didn't fly.
Jim
Jim,
Perhaps the reason why it didn't fly is because we've only recently gotten
s/w that would have made it useful.
–Ben
…via AutoPilot