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· Hardware
#Side Car
21 messages in this thread
The Side Car Passed FCC three days ago. Yes that is passed. It is in
production in Germany right now. The bad news is that it probably will not
hit the market untill after the new year. Since it passed it means that
the version that I saw at the FAUG users group meeting(see my notes `hi
and stuff')it looks very good. Oh my sorce for the Side Car news is the
Amiga Rep. for the bay area. Last night some more stuff came to me that I
didn't say.
Since it looks like the Side Car will make it I'll tell you. The side car
seemed very compatable. The only place it had a problem was with the ser.
and par. ports. It uses the Amigas ports so aparantly there is some IBM
software that doesn't address the IBM ports in a nonstandard way. These
progams will run but they will not use the ports properly(I don't know if
this is something that has been corrected or not).
You may be able to fix this by putting a par. port in one of the valuable
slots (???). The only cards we didn't think would work were the color
graphics or the text card, because they are already in there (or emulated
in there). But an EGA or PGA cards should work.
As far as speed it look as fast as an IBM except for one thing. It was
going around that both machines could run a full speed. This is not really
true. When the Side Car is in color mode you have the option of how many
bit planes (colors) the screen will be. If you chose 16 colors (4bit
planes) the Amiga has to display all this. And it can slow the Amiga down
alittle (maybe more ??).
I really didn't get much chance to see haw much that would effect the
speed, but it was obvious that it slowed it down some. And the last thing
is that the Amiga and the Side Car have 128K of common RAM that is shared
between the two CPUs. This will allow for some data to be transfered back
and forth. Basicly this is what will make the hard drive that will have
part Amiga part IBM software on it. The Amiga will give the Side Car a
request throught the common mem. and the SD will take it off the disk and
send it through the port. It all looks real good
Mark,
While hopeful, I have found Rep's to be wrong on _LOTS_ of occasions.
Such as: In middle of August, rep for this area says to local dealer, "You'll
have lots of SideCars to sell by the first week of September." Also—-"Genlock
will be here within a week" (said 3 months ago)
Also—-"Here is 1.2, you may freely make copies for all customers, you'll have
your official version within a week." (said a month ago AFTER C=A pulled 1.2)
The list could go on and on, the Rep (at least for this area to that 1
dealer) is passing on rumor as if it were fact.
Don
Dale Luck has confirmed that Sidecar has indeed passed FCC. While anything
can be considered to be a rumor until we actually have the product in our
hands, this information comes from a high enough source that I would be 99%
(always a bit careful) confident. Further info is that Sidecar should work
with PAL and other buss-passing boxes, barring buss loading and noise
problems. Since the only change to Sidecar that I can confirm is the
shield design, and since the essential elements of the production line
should already be in place, it seems reasonable to expect Sidecar within
two months. Commodore's going to want as many of those Christmas bucks as
it can get. – Jim
Jim,
as for the retailing business, the Christmas window is approaching and
they had better get the units to the retailers within the next two months or
there won't be and SideCars in our stockings.
Jim
I'm not betting on a Sidecar in my stocking. I have too much faith in
production delays! (Would be a nice surprise tho!) – Jim
Jim,
as for the retailing business, the Christmas window is approaching and
they had better get the units to the retailers within the next two months or
there won't be and SideCars in our stockings.
Jim
Jim,
Thanks for the info. I would say that Dale is a reliable source so as
far as I'm concerned, that will be considered "official".
As far as Christmas sales, I certainly hope you are right. I asked the
dealer yesterday when he expected units for sale….he claims the Rep (the
unreliable one) told him not till the first of 87. I would agree, if the only
change was shield design, and the software (firmware) is ready, then the
dealers ought to have units in stock sometime near the middle of Nov.
Don
Commodore International suggested early December. Only catch was that
supposedly the final configuration or configurations has not yet been
decided as of 2 weeks ago. How can they build it if they don't know what
it will look like?
It has to be a production unit that passes FCC testing, therefore, the
configuration has to have been settled, unless they presented several
configurations to the FCC and haven't decided which to put into full
production.
Since they have also reportedly shipped the first production run (the
one that didn't pass FCC) to Europe (where they are legal as the RFI
requirements aren't as strict) and the reported change in design was a change
in a shield to meet FCC. I would guess that the final design is decided and
only a single unit was presented for FCC testing.
If you are getting your information from a Rep, they have been known to
be way off base on some of their information…or at least the Rep for this
particular area has been.
Don
I think there is a law that at least 50% of what a rep says has to be
wrong (or misleading). (Maybe they go to rep school to learn how to do this.)
Besides, reps are SALESMEN.
hehehe
Dan
It has to be a production unit that passes FCC testing, therefore, the
configuration has to have been settled, unless they presented several
configurations to the FCC and haven't decided which to put into full
production.
Since they have also reportedly shipped the first production run (the
one that didn't pass FCC) to Europe (where they are legal as the RFI
requirements aren't as strict) and the reported change in design was a change
in a shield to meet FCC. I would guess that the final design is decided and
only a single unit was presented for FCC testing.
If you are getting your information from a Rep, they have been known to
be way off base on some of their information…or at least the Rep for this
particular area has been.
Don
Commodore International suggested early December. Only catch was that
supposedly the final configuration or configurations has not yet been
decided as of 2 weeks ago. How can they build it if they don't know what
it will look like?
Commodore International suggested early December. Only catch was that
supposedly the final configuration or configurations has not yet been decided
as of 2 weeks ago. How can they build it if they don't know what it will look
like?
Jim,
Thanks for the info. I would say that Dale is a reliable source so as
far as I'm concerned, that will be considered "official".
As far as Christmas sales, I certainly hope you are right. I asked the
dealer yesterday when he expected units for sale….he claims the Rep (the
unreliable one) told him not till the first of 87. I would agree, if the only
change was shield design, and the software (firmware) is ready, then the
dealers ought to have units in stock sometime near the middle of Nov.
Don
Dale Luck has confirmed that Sidecar has indeed passed FCC. While anything
can be considered to be a rumor until we actually have the product in our
hands, this information comes from a high enough source that I would be 99%
(always a bit careful) confident. Further info is that Sidecar should work
with PAL and other buss-passing boxes, barring buss loading and noise
problems. Since the only change to Sidecar that I can confirm is the
shield design, and since the essential elements of the production line
should already be in place, it seems reasonable to expect Sidecar within
two months. Commodore's going to want as many of those Christmas bucks as
it can get. – Jim
Don –
Dale Luck has confirmed that Sidecar has indeed passed FCC. While anything
can be considered to be a rumor until we actually have the product in our
hands, this information comes from a high enough source that I would be 99%
(always a bit careful) confident. Further info is that Sidecar should work
with PAL and other buss-passing boxes, barring buss loading and noise problems.
Since the only change to Sidecar that I can confirm is the shield design, and
since the essential elements of the production line should already be in place,
it seems reasonable to expect Sidecar within two months. Commodore's going to
want as many of those Christmas bucks as it can get. – Jim
Don –
Dale Luck has confirmed that Sidecar has indeed passed FCC. While anything
can be considered to be a rumor until we actually have the product in our
hands, this information comes from a high enough source that I would be 99%
(always a bit careful) confident. Further info is that Sidecar should work
with PAL and other buss-passing boxes, barring buss loading and noise problems.
Since the only change to Sidecar that I can confirm is the shield design, and
since the essential elements of the production line should already be in place,
it seems reasonable to expect Sidecar within two months. Commodore's going to
want as many of those Christmas bucks as it can get. – Jim
Mark,
While hopeful, I have found Rep's to be wrong on _LOTS_ of occasions.
Such as: In middle of August, rep for this area says to local dealer, "You'll
have lots of SideCars to sell by the first week of September." Also—-"Genlock
will be here within a week" (said 3 months ago)
Also—-"Here is 1.2, you may freely make copies for all customers, you'll have
your official version within a week." (said a month ago AFTER C=A pulled 1.2)
The list could go on and on, the Rep (at least for this area to that 1
dealer) is passing on rumor as if it were fact.
Don