#Any IBM/Emplant news?
6 messages in this thread
It used to be that there were tidbits of information released here and there
about the progress of the IBM DX/2 Emplant emulation. Nowadays, you hear/see
nothing as far as the proyect is concerned. It's getting to be that you have to
wonder if there are delays in the product itself, (which we can all understand)
or that maybe Jim Drew and the UU clan are awaiting for an official response
about the C=> bidding situation in order to pursuit the proyect to term. I've
seen an increased number of people just do away with their Emplants in order to
get a true IBM clone (Yikes!!!) as the EMPLANT FOR SALE ads and beginning to
spring up more and more. I'm trying to hold on to mine for dear life, but the
product delays, in conjunction with added pressure from work to do IBM
programming and UU no-news-update policy on the product is getting to be a
little too much. I've been an avid supporter for years, and while I still
believe that Amiga/Emplant combo make for a great multi-OS programming
environment, not having any news on the progress of the product can be
frustrating. I understand that this is done in lieu of the constant phone calls
UU must have been receiving from pesky Amiga users, and promising a delivery
deadline can work against them, given the level of Amiga "fan"(atics), myself
included. Could someone (beta tester hint, hint) at least give us some feel as
to speed, compatibility, hardware supports, etc… At this point, I'd be
willing to do away with Windows support so long as the product behaves in a
straight forward DOS environment, ie.. LPT1, COM1, HD support as well as
extended memory support.
In this case, ANY NEWS is GOOD NEWS!!! Catya,
Clarence,
I am also interested in the Emplant PC Module although I don't yet own an
Emplant board.
I have a two paged fax from the German distributor of Emplant from early
September. It said that the PC-module will be available by August(!). I have
been told (in September) to wait until October for the PC-module.
It will emulate a 486SX (not a DX as you stated), a VGA/SVGA graphic adapter
and a Soundblaster. It is priced for 298.- DM.
The whole idea behind Emplant sounds so good that I can hardly believe it. Is
the Mac-module really as good as it is described? Have you tried to run Soft-PC
/ Soft-Windows for Mac on the board? How compatible is it? What Amiga are you
using?
Let me know if you are interested in the address of the German distributor.
Frank
> It said that the PC-module will be available by August(!).
This is false information. Utilities Unlimited has never announced a
release date. In fact, they're very tight-lipped about that subject.
> It will emulate a 486SX (not a DX as you stated).
No, it was gonna be 486DX. Now it's supposed to be 586DX. That info
comes from a readme file in the Mac v4.8 distribution that I downloaded
this morning.
Well, what can I say…
All I stated was the contents of the fax I did get. Not using the FPU in the
newer MC68k doesn't make sense as well as a fax from september stating that it
will be available in august….
The statement was not from UU, rather did a distributor try to sell
something… (As I made clear in my note)
I was asked for news and I answered.
Could it be that Germans (in generall) are rather lied to than not saying
anything. I am as upset as everybody else (trying) to use an Amiga and I am
allways happy to hear any news.
Frank:
I wasn't going after you personally. I was just wanted to point out that
the fax you received had some questionable info on it.
Wayne
The Mac emulation is very good considering that it is all done in software. As
my luck would have it, the only reason I bought the Mac emulation was to be
able to develop FoxPro applications using the Mac version, as it turns out, the
Mac Emplant is not compatible with Mac FoxPro. Aside from that, I have not
used the emulation at all hoping that the IBM emulation will be more true to
the platform it is intended to emulate. As far as running Soft/PC on the Mac,
this was not an option since this emulation can cost anywhere from $250.00 to
$400.00 (depending whether you want Windows support or not) which is to high a
cost to pay for a 286 protected mode emulation. And last, I'd be very surprised
if the product is only a 486SX emulation given that the ad UU has been running
here in the States has stated from the beginning that they'll support math
co-processing routines using the 68040 MMU (result is 486DX emulation). As far
as I understand it, Soundblaster support is slated in a future release but may
not be there on the initial product (no biggie!!!) and that screen resolution
will be VGA (SVGA at a later point) as the highest resolution on AGA machines
(no biggie here either). The IBM emulation has been on a "will be released
soon" status since July and no official (or even unofficial) announcements have
come out from UU in a long time. We'll just have to wait a little longer.
Catya,