#VTU EXPO
15 messages in this thread
Hi Dale,
I was able to get to see the exhibits at VT Expo for 2 1/2 hrs on the last
day. Even though this isn't near enough time to check everything out, I got a
'decent' overview of several products.
Brute beasts of render were in evidence everywhere. Several models of the
Raptors were being shown by DevWare Video. The ShaBLAMM, a RISC based board for
VESA VL-BUS PC's looked like a very cost-effective solution if you have the PC.
A couple of companies were selling workstations based on the Alpha AXP CPU. My
favorite was Carrera Computers Inc. 275MHz Cobra. This machine operates Windows
NT and comes with ScreamerNET and an Ethernet Card for a net link with an
Amiga. This thing was 'chewing' up LW scences at a clip that would make ANY
animator/renderer drool in public. I did <g>!
The brief glimpses I had of Flyer demos at the NewTek booth looked very good.
NewTek is offering LightWave 3D for PC and SGI as well as Amiga. List price is
$995.
Probably the best news for Amigans is the announcement by MacroSystems of a
"new" Computer. it's called 'DraCo' of all things. It is not an Amiga. But you
can run most Amiga hardware and software with "dramatic results". DraCo is an
Amiga OS computer that DOESN'T use the custom chips. These chips have been
replaced with powerful software and hardware combinations. (eg. blitter
replaced by NCR 53C720, also used in the WARP engine)
Following are some technical data:
CPU: 68060
Operating System: Amiga OS and UNIX
Case: Full Tower
I/O: SCSI II; 2 Parallel Ports
Slots: 2-DraCo direct 32 interfaces to Retina BLT and VLab Motion
5-ZorroII
CDROM: Triple Speed- Standard
Graphics: DraCo Retina BLT with 120 Mhz pixel freq and data rate of 180/Sec
in 24bit.
Memory: 4-128MB
Software Compatability: All system compatible programs will work. Software
that runs on graphics cards will work.
Hardware Compatability: All that are custom chipset independant.
Public presentation in the Spring of '95 and delivery by mid-year. No Proto was
on display. This info was contained in a flyer.
**********************************
Well at least 'somebody' will be making new machines.<g> I chose to take this
as a sign that there still is hope for new energy to infuse the Amiga market.
Heavy-weight hardware was the dominant force at the VT EXPO but there still was
a 'healthy' presence of the Amiga.
The highlight of the show for me came when, I was casually browsing for
software at the Anti-Gravity booth. I had a man standing next to me also
looking at software. I glanced up at him and to my surprise I "knew" him in an
instance. No it wasn't St. Nick! <g> It was actor Dick Van Dyke!! I did the
'Amiga thing' and introduced myself and struck up a conversation based on my
hope that he was a Video Toaster user. I was right. He has a small home
video/audio studio based around the Toaster. He is very aware that the Amiga is
the machine behind the Toaster and that its status is unclear. He was so easy
to chat with and even consented to an autograph. My first meeting with a 'star'
and he's an Amiga user. Too Cool!
Hopefully there will be a show next year. I plan to be able take in a lot more
of the exhibits.
………………from 3D Amiga space…………..
Thomas Barker
Tom,
There will definitely be a VT Expo next year. This year's was a great success
for Avid Media Group and the vendors who exhibited. We're trying to decide
where and when we'll hold the next one. Dick Van Dyke is one heckuva nice guy.
We got some great interview footage of him for the VT Expo videotape we're
producing. He gave us a great quote about telling his producer he was gonna
quit his show if they didn't give him the day off to go to the VT EXPO!
Whataguy…
Jim Plant Avid Media Group, Inc.
We've been teasing Bob ever since he handed Dick Van Dyke one of our ImageFX
2.0 flyers at the show without recognizing him! Dick stopped by our booth
later and Bob got him his ImageFX 2.0 upgrade on the spot. (yep, he's an
ImageFX user too!) Bob said he was really nice to meet.
Kermit Woodall
Nova Design, Inc.
Jim, it was a pleasure to participate in the VTU Expo and the NewTek developer
conference just prior. Avid Media Group did a terrific job and Ann Pulley
should get a RAISE! I just sent her off today a photocopy original of some of
the NewTek stuff I prepared for developers and the Update Disk #5, per her
request. Have a Merry Christmas. Looking forward to the next VTU Expo and hope
to be working further with NewTek should they decide to do another DevCon.
Have been doing interesting custom programming on my Flyer and making it jump
through hoops. A wonderful new product that is going to set the video world
a-shaking, just like the Toaster did.
Dan,
Both you and Avid Media Group should take a bow for a job well done. The
developers conference and Expo went quite well for all involved, better than
many of us expected. I agree, Ann Pulley did a great job; you wouldn't have
guessed this was her first effort to produce a show such as this.
All in all, the whole event was a bright spot in an otherwise unsettled Amiga
market.
Enjoy your holidays.
Bruce
Bruce, thanks for the kind words. That Toaster/Flyer Devcon preparation turned
out to be a bigger challenge than I'd thought before taking on that special
project with NewTek. Whew! I definitely appreciate the nice feedback (and I
can't agree more about Ann Pulley's role) but the guy you really might want to
tell is Tim Jennison. He made the final decision to bring in an 'outsider' and
foot some costs, etc. I've heard he was a bit dubious about it for a while,
but I think he was also pleased at the outcome. Jim Plant and Peter Tjeerdsma
also worked closely on coordinating events which led to the devcon and show.
I'm having a wonderful holiday – cranking on some cool software for the Flyer
(ARexx control and special functions not available through other existing
methods). Santa Claus said he made a special stop at your place so I hope you
got everything you asked for for Christmas. Do you have available anything
which can substitute for the little silvery adapters Commodore was supplying
with A4000's and A1200's which convert the 23-pin RGB to a DB15 high density
VGA connector? I have customers looking for those. I checked inside and it's
only a little board with a HCT08 chip. Talk to you soon. A pleasure getting to
be your neighbor at the Expo.
Dan,
Commodore's "-01" adapter uses that 'HCT08 to buffer the H and V sync lines,
something the Sync Strainer does anyway. The -01 is fine until you try to run
the Toaster (or any genlock), at which time the H and V sync lines are used the
gen-lock function. This leaves the multisync monitors scrambled.
If you're running the A4000s and A1200 in the high scan modes only (Dbl NTSC,
productivity), the -01 will work fine. Unfortunately, I don't know of any
source for new ones. I suspect there's plenty floating around, unused, in
people's junk boxes. Put out a request for them here.
Bruce
PMFJI, but I've got one of those Commodore '-01' VGA adaptors……
Since I had to get a Sync Strainer, I have little use for it.
(I _did_ use it to test out that resistor fix you mentioned awhile back,
so now it doesn't have those annoying vertical hum bars….:^)
Yo, Daniel:
How much is it worth to you?
Erik Flom
Dan,
Thanks Dan. I'll look forward to hearing more about your "Flyer Tricks". Thank
You for all your effort in making the Devcon a success. Let's do it again.
Jim Plant
Thanks for the nice words, Jim. NewTek was a great organization to work with
on the DevCon preparation project. I had a blast. And, yes I've got some cool
software functioning which lets the Flyer do some interesting things not
available by other means. Some of this stuff may be sold to OEM Flyer
users/manufacturers and some may wind up available to all comers. Not yet
established. Some developers have been in touch about doing special projects
which may be private but I hope to distribute some of what I'm working on more
widely. I wish NewTek Toaster-level success with the Flyer. It is a very cool
product. Hmmm… seems I can't recall hearing back from John Gross about the
stereoscopic 3D with Lightwave article I sent in a while back… Maybe you know
what's up or can see what happened to it after the Holiday rush settles down a
bit. Thanks for all your help on the NewTek project and with the Expo. Happy
New Year!
Daniel,
Sorry, I've been out of touch for awhile and offline. I have received the
article and would like to talk to you about it the first chance I get. I
think things will settle down for me this weekend…
JG
Thanks, John – Arnie told me he wrote something for you on the same subject (at
least partially). Maybe we can all cooperate to produce one article with the
best of what both Arnie and I had to say merged. Thanks and I look forward to
hear from you when you find a moment.
Hmm, all this talk about older retire guys using the Toaster… it jibes
perfectly with all the fan letters I get when I write for AmigaWorld. It seems
like 80% of them come from retired guys who tinker with their Amiga all day.
Hi Tom.
> The ShaBLAMM, a RISC based board for VESA VL-BUS PC's looked like a very
cost-effective solution if you have the PC.
I've done some reading on this unit, and although it looks promising, I was let
down by the specs.
It will render at about 2.7 to 3.9 times the speed of a 4000 40/40.
Since the board runs at more than twice the clock speed (100mhz ), I didn't
find that to be
much of a jump in performance considering that it uses a MIPS R4600.
I was wondering if the vesa bus was the weak link, or if the high overhead of
Windozzzze NT
was sucking the life out of it. Could be the Ethernet link, too. Maybe all
three ?
Don't get me wrong, it's a cool item, and the Ram alone is worth half
of the price, but I was expecting it to be about 10 to 15 times as fast as an
A4000 40/40.
>DraCo: Hardware Compatability: All that are custom chipset independant.
That means no Toaster……No surprise here.I wonder how it handles software
that adresses
the chip set like Dpaint IV, Scala and Brilliance ? Lack of support would make
it useless to me.
JMHO….
Mike Brennan, Sir Render.
SYSTEM FAILURE: could not execute command "RESUME PRODUCTION"
could not find file " NEW OWNER"