#CD32
15 messages in this thread
Dale,
I heard that with the shipping of OS 3.1, CD-32 technology would come to
the A1200.
Trent
Flying near the Pole in the Great White North
Not enough.
CD32 includes significant software which is not an intrinsic part of
OS3.1. (Commodore could, in theory, choose to include it, but that
increases the expense of the ROM since it can't fit in 512k.) CD32 also
includes hardware not in an A1200, including a special CD-ROM. It is
unlikely to impossible that a system with only a standard SCSI CD-ROM
player will ever adequately emulate a CD32.
By the way, CD32 work was one of the last things I did at Commodore before
leaving. I was involved with testing part of Akiko and with system
testing on early prototypes.
— Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing
— INTERNET:dale@iam.com
Hello Dale,
I was just following the thread on CD32 and just wanted to know
why do you think that CBM made the CD32 such an endangered beast?
If CD32 games cannot be played on a CD-ROM equipped Amiga then I
say that CBM has lost its mind. I too as an engineer realize the problems
that can develop when you are coding and developing.
However, when developing you have to look at the market share and
incentives for software development.
To ignore CD-ROM equipped Amigas seems a money loseing proposition. The
CD-ROM is the medium of choice for a lot of new game developers. It is
the medium to allow companies to break the Megabyte barrier
to express new realities and new concepts.
Without the support, AA Chipset or not, for the bulk of your market how
can game companies be encouraged to invest critical cash. I
dropped by my dealer the other day, who is just scraping by, and he is
getting rid of most of his CDTV titles at a loss. Can you imagine if he
invests once again in CD32 and it goes under?
Amigians are a very loyal and vocal group, I hope that there are others
like me who are concerned that one day we will have to seek out Europe for
our Amiga parts.
I applaud the efforts of all the software companies that have joined with
CBM to support CD32 but in my opinion its another CDTV and
destined to the same fate. I applaud those companies because they have
invested "faith" in CBM. I hope everything works out.
I know that no one yet has seen any of our products hit the market yet.
But when we reach the stage when we start to produce games
we will master CD-ROMS usable by all CD-ROM equipped Amigas and
maybe support the CD32 if we can.
Again, from heart and soul, I do not want CBM to become a rare beast in
the US. It is the market that a few of us are still trying to get into
and would love to make a living in. 🙂
Thanks 🙂
Shawn
Silent Paw Productions
Can I get an "Amen!"
Not to sound to Bible-thumpish, but that GOD that someone else is
thinking about making CD-ROM games that are for CD-ROM drive equiped
Amigas. I agree that it very bad business sense to lock a platform
off from cross-compatibility. Rgds..
Shawn,
I think you are missing the point of CD32.
The point of CD32 is to attract _new_ customers to a _game platform_. It
doesn't have anything to do with the Amiga.
If the CD32 technology does come to the Amiga–it will be wonderful don't
get me wrong. However the focus (and rightly I think) is to produce a
very highly competitive.. very capable _game machine_.
I believe they have done that.
You could write a game which played on a CD32 and a CD-ROM equipped Amiga.
You just couldn't use every single feature of CD32 100%.
This isn't ignoring CD-ROM equipped Amigas. This is progress. CD32 adds
features. I hardly think that you can hold this against C=.
I am, however, going to back off my earlier posistion a little.
I'm not 100% certain about compatibility of CD32 games with CD-ROM
equipped A1200s. I know the details of many of the specific issues,
but some of those issues may have solutions that I am not aware of.
I've not been involved with CD32 for nine months, so I'm sure that a
lot has happened in that time. CD32 titles may be more compatible
with CD-ROM equipped A1200s than I thought. I know the speed of
chunky->planar conversion could make some titles incompatible, and
whether the CD-ROM does double-speed could be an issue, but there may
be no other issue which 3.1 doesn't address (I'm not sure exactly
what is going into 3.1).
Since this thread seems to have concerned many of you, I will talk to
some people at C= and/or CD32 developers and get the definitive
answer. I'm sorry if I have caused any confusion. — Dale L.
Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing — INTERNET:dale@iam.com
Thanks Dale it would be greatly appreciated to get this straight from the
horses mouth<g> (ie. C=).
Trent
Flying near the Pole in the Great White North
Optonica's Interplay authoring system supposedly does sort of what you
suggest: When you create a CD32 application, it automatically figures out
a CDTV version for you, which can be applied to the same disc, so it'll
work in either machine. Trouble is, the lowest common denominator may
again become a standard, and vanilla CD-ROM apparently is not in the
picture.
A friend of my daughter who ownes a Sega with CD was over the other
day when my CD32 was still working and saw the graphics (pinball
fanticies). He is now going to sell his Sega and buy a CD32. I hope
other owners can demo it and have similar results.
Thats one less Mega CD owner to worry about <g>.
Dodger
Anyway, Mega CD production has been stopped a few months ago, and is no
more in stores in Japan. Sega is trying to sell stocks in Europe, then
will totally stop working on the Mega CD market.
Fred.
Frederic Botton from Paris, France
fbotton@cix.compulink.co.uk
Why are they doing that…..Not that I am worrying though <G>.
Dodger
Dale,
The you are probably the one to ask. I seem to be getting conflicting
answers here all over the place. Ok, will use yours then. The reason I
am asking this is that a friend of mine is about to get rid of his A1200
to purchase a CD32. I had heard on this board that with the release of OS
3.1 CD32 WOULD be able to run on a A1200.
I am running an A1200 with a Chinon CD535 with a GVP SCSI/RAM+ Series II.
On the controller card there is 8mb fast ram and a 68882 FPU. Would it be
possible to upgrade the A1200 to run as a CD32 (will assume that I also
upgrade to OS 3.1 from OS 3.0)? Would I need to add the Akiko chip? If
not for the A1200, would I have to upgrade to a 4000 to make it CD32
capable? You input would be greatly appreciated. Rgds from the frozen
chosen.
Trent
Flying near the Pole in the Great White North
To run all possible CD32 titles on an A1200, you will need to add a
CD32 expantion to the A1200. Commodore has announced, but not
provided any details, for such a beast. To run most titles, I'm not
100% sure of exactly what you will need other than 3.1. See my reply
to Shawn.
— Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing
— INTERNET:dale@iam.com