Miggybyte 4/Miggybyte 4.adf/DOCS/MB_9.txt

Text File | 1996-02-14 | 9.4 KB | 169 lines

                          Computer '95 Ami

                            ADRIAN MAGGS

I  went  on  Friday,  the  first of three days to avoid the crowd and get
there while there is still any hardware left :) Here are my impressions:

Amiga  Technologies  was present with Dr.  Peter Kittel, Petro Tyschenko,
Gilles Bourdin and others.  They showcased the A1200, the AT1438S monitor
and  A4000T.   The atmosphere was good, although the presentation was not
quite  complete:   Most machines were old stock with stickers bearing the
AT  logo  hurriedly  stuck  on  or  just  layed on equipment, a haphazard
collection  of  monitors  and fonts/screenmodes on the Workbenches.  Most
not  even  running  background  pictures or some kind of enhancement like
MagicWB  or  NewIcons,  also in very little colour.  Unsharp and dreary 4
colour  WB's  is  not the way to show it off..  If they had some tinkerer
(like  me  :) who would have played with the showmachines for a day or so
they  could  have  made them look great..  They showed the I-glasses with
the  A1200 and a simple 3D view, this was somewhat disappointing too, but
I  guess you would need some programs that take advantage directly of the
hardware  or  movies  specially  made  for  them.  Again it seemed like a
hurried job, showing how busy they are with other things.

I  talked to Dr.  Peter Kittel, mainly about the AT1438S monitor and some
other  tidbits,  nothing  shocking  that  we already didn't know came out
though.   He  stated  that  the  genlock problem will be solved (top line
flickering)  and that later bigger monitors (e.g.  17") will be available
under  AT tutelage.  He agreed with me that a horizontal width adjustment
would  be  welcome and maybe Microvitec will implement it for AT in time.
I  didn't  really  invest  the  time  though  to  quiz  him  or  other AT
representatives  thoroughly  enough since I was hunting some hardware and
other interests of my own :) I ran into Ruud Dingemans and Michel van der
Ven,  editors  of the Dutch Amiga Magazine, they did some deeper probing,
maybe  they'll  post  about it.  (Plug, plug) Buy Amiga Magazine and read
about it in the next issue, you may find some articles of yours truly too
:) All in all the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, yes, optimistic is
the  word.   My  faith  in  AT  has  been  strengthened somewhat by their
presence,  although  the  booth was not the perfect example of marketing.
In some way similar to the first showcasing days of the 'dancing fools' I
guess  :) Apple was present too, surprisingly enough, with a flashy booth
and  some  high  tech  stuff  like a three monitor, stereo speaker flight
simulator  controlled by some hip looking analogue 'flight equipment'.  I
liked  their  monitors  well  enough..  Flash, but little content though,
there was a far more vibrant 'buzz' on the AT grounds.

I  also ran into Fred Fish, briefly expressing my gratitude for the great
work he has done in the past.

Next to the AT booth was Phase 5's stand, featuring the much talked about
PowerUp  card.   Among  some  socketed  developmental  chips  there was a
PPC604FE66  chip  and  an  MC68030 on a CPU daughterboard type card.  The
design looked clean though and it surprised me that Phase 5 has done this
already,  it  looked  indeed like a real card instead of a mock-up.  Upon
quizzing  the representatives it seemed like it was very new to them too,
the  lady  (I  suspect  little  technical background) told me that it was
basically  a  very early prototype, not running anything like AmigaOS yet
:)  She gave me a professional looking brochure and told me that she just
got it too.  Some of the highlights from the four page brochure:

 - two types: low-end: MPC603e 100+ MHz, availability towards mid 1996
 - high-end: MPC620 up to 300+ MHz (drool), though this is as yet
   vapourware
 - 64 bit wide memory expansion bus
 - 64 bit wide Local Bus system (with optional PCI bridge)
 - Prices around 1000 DM up to 2000 DM
 - A1200, A3000, A4000 versions and maybe others later (A2000? A500? :^)
 - CyberGraphX 3.0 Native

And the most interesting feature:

 - porting of AmigaOS (native exec and 68k emulator on top of that),
   compatible with KS3.0+
 - at first 68k emulation of the rest of the OS, later gradual porting to
   native code with the help of new libraries

It  elaborates  on the native CyberGraphX 3.0 software:  it will speed up
graphics  enormously  on  graphics  cards,  but  with  AGA only too.  Say
'chunky  to  planar'  3  times in a row, fast :) I know where my money is
going  next year..  The CyberGraphX software will also include interfaces
for   3D   (say  I-glasses)  and  multimedia  applications  of  the  next
generation.  (VR Netsurfing, hello William Gibson :^)

'We're not alone'

The   PowerUp  project  is,  according  to  the  brochure,  supported  by
Almathera,  Maxon  Computer,  ProDad  and  Softwood amongst others.  Many
productivity applications will be ported by the time the PowerUp board is
shipping.  Evaluation Boards will be available to developers in the first
quarter  of  1996,  development tools are in the works.  Thorough support
and  coordination  planned, of strategic applications even in conjunction
with  Motorola.   I  would  wager that to be VR and related features that
maybe require some custom hardware enhancements.  Very good news indeed.

On  the bottom of page three there is an informational coupon; one of the
items  you can tick off is 'UpGrade' programs for CyberStorm card owners.
Interesting.

Also,  software developers, be it commercial or PD/shareware are asked to
fill  in  the  form.   This  is  a  very good move too, something the old
Commodore never quite understood.

The  UpGrade  program consists of downpricing the PPC board for 68k based
accelerator   card  users  who  purchased  after  01-Sep-95.   For  68060
accelerator  card  users  a  replacement  upgrade  will  be offered.  For
further information contact:

 Phase 5 digital products         Tel.         : [phone]
 In der Au 27                     Tech. Hotline: [phone]
 D-61440 Oberursel                Fax          : [phone]
 Germany

Their motto is 'Where do you want to be tomorrow' :)

And  now  for  something completely different:  MUI 3.0 is out and was on
sale  for  40  DM.   I haven't had the time to take a look at it yet, but
have  an  autographed  copy  :) Personally, I am not impressed by the MUI
2.3/AMosaic  beta-beta-pl-something  combo,  so  I  asked one of the beta
testers  for IBrowse, who was present too, how long it will take until we
see  it.   He  replied  with:  "One month..  two months..  I don't know".
Hmm..

My  list  of  acquisitions  was topped by the VoB EIDE/ATAPI CD-ROM 4 way
adapter and quadspeed CD-ROM player annex CD32 emulator software/hardware
combo  package,  heh :).  339 DM later I can confirm that their 'Speedup'
software  works like a charm and even the CD32 disc of Impossible Mission
2025  that  I  bought runs perfectly.  Unlike the name suggests I haven't
seen  any  speedup though:  my system, being an Amiga, still runs just as
smoothly  :^)  Next  item  of  interest  was what I came for really:  The
CyberVision card.  Priced as low as 625 DM for the 2 MB version, I almost
couldn't  resist  taking  my  wallet out again, was it not for a shocking
telephone  bill just received the day before :( After quizzing one of the
programmers  of  CyberGraphX  about  the  planned MK II version it became
clear  that  I  really need one :) The MK II will feature a faster memory
structure by what I think I heard to be new VRAMs.  Also the blitter will
be  upgraded, ninehundred something is the version, though this again was
not  quite  clear.  Further cross examination revealed (in spite of tight
lipped  'no  comment'-s  :)  that  AT  is working with Phase 5 to include
CyberGraphX into the next coming release of AmigaOS, though this could be
gleaned  from  their PowerUp brochure already.  Seems like Phase 5 is the
hardware  partner,  not  Be  Inc.  :) On the way out I picked up a poster
with   the  red-square-jumps-out-of-grey-  mass-of-balls  theme,  proudly
stating 'Amiga, back for the future'.  There is only so much room left on
the  walls  of  my room, I hope AT is going to bring only one more poster
saying 'Bill Gates?  Who's that?' which will stay valid until the plaster
drops off ;)

There  were  not  as  much  visitors  as last year, though this is mainly
attributable to the fact that last year I went on sunday and this year on
a  working  day.  The general feeling was a sharp contrast to last year's
too:   the  buzz  is  back!  Instead of last year's apprehensive and even
somewhat  threatened,  aggressive  feeling  this year was a light hearted
affair,  smiling  and energetic faces everywhere.  Amiga Technologies did
well  to attend the show, in spite of the rough edged presentation that a
perfectionist like me would like to see done better.  Though maybe adding
that feeling of 'David is back with a vengeance, watch it Goliath!' :-)

This might not interest the reader, but for the comic relief contect:  on
the way back we managed to get lost in some German villages that had only
uphill  roads, for a nice scenic detour of nearly two and a half hours :)
I tried to phone the local radio station where I work on fridays with the
little change we had left:  "Hi, I can't make it, I'm lost in Germany!"..
Some  baffled  moments later:  "But, but, you have to sit here!  We're on
the  air  already!",  "But  I'm in Germany and I'm lost!  And my money is
running..

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