foust@gumby.UUCP (08/20/85)
Summary of Announced Tecmar Products for the Commodore Amiga: I talked with an engineer from Tecmar about the hardware they plan to release for the Amiga, with ship dates in mid-September, the same time as Commodore plans to ship the Amiga. o A "sidecar" box, similar in principle to the expansion boxes for the IBM PC Jr., plugging into the side of the Amiga, that allows 256 K RAM expansion (using 64K chips) or 1 Mbyte expansion (using 256 K chips). It also carries a high speed programmable parallel port that can be used as the hard disk interface or a Centronics port. It has an RS-232 port, and a battery-backed clock. It comes with no memory, you have to add your own. Price estimate: $500. o A 20 Mbyte hard disk, using the sidecar box above. Price estimate: $1000. o A 20 Mbyte tape backup for the hard disk, using reel tapes, which the engineer claimed were more reliable than cartridges. (I've never heard of them on micros. Shades of DECtape.) He said it was based on an Interdyne drive mechanism, and engineered by Colorado Memory Systems. (No price estimate.) o A 2400/1200/300 baud modem that hangs off the Amiga serial port. Like most modems, it lets you connect your phone unit at the same time. However, its features include detection of handset pickup, touch tone recognition and autodialing capability, auto-answer, and the ability to mix the Amiga's sound into the phone line. For example, it becomes simple to write a program that detects when you pick up the handset, pops up a menu of numbers to autodial, and then keeps track of calls made and time connected. Also, since it can recognize touch tones and speak back through the Amiga's speech support, it could answer requests based on the numbers you pressed. Price estimate: $600-$700. Also, the engineer said Commodore plans to market a MIDI interface add-on for under $50, explaining that it is pretty simple to do, since the serial port can be configured to any speed. Usual disclaimer about the veracity of this information, etc. The guy I talked to designed the modem and the sidecar, I don't think he hyped the specs. Take that Mac! And that! And this! Vaporware/wishware flames to /dev/null. The Amiga is the centerpiece in the mental Sears Wish Book of many people crying for better machines. Leave us alone if you are mad because you bought a Mac, or if you don't like talking about products you can't buy yet. John Foust