dave@uwmcsd1.UUCP (Dave Rasmussen) (08/30/86)
Given the sidecar has 3 pc slots, is there room for 2 "hardcard" type drives that seem to hang over half a slot? Also, where does the single amiga expansion slot live? Finally, does the sidecar come with a battery backed clock perchance, or is this something you look for in a multi-function card? -- The views above are those of my keyboard, not my organization. Dave Rasmussen c/o Computing Services Division @ U of WI - Milwaukee INTERNET: uwmcsd1!dave@rsch.wisc.edu UUCP: ihnp4!uwmcsd1!dave
rjg@meccts.UUCP (Robert J. Granvin) (08/31/86)
The current issue of Amiga World (September, on the store shelves now), contains a preview article on the Sidecar. Unforunately, I don't have the copy handy to quote from, but basically, the sidecar is an emulator. It must be run via control of the Amiga, but it will operate simply as a separate task. The sidecar will contain a built in 5.25" drive formatted to 360K. It will also be able to contain 512K of it's own ram, and Commodore will be releasing a 2MB expansion board that will plug into the sidecar. While the Amiga cannot use the sidecars memory, and the sidecar cannot use the Amigas memory, they can both use the expansion memory. Sidecar will have three expansion slots, one is reserved for a hard-disk interface, and any hard disk you install can be partitioned for both Amiga DOS and MS-DOS. (Also, your 3.5" drives on the Amiga can be formatted as MS-DOS diskettes with a 760K storage capability. The Sidecar also contains its own power supply, so it won't draw power from the Amiga. It can use the Amiga's serial and parallel port, but you can add them to the sidecar as well. (No, the sidecar does not have a built in clock, you will need to add that through an expansion board. The sidecar will be emulating a true PC-XT as closely as possible, which means that it will not be adding any non-PCXT standard features. The sidecar is scheduled to be available this December at a price of "under $1000.00". Rumor says between $400 and $600. All information paraphrased without permission from September Amiga World, from a preview article with information supplied by Commodore-Amiga, Inc.