zmacv14@doc.ic.ac.uk (C P Brown) (03/13/90)
Some folks have been enquiring recently about the A1500. Well it has been announced over here (it's designed in London) and I have the complete spec sheet for it. I expect to go and have a look later this week. The A1500 is a replacement PCB case for the A500. It can be installed by the user, and requires the opening of the A500 case and relocation of the drive and keyboard. The case itself is similar to an Acorn Archimedes or Apricot Xen-i386 ie quite short and with the floppy on the right. The standard floppy is turned to face the front and the keyboard is relocated in a new housing separate from the main box, connected by a decently sized coiled cable. The mouse and joysticks ports are redirected to ports in the front of the box. There is a second bay provided which can accomodate EITHER a second floppy or a 3.5" half height hard drive. Whether the interface will fit inside the box depends (obviously) on the size of the interface. The A590 will happily go inside (see below). The edge connector can EITHER go through to the side of the box (so you can connect big things) or a U-connector can be installed which leads back inside the machine to which you can attach the A590 interface (for example). There is space inside the machine for extra 3.5" drives, but no means of mounting them. Therefore, if you have two floppies and an A590, you will have to bodge up some kind of support for the hard drive if you want it inside the case. The floppy port is available at the back of the machine as normal. There are a couple of options which go inside the case. A full video slot can be provided which accepts a FlickerFixer etc, or a full MIDI interface. The monitor can sit on top of the machine (they show a BIG multi-sync, so it looks quite strong). The thing can also be mounted in a standard 19" rack, if you choose. There is an additional option, the addition of "Topboxes" which accept A2000 cards. Each box can accomodate three, and sits atop the A1500 connected to an extruded edge connector. The cards lie horizontally, and the box is about two inches high. You can add as many as you require. The Topboxes DO accept A2620 and A2630 cards (though it is damn difficult to get them here), as one of the slots can be configured to look like an A2000 CPU slot. There is no support for Bridgeboards (ie you can fit one but nowhere to put the drive, and no PC slots). Again, this can be rack mounted. Things I don't yet know: What the case is made from. It looks like plastic in the (poorly) photocopied picture I have. What types of floppies can be installed (ie with w/o power supplies etc) What happens to the A500/A590 power supplies (I expect nothing) Final price have yet to be finalised but they are working to 200 pounds + VAT @ 15% for the A1500 and 150 pounds for each Topbox. No pricing on the video slot or Midi interface. I hope that this has been of help. There are two other companies just started advertising similar things, one who looks as if he installs the A500 in a PC case, and another A2000 look alike which sounds interesting but the company won't answer the phone (hmmm....) Phil Brown