phupp@warwick.ac.uk (S Millington) (02/06/90)
The following intersting article was in a UK magazine:
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From "Popular Computing Weekly" 1-7 Feb 1990:
"ADIOS AMIGA"
Commodore claimed to bo unruffled last week when a tiny North London
firm made a bid for the Amiga 2000 market with a cheap A500 upgrade that
turns the micro into it's big brother.
Checkmate Systems' "A1500" Amiga upgrade, basically a new enclosure for
the A500, allows the user all the expansion options afforded by the A2000,
except for PC compatibility, for "less than 200pounds".
Barry Thurston, Commodore's National Sales Manager says: "I would be very
suprised if they could do it for that money, but I don't think A2000 sales
will suffer that much. If someone wants an A2000 for what it is - a
graphics workstation - they will buy one."
While no prototype A1500 had been seen by Popular Computing Weekly at
presstime, Checkmate spokesman Steve Jones produced a computer image of the
box as it will look (see pic).
[PICTURE NO INCLUDED - FOR OBVIOUS REASONS]
According to Jones, the A1500 will, it is claimed, be supplied as a new
enclosure for the A500 circuit board and disc drive.
Users either take apart their own A500 and perform the modification
themselves, or Checkmate will do the fitting and include a warranty, which
will depend on the age of your Amiga.
The case is a modula design and can be expanded by connecting expansion
boxes to the top of the base unit. It is supplied with one ZORRO compatible
card slot which allows and A2000 card to be used. Three extra slots can be
added by using the separate units which simply bolt to the top of the base
box. Any number of these expansions can be stacked on the main unit.
The A500 keyboard, which is removed from the A500 chasis in one piece,
becomes a separate unit, as on the A2000, and is connected to the main
computer via a lead. Unlike the hard-to-get-at A2000 ports, the mouse and
joystick ports protrude out of the front of the case for easy connection.
The base unit can also house either two 3.5inch disc drives or one
drive and a hard disc such as the A590. The A1500 case is made of strong
folded steel and has been designed so that it can be mounted in a rack for use
in industrial situations.
An A2000 compatible video slot can be fitted to the unit to allow
connection of flicker fixers, genlock devices and frame buffers.
Checkmate Systems' Steve Jones told Popular Computing Weekly, " The A1500
base unit is a modula case which will accept our three card expansion chassis.
This will make the A500 completely compatible with the A2000 and upwards
excluding PC compatibility which we consider to be unnecessary for most Amiga
owners."
According to Jones, "The base unit will be below 200pounds and the modular
expansion boxes around 100pounds." He added, "We hope to be shipping the A1500
by the end of February."
More details from Checkmate on 01-923-0658.
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Was the US casing that someone on the net mentioned ever produced?
This article begs the question, why is the PC compatability side of the
A2000 so hard to put into an A500 expansion unit?
How many copyright laws have I just broken?:-)
Stuart Millington.
phupp@poppy.robin@sabre.uucp (Robin D. Wilson/1000000) (02/08/90)
In article <368@poppy.warwick.ac.uk> phupp@warwick.ac.uk (S Millington) writes: >The following intersting article was in a UK magazine: > From "Popular Computing Weekly" 1-7 Feb 1990: >"ADIOS AMIGA" > Commodore claimed to bo unruffled last week when a tiny North London >firm made a bid for the Amiga 2000 market with a cheap A500 upgrade that >turns the micro into it's big brother. > Checkmate Systems' "A1500" Amiga upgrade, basically a new enclosure for >the A500, allows the user all the expansion options afforded by the A2000, >except for PC compatibility, for "less than 200pounds". OK so where do we get one in the U.S.A.? I want the external keyboard and the flicker-fixer. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |The views expressed herein, are the sole responsibility of the typist at hand| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |USNail: UUCP: | |2323 Wells Branch Pkwy., #G107 cs.utexas.edu!romp!ibmchs!auschs\ | |Austin, TX 78728 !sabre.austin.ibm.com!robin | |Home: (512)251-6889 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^<-MUST BE INCLUDED| +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
bn@attcc.UUCP (02/09/90)
> /* Written 5:58 am Feb 6, 1990 by phupp@warwick.ac.uk in attcc.UUCP:comp.s.amiga */ > Checkmate Systems' "A1500" Amiga upgrade, basically a new enclosure for > the A500, allows the user all the expansion options afforded by the A2000, > except for PC compatibility, for "less than 200pounds". Is there any word on this product being imported into the US???? Sounds just like the piece of hardware that Amiga 500 users need! Bo Najdrovsky UUCP: att!mwood!attcc!bn INET: mwood!attcc!bn@ATT.ATT.COM