[comp.sys.amiga] Matthew Leeds in MicroTimes on new Amiga H/W, etc.

kim@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Kim DeVaughn) (06/11/88)

[ "Send lawyers, guns, and money ..." ]

From a posting on our internal Amiga Conference, Michael Robinson
posts the following [note carefully the distinction made between
the A2000 and B2000]:
 
> Fatter-Agnus Real Soon, SuperHiRes Not Yet...
>  
> << The following from MICROTIMES 7/88, p132, by Matthew Leeds. >>
>  
> "By  the  time  you  read  this, Commodore  will  have  begun  to  supply
> developers  with limited  numbers of  the  new Fatter  Agnus chip.   This
> expands A500  and US Amiga  2000's (B2000's) to  a full megabyte  of CHIP
> RAM.   The upgrade  requires  modifications to  the  motherboard of  each
> machine,  and although  it can  be performed  by anyone  with a  moderate
> amount of experience in such things,  it most likely will be considered a
> dealer upgrade when  it is finally offered to end  users later this year.
> The Fatter Agnus upgrade will likely include a new Kickstart ROM V1.3.
>  
> "At a  later date a  complete set of chips  called the Enhanced  Chip Set
> (ECS) will  be offered.  This chip  set will include the  Fatter Agnus, a
> new Denise,  and a new  Gary.  The  ECS will add  in addition to  the one
> megabyte of CHIP RAM a new display mode, Superhires.  Superhires provides
> a 640x400 non-interlaced display in four colors.  You will need a monitor
> that  can  handle  a  31.5  MHz output  such  as  a  multi-sync  monitor.
> Additional  new features  will include  larger blits,  the capability  of
> adding a  co-processor to the  blitter, and other  graphics improvements.
> Along with the ECS will come a new operating system, V1.4."
>  
> ===========
>  
> It is clear  from the article that  the Amiga 1000 and  A2000 models will
> NOT support the new hardware.
>  
> The article  does not say which  models will support the  entire ECS, but
> one is led to  believe that both the 500 and the B2000  will carry it. (I
> wonder where  you would find  enough room to  put a "coprocessor  for the
> Blitter" in a 500 box, but that's a hardware problem.)
>  
> The article gives no technical  information about the Superhires mode, or
> about the multisync  requirements.  Nor does it hint at  what sort of OEM
> multisync monitor Commodore will sell to  go with the new chips.  But the
> rumor mill has already leaked quite a bit of information on both topics.
>  
> /mr/


MicroTimes is a Bay Area (elsewhere ?) freebie that comes out about every
couple weeks, and has various syndicated columns, etc.

/kim

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