kim@amdahl.UUCP (02/23/87)
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In no particular order, here are a few things that caught my attention
at The Commodore Show that was held in San Francisco this past weekend.
Note that this show is not a CBM sponsored event, and no (sniff), the A2000
was not being shown (at least not publically):
o As you probably know, Manx 3.4a has been released, and is shipping.
Jim Goodnow was there, and looked like he'd actually had a couple
nights sleep :-)! Thanks, Jim!
o The Word Perfect people are shooting for a May release. This will
have all the features of v4.1 of their PClone version, with some
of the v4.2 features. Has a 130K+ word spell checker, multi-columns
*lots* more! List price will be $395 per their flyer, but the rep
said $349, and thought one could get it for "under $200" from mail
order discount houses. Looks like a really good implementation for
the Amiga, and not just a quick port!
o The Sidecars that were being sold (for $895) were imported from
Germany by the outfit selling them (i.e., not CBM). They changed
the power supplies, etc., and got their own FCC approval. They
said they'd sold 4000 of them so far. Send me email if you want
their address.
o Genlocks were going for $299 (full list price) ... no "Show prices"
on these puppies!
o The Production release of JForth will be shipping this Thursday.
The manual looked *very* complete, and *does* have an index!
o Tim Jennisen (President of New Tek) said they had completely
redone their Digi-Paint HAM paint program/editor since their Beta
showings of the product ... he said it was "much better now",
which should make it pretty fantastic, 'cause the Beta was really
nice! Shipping target is 3rd-4th week in March.
The upgrade to Digi-View is now set for "about a week or so".
Again, they improved alot of things. Best news (for me) was that
Tim confirmed that the Digi-View *will* work on the A2000 parallel
port!!! "Just barely", as he said. The connector does still
provide the power pin, but CBM wanted to keep the available current
the same as will be available on the A500, so there is a current
limiting resistor that provides "barely enough". I'm glad CBM
wasn't so stupid as to remove it entirely (and I really wonder
what Compute! meant when they said the ports were now "industry-
standard" ...)
New-Tek is also working on an additional H/W device that will allow
the digitization of color pictures from VCR freeze-frames, color
cameras, etc.
o Elias Engineering was showing their Circuit Maker program which
provides logic design and simulation capabilities. You can
define your own primitives and macros, or use one of the provided
libraries (probably 74xNN TTL). Stimulation is thru simulated
waveform/signal generators, and simulation output is via simulated
O-scope/logic analyzer screens. Currently, it does not support
routing, and I doubt that it does any design rule checking yet.
This is strictly digital ... no analog design/simulation ability
in this revision.
Performance (off the top of the rep's head) is on the order of
10 sec./simulated cycle for a 100 2-input nand gate design, with
30-40 nets. Availability is "March" (I think), at $125.
o Microillusions (the Dynamic-CAD folks), said they were considering
adding a circuit simulation package to Dynamic-CAD, as well as a
board routing package. Operative word here is "considering".
o Ronin Research and Development had a 68020 daughter board (with
68881 socket, of course). The CPU board is available in both
7+ and 14+ MHz versions, and the asynchronosly clocked '881
can be had in 12.5, 16, and 20 MHz flavors. They also have
32-bit wide memory available (up to 8 Meg). They sell boards
without processors, thru fully stuffed ones. Retail on the 7+ MHz
board with 12.5 MHz '881 is $1120, and the 14+ MHz board with the
12.5 MHz '881 goes for $1420.
They will also be coming out with Mac versions (early 2Q87), and
ST versions (late 2Q87), they say, but the Amiga versions are
available now :-)!
o Aegis said that their Diga! communications package will be available
in a month, and they *will* be making their "Doubletalk" protocol
public (kudos to William Volk, and the Aegis folks on that decision)!
The Doubletalk protocol allows systems to xfer files back and forth,
while simultaneously "chatting" with eachother.
They were also showing off Alan Hastings fine 3-D frame-at-a-time
animation program, but no word on price/availability.
o C Ltd. had lots of hard disks ... up to 80 Meg at the show, with up
to 350 Meg available. SCSI interface, naturally.
There was considerably more to see ... several Desktop Publishing packages,
memory boards, WCS eliminator, etc. The Amiga has come a LONG way, S/W
wise, in a relatively short period of time ... in another year, it should
*really* be outstripping it's competitors ... especially with the A500 and
A2000 on the way!
Thank you Commodore-Amiga for making all this possible!!!
/kim
--
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CIS: 76535,25
[ Any thoughts or opinions which may or may not have been expressed ]
[ herein are my own. They are not necessarily those of my employer. ]grr@cbmvax.UUCP (02/24/87)
In article <5734@amdahl.UUCP> kim@amdahl.UUCP (Kim DeVaughn) writes: > > The upgrade to Digi-View is now set for "about a week or so". > Again, they improved alot of things. Best news (for me) was that > Tim confirmed that the Digi-View *will* work on the A2000 parallel > port!!! "Just barely", as he said. The connector does still > provide the power pin, but CBM wanted to keep the available current > the same as will be available on the A500, so there is a current > limiting resistor that provides "barely enough". I'm glad CBM > wasn't so stupid as to remove it entirely (and I really wonder > what Compute! meant when they said the ports were now "industry- > standard" ...) The "Industry Standard" i.e. IBM PC printer connecter does not have *any* power pin. Our goal was for the user to be able to plug a genric Centronics compatible printer into the A500/A2000 using a generic PC printer cable and not have any problems with fried systems, printers or cables. After a lot of painful deliberation, we put a very low value "pullup resistor" on the "Auto-Feed" control line. This can't be a real "power pin", since some printers have a dip-switch that grounds this line. Anyway, there is enough power there for low-powered devices like the Digi-View. We did discuss the Digiview power requirements with Tim before making a final decision... -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {ihnp4|seismo|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing arpa: cbmvax!grr@seismo.css.GOV Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)
kim@amdahl.UUCP (02/25/87)
In article <1458@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP>, grr@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (George Robbins) writes: > Anyway, there is enough > power there for low-powered devices like the Digi-View. We did discuss the > Digiview power requirements with Tim before making a final decision... Thanks, George! It's refreshing to see a vendor that does some checking on the impact of an interface change before implementing it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who appreciates it! /kim -- UUCP: kim@amdahl.amdahl.com or: {sun,decwrl,hplabs,pyramid,ihnp4,seismo,oliveb,cbosgd}!amdahl!kim DDD: 408-746-8462 USPS: Amdahl Corp. M/S 249, 1250 E. Arques Av, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 CIS: 76535,25 [ Any thoughts or opinions which may or may not have been expressed ] [ herein are my own. They are not necessarily those of my employer. ]