u3364521@ucsvc.ucs.unimelb.edu.au (Lou Cavallo) (03/27/91)
G'day,
some of the discussion so far regarding the A500 and what should/could be
added to it has set my mind to "blue skying" (that is a disclaimer if you
didn't recognise it :-) ...)
Does anyone recall the FM Towns with its mini tower unit with a CD ROM or
was it audio (I can't remember) and floppy drive and (I think) HD bays ??
Perhaps CBM can engineer an expansion gizmo like that for folk that would
want to add more than a HD (I know .. or 6 or 7 with SCSI :-)) and RAM to
their systems?
I envision a consumer stereo type looking "box" (perhaps CBM could put in
speakers into the unit? yeah I know speakers right next to a HD! :-)) but
somehow I can't see this fitting too well next to the staid looking A500s
or A2000s. {It'd look okay next to my A1000 though :-).}
In fact the height of a speaker box is fine image wise, hmmm ...
This idea might be dumb :-) but I am trying to move the discussion into a
more creative rather than pragmatic (boring :-)) "we need x RAM, y HD's &
z 24 bit frame buffers for $200 total" dimension.
Perhaps some who are better future gazers than I can take over?
{ For those who worry about the pragmatics (and hence "we do not _need_ a
a box like this") I'd have to guess that the best way to market the box
(and hence engineer in the 1st place) would be to make it modular. Add
what you can afford when you can afford it... }
yours truly,
Lou Cavallo.roger_earl@outbound.wimsey.bc.ca (Roger Earl) (03/27/91)
Well, am I the only only one who seems happy with the direction Commodore is presently going with their line of Amigas. Complaining that the Amiga 500 isn't sold with a HD or more memory is silly. The option to buy these yourself is perfectly ok. What you are really asking for is an A2000 only you want it dirt cheap. Of course, personally I'd like to see an in between model that doesn't bother messing with slots for bridgeboards (If I want an XT I can get one for cheaper than a bridgeboard, The AT bridgeboard is too slow). I've heard that Commodore is indeed releasing an A1500 which will be much like everyone has described they want. As far as progress and new tech: Well WB 2.0 will keep me happy for a little while. CDTV should satisfy almost everyone due to its huge volume of storage. About the present A500, sorry... I like my A500 very much. I'll have WB 2.0 and a 1 meg Agnus soon as well as a Hard Drive. I don't have any complaints about desk space and I actually like the keyboard attached. What good is a keyboard you can put on your lap if your mouse still has to sit on your desk ? Thats why I bought a trackball. =) %g __ %g |__) _ __ %wGEnie: R.EARL4 %g | \ (_) (_/ %wUsenet: roger_earl@outbound.wimsey.bc.ca %g _/
roddi@bruce.cs.monash.OZ.AU (Roddi Walker) (03/29/91)
In <roger_earl.3051@outbound.wimsey.bc.ca> roger_earl@outbound.wimsey.bc.ca (Roger Earl) writes: [munch ... munch] >Well, am I the only only one who seems happy with the direction Commodore is >presently going with their line of Amigas. >Complaining that the Amiga 500 isn't sold with a HD or more memory is silly. I agree about the HD. I don't about the memory. There are holes (for sockets) for an extra 512K on the current A500 boards (have been for more than a year). Putting chips in these holes is trivial - suck the solder out of the holes, put in sockets, put in chips (and a few jumpers). My friend did this last year, and it cost him about $50. (Basically the price of the RAMs). If *HE* can but 512K for $50 (Australian - you Yanks can get it even cheaper, I'd imagine), CBM must be able to get it for next to nothing, as they buy wholesale, in bulk etc etc. Putting then into the A500 is trivial, and cheap, but greatly enhances its power. I just can't see why CBM aren't putting 1 Meg into every A500 they sell (although this may force them to put more memory into the A2000). My friend also threw in 2 switches o enable/disable the extra memory, and to switch between 512K/1M CHIP (I may be wrong on the CHIP bit). Roddi.
peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) (03/30/91)
How about a box like the IBM PS/1 or that Atari-ST all-in-one box (or for that matter like the Mac Classic!), with an Amiga 500, 1084, and room for a hard drive in one box. Need a detached keyboard, of course. -- Peter da Silva. `-_-' <peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>.
roger_earl@outbound.wimsey.bc.ca (Roger Earl) (03/30/91)
peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes..... >How about a box like the IBM PS/1 or that Atari-ST all-in-one box (or for >that matter like the Mac Classic!), with an Amiga 500, 1084, and room for >a hard drive in one box. Need a detached keyboard, of course. Ick! Yuck! Gross! I'm gonna puke! I detest moniter, CPU, Hard drive all in one box setups..... what happens when you want to upgrade your monitor and stuff ? %g __ %g |__) _ __ %wGEnie: R.EARL4 %g | \ (_) (_/ %wUsenet: roger_earl@outbound.wimsey.bc.ca %g _/
peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) (04/05/91)
In article <roger_earl.3243@outbound.wimsey.bc.ca> roger_earl@outbound.wimsey.bc.ca (Roger Earl) writes: > peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes..... > >How about a box like the IBM PS/1 or that Atari-ST all-in-one box (or for > >that matter like the Mac Classic!), with an Amiga 500, 1084, and room for > >a hard drive in one box. Need a detached keyboard, of course. > Ick! Yuck! Gross! I'm gonna puke! I detest moniter, CPU, Hard drive all in > one box setups..... what happens when you want to upgrade your monitor and > stuff ? I wouldn't buy it either. But the question isn't whether you or I would buy it... the question is how well would it sell. When you want to upgrade your monitor, you get a monitor and stick it on the side. Use the existing monitor for preview, or more workbench area (like the Mac does), or whatever else you want. -- Peter da Silva. `-_-' <peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>.