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From: dngcb@dcatla.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: A1000 -> A2000 expansion box?
Message-ID: <186@dcatla.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Mar-87 10:43:28 EST
Article-I.D.: dcatla.186
Posted: Thu Mar 12 10:43:28 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 14-Mar-87 00:46:53 EST
References: <17641@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: dngcb@dcatla.UUCP (Gregory C. Byrd)
Organization: Digital Communications Associates , Alpharetta, GA
Lines: 57
Keywords: A1000
Summary: Future of A1000?

In article <17641@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> robinson@renoir.Berkeley.EDU (Michael Robinson) writes:
>Are there any hardware developers out there that are giving serious
>consideration to marketing an above-Amiga expansion chassis that adds the 
>functionality of a A2000 (2000-style card slots, PC bus, room for drives) 
>to an existing A1000?
>
>There are things I prefer about my Amiga that I would not want to give up,
>such as the keyboard, composite output, Kickstart on disk, etc., but I would
>also like to get the expandability of the 2000, and access to all the new
>cards that are undoubtably forthcoming.  Also, I would like to have a few
>more card slots than are being offered in the 2000.
> 
>I would love to throw money at someone who could offer such a product, and
>I can't imagine that I am the only person that feels this way.
>
>Other than some additional buffering, and new chassis, is there anything 
>special that would have to be done to existing A1000 expansion boxes?
> 
You are not alone.  I also prefer the A1000.  One of the reasons I bought
it was the fact that it is *NOT* IBM PC Compatible!  I am of course glad
that the A2000 is out - it should lead to greater market penetration
and more software for us.  My question is how much support will exist for
the A1000 a year from now?  I am very disturbed that Commodore changed the
form factor on their "standard".  Come on guys!  You need product continuity
if you want to keep your loyal following.  I know that it puts a lot of
unpleasant design restraints on you when you have to make things upwardly
compatible but, but businesses (not to mention individuals) simply won't
always run out to buy the latest and greatest once a year.

I am very pleased with your software in that it seems to be designed with
portability and compatability in mind.
Oh! And thanks for the reasonable price on the 1.2 upgrade!  $14 for three
disks and a manual is great (much better than the $80 a competitor charged
me for a similar upgrade many years ago).  Now if only the manuals were
loose leaf so I could put in revision pages. :-)

Now, my question and concern here is exactly what is Commodore's committment
to A1000 support and upgrades?  Byte says that production of the A1000 will
be halted, but that Commodore is committed to providing support.  How about
compatibility as well?  I don't want to be in the condition of Apple II
owners who can't run most of the software written for the Apple IIe...
Nor do I want to be unable to buy any of the new hardware that will come out.
I had been planning to buy an expansion box so I could add a hard disk, ram
and more serial ports.  Instead I've ordered a StarBoard II and am waiting
(hopefully not naively) for an A2000 style expansion box which will let me
use the new form factor and hopefully will also provide the CPU slot so that
I can use A2000 coprocessors.

Don't take the above as a flame.  In general I've been quite pleased with
both my Amiga and with Commodore's support here on the net.  They've offered
the first computer worth buying in a long long time.  (We've come a long
way since the KIM-1, haven't we?  ;->
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
		   Greg Byrd
		   Atlanta, Ga.
		   {akgua, gatech}!dcatla!dngcb
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