Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!cbmvax!grr From: grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Ameristar A1000 boards, ASDG A2000 and 1 plus/ the Future Message-ID: <3065@cbmvax.UUCP> Date: 3 Jan 88 08:17:40 GMT References: <6400@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> <1064@hao.ucar.edu> <913@sbcs.UUCP> <1069@hao.ucar.edu> Reply-To: grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins) Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA Lines: 77 In article <1069@hao.ucar.edu> hull@hao.ucar.edu (Howard Hull) writes: > > I am still watching the net for news about the ASDG 2000 and 1. Given the > effect of the CBM upgrade offer and certain dealer buy-back programs, if > I were working in ASDG marketing, I would be looking at the numbers with > respect to setting corporate priorities for A2000 products v.s. the ASDG > A2000 and 1. Not to mention that several tough problems face the designers > of the A2000 and 1. To name a few, how do you add the video slot - there's > nothing of that sort on the A1000 expansion connector; how do you handle > the fact that many of the external interrupts are not brought out on the > A1000 connector, though it does have some from the blitter: Dave Haynie > (2807@cbmvax) mentions that the A1000 had /ILP0 through /ILP2 and /INT2 > plus /INT6; earlier (2640@cbmvax) Dave said the A2000 has EINT1, EINT4, > EINT5, and EINT7. A) video slot - well you pretty much have to forget this one... B) EINT's - can't really do these, but then I don't know of any boards that do use them. They were added mostly to provide future expansion and aren't supported by the Amiga interrupt processing software. C) By presenting the 86-pin connector in female form, you can emulate the MMU/Coprocessor slot. Of course this presents the usual "unbuffered pass-thru" problems, probably requiring the manufacture to include a sheet on how to tune-up your Amiga to work reliably with our expansion and somebody else's coprocessor board. > More questions: Is the ASDG MiniRack C a Zorro-II box? I got the impression > that it was Zorro-I format (shape) and Zorro-II pin-out. But that impression > is probably somehow WRONG. My understanding is that the Mini-Rack C is just an unbuffered card cage for "Zorro I" form factor cards. The ASDG(/Micron) cards contain special circuitry enabling them to work in this environment or the "Zorro I compatible" bus in the Mini-rack D and other products. > > Ameristar sold a tack on the side A1000 product for quite a > > while. Aside from costing a small fortune in (low volume) sheet > > metal and UL/VDE/CSA approved power supplies, it just wasn't a great > > seller. > I was sort of hoping that some bright > soul would pop up an article that said something to the effect of (To me:) > "Ok, you nerd. You could have called Ameristar, and they would have > told you that SuchnSucha Distribution Company has 150 of 'em in stock, > and if you can get up a Chase Manhattan draft for $134,850.00 you can > have all of 'em delivered to your door by UPS tomorrow." I suspect if that if you offered them a draft for $134,850.00 they would be more than willing to have 150 (or some $134K/n 8-) of them at your door in 2-4 weeks. As far as I understand it, their problem was just that there was never any really volume for the A1000 product, especially with the A2000 being just around the corner. > Did someone ask - "Is there a Zorro-II Ameristar card for the Amiga side?" > "What's its part number and list price?" > "Is there an IBM compatible Ameristar card for the IBM side?" > "Is it 8088, XT, or AT compatible, or all three?" > "What's its part number and list price?" There is a "Zorro II" product, we even bought serveral of the first ones to hurry things along. As far as I know, they don't offer a product for the XT side, but there's plenty of PC type hardware out there that should work, although sombody would need to do some real work to get any degreee of Amiga software integration. Seriously, the Ameristar people have been living on the painfully pointy leading edge for a while. They might appreciate some product inquiries and orders. Perhaps if the people intersted in the A1000 product could get together and order at the same time, Ameristar might be able to accomodate them. (just guessing folks!) -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {uunet|ihnp4|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing arpa: cbmvax!grr@uunet.uu.net Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)