Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!uflorida!gatech!linus!mbunix!eachus
From: eachus@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Robert Eachus)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: detachable keyboards and the A500
Summary: Room for more Amigas?
Keywords: product differentiation new models
Message-ID: <39828@linus.UUCP>
Date: 12 Sep 88 23:06:08 GMT
References: <8808060100.AA11069@jade.berkeley.edu> <3550@cadnetix.COM> <877@osupyr.mast.ohio-state.edu> <2605@sugar.uu.net> <6162@dayton.UUCP>
Sender: news@linus.UUCP
Reply-To: eachus@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Robert I. Eachus)
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford, Mass.
Lines: 51

In article <6162@dayton.UUCP> joe@dayton.UUCP (Joseph P. Larson) writes:
>
>I'm on the verge of building a box for my 500 keyboard and making it a
>detached keyboard.  Has anyone else done something like this?  It looks like
>I'd just need to extend the ground wire and that one cable that connects to
>the mother board -- no big deal.  Comments, anyone? -Joe

     The recent talk on the net convinces me that there is room in the
Amiga marketplace for four new models as follows: (model numbers are
hypothetical with no necessary relation to fact or Commodore)

     Amiga 500P Portable version of Amiga 500 with combination battery
pack/battery charger/power supply to replace the current power supply
unit, and a choice of flat screen displays.

     Amiga 1200  An Amiga 2000   keyboard (or a  detachable  Amiga 500
keyboard) which plugs into  a case containing  the Amiga 500 PC board,
two 3-1/2 drives and  a heftier power  supply.  The  case  should have
room (and power) for a 5-1/4 drive or hard disk and expansion to 3 Meg
of memory.

     Amiga  3000 A 30 MHz 68030  machine with 2   Meg of (32-bit wide)
chip memory and 4 Meg of (32-bit wide) fast memory standard.   Support
for Zorro II boards on what is now the SLOW bus. Graphics modes should
include 256 colors from 256K possible, and all "normal" Amiga modes at
Multisync speeds.  NTSC (or  PAL)  compatibility  not  even considered
nice, VGA compatibility might be.

     The portable would sell to all  Amiga owners who travel, the 1200
would fill the  niche of (and replace) the  1000, and  the 3000  is of
course for the best of the best of us.  (Or those to  whom money is no
object.)

     If all of them were announced next week which one would I buy?
Hmmmm. I desperately need the portable for trips, the 1200 would allow
me to retire my 1000 (or at least let my daughter have it), and the
2000 I'm typing this on is starting to get bogged down when I try to
do too much at once.  Maybe I'll get all of them! :-) 

     Actually,  there is a major  truth buried  in   this.  I have two
Amigas, my brother has two Amigas, do you have two Amigas?  There is a
substantial segment  of  the Amiga owner community   who would like to
replace as  many  of their computers as  possible with  Amigas. Unlike
some markets, the Amiga community is not saturated at one per customer
at any one time.


					Robert I. Eachus

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