Computer '95 Amiga Show - Cologne, Germany - A Review Thomas Tavoly aTmosh@amiga.ow.nl I went on Friday, the first of three days to avoid the crowd and get there while there is still any hardware left :) Here are my impressions: Amiga Technologies was present with Dr. Peter Kittel, Petro Tyschenko (sic?), Gilles Bourdin and others. They showcased the A1200, the AT1438S monitor and A4000T. The atmosphere was good, although the presentation was not quite complete: Most machines were old stock with stickers bearing the AT logo hurriedly stuck on or just layed on equipment, a haphazard collection of monitors and fonts/screenmodes on the Workbenches. Most not even running background pictures or some kind of enhancement like MagicWB or NewIcons, also in very little colour. Unsharp and dreary 4 colour WB's is not the way to show it off.. If they had some tinkerer (like me :) who would have played with the showmachines for a day or so they could have made them look great.. They showed the I-glasses with the A1200 and a simple 3D view, this was somewhat disappointing too, but I guess you would need some programs that take advantage directly of the hardware or movies specially made for them. Again it seemed like a hurried job, showing how busy they are with other things. I talked to Dr. Peter Kittel, mainly about the AT1438S monitor and some other tidbits, nothing shocking that we already didn't know came out though. He stated that the genlock problem will be solved (top line flickering) and that later bigger monitors (e.g. 17") will be available under AT tutelage. He agreed with me that a horizontal width adjustment would be welcome and maybe Microvitec will implement it for AT in time. I didn't really invest the time though to quiz him or other AT representatives thoroughly enough since I was hunting some hardware and other interests of my own :) I ran into Ruud Dingemans and Michel van der Ven, editors of the Dutch Amiga Magazine, they did some deeper probing, maybe they'll post about it. (Plug, plug) Buy Amiga Magazine and read about it in the next issue, you may find some articles of yours truly too :) All in all the atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, yes, optimistic is the word. My faith in AT has been strengthened somewhat by their presence, although the booth was not the perfect example of marketing. In some way similar to the first showcasing days of the 'dancing fools' I guess :) Apple was present too, surprisingly enough, with a flashy booth and some high tech stuff like a three monitor, stereo speaker flight simulator controlled by some hip looking analogue 'flight equipment'. I liked their monitors well enough.. Flash, but little content though, there was a far more vibrant 'buzz' on the AT grounds. I also ran into Fred Fish, briefly expressing my gratitude for the great work he has done in the past. Next to the AT booth was Phase 5's stand, featuring the much talked about PowerUp card. Among some socketed developmental chips there was a PPC604FE66 chip and an MC68030 on a CPU daughterboard type card. The design looked clean though and it surprised me that Phase 5 has done this already, it looked indeed like a real card instead of a mock-up. Upon quizzing the representatives it seemed like it was very new to them too, the lady (I suspect little technical background) told me that it was basically a very early prototype, not running anything like AmigaOS yet :) She gave me a professional looking brochure and told me that she just got it too. Some of the highlights from the four page brochure: - two types: low-end: MPC603e 100+ MHz, availability towards mid 1996 - high-end: MPC620 up to 300+ MHz (drool), though this is as yet vapourware - 64 bit wide memory expansion bus - 64 bit wide Local Bus system (with optional PCI bridge) - Prices around 1000 DM up to 2000 DM - A1200, A3000, A4000 versions and maybe others later (A2000? A500? :^) - CyberGraphX 3.0 Native And the most interesting feature: - porting of AmigaOS (native exec and 68k emulator on top of that), compatible with KS3.0+ - at first 68k emulation of the rest of the OS, later gradual porting to native code with the help of new libraries It elaborates on the native CyberGraphX 3.0 software: it will speed up graphics enormously on graphics cards, but with AGA only too. Say 'chunky to planar' 3 times in a row, fast :) I know where my money is going next year.. The CyberGraphX software will also include interfaces for 3D (say I-glasses) and multimedia applications of the next generation. (VR Netsurfing, hello William Gibson :^) 'We're not alone' The PowerUp project is, according to the brochure, supported by Almathera, Maxon Computer, ProDad and Softwood amongst others. Many productivity applications will be ported by the time the PowerUp board is shipping. Evaluation Boards will be available to developers in the first quarter of 1996, development tools are in the works. Thorough support and coordination planned, of strategic applications even in conjunction with Motorola. I would wager that to be VR and related features that maybe require some custom hardware enhancements. Very good news indeed. On the bottom of page three there is an informational coupon; one of the items you can tick off is 'UpGrade' programs for CyberStorm card owners. Interesting. Also, software developers, be it commercial or PD/shareware are asked to fill in the form. This is a very good move too, something the old Commodore never quite understood. The UpGrade program consists of downpricing the PPC board for 68k based accelerator card users who purchased after 01-Sep-95. For 68060 accelerator card users a replacement upgrade will be offered. For further information contact: Phase 5 digital products Tel. : +49-6171-583787 In der Au 27 Tech. Hotline: +49-6171-583788 D-61440 Oberursel Fax : +49-6171-583789 Germany Their motto is 'Where do you want to be tomorrow' :) And now for something completely different: MUI 3.0 is out and was on sale for 40 DM. I haven't had the time to take a look at it yet, but have an autographed copy :) Personally, I am not impressed by the MUI 2.3/AMosaic beta-beta-pl-something combo, so I asked one of the beta testers for IBrowse, who was present too, how long it will take until we see it. He replied with: "One month.. two months.. I don't know". Hmm.. My list of acquisitions was topped by the VoB EIDE/ATAPI CD-ROM 4 way adapter and quadspeed CD-ROM player annex CD32 emulator software/hardware combo package, heh :). 339 DM later I can confirm that their 'Speedup' software works like a charm and even the CD32 disc of Impossible Mission 2025 that I bought runs perfectly. Unlike the name suggests I haven't seen any speedup though: my system, being an Amiga, still runs just as smoothly :^) Next item of interest was what I came for really: The CyberVision card. Priced as low as 625 DM for the 2 MB version, I almost couldn't resist taking my wallet out again, was it not for a shocking telephone bill just received the day before :( After quizzing one of the programmers of CyberGraphX about the planned MK II version it became clear that I really need one :) The MK II will feature a faster memory structure by what I think I heard to be new VRAMs. Also the blitter will be upgraded, ninehundred something is the version, though this again was not quite clear. Further cross examination revealed (in spite of tight lipped 'no comment'-s :) that AT is working with Phase 5 to include CyberGraphX into the next coming release of AmigaOS, though this could be gleaned from their PowerUp brochure already. Seems like Phase 5 is the hardware partner, not Be Inc. :) On the way out I picked up a poster with the red-square-jumps-out-of-grey- mass-of-balls theme, proudly stating 'Amiga, back for the future'. There is only so much room left on the walls of my room, I hope AT is going to bring only one more poster saying 'Bill Gates? Who's that?' which will stay valid until the plaster drops off ;) There were not as much visitors as last year, though this is mainly attributable to the fact that last year I went on sunday and this year on a working day. The general feeling was a sharp contrast to last year's too: the buzz is back! Instead of last year's apprehensive and even somewhat threatened, aggressive feeling this year was a light hearted affair, smiling and energetic faces everywhere. Amiga Technologies did well to attend the show, in spite of the rough edged presentation that a perfectionist like me would like to see done better. Though maybe adding that feeling of 'David is back with a vengeance, watch it Goliath!' :-) This might not interest the reader, but for the comic relief content: on the way back we managed to get lost in some German villages that had only uphill roads, for a nice scenic detour of nearly two and a half hours :) I tried to phone the local radio station where I work on fridays with the little change we had left: "Hi, I can't make it, I'm lost in Germany!".. Some baffled moments later: "But, but, you have to sit here! We're on the air already!", "But I'm in Germany and I'm lost! And my money is running.. >CLICK< ..out.." %) I am thinking of publishing the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to Europe: How to get anywhere without turning left'. :^) ---- Courtesy, Jason Compton at Amiga Report