=============================================================================  NEWSFLASH INFORMATION FILE ============================================================================= CONTENTS -------- - Hardware update by Martin Jansen SHORT HARDWARE NEWS This file contains some global information about recently developed or improved hardware phericals for the Amiga. If you want more specific information about a product, please contact first your local hardware retailer, otherwise you can contact the company in the companies list at the end of this file. Amiga 4000 / 030 ---------------- Commodore has introduced shortly after the introduction af the A4000, a new model : the A4000 / 030. This model, which should be the follow-up of the A2000, has almost the same specs as the A4000, like WB 3.0, an AA chipset for 256 colors on screen, 256000 HAM colors, 4 Amiga Zorro III slots, 3 IBM/AT slots and 1 Amiga extended 24bit Video slot, etc etc. The machine is based on the Motorola 68030, runs at 25MHz and comes standard with 4 Mb of Ram. The RAM is divided into 2Mb of ChipRAM and 2Mb of FastRAM. The harddrive has an IDE interface and has a capacity of 80 Mb or 120 Mb. The machine is easily upgradable to a 68040 or even 68060 machine by ex- changing the microprocessors. Pricetag for the A4000/030-80 : 1600 US$ Pricetag for the A4000/030-120: 1750 US$. OKI OL 400 e ------------ The Japanese firm OKI, well known for their success in the Microline matrix printer series, has developed an ozone friendly printer with laser printer quality. The printer uses LED technology to make a print on the paper. This method is very environment friendly because there is no emission that could affect the atmosphere. The printer uses furthermore toner recy- cling. The printing capabilities are : printing speed is 4 pages per minute, printer resolution is 300 DPI, Internal RISC processor for fast printing with graphics, easy to use interface with LCD display for information, several internal fonts, like Courier, Roman, Dutch Roman etc etc. Pricetag of the OL 400 e : 750 US$. 32 bit Memory ------------- Microbotics from the UK introduced their 32 bit memory expansion unit for the A1200. The card is fitted in the expansion slot of the A1200. The card is either supplied with a 68881 or 68882 coprocessor running up to 40 MHz clock speed. The card can have 8 Mb of FastRAM on-board with 32 bit access. According to the manufacturer, the coprocessor speeds up the FPU operations with 55 times when using a 40 MHz version. Pricetag of the MBX 1200 / 0MB : 190 US$ Pricetag of the MBX 1200 / 4Mb : 400 US$ Pricetag of the MBX 1200 / 8Mb : 550 US$ OpalVision ---------- For those of you who want to turn their A2000/3000/4000 into a complete 24 bit workstation, maybe the Opalvision 24 is something for you. This piece of hardware for the A2000, A3000 & A4000, supplies you with a Genlock, real-time Frame Grabber, Chroma Key, Flicker Fixer, PIP, Video Switcher and a lot more. And al this in broadcast quality, this could be the NewTek VideoToaster killer. The package comes with the following software : Opal Paint 24bit, Opal Presents, Opal Vision Hotkey, Opal Animate and King of Karate - worlds first 24 bit graphics computer game. Furthermore, the card will be supplied with Imagine II for free. Pricetag for the OpalVision 24 : 1300 US$. ScanDoubler ----------- If you want to connect a VGA monitor or a Multisync to your A4000, you'll probably need the Scandoubler to do this without any problem, this because of the AA chipset in these Amiga's. With this hardware extension, you can connect ALL types of VGA and Multisync monitors and this is quite unique. The card is put in the videoslot of the Amiga 4000, and supports all screen formats. According to the manufacturer, it will still be possible to use the RGB port for video. The external model for the A1200 will be introduced very soon. Pricetag A4000 model : 300 US$. Turbo A1200 ----------- For the speed-demons with an A1200 among us, the German firm Advanced Systems & Software has developed a turbo card for the A1200. The card named 'Blizzard A1230/4', is based on the Motorola 68030 running at 40 MHz Clock speed. The standard model comes with 4 Mb of RAM, which is expandable untill 16 Mb. For floating point calculations, an FPU socket is available. Through DMA, the datatransfer rate hits the 10Mb / second and the card has furthermore a SCSI-II interface for hi-speed data exchange with SCSI-II hardware exten- sions. No Pricetag yet. ISDN Master ----------- The German firm BSC has developed their ISDN card, the ISDN Master. This card is ment to be used for hi-speed data transfer in the near future. ISDN stands for Integrated Services Digital Network and this means for the user that i.e. transfering video information while calling (videoconferencing ) will be possible in the near future. This card could also be used as an hi- speed modem. The card has 2 ISDN connectors, and should be fit into A2000, A3000 or A4000. The card supports the 'V-110'standard as well the 'CAPI' standard. The data transfer under 'V-110' is 38400 bps and under 'CAPI' 64000 bps. Compared to hi-speed modems, the V-110 standard is 2.5 times faster and the 'CAPI' standard almost 4.5 times faster than a 14.400 bps modem. Pricetag : 850 US$ NOTE : This card can only be used when ISDN is already intergrated in your environment. Scanner ------- For image scanning, editing and OCR capabilities, Golden Image from the UK has a cheap scanner in stock right now. These scanners can digitize in 256 grey-scales and comes with a complete software package. This package contains powerfull scan software with nice editing functions like cute, paste, merge scan for larger images an MiGraph Junior OCR, an easy to use, though power- full Optical Character Recognitision package. Golden Image advises a machine with 2 Megs of RAM and a harddrive to make full use of the capabilities of this scanner. Pricetag : 230 US$. Digital Audio ------------- Advanced Systems and Software in Germany has developed 2 new audio cards for the Amiga 2000, 3000 and 4000. The AD516 is an audiocard with 16 bit reso- lution in full stereo an the AD1012 is a 12bit mono model. Both cards have the following specs : - Support of Harddisk Recording - Double DA converters with 64 times oversampling - frequency responce from 15Hz till 20 KHz at -3 dB - SMPTE synchronization - Digital Signal Processor ADSP2105 at 10 MIPS - Up till 8 digital tracks in real time The package comes with Studio 16, a package that supports 16 bit soundcards with several editing possibillities. The software also supports SMPTE, there- for it is possible to trigger samples together with MIDI information. Pricetag for 16 bit version AD516 : 1800 US$. Pricetag for 12 bit version AD1012: 850 US$. Contact Addresses ----------------- If you're interested and you want to retrieve more specific information, please contact your local hardware store first, or you could contact one of the following suppliers: Amiga 4000/030 : Sultans Systems & Software Ijsselmondselaan 248-250 Rotterdam, Holland Tel (0)10-4517722 OKI OL 400 e : Computer Shop Utrecht, St. Jacobstraat 275 3511 BP Utrecht, Holland Tel (0)30-334030 MBX 1200 : Indi Direct Mail UK Tel (0)543-419999 Fax (0)543-418079 OpalVision 24 : See MBX 1200 Scandoubler : CompuServ Germany, Muhlenstrasse 16, 4790 Paderbom, Germany Tel (0)5251-2 46 31 Blizzard A1230-4 : Advanced Systems and Software, HomburgerLandstrasse 412, 6000 Frankfurt 50, Tel (0)69-5 48 81 30 ISDN Master : BSC Germany, Postfach 40 03 68 8000 Munchen 40, Tel (0)89-45 71 30-0 Fax (0)89-35 71 30-99 Scanner : Golden Image United Kingdom, Tel (0)81-365 1102 Digital Audio : See Blizzard A1230-4 =============================================================================  NEWSFLASH INFORMATION FILE =============================================================================