b3tNews about the A/boxtRokDaZonethpf2s2c01 At Last: The A/box f1c04 by RokDaZone c03 Relying on information collected by c04 Damion, DAW/Elicma & RokDaZone c03We wanted to save the best for last, but sorry, this information isn't going to be the best. At the c04Computer'97 c03there was no sign from the hottest discussed project related to the Amiga. Instead a very simple flyer with basic announcements was handed out with the option to send an integrated postcard to c04Phase V c03for gratis and actualized information on the ongoings of the project. At the c04Computer'96c03, Phase V announced to have a working prototype of the new mega-Amiga. As said before, there basically was nothing to see. We asked c04Patric Ernst c03of Phase V what this might mean. Mr. Ernst told us that due the development of the PowerUp cards taking longer than expected, the timeschedule had to be changed and indeed, already mid of this year, a new time table with the final release being set to third to fourth quarter of 1998 had been integrated in their homepage (http://www.phase5.de/). Yet not only the mentioned but also due capacity limitations, the producing of the PowerUp cards - c02120 pieces c03are assembled per day - took all the force from the A/box project. Mr. Ernst assured us, however, that from February on the A/box will be developed with full concentration. c04DAW/Elicmac03, however, got some other information from another - not named - spokesman from Phase V. According to that person, the A/box is put entirely on ice and only an overwhelming feedback and demand might bring it back to life. The mentioned flyer therefore could have an essential hint for Phase V to estimate the market for the A/box. What seems more than strange here is that even without any feedback of this kind, we all know that the interest on the A/box is overwhelming simply by knowing that there already are special thirdparty homepages about the mysterious new highend machine and its c04Caipirinha c03chipset. On the other hand Phase V might also have understood that people when being presented an A/box at this early stage of PowerUp sales might rather wait with buying the latest turbocard series, thus taking needed financial liquidity from further project development. There is place for plenty speculations and we don't see ourselves to comment this here. One thing actually is factual at least when their own timetable contains valid information: At the moment, the design of the Caipirinha is not finished. Thus we can be sure that there factually is no existant prototype finished at this stage to be shown to the audience. f4c02 "We surely could have showed something here" f1c03Mr. Ernst smiles and this more than anything else makes it obvious: The development process isn't far enough yet. f2c01 Some facts on the A/box f1c03Apart from this rather disappointing information, c04Generation c03was able to get some updated plans for the A/box already. First of all the Caipirinha custom-chip itself is meant to reach higher regions of performance by higher internal tactrates by the use of smaller and faster ASIC-structures. Wider databusses to the mainmemory and from/to the processor will be installed to obtain higher tactrates. For the first time, an Amiga-based system will make use of most modern memorytechnologies, although so far it is not decided wether DDR-SDRAM, ESDRAM, SLDRM or maybe also RAM-Bus will be used. Finally latest cores from Multimedia-DSP amd 3D-hardware are thought to be integrated into existing designs. Mr. Ernst finally gave us information on the main ideas about the new computer. The A/box is supposed to become a workstation and not a replacement for the original Amiga-concept. Rather like the c04Draco c03an alternative for specific areas maybe. Thus they will not collide interests with those of Amiga Int. if this can be possible afterall. The prices will range from c042000,- DM c03to c044000,- DM c03approximately depending on the different A/box versions.