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Update on the Next Generation G3 Product for the AMIGA from phase 5 digital products
Join the exclusive club of GigaFLOPS users now - with the Next Generation PowerPC G4 processor boards from phase 5 digital products!
Faster than expected just five weeks ago, Motorola's new PowerPC G4 (XPC7400) processor powerhorse is now shipping! We have therefore immediately decided to make this brand-new technology available to all Amiga 1200/3000/4000 users, by shipping all of our upcoming next generation CYBERSTORM and BLIZZARD boards with these new high-performance G4 CPUs !
Because of that, only with our new products series
- Your Amiga will get the most up-to-date CPU which was ever available in an Amiga, including any upgrade processor boards
- Your Amiga will offer a processing performance which is superior to nearly any available personal computer system today - supercomputer performance on your desktop! Plus even the option for symmetrical Multi-Processing with Dual-XPC7400 modules for those who need the real bang....
- Your Amiga is technologically up-to-date - with powerful hardware, expansion options and the support of highly modern Operating Systems including backwards compatibility to the Amiga OS 3.x.
Please also take a look on the updated product specifications below, as well as on Motorola's website http://www.mot.com/SPS/PowerPC/ !
For all Amiga users, who now finally decide to buy a next generation CYBERSTORM or BLIZZARD G4 board, we have extended the preoder program with significant discounts one last time until October 15, 1999. Don't miss that final deadline! You can find the link to the order page on the bottom of this page.
IMPORTANT: If you have already ordered a G3 board, you do not have to place a new order or act. All customers, who have ordered a 400MHz G3 version in the preorder program, will receive a 400MHz G4 version of the CYBERSTORM or BLIZZARD G4 board at no extra cost. Customers of a 300MHz G3 version will receive a separate notification from us.
MAJOR NEWS ABOUT THE SOFTWARE OF THE CYBERSTORM AND BLIZZARD G4 BOARDS - August 04, 99:
After entering a cooperation agreement with QNX Software Systems Ltd., we are able to ship the new CYBERSTORM and BLIZZARD G4 boards with the outstanding operating system QNX Neutrino. As we - together with QSSL - will also make this OS available to all users of existing first-generation, 603 and 604 based PowerPC boards for free, it will be supported by a large number of current Amiga developers very soon, and will be the operating system of choice for several future stand-alone hardware products (from different vendors); thus, the CYBERSTORM and BLIZZARD G4 boards with QNX Neutrino OS open up the path to the future. The compatibility with existing applications under AmigaOS 3.x will be maintained by the powerful AmigaOS Legacy Support. With this open and innovative approach, which will also be choosen and support
ed by other vendors, the CYBERSTORM and BLIZZARD G4 boards play a leading role in the introduction of a next-generation series of systems and computers of different vendors, among them our own AMIRAGE™ K2 computer system.
What do these changes mean for the users?
It's simple: They bring you more performance, more functionality, and more future - and all that for an even lower price as earlier announced! The CYBERSTORM and BLIZZARD G4 boards provide the perfect start for all developers and users into the next technology generation!
Additionally, the CYBERSTORM and BLIZZARD G4 boards are open systems, which can also be used with different other software solutions. The integrated Flash-ROM offers a boot select menu, from which different system software kernels can be started from the Flash-ROM or from boot partitions on your hard disk (several different boot kernels can be installed parallely). The programming of the Flash-ROM as well as the other hardware functionality is documented, and this is available to developers. That means it is easily possible to install and run other software solutions (such as Warpup or Linux) without using or starting from the QNX Neutrino OS which comes along with the boards.
UPDATES ON THE HARDWARE CONCEPT - August 04, 99:
A major change of the design of both boards is that we have decided not to integrate SCSI and IEEE-1394 on the products as standard, and therefore reduce the base prices of the products (we will make add-ons available, and have also added other features, as you can read below). We have decided to do this, as we found out that many customers have very different demands. For example, many have been asking for implementation of the U2W SCSI interface – even for the BLIZZARD G4 board – which is more expensive and would later also cause significant additional cost to the user in respect to cabling and adaptors. On the other hand, other customers may only want to connect some older legacy SCSI devices and would be happy with a cheap 8-Bit SCSI port. Some other may not need SCSI at all, but want to pay the lowest possible price for the step into the G4 generation. Consequently, we have decided to offer base boar
ds without specialized I/O functionality, but with the option for customized configurations.
The good news is, that the CYBERSTORM G4 as well as the BLIZZARD G4 will both have PCI slots already on board, which will allow to connect PCI add-ons directly. In order to make the boards fit into the same Amiga systems as the earlier CYBERSTORM PPC and BLIZZARD 603 boards, we will be using Mini-PCI connectors, on which PCI modules in the new Mini-PCI standard can be installed. This design allows the users to connect Mini-PCI add-on cards directly to the CYBERSTORM G4 as well as the BLIZZARD G4, without the need to spend money for a PCI bus expansion or to worry about mechanical integration of such a board. Developers, as well, can easily use either common Mini-PCI cards and write drivers for those, or quickly design new Mini-PCI cards with standard PCI chips.
Another change is the usage of standard SO-DIMMs (SDRAM) as they can be found on modern notebooks, which also allow to design the boards in very compact form factors, thus making the CYBERSTORM G4 fit into all A3000 and A4000 desktop and tower models (with fully installed memory and Mini-PCI cards), and make the BLIZZARD G4 fit into most A1200 tower cases on the market and in use. IMPORTANT NOTE: These modules are available at similar prices compared to the standard SDRAM DIMMs, as theya are used in many computers such as notebooks or Apple's iMac.
As an integrated standard I/O port, the CYBERSTORM G4 as well as the BLIZZARD G4 will also have two USB ports to connect to a rapidly growing number of inexpensive expansion devices.
EXPANSION OPTIONS - August 04, 99:
phase 5 digital products will also be offering some cost-effective MiniPCI add-on modules. We have a number of options which add-on boards for I/O purposes may be developed by us, and which will be quickly realized depending on the actual demand. It may be noted that these options include those functions which were originally considered to be on-board, and are now simply moved to an optional MiniPCI card. The currently planned, optionally available modules include:
- An U2W SCSI controller w/ internal 68pin port and active termination, for a net retail price of EURO 150 or US$160
- An Ultra SCSI controller w/ internal 50pin port and active termination, for a net retail price of EURO 80 or US$90
- An Ultra-DMA IDE/ATA controller 66MHz with 2 ports (to support 4 devices) for a net retail price of EURO 80 or US$90
- An IEEE-1394 Controller with 2 ports at 400Mbps, for a net retail price of EURO 100 or US$110
For any of these modules, a minimum order quantity of 250 units must be reached, in order to justify the software and hardware realization. If for any of these modules this quantity can not be reached, we will inform all customers who have ordered this option. Customers can now - in the updated ordering form - order these boards to be shipped with their BLIZZARD G4 or CYBERSTORM G4 board.
GFX OPTIONS - August 04, 99:
phase 5 digital products will also offer a next-generation gfx board for the new accelerators. This new board, the CyberVisionNG, is currently planned to
- incorporate a blazing fast 2D/3D graphics chip, with a powerful 128bit 3D engine
- feature a maximum resolution of 1920x1200x32 @ 72Hz
- offer full video acceleration to support full-screen, full-frame DVD playback
and will be priced at EURO 180 or US$ 190 with 32 MB of local memory
(net retail price based on the memory prices of July 1999).
With the large amount of local memory for display and textures, it will provide highest performance and impressive 3D capabilities which have not been available on the Amiga ever before, at a most attractive price point very close to that of common PC products.
Summary of the BLIZZARD and CYBERSTORM G4 technical specifications and prices - September 02, 1999:
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PowerPC & Amiga NG competitors
