Amiga CD1200

[Antiriad]

I have often wondered whether C= would have been wiser had they not released the A1200 and CD32 seperately but instead as one machine...

I enclose something i knocked up ce soir as an idea of what it might have looked like

[rattus]

[Djay]

i think the A1200 should of been released as a compact desktop... with separate keyboard... maybe a bit like the A4000

but your design is cool

[Unknown_K]

What is that a mini-cd player? I think you got the perspective wrong.

What commodore should have done is not release the A4000. Instead make up an external expansion box for the A1200 with built in scsi and slots for 30 pin simm expansion+cpu slot, a bay or 2 for a scsi cdroms and zorro 3 slots for everything else. It should also have a built in video card so you can do dual monitors with the dual processor system. When connected the A1200 would function as a fast terminal, secondary display, and GUI manipulator while the other box has the high resolution primary display and the cpu/memory would do all the major number crunching. Since your using the A1200 you already have a keyboard. Since the addon box is basically almost a full functioning computer you wouldnt have to have a complicated cable connecting the systems together.

[mintsauce82]

Unknown - it's the lid of a CD32, cunningly Photoshopped (?) to fit in with the 1200. Yes, the alignment is a little off between the two components, but it doesn't matter. It's a good design, just an "artist's impression" of what could have been. Would have been an excellent machine.

[Antiriad]

Yer, i admit the perspective is somewhat out, i may *try* to improve on it.

[7-Zark-7]

Interesting idea, & it probably was one that might've been considered by R & D,who knows? However, you've got to remember by the time of the CD32's release commodore was near enough to being broke with the console being launched as its "saviour".
Too many kiddies were already converted to Snes's & megadrives ,& looking to Saturn's etc. in Commodore's last bastions throughout europe,& it was intended to try & relaunch itself in territories where it'd either dissappeared from mainstream markets or was struggling to survive in,(eg: U.S., Australia etc.)
Unlike the CDTV, this was pushed as a genuine games console, but of course publishers were reluctant to invest resources into a company's machine which they thought was unlikely to be around in a year's time, hence many A1200 floppy ports with an extra CG intro, whoopee. Too little too late, no marketing & with the Gould's etc. of CBM's top brass having sucked the company dry & riding off into the bahamas sunset.

[Unknown_K]

Originally posted by 7-Zark-7
Interesting idea, & it probably was one that might've been considered by R & D,who knows? However, you've got to remember by the time of the CD32's release commodore was near enough to being broke with the console being launched as its "saviour".
Too many kiddies were already converted to Snes's & megadrives ,& looking to Saturn's etc. in Commodore's last bastions throughout europe,& it was intended to try & relaunch itself in territories where it'd either dissappeared from mainstream markets or was struggling to survive in,(eg: U.S., Australia etc.)
Unlike the CDTV, this was pushed as a genuine games console, but of course publishers were reluctant to invest resources into a company's machine which they thought was unlikely to be around in a year's time, hence many A1200 floppy ports with an extra CG intro, whoopee. Too little too late, no marketing & with the Gould's etc. of CBM's top brass having sucked the company dry & riding off into the bahamas sunset.

Like most companies who either stumble into or have vision enough to make a profitable product , commodore milked their products for all they were worth and stopped spending on R&D. This always ends up biting you in the ass sooner or later.

[Antiriad]

Ill be honest, and say if I was designing the above intelligently, i would have had the CD drive as a tray system at the side of the A1200 - replacing where the floppy drive had been before. This would still mean a longer machine but would have been more sensible than a pop up system which i only put on as i would imagine that this is the route that the imbeciles C= would have taken.

I would try to have stuck a built in floppy drive on the left if there was space, (hell, or have the floppy on the right and the cd drive on the left) or have it merely as an external device only.

I could do some ideas for these if ya want?

[Unknown_K]

They should have incorperated an SCSI connection on the back for adding an industry standard external cdrom drive, scanner, high performance hard drive, tape backup, etc. How much would this have added to the cost of the A1200?

Adding a cdrom in the 92' era would have been a little more expensive.. and would have been a very slow drive that could not be updated easily.

Then again those pricks should have used 1.44 floppies also.

[CHiEF]

they at least prototyped that already.

No Really!!!!!!!!!

[CHiEF]

honestly!

[mintsauce82]

[n00b] CHiEF, those real? [/n00b]

[Steve]

Originally posted by mintsauce82
[n00b] CHiEF, those real? [/n00b]

Yes those pictures of the CD1200 are for real.

You can find more info on it in Amiga Format issue 59 (May 1994)

It was first shown to the public at the CeBIT '94 show in Hannover, Germany.

[Unknown_K]

Commodore was prolific in designing equipment that never seen the light of day.

[Antiriad]

Cheers for the 2nd pic Chief! Just what ive been looking for. You see the CD top i used to stick on the A1200 was from the cover of Amiga Format.

I had to use a LOT of distortion - hence why it looks odd!

[Antiriad]

Ok folks, ive used Chiefs photo to redo the first one and ive done a second version beside it which i think looks a lot better.

Man, i would have loved the A1200 to have been released looking like that!

Then if it only had a 68030CPU, 4MB Chip - 8MB Fast Ram, a SCSI conn on the back for hard drives etc (like the Blizzard SCSI Kit) and a 1.44HD Disk Drive standard it would have rawked!!!

[Severin]

Originally posted by Unknown_K
What is that a mini-cd player? I think you got the perspective wrong.

What commodore should have done is not release the A4000. Instead make up an external expansion box for the A1200

Hmmm, tricky as the A4000 was released before the A1200, the A1200 isn't too bad considering it is only really a 'budget A4000'

Severin prepares to be slapped about the face with a wet fish

[Daz]

*Slap*

[Unknown_K]

Originally posted by Severin
Hmmm, tricky as the A4000 was released before the A1200, the A1200 isn't too bad considering it is only really a 'budget A4000'

Severin prepares to be slapped about the face with a wet fish

Well considering the A4000 didnt sell a million copies the A1200 was needed