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Amiga Update (1995-12-29)
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/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || Amiga Update -News and Rumors
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AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga Technolgies, GmbH
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951229
T H E Y E A R I N R E V I E W
N E W A M I G A M O D E L S A N N O U N C E D
Everyone else does it, so we are going to do it also. Here's the year in
review, as seen in Amiga Update. Any year that sees you going from despair
over whether your computing world has a future to "hey, these guys really
are doing something" is a year well worth reviewing. Looks like we won't
all have to buy new machines and Windoze 95 after all.
The biggest story of the year was of course Escom's purchase of the remains
of Commodore and the launch of the new Amiga Technologies. There was a great
deal to report about all this. I picked out just a few highlights.
And just to finish the year right, there's a new story at the end about new
Amiga products.
One note: for those who never quite realized it, the number at the top of
each issue (e.g., 951229 for this issue) is the date of issue in YYMMDD
(year year month month day day) computer friendly format.
"Amiga Update" wishes you and yours a "Happy New Amiga Year!"
Brad
==========================================================================
From the issue of 950109, which began the year:
NEWS RELEASE
COMMODORE ACQUISITION UPDATE (15 DEC 1994)
Creative Equipment International (CEI) has submitted an offer to purchase
all the assets of Commodore International and Commodore Electronics. A cash
deposit accompanied the offer. Alex Amor stated "Now, it's up to the
liquidator and creditors. Our intent is to complete this purchase and resume
building the Amiga as soon as possible."
This is the first time since the declaration of liquidation that an offer
has been accompanied by cash. The offer has a firm expiration date.
CEI is a Miami based distributor of Commodore products. For additional
information contact Chuck Schenk at (303)266-2800 extension 111.
===========================================================================
From the issue of 950421. If you haven't seen this video yet, find a copy
and watch it!
One Year Anniversary Special Sale, Expires May 1
APRIL 19, 1995 (DREXEL HILL, PA)
To celebrate a year without Commodore and whatever happens with the
remains tommorrow and Friday, IAM announces a very special sale with
deep discounts on the two-hour documentary from behind the scenes at
Commodore -- "The Deathbed Vigil and other tales of digital angst."
This sale expires MAY 1, 1995, and only applies to the NTSC versions of
the tapes.
===========================================================================
From the issue of 950710. Of course, this information was completely bogus!
Transcript from CEI fax this morning {July 7, ed. }, two parts. First is a PR,
the second is a letter to dealers.)
Friday, July 7 4:34am Creative Equipment Int.
N E W S R E L E A S E
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Creative Equipment International is pleased to announce that it will distribute
the new line of Amiga computers through CEI dealers in North and South America.
The first machines are already being built by Amiga Technologies in the United
States and should be available in the last part of Q3.
===========================================================================
Then there was the matter of the first "announced" price for the A4000T
and the furor that created. From the issue of 950717:
Amiga Technologies distribution in the USA
There has recently been an announcement made by an american distributor
about a price for the Amiga 4000T of 3500 USD.
We would like to contradict this information as it has not come from one of
our official press releases. There have been no firm distribution contracts
or agreements signed yet for northern America.
There has been no decision taken yet concerning the pricing of the Amiga
4000 T in the USA.
There will be a sales meeting in the USA next week where all american
dealers will be invited to discuss the market situation and future price
policy for the USA. Petro Tyschtschenko, General Manager at Amiga
Technologies GmbH will conduct that meeting.
===========================================================================
Once Amiga Technologies was firmly in control, we found out there would be
someone involved in the US after all. From the issue of 950721:
Amiga Technologies is building up its worldwide distribution network.
Bensheim, 18/07/95
After building up its operations in Germany, Amiga Technologies set up its
international distribution network. The Amiga office in Philadelphia, USA,
led by Ed Goff, is in charge of organizing the USA distribution. There will
be a sales meeting in the USA next week where american distributors will
be invited to discuss the market situation and future price policy for
the USA. Petro Tyschtschenko, General Manager at Amiga Technologies GmbH
will conduct that meeting.
AMIGA USA for USA and Canada, led by J. Edward Goff
Attorney of Law - Suite 1705
1528 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102
USA
Phone : +1 215 546 3400
Fax : 1 215 546 3460
===========================================================================
And new product was manufactured. The following is an excerpt of an IRC
(Internet Chat) that was reported on in the issue of 950915:
gbo | i am a PR guy, not an engineer
Tau | question queue at the moment: lohengrin, jalovick. /msg me with a
? to get on the queue
gbo | actually today was a historical day for us
gbo | the first 1200 board came out of the line
gbo | it has been tested and was good.
gbo | so we can now go into mass production.
gbo | the A4000T should be delayed a few more days
gbo | that means that the machines should hit the shelves on schedule.
Tau | (people, remember to end with GA so that we know when to go on)
gbo | now that production runs, we can concentrate one other things
gbo | like what we want to do for next year.
gbo | next thing to arrive will be the 060 board for the a4000T
gbo | then we want to enhance the A1200
gbo | give it more memory expansion onboard,
gbo | make the motherboard less power consuming
gbo | adding an easy CD ROM expansion with MPEG
gbo | These are the plans for the near future, this means early 1996 for
us.
gbo | GA
===========================================================================
We started hearing some encouraging words from the new owners of the Amiga. This
is part of a speech we carried in the issue of 950929:
This is the text of a speech given by Petro Tyschtschenko Senior Vice
President Escom and General Manager of Production on September 21,
1995 at the SMAU computer fair in Milano (Italy).
This text was supplied by Gilles Bourdin of Amiga Technologies.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am pleased to be here in Milano, to have the opportunity to present
you our new company Amiga Technologies. In April 1995, after one year
of liquidation procedures, the rights and patents of the former
Commodore Company could be acquired by ESCOM AG. This was indeed very
good news for the Amiga community, who had been waiting anxiously for
a rebirth of their computer of choice. The Amiga community, which
consists not only of users, but also of developpers, dealers,
distributors and third party manufacturers is very important for us.
It represents a market and also a tremendous creative and productive
potential that revolves around the Amiga platform. These people have
made of the Amiga the most versatile and poweful Multimedia and video
computer available. Our goal now that we are into business again, is
to bring back the Amiga on the market, develop it further and enhance
its presently excellent features.
But what is Multimedia ? This word has been used intensively these
last years by many manufacturers in the computer business. Some say
that a PC with a CD ROM is a multimedia machine.
Some say that you need a sound card, some other say that a video
compatible card has to be installed. The results are various but not
always satisfying. Indeed, what you see is what you get.
We say : You need an Amiga. With this computer, what you WANT is what
you get.
The Amiga is the computer that invented multimedia ten years ago. At
a time when PCs were only able to beep and display monochrome text,
there was a computer that had stereo sound, fantastic coulour
capacities and animation abilities never seen before, all this driven
by a powerful multitasking operating system. These capacities have
been enhanced over the years, making the Amiga a must for
professional video and multimedia useage.
===========================================================================
With the issue of 951003 we changed our masthead to feature the new Amiga
logo. I thought it was time for some encouraging words and quoted
myself 8-)
S O M E T H O U G H T S F R O M T H E E D I T O R
One of the things I do with my spare time is write an Amiga column for the
Watertown Area Computer Users' Group newsletter. Readers of this electronic
newsletter usually get any news first, but this month I had a few thoughts
in that other newsletter which I thought I'd pass along ... Here they are:
It's time for some positive thinking in the Amiga community. To
that end, I'd like to start this column with a quotation, pulled
from the Net just a few days ago. The quotation is from Petro Ty-
schtschenko, Senior Vice President Escom and General Manager of
production on September 21, while speaking at the SMAU computer
fair in Milano, Italy.
"We are a young structure but there is already a date that will
be written in the Amiga history : On Monday, the 11th of Septem-
ber, the first Amiga built by Amiga Technologies came out of the
production line. Delivery of the first machines will follow next
week. To celebrate this event, we will hold a press conference on
the 10th of October in Bordeaux at our Solectron plant."
Yes, folks, they're building them again. By the time you read
this, they should be shipping them again as well. These first
units will be A1200s bound for Europe, but it's a beginning.
===========================================================================
In the issue of 951113 we got a reassuring look at future plans:
A M I G A G O E S P O W E R P C
REPLACEMENT MOTHER BOARDS FOR SOME CURRENT MODELS!
Bensheim 07/11/95
During his key note address held in Los Angeles at the Video Toaster Expo,
Petro Tyschtschenko, CEO and President of Amiga Technologies
officially announced the Power PC to be the processor used in the future
generation of Amiga computers.
The first POWER AMIGA will be available 1st quarter 1997 and will feature the
Power PC 604 RISC CPU. Further models will be available later in
the entry-level, as well as in the mid-range.
The Power Amigas will be backwards compatible with current models and will
also feature a new and more powerful chipset.
.
.
.
More good news for all Amiga users: The Power PC technology will not only be
available for new Power Amigas. Thanks to a close co-operation
between Amiga Technologies and Phase V, a German turbo board manufacturer, a
full range of Power PC boards will also be available for the A1200,
A3000 and A4000 series.
This will allow a general migration of the Amiga platform towards Power PC in
a short time, also for current models.
===========================================================================
Just last month, issue 951129 reported the following good news. Ads have started
appearing in magazines, would you believe? The latest issue of "Computer
Graphics World" had about one quarter of a two page spread from Anti Gravity
Products devoted to the A4000T.
A4000s Now in US!
Novemember 28th 1995
The first shipment of A4000T's to the US arrived in SMG's
warehouse today. {Yesterday now. Brad} Only Authorised dealers will get them,
so make sure you use one of them. First units should start shipping to customers
tomorrow. { That is, today. Safe Harbor in Waukesha would be a good place to
call, but do it fast. In fact, it may already be too late. It's quite possible
ALL these units have been pre-sold. This item was downloaded last night from
"The So-called Amiga Home Page". The folks doing that web site have added the
term "So-called" to their name now that Amiga Technologies (AT) has its own
Amiga home page. Brad}
===========================================================================
And to end the year, here's some new news pulled off the conference in the
AmigaZone of Portal systems a few days ago. all you Internet wannabes, pay
special attention to "the surfer". Thanks to Harv Laser, Sysop, for
scrolling this for us to capture. Brad
Harv: >Status of near future plans
Harv: >-prices are in guilders (Hfl)
Harv: >-a guilder is something of US$ .62, AUS$ .83, DM .90 and UK# .40.
Harv: >-prices in the US will be probably a little higher and in those in
Germany
Harv: > a little lower because of shipping costs and taxes
Harv: >
Harv: >CD-ROM drive Q-Drive 1241
Harv: > The Q-Drive 1241, the CD-ROM drive for the Amiga 1200 computer, will
Harv: > be available at about the end of January 1996. The Q-Drive connects
Harv: > through the PCMCIA port to the Amiga 1200. The CD-Rom drive is a
Harv: > Panasonic drive at 4 x the speed of standard drives. The drive is
Harv: > bundled with several software product, with which amongst others
Harv: > PhotoCDs can be read and music CDs can be played. The Aminet CD #8
Harv: > is also part of the package. Expected price Hfl 599,- incl. VAT.
Harv: >
Harv: >Amiga 1200 with the Internet package Surfer
Harv: > At the end of January 1996 Amiga Technologies will bring out a new
Harv: > package: The Surfer.
Harv: > This package consists of a 14k400 baud modem, a dialler for quick
Harv: > access, a ftp-client, an email program, an IRC program, a news
reader
Harv: > and a Web browser. Expected price for the package (excluding an
Amiga)
Harv: > is Hfl 400,- incl. VAT.
Harv: >
Harv: >The Amiga XXX
Harv: > Scheduled to appear at Cebit '96 is a new Amiga, based on the Amiga
Harv: > 1200. This new Amiga, which has not yet been named, will contain
Harv: > at least two sockets for SIMM modules, a 68030 processor (speed and
Harv: > type as yet unknown) and a CD-ROM drive instead of a floppy drive.
Harv: > The new Amiga will probably be available in the 3rd quarter of 1996.
Harv: > Expected price Hfl 1899,- incl. VA
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_ __ _ <>_ __ _ || Brad Webb - available at:
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || webb@malamute.med.ge.com
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || bandr@globaldialog.com
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ || Portal -- XJumpdisk
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