249 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
249 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
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Path: menudo.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!usenet
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From: easton@andrews.edu (Jeff Easton)
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Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
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Subject: REVIEW: Commodore Amiga 1200 computer
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Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
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Date: 3 Jan 1993 04:21:17 GMT
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Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
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Lines: 233
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Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
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Distribution: world
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Message-ID: <1i5pjtINNo3t@menudo.uh.edu>
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Reply-To: easton@andrews.edu (Jeff Easton)
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NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu
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Keywords: hardware, system, A1200, commercial
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PRODUCT NAME
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Commodore Amiga 1200 computer
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION
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Commodore's latest release, the A1200, packs most of the features of
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the A4000 into the keyboard. Sporting a 68EC020 CPU, AGA chipset and 2 MB
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of Chip RAM and selling for $599.00, the unit hits the mark for the home
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buyer looking for a good product at a reasonable cost.
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AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
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Name: Commodore Business Machines
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Address: 1200 Wilson Drive
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West Chester, PA 19380
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USA
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(Non-USA readers should contact the branch of
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Commodore in their country.)
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Telephone: (215) 431-9100
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LIST PRICE
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$599.00 (US dollars)
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DESCRIPTION
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The A1200 is Commodore's newest Amiga personal computer. It is
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based on the new AGA graphics chipset first seen in the A4000 series. The
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system comes packed into a keyboard console similar to the A600. Imagine a
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A600 unit that includes a numeric keypad and cursor keys and you will have a
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picture of the A1200. The CPU used is the 68EC020, and the system comes
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standard with 2 MB of chip memory. All the usual ports are on the back
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panel, and there is a trap door expansion slot on the bottom of the unit.
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One 880K floppy drive is on the right side of the unit, and a PCMCIA
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expansion slot is on the left.
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DELIVERABLES
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The A1200 system comes in a white box measuring 23" x 17" x 6"
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(inches) with the "Commodore Amiga 1200" logos printed on it. Additionally,
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on the front face of the carton is a checklist area for the configuration
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of the computer inside. Check boxes are available for the following
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eight configurations;
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No HDD 60 MB
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200 MB 40 MB
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120 MB 20 MB
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80 MB __ MB
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Inside, the A1200 console is wrapped in an anti-static bag with foam
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endcaps securing it in the front of the carton. Directly behind the
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console, a cardboard inner box contains the external "brick" power supply,
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the mouse, a 15' coaxial cable with RCA plugs on both ends, and a TV antenna
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switch box. Underneath the CPU is the manual pack containing the A1200
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Users Guide, the Workbench 3.0 Users Guide, an Errata Sheet on the video
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adapter, and a disk pack. The disk pack contains 5 disks from the WB 3.0
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set; Workbench, Storage, Extras, Fonts, and Locale. Packed on top of the
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CPU is an envelope containing the warranty registration card, and a seven
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page stapled "AGA Graphics Supplement".
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DOCUMENTATION
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The documentation consists of the A1200 Users Guide and the
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Workbench 3.0 Users Guide. Additionally there are two errata sheets.
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The A1200 Users Guide is a 40-page booklet that describes setting up
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and using the hardware. Chapters are provided on the following subjects;
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Quick Connect
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Getting Started
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Before Expanding Your System
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Using PCMCIA Cards
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Help With System Problems
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Technical Specifications
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Input/Output Connector Pin Assignments
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Using Floppy Disks
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Amiga Character Set
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There are no schematics provided.
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The manual does a decent job of telling the user how to set up and
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use the system. It is interesting to note that in several places the manual
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alludes to a "Factory Installed FPU" option and that "Chip RAM on 1 MB
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machines can be expanded to 2 MB of 32 bit memory with an internal expansion
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module. This expansion module can also contain a battery backed clock
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calendar." More on this later.
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The Workbench 3.0 Users Guide is the standard manual from the 3.0
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manual pack. Note that this is the only manual included. No Amiga DOS 3.0,
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AREXX or Amiga Hard Drive manual was included. This may be because I bought
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the no HDD model though.
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The first errata sheet, printed in 10 different languages, basically
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says that your A1200 does not come with the 23-pin-to-15-pin monitor adapter
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mentioned in the Users Guide. It can be ordered from your dealer. Since I
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needed the adapter, I had my dealer include one for an additional $15.00.
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The second errata document is a seven page supplement that tries to
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explain the AGA video modes and the monitor types. Its a good thing they
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provided this, as the other manuals often completely ignored parts of this
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information.
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SOFTWARE
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The software provided was the standard Workbench 3.0 disk pack, with
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the notable exception of not providing an Install disk. Without this disk,
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the user is incapable of adding a hard disk to his system at a later date.
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I will assume that the HDD configured models come with this disk.
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Since I was installing my own hard disk, I brought along my copy of
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the Workbench 2.1 upgrade disk pack which contains an Install disk. Thus I
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was able to run HD Toolbox and the 2.1 Install script to partition the drive
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and install 2.1. I'm not looking forward to manually installing 3.0.
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In Commodore's defense, the hard disk installation is supposed to be
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performed at a dealer. It would be nice if they provided the Install disk
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just for completeness though.
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HARDWARE
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The 23-watt switching power supply "brick" is rather large for its
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capacity, measuring 6" x 4" x 3". The power switch is on the brick, not the
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CPU. I haven't taken the unit apart yet, but I'm assuming that it's half
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empty inside. The unit is very lightweight for its size. I'm familiar
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with laptop computer PSU's that are half the size and twice the capacity.
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The mouse shipped with the A1200 looks similar to the A600 mouse,
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except that it isn't the A600 mouse. It has a mushy feel to the key
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switches, reminiscent of the original mouse shipped with the A1000. It is
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molded in the new "off white" color to match the A1200 case (as well as the
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A600 and A4000).
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The main CPU looks like an A600 that has been stretched to include a
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full keyboard.
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The keyboard used has an International layout where there are two
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extra keycaps: one located next to the Return key (now a reverse P style
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instead of the normal (for the US) reverse L), and the other located next to
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the left Shift key which has been shortened to accommodate it. I'm not sure
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why Commodore chose to start this trend with the A1200. The A600 still uses
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the US style Return key and I would assume that both keyboards are made by
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the same vendor. The US A1200 keyboard does have the proper symbols on the
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keycaps, unlike the A1200 pictured in Amiga World which had the English
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pound sign, etc.
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As noted earlier, the 880K floppy drive is on the right side and the
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PCMCIA port is on the left. On the back panel, from left to right, are:
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5-pin square power connector, RF modulator RCA jack, Composite video RCA
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jack, DB23 pin video connector, L and R audio RCA jacks, Parallel port,
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Serial port, Disk drive port, Game port 2 and Mouse port 1. Also on the
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back panel next to the mouse port is a removable panel that can accommodate
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up to a DB25 port (SCSI anyone? :-)). It looks like the card with the
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connector is inserted from the back, with a connecting cable snaking under
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the disk drive to the interface card plugged in the bottom trap door slot.
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A screw hole is provided to secure the board.
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On the bottom of the unit is a pop out panel that reveals the trap
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door expansion area. A 200 pin edge card connector is provided on the
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motherboard that the expansion board must plug into. This expansion
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connector contains all the CPU signals plus some, unlike the A500 which only
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contained enough address and data lines for the 512k expansion. It is
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feasible that a memory/SCSI/CPU expansion card could live here. The only
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problem is that the board area is limited to roughly 6" x 3". This severely
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limits what you can put on a card.
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To open up the unit, five screws must be removed from the bottom:
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three along the front edge and one on each side. Removing the top of the
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case and moving aside the keyboard reveals the main board. It is covered by
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a "cookie sheet" RFI shield, with the exception of an access hole for the
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two ROM's and another for the hard disk IDE connector.
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In the center of the board is a small plate that is held down by two
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tabs. Bending these tabs up and removing the plate reveals an access hole
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for the Chip memory and real time clock on the main board. Clearly visible
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on the motherboard are the component pads for a real time clock and battery,
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but they are not populated. A micro header is located at one end of the
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access hole, presumably where a real time clock upgrade might plug in. At
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the other end, another header location is visible, although this one is
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depopulated. A guess would be that if it was a 1 MB unit, this connector
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would bring up additional signals for a combined clock/1 MB module. Since
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my unit had 2 MB of memory soldered to the motherboard, this socket was
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useless and thus was not populated.
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The hard disk bracket was included, and it doubles as a keyboard
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support. It was a simple operation to remove the bracket and install a 2.5"
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IDE drive on it. You will need a 1" long ribbon cable with the proper micro
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spacing connectors to plug the drive into the connector on the motherboard.
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I would strongly advise against anyone trying to build a converting cable to
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a 3.5" IDE HDD and running it out to an external drive. The interface
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connector is on the left end of the motherboard and the access panel is on
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the right end. This would require a cable at least 2 feet long and would
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severely impact the signal integrity. A better solution would be to wait
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for a future SCSI module to be designed by the likes of GVP.
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I did not see any evidence of a FPU socket or pads for one. It may
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be on another part of the motherboard that was obscured by the RFI shield.
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BENCHMARKS
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I'll let others perform some benchmarks. I'm of the opinion that
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any benchmarks I performed would be nearly worthless. They would test the
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speed of my hard drive and would not be representative of whatever hard
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drive Commodore shipped.
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I can say that the system feels pretty snappy, but that's probably
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due to the AGA chip set and has been noted by others with A4000's.
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--
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___ ___ Jeff Easton easton@andrews.edu
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(__ (__ Zenith Data Systems easton@zds-oem.zds.com
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___) ___) Saint Joseph, Mich. j.easton@mi04.zds.com
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Monte Carlo Z-LS/20 - Choice of a quiet generation
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---
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Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews
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Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu
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Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu
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General discussion: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu
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