From: eachus@Dr_No.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus)
Subject: Not an orphan (was Re: If the AA is designed for the A3000...)
Organization: The Mitre Corp., Bedford, MA.
	<cehImsC00j_HR32IgO@cs.cmu.edu>
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 16:53:43 GMT


In article <cehImsC00j_HR32IgO@cs.cmu.edu> Michael.Witbrock@cs.cmu.edu writes:

   > Excerpts from netnews.comp.sys.amiga.misc: 14-Sep-92 Re: Problems with
   > the A4000 Dave Haynie@cbmvax.commo (6491)

   > Correct.  In point of fact, the AA chipset was designed for the A3000,
   > as I
   > explained above.

   In that case, although we know  C-A has no intention of doing it,  it
   would be interesting if you, or one of the other CA engineers, felt
   disposed to muse about the possibility of a third party developer making
   a kludge to get the AA set into a 3000.

   I don't work for Commodore, and I am not under any non-disclosure,
so I think I can answer.  Let's say someone walked into Dave's office
six months ago and said:

   "Now that we have the AGA chipset, why don't you see about
designing that upgrade for the 3000..."

   Okay, several possibilities to check:

   1) Replace existing custom chips, probably with a daughter board
with the new chips directly mounted.   Hmmm, to make it work we need
32-bit wide memory replacing the chips on the motherboard, access to
all these signals,...

      Three possible answers:

      a) There is a signal we didn't know we would need, that is
         simply not accessable. (Unlikely.)
      b) There is simply not enough clearence to put the new board in.
         (Likely.)
      c) It would cost too much. (Unlikely.)
      d) Timing and lead capacitance make it a nightmare if it works
         at all.  (Very likely--it might be doable as a hack, but
         totally beyond the pale as a field upgrade.  You might have
         to select parts and do other tweaking.)

   2) Put a new board in the CPU slot.

      a) There are needed signals not available. (Very likely.)
      b) Conflict with new CPU boards...do we put a 68040 on it?
      c) Timing and noise problems, see above.

   3) Put a board in the video slot.

      a) Need DIG, since the custom chips still have to support the
         other peripherals. (Certain.)
      b) Need to redesign the chips slightly to operate in the new
         environment. (Possible.)

   4) Replace the motherboard.

      a) Not a kludge, in fact a very nice new machine, but the cost
         will be VERY high: (new 68030, new 68882, etc., etc.)

   So the engineers come back and say that the motherboard upgrade is
the clean solution, and a video board may be possible down the road.
But marketing says: 

   1) The cost of the motherboard upgrade is just too high, if we do
it, we should release it as a new machine in the 3000 case, and anyone
who wants to upgrade their motherboard can buy one through mainentance
channels.  (In the A3000T/040 case, it looks much more attractive.
Commodore may have factored the motherboard upgrade into the current
price.)

   2) We are doing DIG, but once that is available the third party
boards will probably have the upgrade market cornered, so there is no
reason to do the chip and board development.  If we want to sell to
some of these potential customers, price the A4000 agressively.

   Now assuming all this is true, what does it mean for Amiga 3000
owners?  They have three choices:

   Buy a 4000.  Commodore is agressively pushing this on price, and
may do more.  If I bought a 3000 intending to get a 68040 board and a
graphics upgrade, $3000 is not bad, and I still have a 3000 to use or
sell... (Not my problem but possibly my solution, I have a 2500/30 at
work.)

   Buy a third party graphics board, and hope that the board vendor or
Commodore will provide DIG soon.  (Not a bad bet with some of the
graphics vendors.  I suspect that AmigaDOS 2.1 is a lot closer to DIG,
and that at worst vendors will need to wait for 3.1 to be able to
provide complete support.

   Live with what they have and see what develops.  Not a bad call,
since most users don't push the current graphics to the limit.  The
3000 is a nice machine and if you are not doing heavy graphics, wait
six months and see what develops.

   One last point, everything about the A4000 box screams mid-range.
I'm sure that Commodore considers the A3000T case the high-end box.  I
am certain we will see an AGA solution for those users soon, and
Commodore has stated that the A3000T/040 will soon have a new
motherboard...


--

					Robert I. Eachus

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