Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Author Topic: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?  (Read 5755 times)

Description:

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline jahcTopic starter

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Mar 2002
  • Posts: 521
    • Show only replies by jahc
    • http://wookiechat.amigarevolution.com
Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« on: January 19, 2006, 03:30:59 AM »
http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=19

I remember hearing about them, but has anyone actually seen one in real life before? or even own one?
 

Offline InTheSand

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2004
  • Posts: 1766
    • Show only replies by InTheSand
    • http://www.ali.geek.nz
Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2006, 03:40:05 AM »
Nope... interesting item though - sort of an A1200 desktop, or a "broken A4000", depending on your point of view!

Given the delays sometimes with technology reaching NZ, I'd expect a shipment here in the next month or so!  :-D

 - Ali
 

Offline jahcTopic starter

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Mar 2002
  • Posts: 521
    • Show only replies by jahc
    • http://wookiechat.amigarevolution.com
Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2006, 04:14:10 AM »
This is hardware that supposedly came out in the mid-90's when there was no company making Amigas at the time. I heard it ran system friendly stuff only. But I think it was a hoax.
 

Offline Oliver

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Sep 2005
  • Posts: 803
    • Show only replies by Oliver
Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2006, 04:32:00 AM »
Wasn't it released in Germany only?  I think German Amigas had some slightly different specs and nomenclature.  It's listed as vapourware on some U.S. sights.  Some German sights seem to list it as released in 1992, with specs, though I can't read German terribly well at all.
Good good study, day day up!
 

Offline Matt_H

Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2006, 05:06:13 AM »
CatHerder here on AO has said he has one. I'm hoping he posts some pictures.

Doomy also claims (claimed) to have one, but we know that can't be true. :-D
 

Offline justthatgood

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Dec 2003
  • Posts: 579
  • Country: us
    • Show only replies by justthatgood
Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2006, 07:05:08 AM »
@Matt H

OMG. You should never let the words of "He Who Must Not Be Named" cross your lips, lest your slip into eternal damnation with wraiths. :sealed:
[color=008000]Pluto[/color]:Amiga4KD- 64040/16megs/1GB WD/PAR 2150/1942/WB3.0,3.1,3.9
[color=800080]Amanda[/color]:Amiga2KHD/A2620/8MegSupraRam2k/A2091/VLab
 

Offline CatHerder

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Nov 2004
  • Posts: 193
    • Show only replies by CatHerder
Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2006, 06:14:38 PM »
Quote

Matt_H wrote:
CatHerder here on AO has said he has one. I'm hoping he posts some pictures.

Doomy also claims (claimed) to have one, but we know that can't be true. :-D


It is 100% impossible for anyone else to have an A2200. I have the only working prototype in existence and I also have all the Agent-88 prototype boards (every version) for it. Anyone out there that claims to have an A2200 is simply lying for the sake of conversation I suppose.

I've been working on the A2200 story, and history, but just haven't gotten around to finishing it to post here.

Ten myths to put to rest:

#1 -- it was NOT a Commodore developed computer or product line
#2 -- the primary motherboard WAS a Commodore developed pcb (Fact: it used the Spellbound PCB)
#3 -- it was NOT anything to do with the post-AGA chipset
#4 -- it was NOT a predecessor to the A1200 or A4000
#5 -- it was NOT a "stepping stone" between any Amiga models
#6 -- there were NOT any of these shipped to developers or distributors or retailers (although there were 2 distributors waiting to place orders and a dozen retailers waiting to sell A2200 units)
#7 -- it did have OS 3.1 on a single ROM
#8 -- it did have expansion capabilities including accelerators, RAM, hard drives, IDE devices (but no native scsi)
#9 -- it was NOT a ready-for-distribution product when it was abandoned due to Commodore's bankruptcy (and more importantly the seizure of assets, including 65,000 motherboads destined for these A2200s, in their warehouses by creditors)
#10 - it used a standard PC slimline case, including a standard AT slimline case power supply (a very common varient at the time, with a single bezel change to "brand" it, to keep cost of production down) and it used a Sony high density (PC) drive that could read Amiga/Mac/Atari/PC DD and HD floppies (again keeping costs down and going with the one remaining supply channel that guaranteed to supply drives).

I get a real kick out of some of the websites out there that post information (quite often citing "sources") about the A2200. A good chunk of what they post is correct, but 100% of the additional information provided by other people is invariably something made up (I guess some folks want to look "cool" by pretending to know something others don't?).

Like I've said to quite a few people on here, and out there... when people finally understand what the A2200 was (is) they will be disappointed for various reasons. Other than it's an interesting peice of Amiga history, it's nothing earth shattering (although it could have single-handedly kept the Canadian and UK Amgia markets alive for an additional year or two ...or more). The biggest "bummer" in the whole A2200 story is, to me anyway, that it never got to market because of the seizure of Commodore's assets -- otherwise there could have been over one hundred thousand A2200s out there in 1994-95. The A2200 was NOT a product manufactured by Commodore, but it's primary motherboard was; motherboards that were already manufactured and according to Commodore Canada and Commodore UK "virtually unlimited in supply".

I hope to get the whole A2200 story done sometime this month, including photos of the prototype I have, it's internals and some screen shots (or photos of it working).
[color=000099]CatHerder[/color][/i]
Go Graphical Website Design is what I do.
My eBay World <- Amiga swag, if any.
 

Offline InTheSand

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2004
  • Posts: 1766
    • Show only replies by InTheSand
    • http://www.ali.geek.nz
Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #7 on: February 02, 2006, 08:07:35 PM »
Quote

CatHerder wrote:
...there could have been over one hundred thousand A2200s out there in 1994-95...


What happened to all those motherboards? Landfill? A shame that events conspired against this machine...

 - Ali
 

Offline c64_d0c

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Join Date: Sep 2004
  • Posts: 383
    • Show only replies by c64_d0c
Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #8 on: February 02, 2006, 09:37:21 PM »
Quote

(I guess some folks want to look "cool" by pretending to know something others don't?).


yeah your hit the nail on the head there matey... :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:
________
No2 vaporizer
« Last Edit: May 08, 2011, 05:56:44 AM by c64_d0c »
On schedule and rockin\\\'!!!1!!
 

Offline AmigaPete

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Join Date: Feb 2002
  • Posts: 231
    • Show only replies by AmigaPete
Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #9 on: February 02, 2006, 10:24:25 PM »
Every time I read a story like this or watch the Commodore Deathbed Vigil I get all nauseous thinking of the potential that Commodore had and the idiots that just let it all go to waste.

Ugh. I need to go lie down... :cry:

Pete
 

Offline Argus

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Join Date: Jul 2004
  • Posts: 942
    • Show only replies by Argus
Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #10 on: February 03, 2006, 12:03:14 AM »
Isn't the Spellbound pcb for the CD32?  I have one of these somewhere that I bought from Centsible Software.  It had no rom nor chip ram chips soldered on but otherwise appears to be a complete CD32 motherboard.  Maybe I have one of the 65,000 m/b's from that warehouse?

Not to throw myths out there, but a 1995 edition of AmigaWorld I was just reading says that the A2200 was a 'cut down' A3000 with ide, implying an ECS machine.  However, a Computer Answers vendor advertisement in the same magazine advertised the A2200 as a AGA machine.  Hmmmm????

I still find it hard to believe that C= went belly up right at the US launch of CD32, and within a year of releasing both the A4000 and A1200.  That's three product launches in a period of 18 months, if you don't include the A4000T.  Maybe too little too late since the A3000 debut in 1990.
posted on A2500+ C=2620 14MHz/8MbFast/1MbChip
dialed in @34K
Just livin\\\' the dream...
 

Offline Legerdemain

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Join Date: Apr 2002
  • Posts: 443
    • Show only replies by Legerdemain
Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #11 on: February 03, 2006, 12:47:57 AM »
Quote
Every time I read a story like this or watch the Commodore Deathbed Vigil I get all nauseous thinking of the potential that Commodore had and the idiots that just let it all go to waste.


Everytime I think "What if Dave had gotten through to Commodore about producing and implementing the AAA chipset into the Amigas back in 1990" I get this really unpleasant feeling.

I think things would have evolved in an entirely different direction. Not that I do believe that the Amiga would have conquered the world, but I do think that it would have finally been looked upon as a "serious" computer and a serious competitor against the Mac and the PC (which it, in general, really never was looked upon as).

Sometimes I am even thinking, what if Commodore would have produced and released a low-cost cartridge based gaming-console in Japan, based upon the A500 technology. Could it have been a serious competitor against the NES and the SEGA Genesis? And, most important of all, would we have seen giants like Capcom, Konami and other developing their classic series of games for the Amiga? As a console it would have crushed ALL competition hardware wise, and developer-friendly it would have been to the extent of using ordinary Amiga computers (not that the Amiga ever was easy to develop games to) but maybe it wouldn't have been possible to reach a price that the market could deal with.

There's so many ifs and whys that I can't handle it. Commodore can't have had any real insight into promotion and what technology they actually held in their hands. They could have done so much right, but did so much wrong, to the extent that it is almost unbelievable.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
Amiga 1200, Mirage Tower, PC-Key 1200, Blizzard 1260/50, SCSI Kit, 256MB RAM, 40GB HD, Mediator SX, Soundblaster 128, Voodoo 3 and Realtek 8139.
 

Offline Matt_H

Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #12 on: February 03, 2006, 12:56:01 AM »
@ CatHerder

Neat-o. Thanks for that information. Looking forward to the full story. :-)

@ Argus

Yes, Spellbound is the codename for the CD32.
 

Offline Blade

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Join Date: Feb 2005
  • Posts: 24
    • Show only replies by Blade
Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #13 on: February 03, 2006, 01:12:50 AM »
CatHerder:

Interesting Read, However, according to Rainer Benda (german only) who worked for Commodore back that time, the Amiga 2200 had indeed at least its origin from a planned Commodore machine.

To be more precise, the A2200 should have been a variant of what later "just" became the A4000, one out of four planned Versions:

A3200 with 020 and AA
A3400 with 030 and AA

the other two should have been cheaper ECS!! machines,named
 
A2200 with 020 and ECS
A2400 with 030 and ECS

well, except the A3400 which became then the A4000, everything else was dropped (thanks god)

btw, if you look at the 3630 CPU Card , you will notice at least one sign that the above is correct, you will find "68020/030 BOARD REV 1.0   A3200/A3400" printed on it.

AFAIK no Prototype of the Commodore A2200 or 2400 where ever made.

 

Offline DamageX

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Join Date: Jun 2005
  • Posts: 339
    • Show only replies by DamageX
    • http://www.hyakushiki.net/
Re: Is the A2200 machine a hoax?
« Reply #14 on: February 03, 2006, 05:37:02 AM »
Quote
Sometimes I am even thinking, what if Commodore would have produced and released a low-cost cartridge based gaming-console in Japan, based upon the A500 technology. Could it have been a serious competitor against the NES and the SEGA Genesis? And, most important of all, would we have seen giants like Capcom, Konami and other developing their classic series of games for the Amiga? As a console it would have crushed ALL competition hardware wise, and developer-friendly it would have been to the extent of using ordinary Amiga computers (not that the Amiga ever was easy to develop games to) but maybe it wouldn't have been possible to reach a price that the market could deal with.


An NES has the CPU, PPU, 4KB of SRAM, and not much else, I don't think a cutdown A500 could come close to that price. Then the sprite capabilities of an A500 are well below what the PC-Engine or Megadrive could do. Japan was littered with home computers at that time also, and I think the manufacturing technology was generally better than what Commodore had (my Sony MSX2 has a 100-pin SMD with .3mm wide pins). Amiga did have some fans over there though