Introducing ACA 1221 Low Cost Accelerator At AmigaKit.com

[ElPolloDiabl]

It's a nice card. I don't like the the 'pay extra' business model I thought most people here didn't like that DRM crap.

[Lando]

I like the look of the card, but also not a fan of this business model.

The card has 63MB of fast RAM installed, but you're only allowed to use 9MB of it unless you pay an extra fee?  Just increase the initial purchase price, please, and sell the card with all features working.

[Boot_WB]

We are pleased to confirm that we will stocking the new ACA 1221 accelerator and ram card from Individual Computers in early September.

Confusing news item - is it announcing the new accelerator, or is it announcing Amigakit stocking the new accelerator?

I'd have expected to see a News item from Jens directly rather than one from the dominant retailer.

I'm not trying to be the awkward squad, but I don't want to see the sites becoming a storefront for Amigakit when there are other dealers also trying to make ends meet - just be aware how easy it is to inadvertently abuse your position as admin of these two community sites.

[Lurch]

It's cheap so should sell a lot. Don't mind the business model, will be fun trying to crack/hack it ;-)

[amiga1260]

I already preordered this card, but with all options : 28MHz, Maprom and 63 MB of RAM will makes it more expensive than the ACA 1230@28 Mhz with the same options and 030.

But almost the same price for an ACA 1220 @25 MHz.

[psxphill]

Dunno. Funny that, all the A500's I've owned going back to the early '90s have always been Rev6. I've never even seen a Rev5 board. Luck of the draw, I suppose!

I bought my revision 5 in 1989 as part of the bat pack in the uk. It's not exactly luck of the draw, you were late to the party.

In 1987 you'd probably get a revision 3, in 1988-1989 you'd get a revision 5 and in 1990 you'd get a revision 6.

In 1991-1992 there were supposedly some a500 sold with revision 8 motherboards that had kickstart 1.3, only 512kb of ram and no clock. I don't think any of these turned up in the uk as they had already launched the a500+ early due to lack of stock at Christmas. The final batch of a500's was on a ship and wasn't due to arrive until January and they sent a batch of a500+ by air.
 
 The backlash against the a500+ in the uk was probably why they decided to sell a500's with the new boards instead.

[bbond007]

I like the look of the card, but also not a fan of this business model.

I think its a fair model, considering Jens has to warranty the CPU running at that speed which may cause a higher failure rate.

I also think it is a good model for future FPGA accelerators, where perhaps you'll be buying a USB controller or a GFX board "unlock"...

[mingle]

Nifty card, but the "business model" is a bit pony...

A bit like buying a family car and having the rear doors and seats inaccessible unless you fork out extra for a special key...

Mike.

[F0LLETT]

Confusing news item - is it announcing the new accelerator, or is it announcing Amigakit stocking the new accelerator?

I'd have expected to see a News item from Jens directly rather than one from the dominant retailer.

I'm not trying to be the awkward squad, but I don't want to see the sites becoming a storefront for Amigakit when there are other dealers also trying to make ends meet - just be aware how easy it is to inadvertently abuse your position as admin of these two community sites.

Not the intention at all.

[Brian]

I'm speculating that Jens need a cheap CPU card option for his upcomming Amiga Reloaded (that lack CPU) and this could be it. Since the cost is the same no matter if MMU is active or the full RAM is precent to the user or not I suspect these upgrades are there to subsidy a cheaper initial card pricetag, and although you run a higher risk of CPU failure when overclocking I'm surtan that Jens on top of the cost/gain on this one also and use some of the possible profit margin from this to convert into an even lower initial pricetag.

[paul1981]

I like the look of the card, but also not a fan of this business model.

The card has 63MB of fast RAM installed, but you're only allowed to use 9MB of it unless you pay an extra fee?  Just increase the initial purchase price, please, and sell the card with all features working.

I'm with you on this. But, I'm not overly fussed either because it's cheap, it'll do it's job, and I won't be buying one anyway while 030 cards are available.

[psxphill]

A bit like buying a family car and having the rear doors and seats inaccessible unless you fork out extra for a special key...

There are plenty of features on cars that are unlocked in this way already. You just aren't appalled by it because you didn't realise. Someone I worked with specifically did unlock some feature by buying a different central locking key, but some are unlocked by hooking the car up to a computer. You can pay for some cars to have higher performance and it is just a case of uploading a different map to the onboard computer.

When you buy something you aren't buying the raw materials, you are buying what they create. If two things can be made with the same raw materials but one is better than another then of course one will be more expensive than the other. This is especially true in the art world, see how far it gets you arguing that you should be able to buy a Picasso for the same price as a painting you did yourself. Even if you use the same raw materials then something is different, even if you paint the exact same image.

Most people will not like this because they think they should get everything at the cheapest possible price, even less than it costs to manufacture. The alternatives are:

1. He just sells the most expensive one at the most expensive price
2. He makes two physically different cards, both more expensive because there is less economy of scale.

I'm not sure how either option is better.

[kickstart]

I'm with you on this. But, I'm not overly fussed either because it's cheap, it'll do it's job, and I won't be buying one anyway while 030 cards are available.

Relatively chaeap... how much is this card with all DLC´s?

80€ (card) + 15€ (28Mhz OC) + 5€ (maprom) + 22€ (63mb) = 122€

122€ for a 020 card is not cheap imho.

This new "business model" is not good for the final user... lets see with the new a1200 mobos.

[Gulliver]

Relatively chaeap... how much is this card with all DLC´s?

80(card) + 15 (28Mhz OC) + 5 (maprom) + 22 (63mb) = 122
122 for a 020 card is not cheap imho.

This new "business model" is not good for the final user... lets see with the new a1200 mobos.

On the contrary, I see it other way:

You buy a ram expansion on ebay/amibay for your A1200 at about the same price 80. It is not new and has no warranty.

Then you decide you want an accelerator, but you dont have much money to spend in one. So you pay 120 for a 68020 accelerator.

Then you need some fast ram for the accelerator, so you pay 30 for 64MB.

So this way you get more or less the same and spend 230 for everything. You may even get back the 80 you payed for the ram expansion card by reselling it, but even like that, 122 is much less than 150.

Point is, it is a great deal for users on a tight budget (the vast majority). If you have plenty of money, why on earth are you looking for a 020 accelerator anyway?

[bbond007]

Nifty card, but the "business model" is a bit pony...

A bit like buying a family car and having the rear doors and seats inaccessible unless you fork out extra for a special key...

Mike.

that totally happens with toyota.

the buttons wore out on my remote door unlocker so I ordered a new remote off ebay from China.

the new remote came instructions staying to do all this nonsense (turn on/of key, open door, close door, hop on one leg, etc)  in a certain order in a certain amount of time and the remote would pair with the vehicle. whatever... fooled me... I looked silly.

meanwhile my truck has 4 doors, only one with lock... and you always forget that when you are in the grocery store parking lot with your kart.

Anyway, I had to send off to China again for a cable (look for Toyota techstream programmer), and after fussing with 64bit windows and 32bit drivers I was able to mate the remote to the vehicles computer.

While I was into the dealerships "super secret" menu I was able to see that there were all sorts of other features I could activate such as car alarm...I'm taking fully functional alarm that just came disabled. I enabled the alarm. Worked perfectly well, in fact to well, and I kept setting it off myself so later I disabled it.

[klx300r]

only interested if it works with an A1000;)