CD1200 Prototype where to buy?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

The planned CD1200-Plug in card for Amiga 1200 should have a socket for a 030 expansion

A1200 should've had an '030 from the get-go.  Or at least some fast ram.  But meh, hindsight is 20-20, another example of Commodore shortsightedness, etc., blahblahblah.  

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Do you think David Pleasance would know?

Why don't you drop him a line and ask him?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pleasance-610447a

I'm sure he must love being bugged with obscure Amiga questions all day long.  :laughing:

[paul1981]

A1200 should've had an '030 from the get-go.  Or at least some fast ram.  But meh, hindsight is 20-20, another example of Commodore shortsightedness, etc., blahblahblah.  

More like an 040. The 68020 was released in 1984, and the 68030 in 1987. The Amiga 1000 could have used a 68020 in 1985...

I know I know... these CPU's were terribly, terribly expensive back then, and the A1000 was mostly designed before the 68020 was released, but really, the A2000 released with yet another 1979 68000 CPU? What was Commodore thinking? This was 1987, the 68000 was 8 years old by this time, it should have been 68020 as standard. And let's not mention the A600 from 1992 with a 1979 68000 CPU... Oops, I just did.

In an ideal world where cost doesn't matter, the A1200 like the A4000 should have been 68040 driven, so should the A3000. The 68040 was released in 1990 and at 25 MHz does 20 MIPS (4x faster per clock than the 68030). When the A1200 was released in 1992, it sported a CPU that was already 8 years out of date, and then they decided to cripple it by starving it of full speed RAM in its stock configuration. Of course, you could always purchase CPU/RAM upgrades at a price, but it's sad that people never realised the potential of an Amiga with a greater CPU than the 68000 or even the 68020. A 68040 equipped Amiga goes like sh*t off a shovel, especially a 40MHz one!

Just imagine it today, a shiny new computer from your favourite company being released with a CPU that is 8 or 13 years out of date! I know... things were different back then in the 80's and 90's....but it makes you think doesn't it?

Some people say Doom killed the Amiga. By the end of 1992, the 68040 was available at 40 MHz. A 68040 at 40 MHz eats Doom for breakfast! A 68030 at 50 MHz can also pull it off.... so it certainly wasn't Doom that killed the Amiga - it was definitely something else (or shall we say someone else?).

[danwood]

Update to this, the white CD1200 prototype has been located.  It's at the Retro Computer Museum in Leicester, UK.

Ravi from The Retro Hour podcast got his hands on it today!

[Matt_H]

Well well well! Never thought we'd see the day. It's useless without the corresponding A1200 card, though - I hope they got that, too.

[James1095]

If there's only one of them then a museum is probably the best place for it. Looks like it could use a bit of cleaning.

[BozzerBigD]

@danwood

I'm so glad it still exists and is safe in a museum in the UK! There was so much hope and optimism wrapped up in that little prototype. In reality the Squirrel CD-ROM interface was a far better solution for the period but the fact this was the official Amiga CD-Rom solution for the A1200 with the possiblity of 100% compatibility with CD32 software would have given the market a much needed boost had the Commodore UK buyout succeeded :-( As it turned out users were better off picking up the widely available CD32 consoles and adding a SX-1 or SX-32 to make the console into a A1200 type computer. It's a shame that only 2,000 SX-32 units were sold as they were absolutely great.

... that's 1,999 more SX-32s produced than CD1200s though ;-)

[Rob]

@danwood

I'm so glad it still exists and is safe in a museum in the UK! There was so much hope and optimism wrapped up in that little prototype. In reality the Squirrel CD-ROM interface was a far better solution for the period but the fact this was the official Amiga CD-Rom solution for the A1200 with the possiblity of 100% compatibility with CD32 software would have given the market a much needed boost had the Commodore UK buyout succeeded :-( As it turned out users were better off picking up the widely available CD32 consoles and adding a SX-1 or SX-32 to make the console into a A1200 type computer. It's a shame that only 2,000 SX-32 units were sold as they were absolutely great.

... that's 1,999 more SX-32s produced than CD1200s though ;-)

I wish I'd got an SX-32 back in the day but I was much more interested in upgrading the A1200 at the time.  Looking back through my old magazines I realised that Eyetech sold them for quite reasonable prices and I could probably have bought one as well as all the A1200 gear but how was I to know that today I'd have greater desire for a CD32 based WHDload system with the idea of an A1200 being completely out of favour for me.

I have a CD32 and an A4000 keyboard waiting for the day that either a Vampire32 or Ian Stedman's project Hermes become available.

[Rob]

A1200 should've had an '030 from the get-go.  Or at least some fast ram.  But meh, hindsight is 20-20, another example of Commodore shortsightedness, etc., blahblahblah.  

The CD32 would have been a lot better with 1MB of fast ram and a number of UK developers said so at the time.

[Rob]

Some people say Doom killed the Amiga. By the end of 1992, the 68040 was available at 40 MHz. A 68040 at 40 MHz eats Doom for breakfast! A 68030 at 50 MHz can also pull it off.... so it certainly wasn't Doom that killed the Amiga - it was definitely something else (or shall we say someone else?).

I found it playable enough on a 33Mhz 68030 with AGA.  If Doom had come out for Amiga in 1993, 68030 accelerator sales would have gone through the roof and Commodore would have probably sold enough A4000's to keep afloat.  This was well before the days inexpensive home build PCs.  Instead many people went to Time UK or wherever and paid over a grand for a PC to play Doom.

[fishy_fiz]

An '040 in an a1200, at time of release is somewhat implausible due to generated heat. It wasn't until some years later cooler running masks (die shrink?) were released.

[Pgovotsos]

At Amiwest 2013, Beth Richard, the developer of the CD 1200 gave a talk about it. She said that 9 prototypes were built. It had an Akiko, RAM socket and an FPGA that convinced the Akiko that it was connected to a CD32 on the board that connected to the 1200's expansion slot with a cable going out to the CD drive. She said it was 100% compatible with CD32 software.

There was a 2nd version planned as something to entice a possible buyer of Commodore but that fell through so the 2nd version was never built. It was planned to replace the Akiko and FPGA with an ASIC and add a 68030 socket.

You can see her whole talk at  https://youtu.be/eOJ7XVQlnB8

The part about the CD 1200 starts just past 49 minutes.

Richard was involved with the whole line of multimedia products including unreleased ones like the 4000 FMV card which was the basis for the CD32's FMV card. The title of the talk was "The Development of the FMV Card". She covers the whole history of the multimedia products including lots of architecture and theory, why some decisions were made.

It's less than an hour and well worth watching.

[goldfish]

I Had 060 in my A1200 yes it could run Doom but only at 320 x 200 where as lets say a P3 could run it at least 640 x 480 maybe even 800 x 600. Even the new vampire is only just managing 640 x 480 on some games. It was the lack of GFX advancement that killed amiga along with %&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!y management.

[theformula]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LmFmH4YNBA

I have added a small video of the CD1200 and review of the museum its displayed in

[fondpondforever]

Oh my god, that's amazing. Will it be for sale on eBay like the Commodore 65 Prototype was? Thanks.

[BozzerBigD]

Oh my god, that's amazing. Will it be for sale on eBay like the Commodore 65 Prototype was? Thanks.

No because it is in a museum!