Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    Yes it's true. They had the demos arround for a while and are
    have been taking deposits for the first shipment which is expected
    within a few days. (Before the weekend)

	Price $995  (Canadian)
        Includes:
		5 1/4" drive
                512 K memory
		1.2 workbench/Kickstart.
                                           

     If I had a good use for one I buy it, at that price, you can't go
     too wrong.
                                                                  
     Steve
     Calgary.

    That must be around $650 American then. Not bad.

    Keep in mind the big difference between selling ("taking orders")
    and shipping.  Caveat Emptor.
        John Sauter

Now that Big Blue has blessed 3.5" disks, is there a reason for a sidecar to 
have 5.5" disks?  It has got to make it bigger and more expensive.  Can the 
Amiga read/write IBM 3.5" disks?

	Paul

    the translator documentation claimed that it could read/write either 5.25"
    or 3.5" disks.  Maybe Sidecar can access the 3.5" internal drive
    
    -dave

Dave is right.  The back of the box that my external drive came in says:

	"Supports MS-DOS and Data General One 3.5" formats with optional
	 Amiga Transformer."

Considering that the transformer is advertised as being able to handle
3.5 disks, one would hope that the sidecar would be able to read & write
them as well.

    I have used Data General One diskettes sucsessfully using a Beta
    Transformer.  It formats a standard 3 1/2" disk to 720K.  I tested
    some Infocom games on both the Amiga and DG One.  Worked like a
    charm.  One warning, telecommunications don't work very well under
    Transformer.  I had Crosstalk (DG One version), and the program
    seemed to run fine, but I don't think it knew how to properly
    communicate with the serial port.
    
    Hopefully, sidecar solves those problems.
    

    Well, has anyone tried WPS or PC DECnet?

    How much is Transformer? Is it just a piece of software, and how
    compatible is it?
    
    Paul

       If it is, the dealers are keeping it a secret - at least in the
       Ottawa area.  I am going to the Ottawa Amiga Users meeting
       tomorrow night, and as there is always reps from one or two of the
       stores selling the Amiga, I'll see what they have to say.

       Art

       (Paul - I got the Scholar working - thanks!)

    Glad to hear that. Let us know what's new with hardware at that
    meeting!
    
    Paul

       Couldn't wait for the Users Group meeting, so I called one of the
       dealers in town, Lynx Technical Services, who are dealing almost
       exclusively in CBM products and with respect to the AMIGA, are
       pushing it very aggressively.  They have, by far, the most
       software on display and more importantly the most technical
       expertise when compared to the other dealers (which are affiliated
       with national chains) in town.

       They had a Sidecar in town a week ago to play with.  It appears
       that CBM has a couple of units that they are having their area
       salesfolk lend to their dealers, for a short period of time, to
       wet their appetites.  The salesman indicated that he has been
       guaranteed a quantity (??) shipment in no greater than 30 days
       {I'll check in 30 days and let you know how good their word is!}.
       The selling price will be between $750 and $1000 Canadian and will
       come with 256K (socketed for expansion to 512K), 3 expansion
       slots, 5 1/4" drive, DOS 3.2, WB & KS 1.2, and 8087 socket (all
       this substantiates Steve Drew's findings and what we have read in
       the various magazines).

       The story he gave me was that CBM Westchester had 1600 units {I
       think we had heard this figure before} and had retrofit 600
       (reshielding) to meet FCC requirements {we also knew this was a
       problem}.  Apparently they found this to be a pain and decided to
       stop with the reshielding on the balance of 1000 and sell them in
       Canada, as we are not subject to the same criteria as you folks
       are with respect to FCC (it meets CSA and the local Power
       Commission specs, and that is sufficient).  Consequently, we get
       1000 and you get 600!  All subsequent units will be manufactured
       to meet FCC (I didn't get into the whens and hows with respect to
       these).

       With respect to performance, the salesman was impressed, saying
       that the Transformer wasn't in the same league as the Sidecar.  He
       said that they tried to place the Sidecar on the buss, after the
       COMSPEC memory option, and there was fallout, but not total
       failure.  Both he and the the CBM rep felt that this problem was
       not unsurmountable with some software/hardware tweaking by COMSPEC
       {again, we'll hold judgment on their optimism}.  He also said that
       while they didn't have the unit long enough to try it out, they
       were told that a Hard Card, or other Hard drive, could be
       partitioned into AMIGA DOS and PC DOS sections.

       Bottom line is that he is confident that this is not vapourware
       and they are looking forward to this an added attraction that can
       only help AMIGA sales.  He has a couple of units schedule for
       receipt prior to the end of this month and they are planning
       demonstrations on Nov 27th and 28th, and hope to put the units
       through their paces (he invited me to bring any any IBM software I
       may have to check it out).  I hope they will test out some of the
       "expansion" hardware that is available for the IBM PC in order to
       put to rest some of the unanswered questions that are floating
       around, like hard drive partitioning.  This will certainly be the
       acid test!

       I have circled those dates in November and plan on visiting them
       for a demonstration.  I'll keep you posted.

       Art