| The MARCA fair is happening this weekend. Last year was about one
third Amiga exhibitors, half Amiga attendees. Expect the proportions
to change this year in favor of Amy. This was a great place to
get bargains, see new stuff and talk to Commodore's own people.
Directions: Rte. 495 to US 20 West. Follow exit labeled "Northboro."
The Park West Hotel is at the first side street on the right beyond
the exit. (Watch out! Felton St. is a dangerous intersection.)
|
| Er... forget the reminder in -.1. The show was a disappointment, only
half the attendance and exhibitors of last year. Seminars were in
another hotel half a mile away. No particularly good prices compared
to most home computer shows.
However, there was some interesting talk from a Commodore spokesman.
Sorry, didn't catch his name, but he is in charge of customer service.
According to him, some new products Commodore is releasing are:
- an 80206 bridgeboard in first quarter 1988
- a 68020/68881 card
- a 1024 x 800 high-resolution monochrome monitor
The rumored long-persistence monitor was shown as a potential product,
but is not in Commodore's current product development plans. Commodore
also will not make an expansion chassis for the A500. A2000 RAM
expansion cards have been designed to hold 2M and 8M bytes, but
will not be released until dynamic RAM gets a lot cheaper.
The spokesman warned attendees that 1.5M and larger A500 internal
RAM expansion boards may draw too much power for the A500 supply.
Commodore does not recommend using any of these 3rd party boards.
Last, when asked about products appearing much later in the U.S.
compared to Germany, the spokesman put much of the blame on 12-16
week processing times by the FCC for certification. Maybe there
is some truth to the "FCC excuse" after all.
|