Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    A side note... INFO mag. reports some people are asking for the
    A500 to be re-packaged into an A1000 like box.  It seems that people
    desire a small footprint if portability is the result.  If Apple can
    dangle a MAC portable by using the 68HC000 chip, maybe A500 like packaging
    would convey more than a "game machine with a power supply on the
    side like an old TI99A."

    Notes on the Pacific Peripherals "Subsystem" for the 1000:
    
    A friend of mine and I have both called them for information and
    have found that:
    
    It'll be available mid to late March, but they have a 2-3 week
    backorder.
    
    It'll still cost $250 without a floppy.
    
    Due to market pressures, rather than making it a pancake box like
    the Subsystem for the 500, it'll be a sidecar (for lack of better
    wording), that sounds like it'll look like their old Zorro I box
    for the 1000.  Instead of 2 Zorro II slots and room for a 3.5" floppy,
    it'll have 3 Zorro II slots and room for a hard disk (and he assures
    us the power supply will be able to handle it).
    
    Sounds like it'll use one of those detached brick transformers for
    power.
    
    It passes the SOTS bus.

    re: .2
     
    market presures?  for a "sidesystem" instead of a "subsystem"?
    
    Slap on the side and sidecar style boxes have one fundamental flaw,
    they are external boxes that can be moved without moving the amiga,
    thus flexing/damaging the motherboard.
    
    A pancake box takes up less desk space, and can be pinned down by the
    weight of a monitor to keep small hands from moving it.  Phoenix
    sells a box like this.  But I think it costs more that $250.
    
    Maybe the $250 price figure is the market pressure.  Might be too
    expensive to make a pancake box for that price.  I like the 3 slots
    plus harddrive idea.
    
    It is nice to see "standard" hardware expansion for the 1000, at
    semi-reasonable prices, starting to show up from multiple vendors.  
    I think the key to that was CBM finally made a box with a bus, the
    2000, instead of just publishing suggestions.  If CBM had made/sold
    a Zorro I box long ago, we wouldn't have had to wait this long for
    expansion boxes.  I assume a Zorro 3 bus will show up on the next
    generation Amigas (a 68020 should have a 32 bit bus, not 16).  But
    this time the bus change will be for a valid technical reason, not
    designer whim.  Hopefully it will be compatible with Zorro II. 
    Market pressure and installed base should help make that so.
    
    -dave
    

    The term "market pressure" was my euphemism for what the guy said.
    Although I called them once, the following I got second hand from
    a friend who called them the day after I did.  It went something
    like:
    
    "We advertised 2 Zorro II slots and a floppy drive in the pancake
    box, and a whole bunch of people called me up and told me 3 slots
    and space for a hard drive instead of a floppy, so I changed it."
    
    I assume the reason for the sidecar is that he probably had the
    boxes left over from their sidecar Zorro I box and it fit the bill
    better than trying to adapt the pancake box they sell for the 500.
    With the latter, the only hard drive you could fit in the box is
    a 3.5" half height, which ain't cheap yet.
    
    The sidecar may not be as desireable form-factorwise, but it might
    be a lot more palettable to my pocketbook, especially if I nail
    the mess to my desk. :-)
    
    Probably the best reason for dropping the room for expansion floppy
    drive in favor of room for hard disk is that you can probably expect
    that any 1000 owner seriously interested in this box already has
    the second floppy and is more interested in the hard disk.  New
    500 owners, on the other hand, might not have settled on their DF1:
    plans yet (there aren't many new 1000 owners anymore, of course).