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Conference 7.286::atarist

Title:	Atari ST, TT, & Falcon
Notice:	Please read note 1.0 and its replies before posting!
Moderator:	FUNYET::ANDERSON

Created:	Mon Apr 04 1988
Last Modified:	Tue May 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1433
Total number of notes:	10312

1401.0. "The first Atari Clone! Pandora/Medusa" by SMURF::COUTU (He who will not risk, cannot win.) Fri Feb 18 1994 09:13

    I thought I'd post this for the benefit of those of you who may not
    watch the Internet news groups. I have seen no additional news on
    it yet but did see earlier a post from a person at Lexicor saying
    that they were in fact planning to sell this clone.
    
    Dan
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Article 42527 of comp.sys.atari.st:
    Noone else seems to have posted this info here (just bits of it),
    so here goes....  (I wouldn't have a clue where it came from)
    
    Craig.
    
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    
                              <====================>
    
                                 PANDORA/MEDUSA T40
    
                           ===============================
    
    The first 68040 Based Atari Clone, now available at LEXICOR SOFTWARE
    CORP.
    
     PANDORA/MEDUSA T40
    
     MC 68040 at 64 Mhz
     Internal FPU and PMMU
     Performance is around 26 MIPS, 4.5 MFLOPS
    
     Main bus is:
     32 Bit Data, 32 Bit Address
     Bus Clocked at 32 Mhz
     Full Bus snooping read and write
    
     Atari bus is:
     16 bit Data, 24 bit Address
     Bus snooping, write
     Own ACSI Address for full 32 Bit Address
    
     Fast RAM
     Can hold 8-128 Megabtes on board
     Write 73 Mbyte/sec
     Read  85 Mbyte/sec
    
     EPROM is
     2 MByte on board
     32 Bit Wide
    
     TOS 3.06 modified slightly
    
     - ST I/O Board
    
     -DMA
     -MIDI
     -SERIAL
     -PRINTER
     -KEYBOARD
     -FLOPPY DD, HD, ED
     -2 SERIAL PORTS (like TT Modem) (upto 115KBaud)
     -IDE Bus (12 Mb/sec)
     -ISA Bus (for own custom Graphics Board)
    
    (This ISA Bus will work with any ET-4000 Based Graphics Board on PC
    Platfor with the NVDI ET-4000, however NVDI ET-4000 only supports upto
    max. 32,000 colors as of this date)
    
    
     Additionally you can get:
    
     -VME Bus
            VME Bus 16bit
            Laser Printer Port (?)
            ROM-Port
            Mega Bus
     -SCSI Board
            TT SCSI
            SCSI II
            TT Lan
     -DSP Board
            DSP96002
    
     and an MC68060 Board is sceduled for the year 1994
    
    
     LEXICOR SOFTWARE CORPORATION
    
     (510) 848-7621 - (510) 848-7613
    
    Here's a Price Breakdown in United States Dollars, users in North
    America will have the main parts assembled in the U.S.A. as parts are a
    lot cheaper here.
    
    The MEDUSA T40 is ideal for the high-end Atari User. Based around TOS
    3.06 is very compatible. Following this message will be a short list of
    working programs.
    
     - Basic Motherboard 68040/64
     - Tower Housing
     - ST Input/Output Board
    
    Cost is: 2,490 U$D (Cost can vary depending on the exchange rate)
    
    Availability: NOW, Transport time should take no longer than 2 Weeks!
    
    Additionally you may purchase an ET-4000 Graphics Board 15/16bit Color
    onboard  for about another 100 U$D + NVDI ET-4000.
    
    A VME Bus Multiple Bus Board (see description above) for another 400
    U$D
    
    8, 16, 32, 64 or 128 Megabytes on board, price depending on SIMMS,
    current price is around 40 U$D per megabyte.
    
    IDE Internal Drive will cost depending on drive size. Internal IDE, no
    external casing required.
    
    NOVA VME 16M Graphics Board when purchased with VME Bus (for 24bit
    Color) costs 489 U$D.
    
     All prices given are Recommended Retail, shipping not included!
    
     ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    -- 
    :: Craig Shore. Phone +64 3 385-6554  (Christchurch, New Zealand.)    
    ::
    ::   (CraigS on IRC)   ::

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
1401.1	Great machine!	EDDF10::ECKEL	No sports.	`Tue Feb 22 1994 05:04`	19
	Thanks for posting, I'm glad that Medusa is available in the States, too. I have the oppportunity to have a look at one of those machines from time to time, and I'm very impressed by its performance and high quality. There will be an additional graphics controller available, wich uses an ET4000 and is not connected to the 8 MHz ST Bus, but to the Medusa bus. This will greatly improve graphics performance, which is one of the weaker points of the machine at the moment. Another drawback is, MagiX! 2.0 will not run on the Medusa. The developers are working on that, but there still is no official release of MagiX! that supports Medusa. At home I have a list of programs that work fine or with restrictions on the machine, if there is a demand for this information I will put it here. I believe I have some GEMbench performance numbers, too. Regards, Peter.
1401.2	Please post the list!	STKHLM::ARENDI	Jaak A., Client Tp/IM TSC Sweden	`Tue Feb 22 1994 08:55`	3
	Yes! Please post the compatibility list here! Jack
1401.3	..and the GEMBench figures	FAILTE::ROBSONB		`Tue Feb 22 1994 10:15`	6
	Please post the GEMBench figures too, Best Regards, Brian
1401.4	Compatibility list	EDDF10::ECKEL	No sports.	`Wed Feb 23 1994 05:35`	56
	From ST Computer 2/94 --------------------- Software running without restrictions: Calamus 1.09, S, SL Avant Vector 1.1 Retouche, Retouche Pro CD That's Write 2.01 Edison 1.0 WF-Edit 1.0 7Up 2.09c Idealist 3.303 Scooter PCB 2.03 GfA Basic V3.6TT Omikron.Basic V4.0 Desert Drain 1.52 Pure Pascal 1.1 Pure C 1.1 Turbo Ass 1.7.6 Devpak TT ACS 1.05 NVDI 1.02, 2.01, 2.5 Fast Sektor Backup 4.8 GEMview 2.13, 2.45 TCache 5.9 SCSITools 4.02 LHArc V2.01, 2.20, 2.31 Teradesk 1.21 Software running with restrictions: Degas Elite V1.0 use ST RAM Devpak ST use ST RAM Crackart 1.36TT use ST RAM, disable instr. cache Tempus Word jr. 2.1 disable both caches Script II disable both caches and use ST RAM, otherwise printing will not be possible Signum!3 disable both caches and use ST RAM, otherwise printing is not possible () Incompatible with Medusa: Omikron.Basic V3.0 Luftschloss RAM-Disk WF-Edit 1.19 Tempus Editor V2.11 MagiX! 2.0 () I have contradictory information from Oliver Buchmann, Application Systems Heidelberg.
1401.5	Performance figures	EDDF10::ECKEL	No sports.	`Wed Feb 23 1994 05:37`	94
	Performance numbers for the Medusa and the PAK 68/3-32 MHz. GEM Bench v3.10 � Ofir Gal 5.8.93 ============================================ ST TOS 2.06, MiNT not present Blitter not present, NVDI 2.03 present Video Mode = 640 * 400 * 2 Colours FPU cookie value=$80000 Run and Malloc from FastRAM Reference = ST, No Blitter + FPU MEDUSA ============================================ GEM Dialog Box: 0.545 1550% VDI Text: 0.185 7245% VDI Text Effects: 0.415 5662% VDI Small Text: 0.280 3558% VDI Graphics: 1.235 2097% GEM Window: 0.485 807% Integer Division: 0.470 1913% Float Math: 0.110 350% RAM Access: 0.380 830% ROM Access: 0.380 830% Blitting: 1.315 890% VDI Scroll: 1.490 885% Justified Text: 1.035 1327% VDI Enquire: 0.095 2794% ============================================ Average: 2195% Graphics: 2681% CPU: 980% GEM Bench v3.28c � Ofir Gal 28.9.93 ============================================ ST TOS 3.06, MiNT not present Blitter not present, NVDI 2.50 present Video Mode = 640 * 400 * 2 Colours FPU cookie value=$60000 Run and Malloc from STRAM Reference = ST, No Blitter + FPU PAK68/3 ============================================ GEM Dialog Box: 0.665 1270% VDI Text: 0.540 2482% VDI Text Effects: 1.120 2098% VDI Small Text: 0.555 1795% VDI Graphics: 1.980 1308% GEM Window: 0.740 529% Integer Division: 1.590 1131% Float Math: 0.230 334% RAM Access: 0.985 640% ROM Access: 1.125 560% Blitting: 1.905 614% VDI Scroll: 1.630 809% Justified Text: 2.040 673% VDI Enquire: 0.505 525% ============================================ Average: 1054% Graphics: 1210% CPU: 666% The data for the Meduse would be better if the tests had been run under TOS 3.06 and with a newer NVDI version. A further push in performance can be expected when MagiX! will run on the Medusa. The data for the PAK under MagiX!: GEM Bench v3.28c � Ofir Gal 28.9.93 ============================================ MagiX! 2.00, MiNT not present Blitter not present, NVDI 2.50 present Video Mode = 640 * 400 * 2 Colours FPU cookie value=$60000 Run and Malloc from STRAM Reference = ST, No Blitter + FPU PAK68/3 ============================================ GEM Dialog Box: 0.420 2011% VDI Text: 0.475 2822% VDI Text Effects: 0.905 2596% VDI Small Text: 0.430 2317% VDI Graphics: 1.415 1830% GEM Window: 0.375 1044% Integer Division: 1.545 1164% Float Math: 0.220 350% RAM Access: 0.745 846% ROM Access: 0.750 841% Blitting: 1.405 833% VDI Scroll: 1.495 882% Justified Text: 1.605 855% VDI Enquire: 0.485 547% ============================================ Average: 1352% Graphics: 1573% CPU: 800%