Subject: [joeCARD eNews] AmiJOE- remarks (fwd)
Date: 31 Mar 99 18:20:00 +0000
From: "Paul May" 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc

What "stuns" me ....

We are very glad to see that our recent announcement of the
AmiJOE G3 processor upgrade for the AMIGA contributes not only
to the ongoing discussion about the future of AMIGA, but also to
the design efforts of other companies. Even in their approach
towards potential customers and users of such products these
people have started to think a little more customer-friendly. So,
maybe itīs time to release some more educational stuff.

Our AmiJOE 1200 is certainly meant for the majority of loyal
Amigans still using one of the most exciting sub-500-$ computers
worldwide. But please note, that we do not provide the G3 solution
to owners of a customized A1200 built into a big tower case. Our
AmiJOE will fit into the regular keyboard-style case of the original
A 1200. How do we do that? Engineering!

The AmiJOE 1200 will have an expansion socket for a module also
fitting into the regular A 1200, offering either USB or, without any
difference in price, a Fast-SCSII 2 - connector. This module is part
of the AmiJOE 1200 product and included in the price of 599 EURO.

AmiJOE 2000/3000/4000 will obviously be a little bigger in size, so
it has USB on board. The PCI 2.1 - compliant connector will be
ready to connect to another expansion card, the MultiJOE. At this
stage, we donīt want to disclose too much information about the
MultiJOE, since others should think up their own ideas. We are
only going to let you know that MultiJOE will offer Ultra-SCSII and a
complete grafics system, which includes 2D/3D, video-in and
digitizing, alpha blending, genlock and flicker-reduction and AC-97-
sound.

In the last couple of months, we have learned a lot from our
microprocessor partners about G4 and Altivec. The major benefit of
the G4 (PPC 7400) will be to handle up to 2 Mbyte of Backside
Cache. Itīs some waste of time making 1 MB BSC solutions with
the G4, so we will stick to the G3 for now. One important thing to
understand is that this next generation of PowerPC isnīt ready to
ship by the time we will start to deliver the AmiJOE to the market.
As it becomes available, there will be another product, too.

Firewire maybe of interest for digital video editors, but itīs our clear
vision that USB will bring a broad range of modern peripherals into
the Amiga world. On the other hand, video work will bring much fun
and productivity with the MultiJOE, and this will be a turn-key-
solution without paying a fortune.

EURO pricing is rather new, but makes it very easy for all
customers in Europe and the US to figure out their ticket into the
G3 sphere. We appreciate that others will join these practices,
adding also more transparency to the competition.

As we still donīt ask for prepayments, itīs good to support people
who need this type of financials. And in this case, itīs very
customer friendly to accept orders even without the prepayment,
although they will have to pay a huge interest charge on top.

Time will tell about reality.

Yourīs sincerely


Stefan Domeyer
President & CEO
met@box AG

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