[cmd_logo.gif] N E W S [cmd_logo.gif] ----------------------------------------------- SuperRAM Card Nears Release CMD has recently announced that the SuperRAM card, a RAM expansion card for the SuperCPU, is in the pre-production stage and should available sometime in May. The new card contains a single SIMM (Single In-line Memory Module) socket which can hold from 1 to 16 Megabytes of RAM. CMD has also announced plans to ship the card with a GEOS driver, and that when used in this application a RAM disk can attain double the through-put of a standard Commodore REU. Pricing for the card begins at $79.00. Additional details on this product can be found in Commodore World Issue 19. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Work Continues on SuperCPU 128 CMD is continuing to work on the SuperCPU 128 project and is nearing completion of the final design stage. While optimistic, CMD warns that until the logic design is complete and tested, it isn't possible to pin down even a rough time-frame for release of the product. The current phase could take two weeks to a month, or possibly longer if major problems are encountered. Once this phase is finished, though, it will take around two to four weeks to finalize the board layouts, and another six to eight weeks to get production boards that can be shipped to customers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Old News Items ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SmartTrack Discontinued CMD has recently discontinued production of their trackball, SmartTrack. This device had previously been produced by modifying a standard trackball with a special module produced by CMD. However, the specific model that had been used for this purpose is no longer available, and CMD has been unable to find any other trackballs which could easily be fitted with their module. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SwiftLink Discontinued, Replaced by Turbo232 CMD has recently announced that they will discontinue SwiftLink-232, replacing it with their new Turbo232 modem interface. Turbo232 provides backward-compatibility with SwiftLink, but further enhances the ability to use modern modems by adding three new high-speed modes of 57.6Kbps, 115.2Kbps and 230Kbps. Turbo232 is slated for release by mid-January for $39.95 retail. Additional details will be made available soon on this site. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Commodore World Special Report: SuperCPU Update Now that the SuperCPU 64 has been shipping for a while, the initial clamor has died down and users are beginning to ask, "When does the 128 version start shipping?" Add to this those who are asking about the various developer tools and memory expansion, then top it all off with the fact that Creative Micro Designs (CMD) has been fairly quiet about all of these things lately, and it begins to appear as if there might be something seriously wrong. The reality of the situation, though, is that CMD has been quiet mostly because they1ve been very busy. Admittedly, though, things are taking longer than originally anticipated, and other necessary projects have added to the delays. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's go back to the announcement of the 128 version, and then work our way forward. The announcement of the 128 SuperCPU came after the 128 community made a strong showing, convincing CMD that a 128 version would be viable from a sales standpoint. At the time of the announcement, CMD realized that there would be some extra work involved to make a common main board, which was necessary to make the 128 version cost-effective. The release date of the 64 version was then pushed back from January of 1996 to March, and estimated that the 128 version would take an additional 60 days beyond that. However, CMD encountered many more interfacing problems than they had originally anticipated. Dealing with these problems required extensive modification of the custom logic chip, or CPLD, in the SuperCPU. To further complicate matters, changing the CPLD became more and more difficult as the resources within the chip were diminished. Near the end of the design phase, the CPLD had to be completely redone a number of times to make additional logic functions possible. Finally, in July--four months beyond the new target date--the SuperCPU 64 was ready, and shipping began. Knowing that the CPLD design phase had taken much longer than expected, and assuming that this would also be the case with creating a CPLD to emulate the 128's MMU, it would be impossible to get the 128 version to market in only 60 days. And there was a newly discovered factor that hadn't figured into the original time estimate--a daughter card would be required for the 128 version, because Commodore hadn1t allowed some 128 hardware features to be controlled from the cartridge port. It was starting to look like it would be the end of the year before the 128 version could begin shipping. And then reports of problems with the 64 version on a few Commodore 64c computers starting coming in. Two more months of analysis and redesign to resolve timing inconsistancies with this specific Commodore model. Changes in staffing also came around this time, and with the loss of Wayne Wrubel--CMD's production and repair technician--engineer Mark Fellows was called on to fill in on production and repairs while training new engineering assistant and technician Tony Cote. Once Tony began getting up to speed, Mark was finally able to get back to engineering. But so much time had passed with all the delays that another scheduled project needed immediate attention--a replacement for SwiftLink. Initial work on this project had begun over a year earlier, but was put off until the current supply of circuit boards could be exhausted. That time was coming quickly. SwiftLink had proven to be more expensive to produce than it really should be for various reasons, and worse, modem speeds were escalating quickly to the point of obsoleting the interface. Mark put in a couple of weeks on a new design, and passed the results on to Tony for a new board layout so that he could get back to work on the SuperCPU project. After some initial work on the SuperCPU 128 MMU logic, the focus of development moved to researching the expansion RAM circuitry, which initially looked relatively simple. However, as Mark got a little further into the design, it became apparent that using DRAM (Dynamic RAM) and a standard approach to the RAM controller would not provide adequate performance. Most of November, and the first part of December, was spent researching every type of RAM that might provide a performance boost. While some types did offer better performance, these came with added cost and were less commonly available in the marketplace. In early December, an interleaved memory scheme was investigated, but the method required additional logic that would raise the cost and space requirements of the controller--but there wasn't that much room available on the board. The solution came in using 72-pin SIMMs--an idea that was earlier rejected because these SIMMs are 32 bits wide, making their use prohibitive. Upon closer inspection, however, only Error Correcting (ECC) SIMMs presented a problem--standard Fast Page and EDO types offer access to 8-bit segments of the 32-bit data. By combining standard Fast Page 72-pin SIMMs with interleaved access, adequate performance at optimal pricing was attained. This brings us nearly up to date, as CMD is currently prototyping the RAM controller. CMD has also decided to release a separate SuperCPU 64 RAM expansion card as soon as possible, because this helps prove out the design for the 128 model, and is instrumental in getting developers going on new SuperCPU-based applications. The card will offer a single 72-pin SIMM socket, capable of holding from 1 to 16 Megabytes of RAM. Much of the work required to move from the prototype to the production model will be handled by Tony Cote, allowing Mark Fellows to continue work on the rest of the SuperCPU 128 circuitry and firmware. Given the delays, and considering the amount of work remaining in the project, CMD estimates release of the SuperCPU 128 will be in April. CMD also wishes to express thanks to all the SuperCPU 128 customers who have waited patiently for this product. It's coming! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Important HD-DOS Upgrade Info CMD has recently discovered that some HD Series drives using [HD Series] mechanisms with 1 GB (or more) of storage may have problems that can cause data corruption. This problem has been corrected with v1.92 of HD-DOS and v2.78 of the HD Boot ROM. If you have purchased a 1 GB (or larger) drive or drive upgrade directly from CMD, a free upgrade is available by contacting CMD Technical Support at 413-525-0023. All other HD owners may purchase these items at their normal replacement costs from CMD Sales. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SuperCPU 64/10 Model Cancelled Advanced orders for the SuperCPU have been instrumental in helping us track the demand for this product. Due to the extremely low percentage of orders we have received for the 10 MHz version of this product, however, we cannot justify the extra costs involved in stocking parts for this version. We have therefore decided to eliminate the 64/10, and from this point forward we will only accept orders for the 64/20 model. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SuperCPU 128 Announced The most significant announcement is that we have determined that a C-128 version of the accelerator will be released. This decision has been based on the overwhelming number of requests we have received from C-128 users. Due to this response, we are confident that sufficient demand for a 128 version exists, and that we can justify the expense associated with its development. The specifications of the C-128 version will be virtually identical to its C-64 counterpart, and will support both C-64 and C-128 modes. Naturally, the SuperCPU 128 will have additional RAM, ROM and custom logic to support these capabilities. Co-Development In order to accommodate the development of the C-128 version, our engineers have had to alter their initial development schedule to allow additional time to co-develop portions of the C-128 version. Due to this we estimate that an additional six to eight weeks will be required, which will push initial deliveries for the C-64 version into April (the C-128 version should be available approximately 90 days later). The main thrust of this co-development is to attempt to utilize the same PC board for both the C-64 and C-128 versions. If we are successful with this approach, we can reduce the overall development cost of the C-128 version by amortizing many of the fixed costs associated with the design and production over both versions. While we may be able to use the same circuit board for both units, the chip sets for the two versions will be substantially different, and this may prohibit our ability to upgrade a 64 version to a 128 version. In addition, the extra circuitry required to produce the C-128 version may effect the retail price of this unit by as much as $100.00. Our goal is to keep the cost of the C-128 version below $300.00, but a firm estimate will not be available until later in the development cycle. Until then, we will not be taking advanced orders on the C-128 version. A Better Product Overall With the additional development time we believe that both the C-64 and C-128 versions will benefit. This time allows us to explore the possibility of additional features and capabilities which had previously been scrapped due to the tight development schedule. Additional information will be released as we are able to confirm the feasibility of these additional features. Although we're disappointed that our initial production schedule for the C-64 version cannot be met, we're excited about the potential this decision brings to the Commodore market. By supporting the C-128 platform, we believe that we will see more third party development as a whole, which will benefit both C-64 and C-128 users by further strengthening our market. Any questions concerning the SuperCPU series products should be channelled to CMD via mail or E-mail using the addresses listed below. We will not be fielding questions about these products by phone until such time as the designs have been finalized. Mail Inquiries: SuperCPU Inquiries c/o Creative Micro Desings, Inc. P.O. Box 646 East Longmeadow, MA 01028-0646 E-Mail (Internet): cmd.support@the-spa.com (Technical Info) cmd.sales@the-spa.com (General Info) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Exit to CMD Home Page ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The document you are reading and all information contained herein are Copyright © 1995 by Creative Micro Designs, Inc.