Path: kernighan.cs.umass.edu!barrett From: erkkiat@evitech.fi (Eki Tapola) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Amiga 4000T computer Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Date: 30 Jul 1996 18:04:24 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 250 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <4tlir8$u7t@kernighan.cs.umass.edu> Reply-To: erkkiat@evitech.fi (Eki Tapola) NNTP-Posting-Host: knots.cs.umass.edu Keywords: hardware, computer, A4000T, 68040 X-Review-Number: Volume 1996 Number 23 Originator: barrett@knots.cs.umass.edu PRODUCT NAME Amiga A4000T '040 25 MHz [MODERATOR'S NOTE: This review was updated on 28 October 1996. Search for the text "[UPDATE:" to find updated information. -Dan] BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tower encased Amiga A4000 workstation with SCSI-2 and IDE interfaces and a 1 GB SCSI Seagate hard drive. MANUFACTURER INFORMATION Name: Amiga Technologies GmbH Address: Berliner Ring 89 64625 Bensheim Germany Telephone: (+49) 6251 802 100 FAX: (+49) 6251 802 179 World Wide Web: http://www.amiga.de For dealer addresses: http://www.amiga.de/links/trade.html VENDOR INFORMATION Name: AIC Systems Address: Meteorinkatu 5 FIN-02210 Espoo Finland Telephone: +358 0 8817 0004 FAX: +358 0 8817 0005 LIST PRICE 15900 FIM MACHINE USED FOR TESTING 1 internal DD floppy drive 16 Mb fast, 2 MB chip memory Quantum Maverick 540 MB (SCSI) Toshiba CD-ROM (SCSI) Syquest 44 MB disk cartridge (SCSI) MultiFaceCard III Merlin Graphics Card / CyberGraphX software Amiga M1438S monitor Kickstart 40.70 Workbench 40.42 INSTALLATION After unpacking I connected the mouse, keyboard, power cord and my existing SVGA monitor. As I anticipated, there was no picture. The default screenmode being PAL, the monitor couldn't handle it. I disconnected all cables and dragged the 16 Kg (35 lb) computer to the living room where I plugged it to the TV set by a modulator. After changing the screenmode I returned the computer to the room where I work. Before installing my expansion cards and drives into the tower casing I had to test drive the computer to see that it works. First the screen filled with different nationalities' flags. The system asked me to choose the language and after that the keyboard layout. Then I got the familiar Workbench on the screen. I installed my old hard drive, CD-ROM, MFC3 and 12 MB additional memory. It went mostly like a breeze, except that there were no extra 3"1/2 mounting sets, so I had to replace the DD floppy drive temporarily with my Quantum Maverick. REVIEW The computer is shipped with the Magic software pack and Scala MM300. The Magic Pack includes (according to the manuals): - Personal Paint V6.4 - Wordworth V4SE - Organiser V1.1 - Datastore V1.1 - Turbocalc V3.5 - Photogenics V1.2aSE - Whizz - Pinball Mania I understand that the tower casing is a standard PC case used by Escom. Opening the case reveals six 5"1/4 drive bays, two of which are occupied by the floppy drive and hard drive. The mounting is done by attaching a rail on each side of the drive. The drive is kept in place in the bay by metal clips which are on the end of the rails. It's real easy to insert and remove the drive with the rails attached. The casing has two fans, the first blows air in from the bottom front corner and the other blows air out from the top back corner. The A4000T is shipped with 4 MB fast and 2 chip memory. The motherboard has four SIMM sockets. Without changing any jumpers, you can install 4 and 8 MB SIMMs. 1 or 2 MB SIMMs require a change in jumper settings. The maximum amount of memory on the motherboard is 16 MB fast and 2 MB chip. The processor module is a standard A3640. It can be fitted into an A3000 or an A4000 when upgrading the A4000T with a new processor. The audio and video and disk I/O are on separate cards which attach to the motherboard with a special connector. On the audio board there is an input connector for CD-ROM/DSP audio. The sound is mixed with the Amiga audio so that you can listen to audio CD's with the equipment attached to your Amiga's RCA connectors. There is no external connector for an external floppy drive. The connection exists on the I/O-board, but you'll have to solder a short cable and a connector or a 90-degree connector. Inside the casing there is a cable for two internal floppy drives each of which can be DD or HD. The IDE connector is on the motherboard. There are five Zorro III slots, two video slots and four PC/AT slots. Three of the PC/AT slots are in line with Zorro slots. The front panel has: - a key/mouse lock with a very simple key - the power, reset and internal speaker mute switches - power, SCSI bus and internal speaker leds. The internal speaker is really small, as you might expect in a PC casing. The bass is quite nonexistent. The plastic front panel has a door with a darkened window. [UPDATE: Peter Kittel reports that a fix for the speaker bass is on Aminet in hard/hack/loudspeaker.lha. - Dan] The Kickstart and Workbench have changed a bit. The guys at AIC Systems suspected that the IDE controller software didn't fit into Kickstart ROM without taking something out. Workbench.library resides now on disk. The two-button mouse is the same model shipped with A1200. It looks remotely like a drop of water on a vertical plane, smooth and aerodynamic. DOCUMENTATION The following manuals are included: - A4000T - Workbench - DOS - ARexx - Hard disk - AGA Supplement - AmigaDOS quick reference - Wordworth, Organiser, Datastore, Turbocalc, Photogenics - Personal Paint - Whizz, Pinball Mania According to Dr. Peter Kittel the documentation is the original Commodore documentation (I suspect excluding the A4000T manual and the Magic Pack documentation). One thing I couldn't find from the documentation is which way the floppy cable should be connected. Physically it fits both ways to the drive. The documentation is mostly quite detailed and seems to be written for a beginner. LIKES - You can use the cheap IDE CD-ROMs, IDE hard drives and Jedec SIMMs. - The casing is quite practical. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS - No more "standard Amiga color" casing - The DD drive is quite useless beside installing commercial software. - The keyboard is stiffer than my A3000 keyboard (so I switched keyboards). - The mouse is not sensitive (so I kept the old one) - There is no external connector for an external floppy drive. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS Compared to my A3000 the A4000T has very much room for expansion devices. The A3000 is a very beautiful machine, which I can't unfortunately say for the A4000T. Though it looks more professional with it's huge size it lacks the elegant design of the A3000. BUGS The DD-floppy is connected through a small circuit board, which fixes a bug concerning track-loading games. VENDOR SUPPORT The guys at AIC Systems are very helpful and they know their merchandise well. I have done some projects for their advertising and I'm also translating the system software in Finnish. I made this review on my own initiative because I consider the comp.sys.amiga.reviews very handy. WARRANTY 1 year. CONCLUSIONS I do 3D animation and graphics so the A4000T is a good workstation. I'm waiting anxiously for my '060 turbo board, but I also like the speed increase from an A3000 '030 to an A4000T '040. I'll give it a rating of 5/5. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1996 Erkki Tapola --- Accepted and posted by Daniel Barrett, comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews Web site: ftp://math.uh.edu/pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews/index.html