A\Box FAQ V2.0

1. Getting an A\Box

Q: When can it be bought ?
Phase 5 have announced that the first A\Box will be available after the 1 quarter of 98. Developers can get their hands on the A\Box by the end of 1997. Mass production is expected to start in the end of the 2nd quarter of 1998.

Q: Where can I buy it ?
Phase 5 have guaranteed WorldWide availability, but you could take a look at Phase 5's list of dealers and distributors.

Q: How much will it cost ?
The price of the A\Box have not been decided yet. But Phase 5's latest comment about the price was 2000 USD, 1300 GBP and 3000 DM, for an A\Box with the basic features. 16 MB RAM, a hard disk in the 1 GB range and a CD-ROM drive. Since the prices of computer equipment can change daily, it's too soon to set a price at this moment. SDRAM and hard disk prices are expected to drop quite a lot before the release of the A\Box. And the maximum CD-ROM speed will increase. 2. Technical Questions

Q: What type of memory does the A\Box use ?
64 bit SDRAMs in pairs for fast 128 bit memory access. There is currently no computer which can make use of SDRAMs the way the A\box can.

Q: How fast are the busses ?
The system controller is the Caipirinha which works internally (graphics incl. 3D, disk- and memory-access, sound, MPEG..) at 128 bit 200 MHz and externally (CPU, external busses) at 128 bit 100 MHz. The CPU-bus works at 64 bit 100 MHz.

Q: Does the A\Box have built-in video in/out ?
Yes. Two independent video inputs in Y/UV 4:2:2 quality and two video outputs (one for your monitor and one for PAL/NTSC or S-VHS).

Q: Does the sound hardware support hardware mixing or must this be done by the software (that is, by mod players, etc.) ?
Hardware support for mixing (by FAME) with any number of virtual tracks (only limited by the memory available)

Q: Can I use two monitors to the A\Box ?
Yes. E.g you could use one normal pc-monitor for normal applications, and a second monitor (Amiga-monitor or TV) for Video output. This video-output could be used to send out edited video to a videorecorder. So this output will be perfect for video-editing, and making cool effects in homemade videos.

Q: Will the A/Box support MPEG-2, MPEG-1 is software ?
(MPEG-2 is the commercial hardware method of Xmitting MPEG video.)
A/Box can support any kind of video coding because it contains a programmable DSP (Digital Signal Processor). If new video-standards will come in the future, A/Box will be able to support them.

Q: During the next few years, the US is going "Digital Video", utilizing an aspect ratio of 16 X 9. Is the A/Box display capable of this?
Same answer as above. There are no limitations to what type of coding A/Box can support. Somebody must program this support of course.

3. Amiga Compability

Q: Does my old AmigaOS 3.0 software work with the A\Box ?
The A\box will be binary compatible with AmigaOS 3.0 which means that compability will probably be very good.

Q: Can I link together an A\Box and an Amiga 1200 to get old software to work ?
We have heard of no such plans. But there isn't really a need for that if compability is good enough.

Q: Can I get my old Amiga partitions transported to the A\Box ?
The A\box will use mountlists and therefor this should not be a problem.

Q: Can I use any standard A1200, A2-3-4000 cards in the A\Box ?
No. There is none of the old Amiga-busses (Zorro for example) in the A\box.

4. OS Questions

Q: What OS will be used in the A\Box ?
The A\Box will use a modern UNIX kernel as the operating system core.
You can get more information from Phase 5's own page on this subject.

Q: Is the A/Box capable of running the BeOS ?
No not directly. I guess it would not be such a problem to port BeOS to A/Box, but it must be ported first.

5. Upgrading the A\Box

Q: Is it possible to change CPU easily, without changing the motherboard ?
You will be able upgrade easily (without changing motherboards), at least up to 604e 533 MHz and it is not impossible you will be able to upgrade even beyond that.

Q: Can I upgrade the memory easily ?
Yes. Buy two (due to 128 bit mode) SDRAM:s and just snap them into free slots. There are eight SDRAM-slots in the A\box, so you can fit a total of 1 GB RAM into your computer.

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