1999.12.14.

Dear customer

we would like to inform you about the current status of the Cyberstorm and Blizzard G4 development.

To our regret it has not been possible to deliver these new products according to the proposed schedule. Due to a constant delay in the availability of the Motorola MPC107 system controller, as well as due to the fact that Motorola also can not fullfill our scheduled order of 400MHz G4 processors before Q1/2000, the boards will not go into production this year. However, this delay gives us the opportunity to incorporate an additional technical enhancement: By changing to a different brand-new and more powerful system controller, we can implement an Accelerated Graphics Power (AGP) which will allow to use the most modern AGP-based graphics chips on the gfx boards for the Cyberstorm and Blizzard G4, and gives a much wider selection than PCI only. Depending on the status of the driver development, we plan to use either a current graphics chip from NVidia, 3DFx or ATI on the CyberVisionNG.

The situation around Amiga Inc., which has changed again in the meantime, has confirmed us in our expectation that a further development of the Amiga technolorgy or a new Amiga generation (in hardware or software) will not be realized by Amiga Inc. Therefore, the decision to choose QNX Neutrino as the base operating system, together with a powerful Amiga OS legacy support, is proven to be the right way. Additionally, the new Cyberstorm and Blizzard G4 design will allow to also install LinuxPPC as an additional operating system, which can be used alternatively, thus enhancing the functionality and suitability of the boards for many purposes.

Best regards, Your phase 5 team

Azaz röviden....

A fentebbi levélkébõl két fontos dolgot tudhatunk meg. Az egyiket már eddig is tudtuk, mégpedig azt, hogy a G4 csúszik, a levél szerint 2000 elsõ negyedévében fog csak megérkezni. Ez nem újdonság, annyira nem is lényeges.

Ami sokkal fontosabb, hogy a kártya AGP portot is tartalmazni fog. Ez nem azért életbevágó, mert az AGP annyival gyorsabb lenne, mint a PCI, hanem mert gyakorlatilag nem lehet PCI grafikus kártyákat beszerezni a piacon: magyarországon egyszerûen már nem létezik a kategória, PC bontóból juthat csupán hozzá az ember egy-egy régiséghez...

A harmadik rendkívül fontos információ, amit a levél tartalmazott pedig az volt, hogy azért mégiscsak készülgetnek a G4 kártyáink :)

Emeric SH