Amiga CD32 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Part 1 of 2
Stuart Tomlinson
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Version: $VER: CD32-FAQ 3.4 (08-Apr-96)
URL: http://www.lut.fi/~veijalai/faq/CD32-FAQ.html
URL: http://uptown.turnpike.net/B/blender/cd32-faq.html
.-------------------------------------------------------.
| Amiga CD32 Frequently Asked Questions - Part 1 of 2 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
| Maintained by Stuart Tomlinson Version 3.4 |
| Email: cd32...@tomonet.demon.co.uk 8th Apr 1996 |
`-------------------------------------------------------'
Due to Dan Cannon leaving his Demon Internet account, he has granted/suckered
me with the pleasure of maintaining this FAQ. A lot of the work in it
I owe to him.
Anyone still wishing to reach Dan can find him at his new Uni
address <CM-D.J...@tees.ac.uk>.
[---- Subjects Covered -----------------------------------------------------]
Part 1...
Introduction
Tech Spec
Controllers
Software
Audio CDs
CD+Gs/Karaoke CDs
Photo CDs
Video CDs
Magazines
Internet
Jargon
Part 2...
* Expansion
Emulating a CD32
Software Developers
Pinouts
Addresses
[---- Introduction ---------------------------------------------------------]
This is the FAQ for comp.sys.amiga.cd32 and rec.games.video.cd32. It's
posted on the first weekend of each month. A lot of it is based upon
the earlier FAQ by Edward D. Berger <eb...@andrew.cmu.edu> - thanks go
to him for doing all the hard work. Another equally sized hand of thanks
must go to Dan Cannon <CM-D.J...@tees.ac.uk>, who was the maintainer
before I. Who has done the rest of this FAQ so far.
It's split into two parts. The first part holds the contents and the
more general stuff. The second part holds the more technical stuff.
This document is freely distributable, but it's compilation copyright.
No changes should be made to it and it can't be sold for profit or used
as part of a commercial document without the author's permission. So
there. If you're reading this on a CD-ROM collection then it could be
out of date.
Some sections have wiring diagrams or details of how to connect non-
CD32 specific peripherals to your CD32. These are taken from postings
from Usenet or Email and the only guarantee is that it worked for the
authors. There is a very good chance you could fry both your CD32 and
the peripheral by accident. If you're not knowledgable in electronics,
have somebody who is double check everything before turning the power
on or buy a ready made adaptor instead.
As well as news postings, you can get copies of this FAQ though...
E-Mail To: mail-...@rtfm.mit.edu
Subject: Doesn't matter
send usenet/news.answers/amiga/CD32-FAQ/part1
send usenet/news.answers/amiga/CD32-FAQ/part2
quit
FTP rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/amiga/CD32-FAQ/part1
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/amiga/CD32-FAQ/part2
WWW http://www.lut.fi/~veijalai/faq/CD32-FAQ.html
http://uptown.turnpike.net/B/blender/cd32-faq.html
More detailed CD32 pinouts are available...
E-Mail To: ftp...@doc.ic.ac.uk
Subject: Doesn't matter
open ftp.demon.co.uk
get /pub/amiga/docs/cd32-pinouts.txt
quit
FTP ftp.demon.co.uk:/pub/amiga/docs/cd32-pinouts.txt
WWW file://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/amiga/docs/cd32-pinouts.txt
And to get a copy of the CD+G list...
E-Mail To: ftp...@doc.ic.ac.uk
Subject: Doesn't matter
open ftp.demon.co.uk
get /pub/doc/misc/cdplusg.txt
quit
FTP ftp.demon.co.uk:/pub/doc/misc/cdplusg.txt
WWW file://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/doc/misc/cdplusg.txt
For the Email methods of getting files, you can put 'help' in the body
of the message (without the quotes) for more info about how to use that
Email server (including how to split the message into parts for anyone
who has an incoming Email limit).
Thanks to these people who supplied answers (either by Email or, er,
borrowed from the newsgroups). If you think I've left you out then put
me right...
Alan Buxey <kc...@central.sussex.ac.uk>
Alan Redhouse <eye...@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Alan Thomas <ALTHOMA%ESOC....@vm.gmd.de>
Alf Edvin Torgersen <ip...@ii.uib.no>
Allan Duncan <a.du...@trl.oz.au>
Anders Stenkvist <ask...@elixir.e.kth.se>
Anon <an15...@anon.penet.fi>
Bert Heise <be...@fuj.Physik.Uni-Dortmund.de>
Chris Naylor <s90...@yallara.cs.rmit.oz.au>
Claude Mueller <claude....@hdclick.link-ch1.ch>
Clive Thomas <cl...@tlc1.demon.co.uk>
Dan Cannon <CM-D.J...@tees.ac.uk>
David Avery <David...@avery.demon.co.uk>
David Bump <db...@teal.csn.org>
David L. <Dav...@cup.portal.com>
David Law/Weird Science <da...@weirdscience.co.uk>
David Mansell <dman...@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Dominic Ramsey <d...@dynamo.demon.co.uk>
Erik Austin <Erik....@p27.f431.n711.z3.fidonet.org>
Frank Hoen/Eureka <ho...@iaehv.iaehv.nl>
Frederic Botton <frederi...@ramses.fdn.org>
Garry Cardinal <card...@ARC.AB.CA>
Gavin Moran <mo...@dace.bnr.co.uk>
Geoff Adams <xg...@ppvku.ericsson.se>
Gregor Rbel <GEN...@PLATINUM.westfalen.de>
Jan Willemsen <J_Wil...@Toschibo.ruhr.de>
Jason Compton <jcom...@bbs.xnet.com>
Jason Quigley <qu...@julian.slip.uwo.ca>
Jens Kufver <j...@indic.se>
Joel Corn/Darksoft <dark...@golden.ncw.net>
John Bump <kat...@holly.ColoState.EDU>
John Layt <John...@comp.vuw.ac.nz>
John Lewis <Jo...@nesbbx.rain.COM>
Johan Fabry <we4...@vub.ac.be>
Jonas Petersson <z...@indic.se>
Joop van de Wege <joop.va...@medew.ento.wau.nl>
Jukka Kauppinen <Gre...@Freenet.hut.fi>
Karl Frederick <fred...@teleport.com>
Keith Blakemore-Noble <ke...@pfloyd.demon.co.uk>
Kenwyn M. Smith <k...@kenwyn.demon.co.uk>
Kimmo Veijalainen <Kimmo.Ve...@lut.fi>
Klaus Hegemann <Klaus_H...@punk.fido.de>
Maarten Ter Mors <maarten....@aobh.xs4all.nl>
Manjit Bedi <a13...@giant.rsoft.bc.ca>
Martin Chantler <mar...@pncl.co.uk>
Matthew Hornyak <ac...@freenet.buffalo.edu>
Michael Cox <mc...@access.digex.net>
Michael King <M.K...@cc.uq.oz.au>
Michael Litchfield <mic...@iconz.co.nz>
Mick Tinker/Index <in...@cix.compulink.co.uk>
Nick Zajerko-McKee <zaje...@access1.digex.net>
Olaf Barthel <ol...@sourcery.han.de>
Olivier Cremel <oli...@glasnost.austin.ibm.com>
Patrick Van Beem <pat...@aobh.xs4all.nl>
Paul van der Heu <pv...@motship.hacktic.nl>
Peter Kittel <peterk%combo.ads...@ganesha.com>
Phil Kernick <ph...@jrc.flinders.edu.au>
Philip McDunnough <phi...@utstat.toronto.edu>
Ralf Willinghoefer <gr...@fantasie.westfalen.de>
Ralf Willinghfer <GR...@FANTASIE.RUHR.DE>
Ralph Bonnell <cy...@gate.net>
Robert Wells <gin...@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au>
Rob Healey <rhe...@sirius.aggregate.com>
Ron <r...@tgiven.wimsey.bc.ca>
Steve Cutting <Steve_...@guru.apana.org.au>
Stuart Prevost <stuart....@bt-sys.bt.co.uk>
Thomas Kessler <kes...@fim.uni-erlangen.de>
Tony Philipsson <to...@gate.net>
William Thompson <William=Thompson%Pub=Facility%S...@dbar7.aqmd.gov>
[---- Key ------------------------------------------------------------------]
Q: A question.
A: An answer (there may be more than one answer per question).
* A change since the last version.
+ An addition since the last version.
- An answer is missing or incomplete - this will (hopefully) be sorted
out by the next version.
To skip through questions, set your text viewer to search for the
string 'Q:'. To skip through subjects, search for '[-'.
[---- Tech Spec ------------------------------------------------------------]
Q: What are the technical details of the CD32?
A: Internal...
CPU Motorola 68EC020 clocked at 14.32Mhz.
32 bit data path. 24 bit address space
(limited to additional 8M of 'fast' RAM due
to CD32 system design).
FPU None.
MMU None.
ROM 1M (8 megabits) of operating system.
RAM 2M (16 megabits) of 'chip' RAM.
1K of 'flash' RAM.
CD drive Multi-session, double speed, top loading,
caddy-less design. Max transfer about 330K/s.
Custom controller based (not IDE or SCSI).
Operating system Kickstart/AmigaDOS version 40.6, release 3.1.
Customisations for CD32 specifics.
Custom chipset AGA custom chipset from 4 chips.
Chips are called Akiko, Alice, Lisa, Paula.
See the Jargon list for what they do.
External...
Aux port 1 x 6 pin mini-din type.
Combined serial/keyboard connector.
Controller ports 2 x 9 pin D type.
Accepts CD32 joypads, Amiga mice, joysticks,
Megadrive joypads, Master System joypads.
Video outputs Composite, S-Video, RF (for televisions).
French CD32s have a combined SCART & S-Video
port in place of the S-Video port.
Audio outputs 2 x RCA standard fixed output level.
1 x mini stereo headphone jack adjustable
output level.
Expansion port 1 x microchannel.
For FMV cartridge or other system expansions.
Add-ons...
CD32 joypad Custom 11 button wire based, 9 pin D style.
1 supplied, additional joypads can be
purchased separately.
CD32x & SX-1 Adds enough connectors and ports to make it
possible to use your CD32 as a computer.
FMV cartridge Play CD-i Digital Video or Video CDs.
Keyboard Most Amiga keyboards can be plugged into a
CD32.
Mouse All Amiga mice can be plugged into the CD32.
Some games will be easier to control.
Serial link Connected to the Aux port, allows you to use
the CD32 as an external CD-ROM drive for
other computers.
[---- Controllers ----------------------------------------------------------]
Q: What's the Competition Pro CD32 joypad like?
A: It's completely compatible with the C= CD32 joypad.
Some good things said about it are that it's shaped like a Megadrive
joypad, the diagonals are easier to get to, it feels less delicate, it
has turbo and auto fires, and it has a slow motion button.
Some bad things said about it are that it's shaped like a Megadrive
joypad and the diagonals are more difficult to get to.
Obviously a bit subjective.
Q: Is it possible to plug other types of controller into the controller
port?
A: Yes, but you'll lose access to most CD32 joypad buttons.
CD32 Megadrive Master System Joystick Amiga mouse
--------- --------------- --------------- --------------- -------------
Select B A Fire Left button
Stop C B (Second fire) Right button
Play (Third fire) Middle button
Shuffle
Loop
Rewind
Forward
Q: Is it possible to connect a 6-button Megadrive or SNES joypad to the
CD32?
A: As far as I know, it can't be done unless you're good with a soldering
iron, but if anyone has managed to do this then I'll stick the details
in here.
Q: Is it possible to use the CD32 joypad on normal Amigas?
A: It works fine. Some newer Amiga games are even taking advantage of the
extra buttons (shuffle, loop, etc...). Many older Amiga games that use
the keyboard for weapon select will use the stop button instead (eg.
Project-X, Apydia, Turrican 2).
Q: Is it possible to both connect both a joypad and a mouse and use them
together?
A: The joypad should be plugged into controller port 1 and the mouse
should be plugged into controller port 2.
Q: Is it possible to connect more than two controllers?
A: There are rumours of being able to daisy-chain 8 or even 16 CD32
joypads together, but nothing's been seen.
What will work is if you connect some kind of interface that gives you
a parallel port (eg. SX-1) and plug in an Amiga four-player adaptor in
there.
The good point is that you can play the Amiga version of Dynablaster,
if you have a floppy drive.
The bad points are that it's a bit expensive and CD32 joypads won't
work when plugged into the four player adaptor (but they still work if
you plug them into the side controller ports).
[---- Software -------------------------------------------------------------]
Q: What CDs will work with the CD32?
A: CD32 ones (um), many CDTV ones, music CDs, Karaoke CDs, CD+Gs (like a
music CD but it has pictures or lyrics displayed in time with the
music), Photo CDs (if you load up a photo CD reader first), and Video
CDs (if you have the FMV cartridge plugged in).
Also it can read CDs meant for other computers such as the PC and the
Mac, but it's up to you to tell it how to make sense of the files on
the CD (maybe by using something like datatypes). You won't be able to
play games for other computers though.
Q: How can I try to convince a game to work in PAL or NTSC?
A: Connect an Amiga mouse into controller port 2, hold down both mouse
buttons, and press the reset button. You'll be given a boot menu where
you'll be able to choose either PAL or NTSC. If you have a keyboard
then you can press any key to switch the boot menu between PAL and
NTSC so you can see what you're doing.
This is useful for NTSC CD32 owners who want to run games that use the
PAL area of the screen.
Multisystem TVs connected to any video output on or 1084s connected to
the S-Video output will work.
TVs/monitors connected to the CD32 through the French CD32's or SX-1's
or CD32x's or TP9's (see diagram at end of FAQ) RGB connector will also
work fine.
TVs/monitors connected to the CD32 through the composite or S-Video
outputs won't work though. The problem is that the PAL colour signal is
still sent at the NTSC frequency.
Q: Are there any games with NTSC problems?
A: Lock 'n' Load - most of the games (about 80%) are PAL only.
Nick Faldo's Golf doesn't let you see the bottom of the screen, so you
can't even take shots properly because the meters are covered up.
Video Creator has the bottom of the screen missing. Also the animations
become slowly out of sync with the music because of the difference in
speed between NTSC/PAL machines. Almathera MAY work on an NTSC version
of Video Creator - Email them at the address at the end of the FAQ to
convince them.
Q: Are there any games definitely without NTSC problems?
A: Here's a list...
Alien Breed Tower Assult Battle Chess
Banshee Bubba 'n' Stix
Bubble 'n' Squeak Chaos Engine (NTSC)
Defender of the Crown 2 Fire and Ice
Global Effect Guardian
Gunship 2000 Insight Technology
Labyrinth of Time Litil Divil
Lotus Trilogy Microcosm
Pinball F./Sleepwalker (NTSC) Super Stardust
Ultimate Body Blows Winter Olympics
Zool
Q: What CD32 bundles are available?
A: Original...
Diggers Oscar
Dangerous Streets...
Dangerous Streets Diggers
Oscar Wing Commander
Spectacular Voyage...
Chaos Engine Microcosm
(Early versions also had the games from Dangerous Streets included.)
Critical Zone...
Cannon Fodder Diggers
Liberation Microcosm
Oscar Project-X
Ultimate Body Blows
Q: What multimedia software is available for the CD32?
A: CD32 specific...
Grolier's Encyclopedia II
Guinness Book of Records II
Insight: Technology (released for CD32, CDTV compatible)
Video Creator
Video Creator Update 1 (Amiga CD32 issue 2)
Video Creator Extras (AUI December 1994 - on floppy)
Various CDTV titles...
Advanced Military Simulator American Heritage Dictionary
Animals in Motion Connoisseur of Fine Arts
New Basics Electronic Cookbook Stamps of France and Monaco
Timetable of Business, Politics Timetable of Science, Innovation
Various CDTV titles that require a mouse...
Dr Wellman Fruits and Vegetables
Garden Plants Guinness Disc of Records
Illustrated Holy Bible Illustrated Works of Shakespeare
Indoor Plants Musicolor
Trees and Shrubs Women in Motion
Various CDTV titles that require a keyboard and disk drive...
Inter Office
Q: What educational software is available for CD32?
A: CD32 specific...
MicroFrench CD32
(Contains video sequences, but you don't have to own a FMV cartridge
to view them. More languages are planned.)
Various CDTV titles...
A Long Hard Day at the Ranch Cinderella
Fun School 3 (under 5's) Fun School 3 (5 to 7)
Fun School 3 (over 7's) Heather Hits a Home Run
Moving Gives me a Stomach Ache Mud Puddle
North Polar Expedition Scary Poems for Rotten Kids
Tale of Benjamin Bunny Tale of Peter Rabbit
Thomas' Snowsuit
Various CDTV titles that require a mouse...
A Bun for Barney Barney Bear Goes Camping
Barney Bear Goes to School LTV English
My Paint Paperbag Princess
Various CDTV titles that require a keyboard...
Asterix English for French 1 Asterix English for French 2
Asterix French for English 1 Asterix French for English 2
[---- Audio CDs ------------------------------------------------------------]
Q: Is it possible to directly read the audio data from music CDs into
memory?
A: Nobody's managed to do this. The next best thing is to buy an SX-1,
plug a sampler into the parallel port, start a CD playing with one of
the CD players from aminet:/disk/cdrom, then sample directly to hard
drive.
[---- CD+Gs/Karaoke CDs ----------------------------------------------------]
Q: Where do I get CD+Gs from?
A: CD+G discs used to have a little sticker on the case, but the companies
stopped this on the grounds that it confused the general public... The
only places you'll probably find them now are in bargain bins or the
odd mail order music store.
You can download a list of CD+Gs released from the place mentioned at
the start of the FAQ, so you at least know what you're looking for. If
you find a CD+G not on the list you can also send an addition (have a
look on the list for how to do this).
Q: Can I use Karaoke CDs?
A: Yep. They're the same thing. If you work or you know anybody working in
a pub then you could get hold of the CDs for their Karaoke machine.
Q: How do I play CD+Gs/Karaoke CDs?
A: If you have a CD+G disc, you'll be able to tell immediately - the music
player will disappear and the graphics will appear as soon as you press
play.
Use the up and down directions to change language and select to return
to the music player. The rest of the controls work as normal. Once
you're back at the player, a "CD+G" button will appear in the bottom
left corner - hit select on that to return to the graphics.
Q: How do CD+Gs/Karaoke CDs work?
A: They fill up the spare 25M that is empty on a regular music CD with the
graphics. They're limited to 16 colours low-resolution so that they
stand a greater chance of working on a lot of different systems.
[---- Photo CDs ------------------------------------------------------------]
Q: Is it possible to display Photo CDs without expanding to a computer?
A: Yep, use one of these CDs before the Photo CD...
Network CD Weird Science
Photolite Eureka
A: Olaf Barthel wrote:
In Winter 1994 I wrote a commercial program for this purpose. It can
read both plain Photo CDs (such as the golden Photo CD Master discs)
and interactive Photo CD portfolio discs. The program uses technology
licensed from the Eastman Kodak Corporation. It is called "FolioworX
Player" and retails for about DM 100,-. Blittersoft is the official
distributor in the UK.
A: This is a quick description made after reading Asimware's info sheet
(it's probably better to read the full thing for yourself if you're
interested before making up your mind):
Asimware's Photo CD Manager costs US $39.95/CDN $47.95 and works on the
CD32 and any Amiga with Kickstart 2 or above. It displays thumb nail
images in groups of 10 on a sort of tape deck display. From this you
can choose one or as many pictures as you want and view them as a
slide show in any order. If you've got a CD32 or an AGA Amiga it
displays them in 262144 colours, otherwise 4096.
[---- Video CDs ------------------------------------------------------------]
Q: What does the FMV cartridge do?
A: If you plug in the FMV cartridge, you can play Video CDs in almost the
same way as you play music CDs. It's really a 24 bit display card that
can be genlocked with normal CD32 graphics, so you can superimpose your
own images over it (this is a feature of Video Creator, apparently).
Q: Where do I get Video CDs from?
A: Any decent computer/music/video shop.
Q: Can I use CD-i Digital Video CDs?
A: Yep. Some don't quite follow the standard though, so if you get rubbish
on certain ones you can upgrade your FMV cartridge's ROM to the latest
version (40.30) which can cope with the non-standard CDs. The dealer
that you bought the FMV cartridge from should be able to do this for
you at a cost of about 5UKP.
Q: What are the differences between Video CDs and CD-i Digital Video CDs?
A: You won't get the bookmarks that you find on the CD-i. That's because
the bookmarks are really a CD-i program. Instead you can search through
the disc using the normal music player controls.
[---- Magazines ------------------------------------------------------------]
Q: Are there any Amiga/CD32 magazines with CD-ROMs?
A: In the UK (check your usual sources of foreign Amiga mags elsewhere)...
Amiga CD! (included with Amiga User International)...
Monthly. Some sections of issue 3 are CDTV and A570 compatible. Issue
3 was the last issue. They're still waiting for the Commodore issue
to sort itself out, so maybe it'll start up again now that it has.
Amiga CD32 magazine...
Not regular. Issues 1 and 2 are available through Amiga Format's back
issues page. Issue 3 was planned to be out on December 1st. It hasn't
been seen yet.
Amiga Power CD32 version...
Not regular. Issue 49 has a CD32 version with some demos, a load of
PD games, and a load of reviews of the all time top 100 games. It
sounds like there could be more CD32 versions some time soon(ish).
Amiga Shooper...
One off. Has a CD on the front with a load of graphics, fonts, sound
samples, music, etc... You really need a CD32x or SX-1 to do
anything useful with this.
CD Gold...
One off. A CD-ROM based magazine for CD32, CDTV, A570, and any CD
Amiga. There was only one issue published, the pilot issue.
CD32 Gamer.
Monthly. There are two versions - the normal one and one which costs
5UKP more and has a full game attached to the front of the mag.
Q: Are there any other magazines for the CD32?
A: Amiga Pro/32 is now Amiga Pro. No more CD32 specific section. Most
other Amiga mags have a small 1 or 2 page CD32 specific section each
month.
[---- Internet -------------------------------------------------------------]
Q: What Usenet newsgroups are dedicated to CD32 discussion?
A: Two...
comp.sys.amiga.cd32 Using the CD32 as a slave drive.
Add-ons for the CD32 (eg. FMV addition).
Technical talk about the CD32.
Serious issues for the CD32.
rec.games.video.cd32 Games on the CD32.
People's opinions about games.
Hints and tips for games.
Rumours and lists of new/future games.
If your site doesn't carry the groups, ask your system admin.
Q: What on-line mags are available?
A: Three...
Amiga Report aminet:/docs/mags/ar*.lha
CD32 Bits aminet:/docs/mags/cd32bits*.lha
CD32 View aminet:/docs/mags/cdvw*.lha
Q: Are there any CD32 pages on WWW?
A: Yep. It's run by Kimmo Veijalainen and you can Email him articles,
reviews, hints and tips, digitised pictures of games, and so on to fill
it up. Kimmo's Email address is Kimmo.Ve...@lut.fi. The home page
is at http://www.lut.fi/~veijalai/cd32.html.
A: There is also the Archos Overdrive home page. It contains brief
descriptions of games, lists of games that work and don't, tips on
getting stubborn games to work, and so on. It's run by Michael Cox,
and his Email address is mc...@access.digex.net. The home page is at
http://access.digex.net/~mcox/zappohome.html.
A: And there's Grendel's Games lists which holds more Archos Overdrive
info. From Jukka Kauppinen. Jukka's Email address is
Gre...@Freenet.hut.fi.
A: Martin Chantler wrote:
I have just seen your latest CD FAQ and thought I will let you know
that I have a homepage with lots of CD and Zappo information on it.
The area also covers a lot of normal CDs etc.
URL: http://www.pncl.co.uk/~martinc/main.html.
[---- Jargon ---------------------------------------------------------------]
AFAIK
As Far As I Know. The CD32 expansion connector pinout is only
available to registered CD32 developers, AFAIK.
AGA
Advanced Graphics Architecture. The name given to the latest custom
chipset for Amigas, which allows 8 bit (256) and HAM8 (262144) colour
graphics from a palette of 16.7 million. The CD32 uses AGA chipset as
do the Amiga 1200 and 4000 computers.
Akiko
This chip handles the data coming from the CD drive and includes the
functions of the CIA chips in other Amigas.
It's also more famous for chunky to planar conversion. Chunky and
planar are two different methods of storing the screen in memory.
Chunky is often used for 3D games. Planar is useful for scrolling
games, and it's the method used by the CD32. This chip quickly
converts from one t' other, helping developers to port code across
from other platforms that use chunky.
Alice
The replacement for Agnus in older Amigas. Contains the Blitter and
Copper, amongst other things.
AmigaDOS
The part of the CD32's operating system that's on CD-ROM (or floppy
or hard drive). Developers must obtain a license to distribute even a
small part of AmigaDOS on their CD-ROMs - it's copyrighted.
Audio CD
Your normal CD that holds music. Given a different name for computers
because there's so many different types of CD about. The CD32 can
play these.
Blitter
BLock Image TransfER. Special part of the graphics chip hardware
which speeds up many operations, by moving blocks of chip RAM around
with DMA, while performing logical operations on them. Lines and area
fills are among the most popular uses for the Blitter.
Boot
Putting the CD-ROM in the drive and automatically launching a program
without having to go through the operating system (eg. Workbench,
MS-DOS, Finder, etc...) and all the messing around with keyboards and
mice that it entails.
CDs will only boot for the computer that they were written for, even
though the files on the CD are readable on all CD-ROM machines
(ISO-9660).
If you intend to use the CD32 as a CD-ROM for other computers and you
don't have other storage devices (such as floppy or hard drives)
available, you must find CD-ROMs that boot up and load communications
software (such as Parnet, Sernet, or Twin Express).
Bootblock
A small piece of copyrighted code that must be on a CD-ROM in order
for it to boot. Developers must have a licence to use the bootblock.
C-Cube
This is supplied in the FMV cartridge. It decompresses the MPEG-1
picture from the Video CD and puts it on the screen. It's also found
in the CD-i's FMV cartridge.
CD+G
Compact Disc + Graphics. A standard music CD with the addition of
graphic pictures that can be viewed with an appropriate player. CDTV
and CD32 both play CD+G discs. CD+G discs were never plentiful, and
may not even be produced any more.
CD-i
Compact Disc - interactive. System for multimedia developed by
Philips; made available to the public shortly after CDTV was. Not
expandable to a popular computer platform such as CD32 is expandable
to an Amiga. CD-i software titles cannot be played on a CD32 and
vice-versa.
There is a new cut-down version of the CD-i (smaller box, less
connectors) that looks remarkably similar to the CD32...
CD-i Digital Video CD
A Video CD for the CD-i. The difference is that the they also have
bookmarks of interesting parts of the film on them. These can also be
played on the CD32 with FMV cartridge, but the bookmarks are missing.
CISC
Complex Instruction Set Chip. Contains lots of nice instructions,
but it ain't so good in the speed department.
CD+MIDI
Similar to a standard music CD, but it also holds information for
driving MIDI instruments.
CD-ROM
Compact Disc - Read Only Memory. A 5 inch polycarbonate disk with
aluminium coating, laser etched with holes for storing computer data.
ISO-9660 CD-ROMs can also hold music tracks that can be played with a
normal music CD player as well.
CDTV
Commodore Dynamic Total Vision. The previous CD based machine by C=.
It wasn't exactly a storming success, mainly due to poor marketing.
Many CDTV discs will work on the CD32, but some need a mouse and
others need a keyboard.
Microcosm was originally a CDTV project. C= gave Psygnosis some
financial backing to develop it, but the CDTV version never saw the
light of day, except for some promotional demos.
CDXL
C='s attempt at getting motion video on the CDTV before low cost MPEG
decoder chips became available. The CD32's version of CDXL can cope
with more colours and cover more of the screen.
CDXLs can be about two-thirds of the size of the screen (although
they can be scaled up slightly to fill more, but the side effect is
that they look blocky) and they can also hold mono or stereo sound.
Chip RAM
Random Access Memory available to both the CPU and Amiga custom
chipset inside the CD32 (and all previous Amigas). The CD32 ships
with the maximum amount of chip RAM that the AGA chipset can handle
- 2M.
Copper
CO-ProcEssoR. All Amigas feature a special co-processor as part of
their custom chipset, which allows some graphic chip functions such
as colour palette manipulation to happen asynchronously to other
tasks, freeing the CPU for other work.
CPU
Central Processor Unit. The brains for managing data and its
manipulation inside a computer. Amigas, CDTV, and CD32 have all used
the Motorola 68000 series of CPUs.
Datatype
Allows the OS to support any graphic, sound, text, or animation
format, once the datatype information is copied to the proper folder
on the Workbench disk or hard drive. Programs can ask the OS to load
the file for them without knowing anything about the file format
themselves.
This can come in very useful if you want to read ISO-9660 CDs
generated on other computers (once you've upgraded your CD32 to a
computer, of course).
DMA
Direct Memory Access. Allows other chips apart from the CPU to access
the RAM, at the same time as the CPU. This frees up the CPU for doing
other work, whilst the Blitter is copying memory for example.
Fast RAM
Random Access Memory available to the Amiga's CPU, but not the custom
chipset, thus faster for compute intensive tasks as no time sharing
between the custom chipset and CPU is involved. Adding fast RAM
should almost double the speed of the CD32 for non-graphics intensive
work.
The CD32 ships with no fast RAM, but third party expansion boxes may
allow for up to 8M of fast RAM expansion if you do not have the FMV
cartridge, or 4M if used with the FMV cartridge.
Flash RAM
RAM which can have data stored such that it survives being powered
down. CD32 uses flash RAM to allow saving high-scores or game
position information for the next time you play. Also known as NVRAM
(Non Volatile).
FMV
Full Motion Video - just what it says. Full screen moving pictures.
Often mis-used by journalists to mean any picture, including those
that have 10 colours and are around the size of a postage-stamp,
that's spooled from the CD-ROM.
FMV Upgrade
A plug in cartridge that gives the CD32 capability to play MPEG-1
encoded CDs such as CD-i Digital Video (Star Trek VI, Top Gun) or
Video CDs.
GIF
Graphic Interchange Format. GIF compression is a standard for storing
still pictures with 8 bit colour (256 colours on screen at once) and
no loss in picture quality.
HAM6 or HAM
An earlier version of HAM8, found on A500s, A2000s, and A3000s, that
remains for compatibility. This allows up to 4096 colours on screen
at once.
HAM8
Hold And Modify - 8 bit. An Amiga screen mode which can have up to
262144 colours on screen at once by changing some colour registers on
each succeeding pixel on a given scanline. This is most useful for
static pictures or predefined animation sequences, as it is difficult
to constantly compute the best pixel colours in constantly changing
action games.
HAM8 is often used to display JPEG format pictures or predefined
animations (CDXLs) with better than 8 bit colour (256 colours), often
up to near 18 bit (262144 colours) quality.
IFF
Interchangable File Format. Developed by Electronic Arts and put into
the public domain. Any IFF file can be read in by any program that
understands the IFF format (if it's suitable - there's no point in
a graphics package loading in an IFF sound file, for example).
Took off on the Amiga in a big way, so much so that any program that
doesn't understand IFF is guaranteed not to sell. Didn't do so well
on the PC for some reason (perhaps it was too good an idea...).
IMHO
In my humble opinion. The CD32 is the best inexpensive multimedia
delivery platform, IMHO.
ISO-9660
The different computer manufacturers got their act together and
agreed on a standard format for CD-ROMs, unlike the mess that we're
still left with today for floppy disks.
You can read any CD32, CDTV, Mac, or PC CD-ROM in any of the others.
Although the files are readable, the file formats are still different
for each computer (unless it's the CD32/CDTV), but if you have some
conversion programs or datatypes you can display the graphics, play
the sounds, or show the text from the CD-ROM.
ISO-9660 CDs are also cunningly compatible with Audio CDs, so you can
play tracks 2 onwards (track 1 is computer data) in a hi-fi, and
computers can mix the music from the Audio CDs with the sound output.
JPEG
Joint Photographic Expert Group - JPEG compression is a standard for
storing still pictures with 24 bit colour (16.7 million colours on-
screen at once).
Kickstart
The part of the CD32's operating system that's in ROM.
It contains all the code needed to access the CD-ROM and multitask,
as well as other things that will never see the light of day unless
you add a keyboard and some kind of storage (floppy or hard drive).
Lisa
Handles the screen display. There's a palette of 16.7 million colours
- each colour made of one of 256 shades of red, green, and blue. From
that any power of 2, up to 256, or 4096 (HAM6), or 262144 (HAM8)
colours can be displayed. The resolution can be most combinations of
320, 640, or 1024 across and 256, 512, or 1024 down (although there
are other modes available).
MPEG
Motion Picture Expert Group - they've decided the format of MPEG-1
and MPEG-2 compression.
MPEG-1 is the accepted standard for video compression on CDs... It
uses a variety of techniques to achieve staggering compression ratios
while still maintaining good picture quality. Other parts of the MPEG
standard include synchronized digital audio to make the format useful
for movies on CD-ROM.
MPEG-2 isn't used on CDs but it looks even better.
NTSC
The television standard used in America.
NTSC screens cannot be as deep PAL screens. This can lead to problems
when some software written in PAL countries is run on a CD32 using a
NTSC screen. The software may use the bottom section of the screen
that NTSC owners cannot see.
This is entirely the fault of software companies, there are enough
ROM routines in the CD32 to tell the program what TV standard it is
running under and the program should make allowances.
PAL
The television standard used in most of Europe and Australia.
Parnet/Sernet
Freely distributable networking solutions for Amigas. Uses the
parallel ports (Parnet) or serial ports (Sernet) to allow one to
mount drives on multiple machines. In this way the CD32 can access
the keyboard and hard drives of another Amiga, and the Amiga can
access the CD32's CD drive.
CDTV was often used as an external CD drive for Amiga computers via
Parnet.
A version of Parnet is now available for PC computers, allowing you
to link from CD32 to PC.
ParNFS
An Amiga only update to Parnet. This new version is faster and has
some bug fixes.
Paula
Gives you four channel stereo sound. Each channel can have 64 volume
levels and can play either waveforms or sound samples at almost any
pitch or octave from RAM. This chip is used to create sound effects,
or play music from memory often when the CD-ROM is tied up for some
reason (a CD-ROM cannot be used to load game code AND play CD music
at the same time).
Photo CD
Transfering pictures taken from a camera onto CD. These can be read
by the CD32 if you can find a CD-ROM with a photo CD reader on it,
use it as a slave drive, or expand it to a computer and download the
proper (freely distributable) software.
The Communicator is bundled with a Photo CD reader called Photolite -
this is available seperately too. Also Weird Science's Network CD has
a Photo CD reader on it.
RAD
RecoverAble RAM Drive. An area of RAM that doesn't lose its data when
reset. Any area of RAM can be used as RAD. Games can use it to save
data in, so it's possible to play a game of Liberation, save your
place in RAD, reset, play another game, then return to Liberation
later. Some games don't like RAD being there though.
RAM
Random Access Memory. Specialized computer chips that can store
information for as long as they powered on or the CD32 isn't reset.
RAM chips and be read and written to by the CPU or the AGA chipset.
RISC
Reduced Instruction Set Chip. A CPU that contains only a limited set
of instructions. The idea is that each instruction is so simple that
it doesn't take long to execute and any of the more complicated ones
that are missing can be built up out of the simple ones.
ROM
Read Only Memory. Specialized computer chips that store data and
instructions for computer operation and cannot be erased or written
over.
Shovelware
Taking an Amiga game, putting it on CD-ROM with no improvements
whatsoever, and usually charging more than the original disk version.
Slave drive
Connecting the CD32 via serial or parallel link to another computer
and using networking software such as Parnet, Sernet, or Twin Express
so that the other computer can read the CD-ROM in the CD32.
Spool
Quickly taking data from the CD-ROM and shoving it on the screen or
sending it to the audio output, or both. Eg. CDXLs or the Microcosm
tunnels.
3DO
Three Dimensional Objects (I think). Another CD-ROM based multimedia/
games system developed by Electronic Arts and former Amiga people.
This also is not expandable to a regular computer system. Slightly
more expensive for the both hardware and software than the CD32. It
has more limited screen resolutions. Only just released in Europe.
Twin Express
A program to transfer files from one computer to another through a
serial link. The front end works similar to FTP. There are versions
of Twin Express for the PC and Amiga.
Video CD
If you have a FMV cartridge you can play these. There were 100 films
available in August '94, much more now.