CD32

In fact it is based on Commodore's Amiga1200 computer: being in-effect an A1200 without a keyboard, floppy drive, mouse, monitor, and having been placed in a suitable case.

Technical Specifications: Motorola 68020 at 14 MHz, 2MB Chip RAM, 1KB FlashROM, AGA Chipset, Amiga OS 3.1, IDE CD-ROM, expansion socket (for accelerator, hard drive, MPEG cartridge), 4 channel stereo sound, Gamepad, Serial port, 2 Gameports, Interfaces for keyboard etc

CD32 could be enhanced using these devices : ProModule, Paravision SX-1 and Paravision SX-32 (which includes 68030 CPU).

These devices make it possible to use a floppy disk, hard disk, IBM PC keyboard and much more with this Amiga. An AmigaCD32 could be turned into a de facto Amiga1200 via the addition of 3rd party packages.

NOTE: When you make CDs which you want to have read on an Amiga CD32, make the CD as ISO 9660, level2, mode1. Don't use Rock Ridge or Joliet extensions.

See also: Amiga Demos, Amiga Games

The Commodore Amiga CD32 was a reworked Amiga1200 and the hardware was almost identical. It ran from a 14.3MHz 68EC020RC16 (16MHz rated) with 2MB onboard RAM. Onboard ROM was Kickstart 3.1 with cdfs.filesystem integrated. Amiga1200's IDE controller now hosted a 2x CD-ROM drive. In addition to the standard Amiga ROM (Version 40.xx, which is somewhere between 3.0 and 3.1 in the grand scheme of Kickstart releases) and the 2MB of RAM, CD32 carried a small ROM (size unspecified) for the bootstrap loader and 4kB of battery backed RAM for game saves. Commodore copyrighted their bootstrap and charged royalties to game developers which probably didn't help popularity much but since then, all CD-ROM based games machines have all used a similar scheme. A port at the back provided direct access to the Amiga innards for any would-be expansion pack manufacturers but was officially intended for an MPEG hardware decoder for Video CDs. This port became used by the SX-1 expansion pack, an internally based upgrade which added a hard disk, SIMM memory upgrade and all standard Amiga ports, including provision for a standard Amiga keyboard and DB9 mouse. Unfortunately, the SX-1 appeared to have been designed around Commodore's mechanical specs and not the actual unit, since it just didn't fit very well and required internal 'modification' to fit well. Knocking the console could well knock the SX-1 loose. SX-32 (which included a 68030 25MHz processor) solved these problems.

In the end, CD32 was a failure. It could not play the 2D games of the Genesis/SNES era because it was too late. It could not play the 3D games of the Saturn/Playstation era because it was too early. In the end, about 70 games were released, including the seminal Microcosm, but no 'killer' game.

Referenced By