Twister 1200 rev.2 (DCE)

Abstract:

Attention the board is installed with the parts towards A1200 mainboard and direction to the keyboard which is fully different to Twister1200 rev.1 or Melody1200!

The new Twister 1200 Mk II is a redesigned cost reduced version of the original Twister project, which, thanks to a quite different software and hardware approach when compared to similar products, has received already much consent within the community of ultra fast serial connection surfers. Redesign, production and distribution is done by DCE. Katodev still does support, though. Here just a few of the features of the Twister 1200 Mk II:

Features:

  • New design for an easier fit in different hardware configurations.
  • Stong number of bitrates supported
  • Very fast serial interface for Amiga 1200, 460,800 bps (up to 691,200).
  • Perfectly compatible with the Z-IV, new bus board for A1200
  • Can be used together with the Melody 1200, the audio card
  • Although recommended, it doesn't require a Tower case to work.
  • To the best of our knowledge, the Twister 1200 Mk II is the only serial card for Amiga 1200 supporting FIFO based automatic flow control. (The receiver is able to hold the transfer if the sender is too fast. Unlike the standard Amiga serial port or other similar products, the well known "hardware buffer overrun" message is obsolete.

Screenshots:

This schnapshot shows Olsen's TERM using twister.device at bitrate of 691.200 BPS (that's out of chip spec test but shows typical feature) and a throughput of 28.000 Characters per second. That's all the 68030 we used for the test was able to move. Although there is a powerfull transmission running there are no overflows and systemload is low compared to other interfaces.

Status:

  • available since HEW'99
Twister 1200 rev.1

 

About:

Twister1200 is a very fast serial interface (HighEnd) for use at Amiga 1200. Up to our knowledge Twister 1200 is the only expansion for Amiga supporting FIFO based automatic flow control. (The receiver is able to hold the transfer if the sender is too fast). Different to chipset and other expansions the well known "hardware buffer overrun" message is obsolete.

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    Board and Enclosement:

    Adapter 9->25pin:

     

    Driver:

    inernal ribbon wire and bracket (not shown):

 

Screenshots:

This Screenshot shows Olsen's TERM with twister.device and a Bitrate of 691.200 BPS (if possible we're testing "better than spec requirement") and a throughput of28.000 chars per second. This is the limitation for an 68030 which was used for the test it seems. Careless of such strong loads the transmission is free of errors.

Features:

  • automatic data flow control
  • full, real 7-wire Hardwarehandshake
  • high max. bitrates (460800 BPS) , different to other boards which are using down to 38400 chipsets this value is fully in SPEC of the chipset used
  • large FIFOs, low system load -> smooth working
  • high throughput
  • usable with Amiga1200 with and without Melody1200 as a module on top of Unity (Unity allready has got a Twister On-board, though)

Status:

  • available since Computer'98
  • production stopped