Unity Overview
Abstract:

Unity alias Zorro1200 is an Autoconfig(TM) board for Amiga. It makes it possible to use Melody1200 and other expansions initially done for A1200's clock port for ZorroII/III Computers.

A special property is variable bus speed. It's possible to run expansions nearly as slow as in A1200 but it's even possible to go up to twice that speed known from old Zorro boards like Melody-Z2 or Prelude.

It has got a HQ Serial Interface Onboard (design is taken from Twister 1200). If there enough pre-orders (numbers mean reduction in production costs) we'll be able to add a HQ parallel Interface for free, too.

Why it's a must have:

Unity together with:

  • Unity-Net 10 results in an efficient, small low-priced 10Base-2 or 10Base-T solution for Amiga different to other solutions Full Duplex-Mode (20Mbps) is supported.
  • Unity-Net 100 probably is the first and only 10/100BaseTx solution for Amiga. It's unique!
  • Melody1200 gives the final move for Melody 1200. beeing the market leader regarding audio precission + bandwidth inside
    every Amiga. Load is much lower compared to the traditional clock-port connection at A1200. This even means there is room for a Multichannel variant Melody1200. Do you want ous to do such solution? Tell ous!
  • Twister1200 primary results in higher throughput. The mayor topic is having a real Serial High-End Interface at Zorro-Amiga by not wasting a Zorro slot (since there is the possibility of having an on-board interface that option should be taken first loosing no connector). If there is anybody out there who likes to have three very fast serial interfaces this is possible now.
  • combinations of these and future boards gives maximum flexibility by using only one Zorro slot
Features:
  • Zorro2 Autoconfig(TM)
  • Up to 3.5 MB/s bus bandwidth to CPU causing low system load, only
  • two connectors for Melody1200, Twister1200 and other boards
  • 16bits connector intended for Networkoption Unity-Net 10 or 100.

Board is prepared (production time) for mounting further devices:

  • Twister1200-style HighSpeed Serial Interface Onboard
  • Parallel Interface Onboard if there are enough pre-orders
Requirements:
  • Amiga mit Zorro Slot
  • oder Amiga 1200 mit Bus-Erweiterung
Status:
  • very early prototype was presented at Computer'98, Cologne
  • final design presented at Home Electronics World in Cologne 1999