Amiga CD32 Hardware Summary
The Amiga CD32 is a game system first, then a computer. Its basic hardware configuration reflects this. The table below summarizes the hardware features.
2 The Amiga CD32 Motherboard
The motherboard for the Amiga CD32 is roughly 6" by 12" and is a four layer board. On the main PCB - is a 14MHz 68EC020, the AA chipset, an ASIC called Akiko, a DAC for playing standard CD audio, and a small amount of EEPROM.
Akiko is a 160-pin PQFP surface-mounted device containing most of the remainder of the logic necessary m the Amiga CD32. It includes the CD-ROM control logic and the system timers. The EEPROM is 8K bits, and designed for storing Settings, high scores, bookmarks, etc., on the Amiga CD32.
In addition to the AA chips, Akiko, the CPU and the EEPROM/ the main board contains 2MB of DRAM as Chip RAM. A PAL or NTSC modulator is also included on the main board.
The Compact Disc DAC is a standard 18-bit, 8x oversampling DAC. Along with the superb audio quality of the DAC, the Amiga CD32 expansion connector has digital audio input capability in order to mix an external source such as MPEG audio with the CD audio and Amiga audio.
2The Amiga AA Chip Set
The Amiga AA chip set is the latest in the Amiga family of custom chips. It provides stunning graphics and animation capabilities, a huge color palette and multiple display modes. Throughout the history of the Amiga, the individual chips of each chip set have had colorful names beginning with the trio of Portia, Agnus and Daphne in the original chip set up to the latest trio of Paula, Alice and Lisa contained in the Amiga CD32 system.
AA Chip Set Features
The AA chip set has a number of features that are ideal for games.
The AA chip set supports 15kHz and 31kHz display modes, but because Amiga CD32 will primarily be attached to a television set, the 31kHz modes are not used. These video modes can be used if the optional computer module is added with the RGB interface.