Along with the A4000/040 Tower, the prototype CD Rom drive for the A1200, took pride of place in the Commodore Suite at the ECTS.  It will allow A1200 owners to access the growing number of CD32 titles that are becomming available on the market at the present time.  

In design and size, the unit looks much like the drive of the CD32, just without the right hand side of the machine where the FMV module is housed.The unit is in the colours of the A1200, and all of the expected connectors are there, including a controller connector, which is obviously needed to accomodate the 11 button pad.

However.  There are many problems at the moment, which has caused Commodore UK to not set a date for the units release.  These are :-

            1) The cable that attaches the unit to the A1200, feeds through the small slot at the back, right hand side of the machine.  It then attaches to the internal expansion slot, which, as feared, prevents other expansions from being attached.  
            2) Due to the method of attachment, it is impossible to have RAM upgrades other than by the use of the PCMCIA slot.  Unfortunatley, most of the games tried on the unit with the credit card RAM did not run.  C= are adamant that this problem will be fixed before any units are shipped.
            3) Finally, but probably most importantly, the drive will definately not be FMV compatible.


Projected price is set at £200, but whether it will ever be released in the UK has yet to be seen.  The incompatability and non FMV capability will probably result in not many units ever being sold.  Anybody wanting such a machine would be much better off buying a CD32 with the forthcoming SX1 expansion slot.
If you are dead set on getting your hands on a CD1200, then your best bet is to try to get a grey import from Germany, where the drive is due for release.

What is really needed though is a PCMCIA drive, with FMV capabiltity.  The only other company that seemed innovative enough to produce such a device was Software Demon (UK), and it has come to light that they have gone bust.  So, we can now only wait to see what the future holds.