Finally the much awaited SX-1 module has appeared on sale, but was it worth
the wait.

For £199 you get a box that fits onto the back of the CD32 offering expansion
possibilities beyond your wildest dreams - well nearly.

The unit actually consists of a number of expansion ports

Serial - a PC AT DB9 connector.

RGB - a standard Amiga 23 pin video port allowing connection to RGB and VGA
(with the appropriate adaptor) monitors.

Parallel - a standard Amiga parallel port.

Audio In - Allows the use of audio mixing - undocumented feature
at present.

AT Keyboard - Allows connection of an AT101 key keyboard.

External & Internal IDE hard drive connectors.

Floppy - connect a standard Amiga floppy drive - recognised as df0:

SIMM connector - connect either a 1/2/4/8 Mb 32bit SIMM.

MPEG passthrough - allows the use of the C= FMV board with the SX-1



THE TESTS

Upon unpacking the SX-1 the first thing I did was to consult the manual.
This was rather a disappointment as it is merely 4 sides of A4, but it
covers the information needed to get the SX-1 up and running, albeit
slightly brief. The only real complaint with the the manual is a
reference to an appendix which contains the pin outs for the external
IDE interface, but the appendix is not included.

The first thing was to install a memory module (SIMM) and a 2.5"
Harddrive. This both went in easily, although the harddrive is mounted
underneath the pcb whereas the connector is on the reverse side. In order
to connect these a cable must be run down the side of the unit. In order
for this to be achieved, the entire unit must be removed, which is slight
tricky although not much of a problem.

I was able to connect my C= 1942 to the SX-1 and the quality was superb.
Watching FMV movies on a monitor certainly shows the quality off and
this is a very useful feature.

The manual warns that if too many units are connected the power supply
might fail, but I connected a hard drive & floppy drive and there were
no problems at all.

Functionally, the serial and parallel ports are the same as the Amigas
and I was able to ParNET to my A4000 whilst using a modem on the serial
port to download some files.

Owing to lack of documentation I was unable to test the Audio In
connector or the external IDE.


THE PROBLEMS

1) I was unable to get an AT keyboard that worked with the unit, although
I have been told by other people that there are keyboards which work.
This was not a problem to me as I used my A4000 keyboard.

2) When booting from hard disk without a floppy drive connected, a
requester appears asking for DF0:. In order to carry on booting the
requester must simply be cancelled. This is presumably a fault of the
kickstart and not the SX-1's, but Microbotics have not documented it
anywhere.


THE VERDICT

Overall this is an excellent unit offering a CD32 user the ability to
expand their unit beyond that of a 1200 and CD-ROM. Apart from the
minor problems which were probably down to it being from the first
batch, the unit is of the highest quality. Overall it should be a must
have upgrade for any CD32 owner.




(C) 1994 James Wright