Commodore's MOS division wasn't capable of building some of the AGA chips (its fab was too antiquated), so Commodore had to farm out production. The HP and VLSI chips are the two in the CD32 that Commodore couldn't make in house. Commodore wasn't used to that and it caused supply chain problems for them.
That was interesting. I agree the design hardly seemed inspired. I did not know until today this was never released in the US. I would say that explains why I never saw one, but given sales on these I was unlikely to see one anyway. I would love to see this with the computer conversions go head to head with a regular A1200. Anyway I very much enjoyed getting to know the CD32, I also have been curious about it for years.
@@Arcticretro The bottom sides of the caps are standing in its own saucage and the acid is working... Belive me, I have repaired many of them and none was dry and fully healthy.
is the chip from analog devices, next to the big HP chip, some kind of video-dac? the case design is sensationally ugly. i would not call a playstation one a revolutionary inspired design either, but at least it is not ugly as the amiga cd32. having a more modular design with separated video, audio and memory sections/boards would be cool for future changes/upgrades like new hdmi compatible video modes. the performance i think is enough for all retro gaming tasks.
