Changes
ANT
,'''Arnold Number Two'''[[File:pixelated ANT logo.png|200px|thumb|right|AtariST has bussy Bee / BBC micro has wise Owl / Exelvision has nice Butterfly / ANT has ...]]* board '''prototype ''' board with a hybrid? Gate Array for PCW (color) and CPC compatibility
* 64 colour
* 256/512k RAM
* 6 Mhz Z80 CPU(Z80B ?)
Maybe exist two boards in possession of Richard Clayton (Locomotive Software) and William Poel (Amstrad Ltd.)
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" After the CPC464. Never standing still, Amstrad went to work on two new machines: the PCW8256 word processor and a new computer which was described by Alan Sugar as a “full colour computer’. The new computer, codenamed ANT (Arnold Number Two), was planned to be an upgrade to the CPC464 and be compatible with the PCW8256. Unfortunately, the plug was pulled on ANT as Amstrad decided that the design team should concentrate 100% on getting the PCW8256 finished on time. A new computer did appear in April 1985, but it wasn’t the machine previously referred to as ANT, but rather the CPC664. Reacting to consumer's requests for a computer with an integrated floppy disk drive and more memory, Amstrad went away and designed a new model. With the codename IDIOT (Includes Disk Instead of Tape), initial reactions were that the new CPC664 was basically a CPC464 with a floppy disk drive in place of the cassette tape deck. "('''Neil Reive''') ---------------------------------------------------- '''Richard Clayton'''. July 2003 >>It was a shame not to build the "Ant" -- which was going to be the games machine that shared a lot of hardware design with the PCW ("Joyce"). But we just didn't have the time and effort to do it justice so perhaps it was best that it was cancelled.<< --------------------------------- '''Vik Olliver'''
nov. 2019
《 We did an Amstrad machine basically a PCW with hi-res colour and sound synth, called ANT (Arnold Number Two) but it never went anywhere as production. It was really nice, but by then Amiga did everything we wanted to do, 8-bit was meh, and PCs were more important. 》
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''The CPC that never was.'' '''Richard Clayton ''' and '''Roland Perry ''' reveal details on the computer that never made it to market.(RetroGamer28 ) Dec 2017
» The ANT computer would have used a PCW casing, with a more bespoke keyboard.
Having spoken to Roland Perry and Locomotive Software’s Richard Clayton, we have gained a tantalising look at what might have been for the CPC as it battled against its 8-bit rivals during the late Eighties.
The ill-fated computer would have been a colour version of the PCW with a CPC emulation mode. “It would have run CPC software in emulation mode and then allowed for more fancy things,” reveals Richard. “There was a lot of commonality with the PCW and that’s why some of the bit addressing in the PCW screen memory is the odd way that it is.”
So why was it shelved? “That was partly our fault in that we were somewhat behind with Locoscript and so had not done very much coding for the ANT,” says Richard. “Amstrad then decided it did not make sense any more, with 16-bit machines becoming more important.”
-------------------------------------------------- '''John Elliot''' . June 2016." Internally, the PCW design was based on ANT [Arnold Number Two], which would have been another computer for the CPC niche.The PCW hardware has some implemented-but-unused features from the ANT, such as joystick support in the keyboard controller, and a CPC-compatible memory paging mode." -------------------------------------------------- [[File:PCW10 keyboard CPC+.png|200px|thumb|center|PCW10 keyboard desing reminds CPC+ style. Cool and Modern as our long-awaited ANT]] *Finally, in April 1985, the '''[[Atari ST]]''' appeared with similar features to the ANT but with a [[68000]] CPU instead of an accelerated Z80. The resolution in 320x200 16 colours shares a little with CPC/CPC+ ; and the same sound chip. Its STE version has DMA sound like CPC+, and graphic Blitter. Recently the unreleased CP/M-68k appeared finished (will it be works with some not hardware dependent PCW programs?).'''GEM''' gui was shared with Amstrad PC. But incompatible coded apps cause diferent 16bit CPUs *Amstrad closed Sinclair projects QL and '''Loki'''.[[File:Sinclair Loki similar project than Amstrad ANT.jpg|200px|thumb|center|Sinclair Loki ¿same as ANT ?]] https://sinclairuser.com/051/loki.htm *Amstrad abandoned the 3" FDD drive in the latest [[PCW]]/PCW16 models. *Users scene placed 3.5" drives in CPC. *[[B-ASIC]] for CPC+ appeared. Amstrad should do at the beginning of the machine. *Some utils read/write MS-DOS format in CPC with 3,5" drive. *Similar case in '''CPC+''' design and ST. *Would we consider the Atari ST as the ANT that never came out? (Similar features but with diferent coding 16bit CPU).(Not so powerful to replicate/emulate CPC/PCW?).(is needed hardware like in Aleste machine VDP?)[plain Amiga could move CPC emulator?] *CPC and ST shared some third party game software development teams and projects. The music coding is almost direct and the graphics is somekind of CPC+ *John Elliot's PCW Joyce emulator supports colour with JOYCE 800x600 driver *A software library very close to the ST/CPC would have been possible on a color PCW16? (16Mhz CPU)([[Habisoft]] did Knight Lore and Total Eclipse ports) https://habisoft.com/pcw16/en.htm#Media *The CPC+ and '''PCW16''' machines share internal parts with the ANT. *Iñigo Ayo and Team made amazing '''Spec256''' that use parallel Z80 speccy code with pseudo 64bit Z80 [x8 z80] graphic code process to increase ZX games as Atari ST or Amiga like. Suported by '''Habisoft´s Espectrum''', '''emuZwin''' and '''ZXpoly''' emulators. *'''ZX Next''' brought us what ANT and Loki promised? *During 2025 finally PCW users scene fix the name '''[[PCW Plus]]''' for PCW with colour and AY sound add-ons . PCWclassic with Habisoft's ColorIn board or Czarnikjak's Color board with RaspberryPico and dk'tronics AY board . Is that the closest system to ANT ? *[[PCW Plus]] library : around 10 games (Colour & Sound) by Habisoft and KachorroSoft : KnightLore ; Head Over Heels enhanced edition ; Mad Mix Game ; AMC ; Phantis ; Hundra ; Coliseum ; Xecutor ; Batman plus edition ... *ZEsarUX & CP/M Box emulators and FPGA core synthesis (Mister ; NeptUNO+ ; SIDI ; Calypso ; Poseidon ...) supports PCWplus [[Category: Non CPC Computers| ]][[Category:Stub]]
