Access

In 1997 November, Index Information Ltd. released Access, its low cost multimedia delivery platform, based on the AGA chip set and Amiga OS. Access was targeted to corporate applications (such as kiosks, training & education, presentations, advertising, embedded machine controllers with interactive control interfaces, Scala script players), so it did not become well known to the general public.

Processor

68EC020 @ 14 MHz
680EC30 @ 28 MHz

Access was available with two processor options, a 68EC020 or a 68EC030 soldered to the motherboard. The two motherboards have different layouts. Neither processors can be upgraded, floating point unit cannot be added.

Memory

2 MB Chip RAM
2 or 8 MB Fast RAM
256 kB Flash ROM
1 kB Non-Volatile RAM

Chip RAM and Fast RAM is soldered to the motherboard and cannot be expanded further.
Access incorporates an improved Chip RAM interface which couples it directly to the processor, giving twice as fast memory read performance as of a standard A1200.
The easily upgradable flash ROM contains the hardware logic and system software extensions. The non-volatile RAM holds configuration information.

Custom chips

Alice - AGA display controller
Lisa - AGA graphics coprocessor
Paula - audio and I/O controller
Kickstart ROMs

Supported screen modes
PAL
NTSC
Euro36
A2024		 320×256 - 1280×512
320×200 - 1280×400
320×200 - 1280×400
1024×1024		 50 Hz, 15.60 kHz
60 Hz, 15.72 kHz
73 Hz, 15.76 kHz
15 Hz, 15.72 kHz
DblPAL
DblNTSC
Multiscan
Euro72
Super72		 320×512 - 640×1024
320×400 - 640×800
640×480 - 640×960
640×400 - 640×800
400×300 - 800×600		 50 Hz, 29.45 kHz
59 Hz, 29.20 kHz
60 Hz, 31.44 kHz
70 Hz, 31.43 kHz
72 Hz, 24.62 kHz
Supported palettes
256 from 16 million, 262144 (HAM8)

Access incorporates the core Amiga chips only: Alice, Paula, Denise and 8520 CIAs. Other chips seen in AGA Amigas designs (Gayle, Budgie) are replaced by a fresh new chip design, offering benefits which among others allowes the increased processor access speed to Chip RAM.

Expansion slots

1× 8 bit ISA slot
1× A1200 "clock" port

The whole base unit (motherboard and floppy drive) fits into a standard 5.25" drive bay, limiting the internal expansion possibilities, but allowing a wide range of cases to be used.
The 8 bit ISA slot was originally intended for adding a low cost modem, but no driver software was released.
The 22 pin clock header is compatible with the A1200 clock port, so this might be the only expansion option of Access. Look up the clock port expansions from the database.

Interfaces

1× serial DB9 male, RS232
1× parallel DB25 female, Centronics
1× video DB15 male, analog RGB
1× composite video, RCA jack
2× mouse/game DB9 male
1× keyboard, 5 pin mini-DIN
1× stereo audio output, 3.5 mm jack
1× mono audio input, 3.5 mm jack
1× internal floppy 34 pin header
1× internal AT IDE 40 pin header

The built in IDE controller supports two IDE devices connected simultaneously. CD-ROM driver is in ROM.
Access uses a standard PC compatible floppy drive for reading and writing to both Amiga and PC double density disks.

Motherboard revisions

revision 1.2
pre-production motherboard
68EC020 only
no clock port
revision 1.3 (Photo)
68EC020 or 68EC030
includes clock port
added support for the (never released) combined MPEG1/genlock unit