IBM UK shuffled assorted multimedia journalists and enthusiasts into a room at Wembley’s TIME exhibition to announce the first multimedia PS/2 together with several related and enhanced products. As they say in the cockpit, visibility was poor and several of the audience left looking confused rather than enlightened. The spokesman ran through the announcements in a flash, sneeze and you missed them. The first member of the forthcoming Ultimedia family of products is the PS/2 Ultimedia Model M57 SLC. The components are pre-packaged, fully integrated, ready-to-use and expandable. It works with three operating systems, MS-DOS 5.0, OS/2 version 2.0 and Windows 3.0 with multimedia extensions that are pre-loaded on a CD-ROM playable on a high-performance CD-ROM drive. The Model 57 offers extended graphics array graphics, XGA graphics and integrates 16-bit audio capture and playback. Priced at UKP4,210, excluding keyboard and monitor, it would be difficult to call it a bargain. General availability is set for March 1992. Also introduced was the PS/2 ActionMedia II. This adaptor digitally records and plays back high-quality, full motion video, photographic images, animation and high fidelity sound. Developed jointly by IBM and the Intel Corp, it consists of a display adaptor for playback and an optional snap-on card to capture images using Digital Video Interactive technology. A developer’s toolkit is also available. The ActionMedia II can be used with Micro Channel 80386 and 80486-based PS/2s and AT bus PS/2s. It will be available in March 1992 and costs UKP1,628 for the base card, UKP659 for the daughter card and UKP405 for the toolkit. In the touch screen area, TouchSelect, IBM is adding a 12 Model 8513 and a 19 Model 7554 industrial graphics display that snap onto PS/2 screens. Priced at UKP517 for the 12 and UKP593 for the 19, these too will be out in March 1992. Enhancements to existing IBM multimedia products include the M-Control program, UKP125, and M-Audio and Video Capture free upgrades.
