Technical specifications Amstrad Mega PC

amstrad promoting mega pc

in general, mega pc seen better-built device sega s teradrive, unit more robust , had more efficient air circulation. mega pc ibm-compatible , had mega drive isa card, mega drive controller, keyboard, mouse, monitor, joystick , internal speakers.

side view of unit, showing isa card, spare slot , ram positioning

the machine shipped 1mb of ram, provided 4× 256kb 30-pin simm sticks. expandable 16mb using 4× 4mb memory modules.

although boasted higher specification sega teradrive (having more ram , faster processor), specification of mega pc s cpu generation old. newer intel 80486 on market , first pentium processors released same year mega pc. system unable act software development kit due inability simultaneously use pc , mega drive hardware. cover on front of unit prevented insertion of mega drive game cartridge while using pc hardware.

input/output

close of rear of unit, showing ports , positions

the machine s rear houses multiple i/o ports. these include 2 serial ports, 25-pin parallel port, vga port combined signals standard vga monitor , sound (amstrad monitor only), speaker/headphone jack, , 15 pin game port joystick.

view of isa card inside mega pc, showing free isa slot

the motherboard includes 16 bit isa slot connected riser card, providing total of 2 16 bit isa slots. 1 of these slots populated isa card, provides connections sound @ rear of machine , connection mega drive cartridge @ front. other slot left free expansion (such addition of modem or network interface card).

the sega teradrive includes stereo rca jacks , composite ntsc video output connection tv, whereas mega pc lacks feature, connected pal tv through scart. outputs both pc , mega drive units available shared vga connector, since video output mega drive still 15 khz rgb works fine when connected tv using scart. when using pc hardware, multisync or vga monitor can used, unit outputs video @ 31 khz.

compatibility

the system shipped amstrad branded controller internally identical sega s, allowing controllers used on either system.