The Communicator is AST's newest addition to the Advantage line of personal computers. The Advantage 9312 comes with a 28.8 kbps DSVD modem (Digital Simultaneous Voice and Data), Digital Camera, and a varitiy of software programs that let you interact with friends, family, or people on the otherside of the planet. This is where the 9312 picked-up its nickname the "Communicator".
The modem and its phone capabilities are what truely sets this computer apart from the rest of the personal computers. The 28.8kbps DSVD modem lets you talk on the phone at the same time you're using the modem features. It also works with the Intel analog video camera, which plugs into a video-capture card in the pc and can transmit pictures at up to 12 frames per second. And it also comes with Intel's Video Phone software, which lets you use that camera to see both yourself and the person at the other end of the line on the screen (this is assuming your conversation partner has the same type of hook-up.
Another advantage of the Communicator is AST's LifeLine which is a standard component of their technical support. This simultaneous telephone and data support, which makes use of Radish Communications' TalkShop software and the Advantage's DSVD modem, allows technicians to take information directly from your computer as soon as you authorize them to do so. Which means no more reading line after line of cumbersome configuration files, instead, the technician can download the files directly from your computer, make the appropriate changes and return them to your system in just a few seconds.
The Advantage 9312 uses a 166-Mhz Pentium processor which makes it fast and reliable. The 166Mhz processor has 64-bit Data bus and is capiable of dynamic branch prediction, data integrity, error detection, multiprocessing support and performance monitoring. The 166 also has 4GB of physical address space and its clock speed range from 60 MHz to 120 MHz. The storage system comes with a 1.44MB, 3,5" floppy drive and 2.5 GB hard drive which should give the user enough space , but if not an addtional hard drive can be added to the unit. Twenty four meg. of EDO RAM is used to allow large programs to be brought up with easy and speed.
There is 256KB of external cache.
The multimedia package has a 8x speed IDE CD-Rom thats backed up with a 16 bit Sound Blaster card, 3D sound wavetable , and amplified stereo speakers that are controlled by remote control, along with video MPEG playback, and a microphone.
Graphic are supported with 1MB of graphic memory, a 64 bit local bus SVGS graphic's card and is capiable of a resolution up to 1280 x 1064 x 16.
Included in the package is one infared remote control and receiver, video capture and T.V. tuner card, and one analog video camera with all this the Communicator is sure to be around for awhile.
The 9312 has two 32 bit ISA compatible I/O slots and five 16bit ISA compatible I/O slots. The interface has two serial ports, one parallel port, one PS/2 compatible mouse port, one analog VGA connector, and one keyboard port.
A full duplex speaker phone utillizes the 28.8Kbps DSVD data/ fax/ voice to set this modem apart from the rest. Which is a big plus if your using the InterNet lot and you don't have a dedicated phone line. The DSVD makes it possible to do both at the same time, talk on the telephone and manuver around on the InterNet.
The accessories include a high resolution, two button mouse ,Winows 95 keyboard, and thirty-one different software tiltes; which range from early learning for kids,to Lotus and Quicken, to Proidgy.
This system is topped off with AST's LifeLine voice and data technical support and a free one year, on-site warranty.
Technical Specifications
Processor:
166MHz Intel Pentium processor
Cache:
256KB external cache
Memory:
24MB EDO RAM
Storage:
2.5GB hard drive
One 1.44MB, 3.5" floppy drive
Multimedia:
8x speed IDE CD- ROM
16-bit Sound Blaster card
3D sound with Hardware Wavetable
MPEG playback
Amplified stereo speakers
Microphone
Graphics:
1MB graphics memory
64-bit local bus SVGA graphic
Resolutions up to 1280 x 1064 x 16
Modem:
28.8 kbps DSVD data/ fax/ voice modem
Full duplex speaker phone
I/O:
Two 32-bit PCI compatible slots
Five 16-bit ISA compatible slots
Interfaces:
Two serial ports
One parellel port
One PS/2 compatible mouse port
One analog VGA connector
One keyboard port
Accessories:
High-resolution, two-button mouse
Windows 95 keyboard
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