Changes
CPC
,At the same time, Amstrad was designing the immensely successful [[PCW]] word-processor series, also with software by [[Locomotive Software|Locomotive]] and featuring an all-in-one Z80-based design.
A shared architecture was developed that would encompass both the PCW and a new, upgraded CPC - codenamed [[ANT]], or Arnold Number Two. It shared many features with the PCW, such as its larger memory and its exceptionally elegant screen-handling hardware, but boasted colour and sound, and retained CPC compatibility. The aim was to see off the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga, next-generation games machines already on the horizon.
A few of the PCW's design features which don't appear to make any sense on their own stem from this shared ancestry. But the project was dropped at a fairly early stage, and the CPC Classic lived on before eventually succumbing to the Plus. Only one prototype board is believed to survive, in the possession of ex-Locomotive Software engineer [[Richard Clayton]].
