NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #1/NN_1993_1.iso/spool/comp/sys/ibm/pc/misc/16483

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-09 | 5.3 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Bowie Poag)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
Subject: Re: Byte's Amiga 4000 review...
References: <[e-mail]>
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 7 Jan 93 21:33:27 CST
Organization: Red Oracle Bbs/Network
Lines: 89

In article <[e-mail]>, Andrew McCallum
<[e-mail]> writes:
>From [e-mail] (Bowie Poag)
>>What the industry is now faced with, is a machine that can run full-screen
>>animations (read: NOT miniature window-sized movies) at a full 30 frames per
>>second, using 262,144 colors simultaneously, which puts image quality
>>indiscernable from full 24-bit graphics. Ontop of that, it has an '040 under
>>the hood for some pretty beefy horsepower for whatever else interests you,
>>everything from DTP to 3-D modeling..A bus architecture faster than the
>>Macintosh Quadra's NuBus, and EISA, and slick NeXT'ish user interface, and a
>>high-speed  multitasking OS driving the whole thing have been the trademarks
of
>
>>the Amiga line since day one.
>
>    How much?
>
>---
>    .sig's are neat,                   | Andrew McCallum
>    .sig's are fun,                     \ [e-mail]
>    .sig's tell where to flame someone.  |[e-mail]
>


Some of you have inquired as to cost / compatibility / whatever..


1) The A4000 (again, '040 at 25 Mhz, 16.7 million colors, EXTREMELY efficient
   multitasking OS, 100% window-based GUI, stereo sound, max resolution stands
   at 1536 X 960 X 262,144 colors on screen simultaneously (24-bit quality
   at 1/10th the file size!) The Amiga can handle video signals ranging
   from normal 60Hz NTSC Video all the way up to 72Hz at 16-31 Khz refresh
   rates. 30 FPS full-screen animation available in all modes. Fully 32-bit
   wide bus architecture that pretty much leaves both EISA and NuBus in the
   dust..Id have to see specs on VL-Bus before making any comparrison there.
   The A4000 comes socketed with a half-megabyte ROM (AmigaDos 3.0) with
   the ability of adressing up to 1.72 GB of memory.. Expandable on the
   motherboard up to 16 megs of 32-bit memory (SIMM).. You can throw on
   more ram via expansion card, easilly.. The A4000 has 6 "normal" slots,
   a CPU slot (for adding in Accellerator cards, with an 060 perhaps) and
   a 64-bit wide Video slot..Can accept Zorro II (A2000) or Zorro III (A3000)
   cards.. 3 slots are also paired IBM slots for stuff like Bridgeboards and
   VGA cards, and such. Inclues a SCSI controller hardwired into the
motherboard (soon to be SCSI-2) with your choice of 120 or 210 Meg Quantum
   hard disk, PCMCIA port, 1.76 meg / 880K 3.5" floppy,
   and the usual 2-button mouse.

   List price is about $3500, but ive seen them street-priced at the local
   Amiga dealership for about --$2400-- for the Model just listed..CBM-Amiga
   is intent on moving into the high-end PC/workstation market, and have
   priced their machines to compete with with the new Mac Quadras..



As far as compatibility goes, we have no use for "Windows" programs.. To us,
(PLEASE--NO FLAMING!) we consider Windows to be somewhat of a laughable joke.
Laughable in terms of Windows 3.1 touting itself as "multitasking" .. We view
it as little more than a program launcher. Our definintion of Multitasking
and the typical Windows user's definition differ dramatically. For example--Im
currently running about 60 tasks in background at the moment.. everything from
my screenblanker to the 3D image im rendering with Imagine 3D at the moment..
while writing this out in my term program, connected to a local UUCP Node at
19,200 baud. This is not that big of a deal to us, because we do such things
all the time. Again, I dont want this discussion to degenerate into a flame
war, its just thats -how we see it-..

However, if PC compatibility is a must for you, you can buy whats called a
"Bridgeboard" for your Amiga..its basically an IBM on a card, that you can
drop into your machine. There are 8088XT bridgeboards, all the way up to 486
Bridgeboards. With a Bridgeboard, its like having two computers inside of one
box.. You can be running full-bore on the Amiga side, and be running full-bore
on the IBM side.. Its not "emulation".. Emulation is tricking your CPU into
accepting instructions meant for another CPU.. Bridgeboards and IBM-Emulators
are two totally different things. As I mentioned, the Amiga and IBM side are
two seperate entities, that work concurrently, and you can flip-flop between
the two like television channels... For example, youre watching the 10 O'Clock
news on Channel 5, and decide to watch a late movie on Channel 9... Channel 5
dosent shut down when you stop watching. :)  You can be downloading GIFs in
Windows on your Bridgeboard side, while uploading IFFs on your Amiga
side..Theyre both independant.



        +-----------------------------------------------------------+
        |o|              I think, therefore I Amiga.              |=|
        +-----------------------------------------------------------+
        | Douglas Michael Kasten (DMK) | Amiga 2000HD/5 with a tiny |
        |  [e-mail]   | little 21" Toshiba monitor.|
        +------------------------------+----------------------------+