[net.micro.amiga] high-res text on Amiga

jdb@mordor.UUCP (John Bruner) (10/29/85)

I am seriously considering the purchase of an Amiga developer's
system.  My intended application requires the display of a lot
of text on the screen; hence, I would be using high-resolution
mode (in black-and-white -- color is unimportant to me).

I have seen the Amiga, but so far I haven't been able to view any
text in high-resolution mode.  I have been reading the comments
in this newsgroup regarding interlace flicker, and I am concerned
that high-res text will be difficult or impossible for a user to
read for any length of time.  The fact that TextCraft displays
text in low-res tends to confirm my fears.

I am most interested in the quality of high-resolution text on
one of the standard monitors.  I suspect that I could find a B&W
monitor with a persistence suitable for my application, but it
would be counterproductive to rely upon a non-standard monitor
(few potential customers would have such a monitor).

If you have seen high-res text on an Amiga, I would appreciate
your remarks.  Please respond by mail rather than to this
newsgroup; if there is sufficient interest I'll summarize the
results.

(Comparisons to the Macintosh and/or Atari ST would also be
welcome.  I am familiar with the image quality on the Mac.)
-- 
  John Bruner (S-1 Project, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
  MILNET: jdb@mordor [jdb@s1-c.ARPA]	(415) 422-0758
  UUCP: ...!ucbvax!dual!mordor!jdb 	...!seismo!mordor!jdb

jdb@mordor.UUCP (John Bruner) (11/05/85)

About a week ago I posted an inquiry about the suitability of the
Amiga for an application involving high-resolution text display.
I promised to summarize to the net, and I received a couple of
requests for my summary via mail.  I also received several
thoughtful replies.

Then disaster struck.  My finger slipped while I was cleaning out
my mailbox and I wiped out everything.  Since "/usr" is only
backed up weekly here (whose stupid idea was that? mine? oh)
all of the mail I received was lost.  Thus, I am unable to respond
individually to the people who sent me letters.

The overall consensus among the replies that I received was that
the Amiga with its standard color monitor is not very suitable
for high-res text.  Some success was achieved with high persistence
phosphor B&W monitors; however, I was hoping to avoid the need
for non-standard equipment.  The Atari ST and Macintosh were
suggested as alternatives.  (My application -- UW, a multiple-
window terminal emulator for 4.2BSD UNIX -- already runs on the
Macintosh.)

I'd like to thank everyone who sent me a letter collectively,
since I can't reply individually.
-- 
  John Bruner (S-1 Project, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
  MILNET: jdb@mordor [jdb@s1-c.ARPA]	(415) 422-0758
  UUCP: ...!ucbvax!dual!mordor!jdb 	...!seismo!mordor!jdb