jan@looking.UUCP (Jan Gray) (09/09/85)
By popular demand, this is a reposting of my comparison between
the Atari 520ST and the Amiga, as well as Eric L's added comments.
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Here are some corrections to Jan Gray's Amiga/ST comparison. My
corrections look like TECO comments (!* xxx !)...
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Atari 520ST Commodore Amiga
processor 8 MHz 68000 8 Mhz 68000 !* 7.8Mhz !
RAM 512K 256K + 256K expansion board
!* 8 Meg externally !
ROM little (later, 192K?) 192K
GEM may be available in ROMs
sometime around August, for
a $40 upgrade fee.
expansion 128K ROM cartridge slot, hard 256K RAM slot, full system bus
connectors disk (DMA), floppy disk, modem connector(!), floppy disk,modem
(RS-232), printer (Centronics), (RS-232), printer (Centronics),
monochrome/colour monitor, stereo RCA audio plugs, RGB
MIDI in and out, joystick and monitor, TV/MOD? and NTSC video,
mouse ports. joystick and mouse ports.
!* Connector for RF Mod !
graphics 640 X 400 monochrome 640 X 400 16 colours
resolution 640 X 200 4 colours 640 X 200 16 colours
320 X 200 16 colours 320 X 400 32 colours
320 X 200 32 colours
(plus some ability to display
different resolutions on
different parts of screen)
!* Special 'hold and modify
mode allows displaying all
4096 colors at once. Sprites
and 'blobs' (blitter objects)!
palette size 512 colours 4096 colours
fancy graphics no? bitblt in VLSI?
hardware !* Yes, and sprites !
video outputs monochrome, RGB analog RGB, digital RGB, NTSC
sound hardware GI sound chip (AY-8910?) Three Who knows? Stereo sound
voices, 30-20000 Hz, program- generation, and some special
mable waveform, envelope, and functions in VLSI?
filters.
!* Custom VLSI, stero output.
Four channels (multiple voices
on each). Plus digital sampling
capability. !
keyboard part of unit; function keys, detachable; function keys,
numeric keypad, cursor keys, numeric keypad, cursor keys
HELP and UNDO keys(!) !* Slides under main unit !
floppies 3.5" floppy, holds 350K (for- 3.5" floppy, holds 880K (for-
matted), attached by expansion matted?), built-in. Expansion
connector, more floppies daisy connector for second drive.
chained? !* May daisy chain up to 3
external floppies !
hard disk 15 Mbytes, $500? Attaches 20 Mbytes (from Tecmar), $1000?
to DMA and hard disk expansion Attaches to system expansion
connector (built-in). bus.
IBM compat. no yes, via $500 Trump card
!* Check that - IBM stuff
is done in sofware. If you
want a 5-1/4" drive, add
~$300 !
OS GEM and TOS (CPM/68K) Intuition and AmigaDOS
Similar to Mac Finder Similar to Mac Finder?
(multitasking!)
!* Similiar only in that
they both use windows and
icons. Amiga option lets
you use CLI, a Command Line
Interface smiliar to MS-DOS.!
future compact disk ROM (holds 500 Trump card ($500); digitizer;
peripherals MBytes of data); 800K floppy; "Genlock Interface" (merges
cheap graphics printers video with screen images);
frame grabber; MIDI interface;
music keyboard; multifunction
accessory card (2 Mbytes of
RAM, serial port, printer port
or Winchester interface, and
power supply); Pitchwriter
("sound grabber"?)
mass market Atari 260STD Doubtful.
versions !* Maybe later next year, but
Commodore will maintain a
minimum 30% profit margin
for dealers !
general Real soon now. Real soon now?
availability !* Sept. 15 !
software Real soon now. Real soon now.
!* Some packages available
even now. At least 20 will
be available on Sept 15 !
price $800 $2000
(Atari 520ST with high res. (Commodore Amiga with 256K
monochrome monitor, mouse, of memory, built in 880K
and 350K floppy drive) floppy, and mouse ($1300),
plus 256K board ($200),
plus high resolution colour
monitor ($500).
>The Amiga, with all of its special function VLSIs, seems to be the
>better machine -- but is it worth 2.5X as much as the Atari 520ST?
>How badly do *you* want multitasking and spiffing graphics?
The Amiga is faster, more expandable has more built in and is
generally more powerfull by a large margin.
Eric
ARPA: LAVITSKY@RUTGERS
UUCP: ...{harvard,seismo,ut-sally,sri-iu,ihnp4!packard}!topaz!eric
SNAIL: 16 Oak St., Flr 2
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
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Jan Gray, soon to be jsgray@watrose.davecl@orca.UUCP (Dave Clemans) (09/19/85)
A few more corrections: 520 Amiga > processor 8 MHz 68000 8 Mhz 68000 !* 7.8Mhz ! Everything I've seen so far says that it's 7.16 MHZ; i.e., the video clock divided by 2. > RAM 512K 256K + 256K expansion board > !* 8 Meg externally ! Internally expandable to 1MB with 256K chips, to 4MB with 1MB chips both expansions use a memory daughter board; Memory map allows max of 15 Meg > expansion 128K ROM cartridge slot, hard 256K RAM slot, full system bus > connectors disk (DMA), floppy disk, modem connector(!), floppy disk,modem > ... ... The DMA port supports up to 8 devices; this is also where the CD/ROM will plug in > fancy graphics no? bitblt in VLSI? > hardware !* Yes, and sprites ! Custom timing control chips that allow cpu to run at 8MHZ, and to manage memory accesses so that video refresh and cpu memory supposedly never interfer > floppies 3.5" floppy, holds 350K (for- 3.5" floppy, holds 880K (for- > matted), attached by expansion matted?), built-in. Expansion > connector, more floppies daisy connector for second drive. > chained? !* May daisy chain up to 3 > external floppies ! Single or double sided drives available; single is 360K, double is 720K; with special cable standard 5.25" drives can be attached; disk storage format is IBM compatible > IBM compat. no yes, via $500 Trump card > !* Check that - IBM stuff > is done in sofware. If you > want a 5-1/4" drive, add > ~$300 ! Disks are data compatible. There are rumors of a software IBM emulator by the end of the year. > general Real soon now. Real soon now? > availability !* Sept. 15 ! Has been available worldwide for a few months; in the US for almost two months. I've seen news reports that close to 50,000 have been sold so far worldwide. > software Real soon now. Real soon now. > !* Some packages available > even now. At least 20 will > be available on Sept 15 ! Some packages available now in US. More are supposedly available in England according to news reports. dgc