cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (07/22/86)
Lingus (CCL @ CITROMEO) writes : > > I hope that Atari listens to the suggestions posted by this > conference. I feel that Atari should continue to keep competition > off balance by coming out with a 68020 based micro instead of > the DMA box they plan on marketing. I think that the DMA port > should be reserved for the harddisk. A 68020 machine, with > the power of a S*n workstation, could be produced for under > $3000, estimating conservatively. I also think that Atari > should come out very soon with an inexpensive upgrade to add R/W > and the additional address lines to the ROM port to maximize > the potential of the STs. Though I do not own an ST, I am very > interested in these "new" 68000 machines. (aside: 68000s at > 8Mhz now sell for under $10.00) > > Any info on laserprinters, CDs and the graphics upgrade for the STs > would be very welcome. > > Lingus (CCL @ CITROMEO) While we all admire what Atari has wrought with bringing the price of 68000 machines down to earth, your $3000 number is a bit absurd. Mostly because the monitor alone to display 1200 X 800 monochrome graphics is on the order of $1000 wholesale. Add to that the $200 price of *each* 68020 chip, multihundred dollar price of 68881 chips, 4 Meg of ram (which at $3 per 256K chip is still $384) Add to a new box, bigger power supply, you have to include a hard disk to make it run at any speed. No, I don't think $3000 will buy you a Sun workstation ($8000 will :-)) I think the best that can be said is that in 5 years it will probably be possible. Ah well. --Chuck McManis Note: These are my opinions and my mine alone, they do not represent those of Sun MicroSystems.
manis@ubc-cs.UUCP (Vince Manis) (07/24/86)
In article <5311@sun.uucp> cmcmanis@sun.uucp (Chuck McManis) writes: in response to Lingus (CCL @ CITROMEO): > >While we all admire what Atari has wrought with bringing the price of >68000 machines down to earth, your $3000 number is a bit absurd. Mostly >because the monitor alone to display 1200 X 800 monochrome graphics is >on the order of $1000 wholesale. Add to that the $200 price of *each* >68020 chip, multihundred dollar price of 68881 chips, 4 Meg of ram >(which at $3 per 256K chip is still $384) Add to a new box, bigger >power supply, you have to include a hard disk to make it run at any >speed. No, I don't think $3000 will buy you a Sun workstation ($8000 >will :-)) I think the best that can be said is that in 5 years it >will probably be possible. Ah well. This is no swipe at Sun (whose products I use and admire), but Atari would probably encounter a major marketing disaster if it tried to bring out a Sun-compatible right now. Why? Well, first of all, you need a pretty hefty disk (let's say a good fraction of an Eagle) to store Berkeley UNIX, along with the necessary goodies to make it useful. Second, installing a Sun is a non-trivial job (take a look at the installation manual some time): I'm not sure Atari's market in general is ready for that level of complexity (sure, lots of UNIX hackers have ST's, but lots of ST owners aren't UNIX hackers). Somebody could make a killing with a lean, mean, Berkeley UNIX clone which was aimed at low cost personal computers like the ST. (At the risk of getting into the interminable Berkeley vs System V argument, I'd just point out that much of the interesting graphics etc has been done on Berkeley Unix machines). The result would be a full-featured, multi-tasking (and even multi-user, to support bulletin boards) operating system which didn't require a networked file server. Maybe OS-9 is the answer; since I've never used it (though I did once read some of the manuals), I couldn't answer the question. In any case, without a resolution of the system question, I think Atari would be foolish to announce a box which required considerable support and was only of interest to techies. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the TT's arrival awaits only two things: lower-cost 68020's, and some good application/system software to make people want it.
dyer@atari.UUcp (Landon Dyer) (07/24/86)
In article <5311@sun.uucp>, cmcmanis@sun.uucp (Chuck McManis) writes: > While we all admire what Atari has wrought with bringing the price of > 68000 machines down to earth, your $3000 number is a bit absurd. Mostly > because the monitor alone to display 1200 X 800 monochrome graphics is > on the order of $1000 wholesale. Add to that the $200 price of *each* > 68020 chip, multihundred dollar price of 68881 chips, 4 Meg of ram > (which at $3 per 256K chip is still $384) Add to a new box, bigger > power supply, you have to include a hard disk to make it run at any > speed. No, I don't think $3000 will buy you a Sun workstation ($8000 > will :-)) I think the best that can be said is that in 5 years it > will probably be possible. Ah well. I respectfully suggest that the prices quoted above are representative of the company buying the parts, and not what the parts really cost. -- -Landon Dyer, Atari Corp. {sun,lll-lcc,lll-crg!vecpyr}!atari!dyer /-----------------------------------------------\ | The views represented here do not necessarily | "If Business is War, then | reflect those of Atari Corp., or even my own. | I'm a Prisoner of Business!" \-----------------------------------------------/