judd@tramp.Colorado.EDU (Stephen Judd) (11/07/90)
Did anybody catch this week's NOVA? Some guy with USGS (I didn't catch his name, but his beard is possibly neater than Cliff Stoll's haircut ;-) was showing various patterns of activity along the San Andreas Fault. They only had a shot of the monitor, but sure enough, there in the lower right corner was the red power light of a 1084 (he even had his volume/sharpness/etc cover open). A further shot of the keyboard suuuure looked like an Amiga keyboard. Does anybody know what kind of setup he has, or what sort of software he was using? I'll assume it was an Amiga 2000, but the stuff he was showing on it was pretty slick - he had a very detailed map of northern California, and every time he pressed a key it would show a red area where areas of fault activity had occured, along with the date, and some more info was displayed elsewhere in the screen. It had to be an interlace screen, and I'll also assume he has a flicker-fixer. Anyways, it was nice to see an Amiga being used in a clever way for government research. Steve -- judd@tramp.colorado.edu The Purple Sage cursed and waxed sorely judd@sgt-york.lanl.gov // pissed and cried out in a loud voice: A ...!ncar!boulder!tramp!judd \X/ pox upon the cursed Illuminati of Bavaria; may their seeds take no root. - Mordecai Malignatus, K.N.S., "The Book of Contradictions"
bryan@cs.utexas.edu (Bryan Bayerdorffer @ Wit's End) (11/07/90)
In article <29338@boulder.Colorado.EDU> judd@tramp.Colorado.EDU (Stephen Judd) writes:
=-Did anybody catch this week's NOVA? Some guy with USGS (I didn't catch his
=-name, but his beard is possibly neater than Cliff Stoll's haircut ;-) was
=-showing various patterns of activity along the San Andreas Fault. They only
=-had a shot of the monitor, but sure enough, there in the lower right corner
=-was the red power light of a 1084 (he even had his volume/sharpness/etc
Actually, earlier in the show, before the sequence in which the screen
was shown, you could see the entire A2000 box on which the monitor was sitting.
=-screen, and I'll also assume he has a flicker-fixer.
Since you were presumably watching this on a normal TV with interlaced
display, I don't think you would have been able to tell.
=-Anyways, it was nice to see an Amiga being used in a clever way for
=-government research.
Of course, the guy who worked for the Navy squandered his defense
dollars on a Mac II. :-)thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (11/07/90)
bryan@cs.utexas.edu (Bryan Bayerdorffer @ Wit's End) in <241@mohawk.cs.utexas.edu> writes: In article <29338@boulder.Colorado.EDU> judd@tramp.Colorado.EDU (Stephen Judd) writes: =-Did anybody catch this week's NOVA? Some guy with USGS (I didn't catch his =-name, but his beard is possibly neater than Cliff Stoll's haircut ;-) was =-showing various patterns of activity along the San Andreas Fault. They only =-had a shot of the monitor, but sure enough, there in the lower right corner =-was the red power light of a 1084 (he even had his volume/sharpness/etc Actually, earlier in the show, before the sequence in which the screen was shown, you could see the entire A2000 box on which the monitor was sitting. Staff from the USGS (Menlo Park, CA) are regular attendees at FAUG (First Amiga Users' Group), and they've given several presentations: one about the Loma Prieta Earthquake (for which they're (the USGS) selling a video tape), and another concerning the world mapping project (or something to that effect). For what it's worth, the film crew of COMPUTER CHRONICLES filmed tonight's FAUG meeting as part of their upcoming special on the A3000 to be aired sometime later this month on your local Pledge Break Station (PBS :-) Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]
a808@mindlink.UUCP (David R. Matthews) (11/07/90)
I saw that show also. But what I also saw was a shot of the computer. It was a 2000 with two internal disk drives (3.5" floppy). Obviously I don't have a clue what else was in it, but I agree about the flicker fixer. P.S. I share your enthusiasm!
ckp@grebyn.com (Checkpoint Technologies) (11/07/90)
In article <29338@boulder.Colorado.EDU> judd@tramp.Colorado.EDU (Stephen Judd) writes: > [...] >was the red power light of a 1084 (he even had his volume/sharpness/etc >cover open). A further shot of the keyboard suuuure looked like an Amiga >keyboard. ... >... It had to be an interlace >screen, and I'll also assume he has a flicker-fixer. Nitpick: the flicker fixer does not work on a 1084 monitor. I assume he was enduring the flicker for the sake of the presentation. Not that it's such a burden, for short periods of time... -- First comes the logo: C H E C K P O I N T T E C H N O L O G I E S / / \\ / / Then, the disclaimer: All expressed opinions are, indeed, opinions. \ / o Now for the witty part: I'm pink, therefore, I'm spam! \/
gdunlap@ecst.csuchico.edu (RANXEROX) (11/14/90)
Yes, the USGS DID use Amigas for their San Andreas fault presentation. A friend of mine who recently graduated from San Diego State as a geologist works for them this summer and told me about the animations (he has an Amiga too). If memory serves, they used Invision for the presentation. I forget what 3-D package they used for the 3-D stuff; I think VideoScape, but I'm not sure. Sorry I can't remember any more details. ___________________________________________________________________________ | . _________ . _____ . | |.. / ______/\ . . / _ \ |Greg Dunlap, CSUChico ///| | / /\_____\/ . / /\\ \ .|Email: gdunlap@cscihp.csuchico.edu /// | | / / /. .____ . / / /.\ \ |Disclaimer: Who the hell cares? \\\/// | |/ / /. / _/\ / / /. / /\|Obligatory Quote: \XX/ | |\ \/____/ /\_/ ./ /____/ / /| "Intuition, however illogical, is | |.\________/ /.. /__________/ /.| recognized as a command perogative." | | .\_______\/. .\__________\/ .| -- Kirk, "Obsession", stardate 3620.7 | |___________________________________________________________________________|
bscott@isis.cs.du.edu (Ben Scott) (11/17/90)
In article <1990Nov14.004647.25327@ecst.csuchico.edu> gdunlap@ecst.csuchico.edu (RANXEROX) writes: > Yes, the USGS DID use Amigas for their San Andreas fault presentation. The Forest Service is also using them, at least over here in Region 2. I used to work for the local RO (still do at times, I occaisionally provide video effects for the guy I used to work for) and have been offered a job (well, I'm the front runner anyhow) to help them set up this super-enhanced $12,000 Amiga setup they've purchased for a project. I'd be flown to Wyoming for two weeks (at exceptional pay + all expenses and per diem) to configure things and teach them how to use the software. The Amiga includes (if I can remember everything) a 28 (?) Mhz '030 with a total of 7 megs RAM, FlickerFixer and Nec 3D, '286 Bridgecard with VGA and a '386 accelerator (to run Xenix), Framegrabber, Supergen, 170 meg HD, a Syquest, a Paintjet, and probably more that I've forgotten. The project is a computer-aided mapping of the insect damage which has occured to Yellowstone as an indirect result of the '88 fires. There is a 3000UX involved somewhere, I think they're having someone in Colorado Springs port something over from Xenix to SVR4. Anyway it'd be fun to work with this machine for FREE (though I'm not going to mention that to them...)! And the word is spreading. There is a small conference on their computer net for Amiga users, and a few people in the computer department use them at home. Of course, I don't take any credit for this even though I've worked there on and off for three years extolling the virtues of our favorite machine... . <<<<Infinite K>>>> -- |Ben Scott, professional goof-off and consultant at The Raster Image, Denver| |FIDO point address 1:104/421.2, bscott@isis.cs.du.edu, or BBS (303)424-9831| |"Spent 4 hours burying the cat!" "Four || The Raster Image IS responsible | | hours?!?" "It wouldn't keep still..." || for everything I say! | *Amiga* |