jer@stbimbo.UUCP (John Ramspott) (10/19/90)
For all who don't know, Atlanta has been hosting EDUCOM this week, which is a computer conference aimed at educators. People from universities all over the country are here this week. Exhibiting at the show are people like IBM, Apple, Sun, Next, Zenith, and Commodore. Being an old AMiga fanatic I had to show up to see what was new. In short, there is nothing new to report. Two fellows from SUNY were showing how they use Maple, a very nice mathematics package. For all of you complaining about lack of scientific software, you need to have a look at this one. Neato. An atronomer type was showing off Distant Suns and Vista. In both cases the software was being shown by people who did NOT write the software. This was a nice touch since the demo people were somewhat objective. The neatest thing in the Commodore booth was a something called CADKEY. A fellow from Ohio State has an Amigavision application that runs in conjunction with CAD software running on the Bridgeboard. AV provides only help that uses video off a laser disc explaining the software. Talk about an educational workstation... Dale Luck of GfxBase was there showing his X-on-AMigaDOS software. The color server looks great, and the Xt developers kit is now shipping. He was running two servers most of the time -- one running local AMiga X clients, the other running clients on a 3000UX, across TCP/IP and ethernet. To blow X people away, he had a camera and genlock to show people how easy an Amiga can do video with X. I need his software to make a training tape for my X applications. The 3000UX was there too, along with techies and the UNIX Product Manager, Paul Calkin. The Sys V Release 4 unix is still in beta test, but some Universities and developers have boxes. No prices have been set. Actually, the 3000UX has NOT been announced as a product yet. They may do it at Comdex, but may wait as late as January. Despite the informatoin I posted earlier about what some folks "may" have paid and what they got, final configurations have not been decided on. They are still testing... The good news is that Commodore is VERY COMMITTED to the Sys VR4 UNIX. They will release it someday, but Mr. Calkin said not before it is rock solid. What they have looks very good. But if you wonder what the UNIX is going to have, simply go by the bookstore and pick up one of several books on AT&T Sys V r 4. Commodore has a full port. OK!? One word of note is that my previous informative posting upset the folks at C=. Apparently some information may have been "secret". While we Amiga folks can get overzealous, we never intend any harm. I did not appreciate the way C= folks were talking to other people about me. I have sold more AMigas in my five years that most C= folks do in their career, and I have provided education and support to users, usually for no charge at all. And ALL of my spare income goes into the machine. I did not knowingly violate any kind of agreement. Everything I post I get from public sources -- meetings, shows, announcements, and magazines. And C= was supposed to be at the Amiga meeting that some of the questionable material came from. I felt bad about even the thought of hurting the Amiga or the 3000UX. I want a 3000UX! I want to sell and promote it too! Guys, in your rush to become a "Professional" company, you have forgotten about the fact that people like me made the Amiga what it is today, and continue supporting it. Don't give me a hard time. You guys have been showing UNIX for several years now. It is not unreasonable to expect people to be getting antsy, especially when their investments and livelihood hang in the balance. Should I but the 3000 now and upgrade later? Or should I wait for a package deal? And if C= has a problem with my post, please say so in this forum, not behind my back. You guys can post here too... Anyway, Commodore was looking good. So were the new Next machines... --John E. Ramspott