JLB119@psuvm.psu.edu (10/13/90)
Since I'm graduating next spring, I'm probably going to need an IBM compat for the "real world". (I presently own a C= 128.) I really get a stomach ache when I mention "IBM" or "IBM compat", and I would really like to stick with Commodore by purchasing the Amiga 2500 or 3000. My real question is "how IBM compatble is the Amiga"? I know the 3000 is IBM and Macintosh compatible, but to what extent? This is a VERY important question to me. PLEASE give me non-BS, straight- to-the-point answers. Thanks! John L. Berger The Pennsylvania State University (PSUVM)
a218@mindlink.UUCP (Charlie Gibbs) (10/14/90)
In article <90286.031819JLB119@psuvm.psu.edu> JLB119@psuvm.psu.edu (John L. Berger) writes: > Since I'm graduating next spring, I'm probably going to need an IBM compat >for the "real world". (I presently own a C= 128.) I really get a stomach >ache when I mention "IBM" or "IBM compat", and I would really like to stick >with Commodore by purchasing the Amiga 2500 or 3000. I know that stomach ache well. I've co-developed a telephone management system and, since most of our potential clients will either already have MS-DOS machines lying around or won't recognize anything else as being a Real Computer, we had to make it run under MS-DOS. :-( I was faced with the same dilemma as you, and being another true Amiga enthusiast, I went for a 2500 with the A2286 bridge board. > My real question is >"how IBM compatble is the Amiga"? I know the 3000 is IBM and Macintosh >compatible, but to what extent? As far as I'm concerned, my 2500/2286 *is* an AT clone. It acts every bit as brain-dead as a real IBM. :-) I haven't encountered any problems with the system in my MS-DOS development work. Currently I'm editing my programs with KEDIT and compiling them with the IBM BASIC compiler (by Microsoft) version 2.00 - not to be confused with the Microsoft BASIC compiler for the IBM PC (you figure it out). We're laying the groundwork for a complete rewrite of the system in C; I've already installed Lattice C version 6.0 and it seems to work fine. On the hardware side, I've added a 30-megabyte RLL hard card (Seagate ST-138N, XT 8-bit interface). It runs faster than some of the hard disks I've seen on real AT clones. You can set up an autoboot partition on the Amiga's hard drive and it works surprisingly well, but it's much too slow to be of use in the kind of heavy-duty software development that I'm doing, so I opted for a real drive. I've also added a multi-I/O board (two serial ports, one parallel port). I've configured the serial ports as COM1: and COM2: and they work fine with anything I've tried, including banging on them directly with BASIC's INP and OUT directives. Terminal emulators such as Procomm work flawlessly, and I've even run PC-Anywhere, which ties two machines together through a serial port. It's quite a mind-blower to call up another machine and run it from the comfort of home. I've configured the parallel port as LPT2: because an included utility lets you assign the Amiga's parallel port as LPT1: - printer switching under software control! I talked the people at work into getting a 2500/2286, and we've installed a STEP (Sperry Terminal Emulator Program) board in that one. This is a synchronous serial port with an associated terminal emulator program which makes an IBM clone (or a bridgeboard-equipped Amiga :-) act like the weird block-mode polled bisync terminals which are standard on Sperry (now Unisys) mainframes. There is one quirk: the updating of the screen is only done a couple of times per second. You probably don't want to run animations on this beast. In fact, continuous scrolling displays are pretty much lunched, at least until it catches up at the end. You'll want to be good with control-S/control-Q, or pipe the output through MORE. Of course, I've heard of people dropping a VGA card into a slot and running a separate monitor (or even switching a multisync monitor between VGA and flickerFixer) so there's even a way out there if you're desperate. > This is a VERY important question to me. PLEASE give me non-BS, straight- >to-the-point answers. Thanks! Hope this helps. (tm) Extra bonuses of this set-up are such things as while waiting for an MS-DOS job to run to completion, you can flip to the Amiga side and do something else more fun (or even several other things :-). Also, supplied utilities let you copy files back and forth between the MS-DOS and Amiga sides - I often ship an MS-DOS file over to my RAM disk so I can massage it with my more powerful Amiga tools, then ship it back. Naturally, this makes MS-DOS <-> Amiga disk conversions a snap. To put it briefly: Go for it! Charlie_Gibbs@mindlink.UUCP My A1000 *is* a PC! It says "Personal Computer" right on the box!
joseph@valnet.UUCP (Joseph P. Hillenburg) (10/15/90)
How about running an internal modem/bridgeboard on your Amiga, and running a BBS on the same machine, and calling one with the other? :) -Joseph Hillenburg UUCP: ...iuvax!valnet!joseph ARPA: valnet!joseph@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu INET: joseph@valnet.UUCP