db@cs.ed.ac.uk (Dave Berry) (09/17/90)
I'm considering buying an Amiga - a 200 if I can afford it, more likely
a 500. I have a few (10) questions, which I'd be grateful if someone could
answer for me.
1. It's essential that I can transfer data files from the Amiga to
a PC and vice versa. Recent articles on this newsgroup suggest that
several people do this. Would I need an external drive to read/write
3.5" PC disks, or could I use the internal drive? How much does
the software cost?
2. Can Amiga software use the built-in fonts of matrix and daisy wheel
printers for draft of high quality copies? Obviously not all
documents could be printed using built-in fonts, but I'd like to be
able to use them for ASCII files and wordprocessor files.
3. Can postscript generated by an Amiga program be printed on an
Apple Laserwriter?
4. What is a flicker-fixer, and how necessary is it?
5. How do the AT bridgeboards and Mac boards access the screen?
Does the Amiga screen look like the PC/Mac screen to programs running
on these boards? How does the resolution of the Amiga screen compare\
with the PC and Mac?
6. The range of software for the Amiga seems a bit limited, apart from
music and graphics packages (which I'm not really interested in).
Are DTP packages like Ventura and PageMaker supported on the Amiga?
Which wordprocessor and database would you recommend?
7. Is UNIX available or going to be available for the 2000? (I've
seen the recent posts about MINIX, which is encouraging, but I'd
like to know about the Commodore version).
8. Are Prolog or Smalltalk available for the Amiga?
9. I was expecting to find more games avaiable for the Amiga than the
PC, but it seems that strategy games (like SSI products for the PC)
aren't as common as arcade and adventure games, which I'm not
really interested in. Is this impression right?
10. I've seen some articles in this newsgroup criticising the Amiga's
graphics capabilities. Are people comparing Amiga graphics with
PC graphics or with more powerful machines aimed at the workstation
market?
Thank you for your patience in reading this far.
--
Dave Berry, LFCS, Edinburgh Uni. db%lfcs.ed.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
Snuffsaidbutgorblimeyguvstonemeifhedidn'tthrowawobblerchachachachachacha
chachachachachayou'regoinghomeinacosmicambience.joseph@valnet.UUCP (Joseph P. Hillenburg) (09/18/90)
db@cs.ed.ac.uk (Dave Berry) writes: > I'm considering buying an Amiga - a 200 if I can afford it, more likely > a 500. I have a few (10) questions, which I'd be grateful if someone could > answer for me. > > > 1. It's essential that I can transfer data files from the Amiga to > a PC and vice versa. Recent articles on this newsgroup suggest that > several people do this. Would I need an external drive to read/write > 3.5" PC disks, or could I use the internal drive? How much does > the software cost? There is a PD (ShareWare?) program called Messy-DOS that allows you to use a standard Amiga drive as a PC drive. You can even use programs like DeluxePaint III on it to directly import files from PC disks. To the Amiga, it's just another filesystem. It costs nothing to get ahold of it. > > 2. Can Amiga software use the built-in fonts of matrix and daisy wheel > printers for draft of high quality copies? Obviously not all > documents could be printed using built-in fonts, but I'd like to be > able to use them for ASCII files and wordprocessor files. Amigas can use any printer made for PC printers as long as there is a driver. Not to worry though...al but the most rare printer drivers are included with AmigaDOS. > > 3. Can postscript generated by an Amiga program be printed on an > Apple Laserwriter? Certainly. Simply plug the printerto your serial or parallel port and stick the proper driver in DEVS: > > 4. What is a flicker-fixer, and how necessary is it? There is currently a problem with AmigaDOS that involves interlace flicker. The next version (2.0) provides the needed changes to get rid of this. If I were you, I'd wait 'til the release of AmigaDOS 2.0 before buying an Amiga. > > 5. How do the AT bridgeboards and Mac boards access the screen? > Does the Amiga screen look like the PC/Mac screen to programs running > on these boards? How does the resolution of the Amiga screen compare\ They route it through the Amiga's chips. They look exactly like any ordinary PC or Mac, except the Mac screen can have two colors of of your choice. The resolution is identical, except for A-Max II (Thr Mac emulator) which allows larger than usualy Mac screens. The resolution can vary from the standard size (I forget the exact dimensions) and 1008x800. Hopefully, the next version will supportthe newer 256k and 512k Mac ROMs, as well as Mac 24 bit color... > with the PC and Mac? > > 6. The range of software for the Amiga seems a bit limited, apart from > music and graphics packages (which I'm not really interested in). > Are DTP packages like Ventura and PageMaker supported on the Amiga? > Which wordprocessor and database would you recommend? Ventura isn't right now, but Gold Disk's Professional Page nad PageSetter II (The low end) and SoftLogik's PageStream are very comparable, although Pro Page would stand a better chance. I recommend Precision SoftWare's SuperBase Pro and Brown-Wagh's Pen Pal (database and word processor respectively). > > 7. Is UNIX available or going to be available for the 2000? (I've > seen the recent posts about MINIX, which is encouraging, but I'd > like to know about the Commodore version). Commodore is making a UNIX which AT&T is using to demo UNIX V.4. It is expected to be out by early winter. It fits AT&T's specs, and is an official UNIX. It also adds BSD UNIX as well. > > 8. Are Prolog or Smalltalk available for the Amiga? > > 9. I was expecting to find more games avaiable for the Amiga than the > PC, but it seems that strategy games (like SSI products for the PC) > aren't as common as arcade and adventure games, which I'm not > really interested in. Is this impression right? > > 10. I've seen some articles in this newsgroup criticising the Amiga's > graphics capabilities. Are people comparing Amiga graphics with > PC graphics or with more powerful machines aimed at the workstation > market? > > Thank you for your patience in reading this far. > > -- > Dave Berry, LFCS, Edinburgh Uni. db%lfcs.ed.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk > > Snuffsaidbutgorblimeyguvstonemeifhedidn'tthrowawobblerchachachachachacha > chachachachachayou'regoinghomeinacosmicambience. -Joseph Hillenburg UUCP: ...iuvax!valnet!joseph INET: joseph@valnet.UUCP ARPA: valnet!joseph@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
lkoop@pnet01.cts.com (Lamonte Koop) (09/18/90)
db@cs.ed.ac.uk (Dave Berry) writes: >I'm considering buying an Amiga - a 200 if I can afford it, more likely >a 500. I have a few (10) questions, which I'd be grateful if someone could >answer for me. [stuff deleted] > >2. Can Amiga software use the built-in fonts of matrix and daisy wheel > printers for draft of high quality copies? Obviously not all > documents could be printed using built-in fonts, but I'd like to be > able to use them for ASCII files and wordprocessor files. If I understand what you are saying correctly, there shouldn't be a problem. The internal fonts of the printer are a function OF THE PRINTER not the Amiga. Now, depending on if you have a good printer driver or not, you may or may not be able to use select codes from the Amiga to chose the printer font...and special font characters may not be translated correctly, but for the most part, I've never had a real problem with this. In some cases you simply may have to manually select the font on the printer (provided it lets you do this)...or you could find a good printer driver OR [gasp...make one...]. > >3. Can postscript generated by an Amiga program be printed on an > Apple Laserwriter? Postscript is postscript. That's why it's considered somewhat of a standard. If you can properly interface the printer, the postscript language used is the same. > >4. What is a flicker-fixer, and how necessary is it? > The MicroWay Flickerfixer is basically a de-interlacing/scan-doubling (I believe the last term is more accurate in this case) used to eliminate the flicker apparent in any of the Amiga's interlaced (400 line) video modes. (This should read scan-doubling device...excuse my sudden lack of grammar) How necessary it is depends upon what kind of work you plan on doing. If you intend to do a lot of work with the interlaced modes, and don't enjoy the concept of being blind, it may be a good investment. Actually, the flicker, though not enjoyable, isn't quite as noticable as I was told it would be when I first got my Amiga...at least TO ME that is. If you are basically going to be using the other video modes (320x200,640x200,etc..) it may not be worth it. [more stuff deleted] > >Thank you for your patience in reading this far. > >-- > Dave Berry, LFCS, Edinburgh Uni. db%lfcs.ed.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk > > Snuffsaidbutgorblimeyguvstonemeifhedidn'tthrowawobblerchachachachachacha > chachachachachayou'regoinghomeinacosmicambience. UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd ucsd nosc}!crash!pnet01!lkoop ARPA: crash!pnet01!lkoop@nosc.mil INET: lkoop@pnet01.cts.com
h112706@assari.tut.fi (Herranen Henrik) (09/19/90)
In article <R15NP3w163w@valnet> joseph@valnet.UUCP (Joseph P. Hillenburg) writes: >> 4. What is a flicker-fixer, and how necessary is it? > >There is currently a problem with AmigaDOS that involves interlace >flicker. The next version (2.0) provides the needed changes to get rid of >this. If I were you, I'd wait 'til the release of AmigaDOS 2.0 before >buying an Amiga. The interlace flicker is NOT a problem of the operating system. It's a hardware feature which makes the Amiga video signal compatible with the NTSC & PAL TV/video systems. Although, interlace flicker is only visible when using the interlace mode (400/512 vertical pixels). On my A2000/WB 1.3, I use a 736*284 non-interlaced screen which I think is the largest screen that can be used without flicker. -- Name: Henrik 'Leopold' Herranen h112706@lehtori.tut.fi Address: TTKK/P{{rakennuksen neuvonta/PL527/33101 Tampere/Suomi Finlandia "On d{htinen daevas ja kuutamoy|, on morsiamelta katkaistu p{{" E.L.1989
david@twg.com (David S. Herron) (09/20/90)
In article <R15NP3w163w@valnet> joseph@valnet.UUCP (Joseph P. Hillenburg) writes: >db@cs.ed.ac.uk (Dave Berry) writes: >> 7. Is UNIX available or going to be available for the 2000? (I've >> seen the recent posts about MINIX, which is encouraging, but I'd >> like to know about the Commodore version). > >Commodore is making a UNIX which AT&T is using to demo UNIX V.4. It >is expected to be out by early winter. It fits AT&T's specs, and is an >official UNIX. It also adds BSD UNIX as well. A little more information: It's pretty likely C= will have a Unix for the 2000. This is what they were demonstrating last fall at Unix Expo. Back then it was SysVr3.2 running on a 2000 with C='s 68030 coprocessor board. I'm sure the hardware differences between a 2500/30 and a 3000 is minor enough, and well enough understood by C=, that supporting both machines. >> 8. Are Prolog or Smalltalk available for the Amiga? There's a version of Stony-Brook Prolog, as I recall. It's an ftp-ware product, but I don't remember where you ftp it. Stony-Brook means the State University of New York/Stony-Brook (SUNYSB). Dunno about smalltalk. ParcPlace systems doesn't sell *their* Smalltalk on the Amiga platform. There's a GNU smalltalk but it's still in early stages of development. What other choices are out there?? >> 9. I was expecting to find more games avaiable for the Amiga than the >> PC, but it seems that strategy games (like SSI products for the PC) >> aren't as common as arcade and adventure games, which I'm not >> really interested in. Is this impression right? I dunno.. I don't pay real close attention to the game market. It does seem to be flooded with stupid shoot-em-ups, eh? I am *extremely* happy with both Sim City and Populous.. And the Amiga GO game is well put together, but since I'm a very poor GO player so I have no idea how well it GO's.. According to the Bandito, however, the Amiga has become the second most popular platform to do games on. In particular SSI has been moving into the Amiga market big-time. Of course ya gotta trust the Bandito as a reliable source of information ;-). >> 10. I've seen some articles in this newsgroup criticising the Amiga's >> graphics capabilities. Are people comparing Amiga graphics with >> PC graphics or with more powerful machines aimed at the workstation >> market? They seem to be falling into divisions like so: -- don't want to be limited to NTSC variants For instance, I'm not so much interested in the Amiga as a way to make video images .. but instead as an affordable computer which I can use somewhat like the workstation I have here at work. That is, lots of windows, being able to move windows around at will, compare directly between windows that are side-by-side, cut&paste between windows, etc. I'd like to have a large screen -- greater than 1000x1000. Not necessarily in color, I get along fine with monochrome here at work. The 2024 is probably what I want, but I'm delayed by both the cost and the fact that I don't know how easy it is to switch back to a color display. (For those times when I wanna record video's..) I also hear vague rumblings that the software would have to be written to take advantage of the 2024? -- are unhappy with ~32/~4096 colors per pixel The PC and Mac worlds both have 256 colors & more. 'course for some of those things you spend more than the cost of an Amiga for the boards alone. -- want certain add-on boards to be come out of development (*FINALLY*) -- want cray-performance at C-64 prices I think a lot of C='s problems will be solved in two ways: -- put *MORE* effort into development so that some of these nifty new products will get to market. -- sell more amiga's to help pay for the development, and to make some of the more marginal products more marketable. -- <- David Herron, an MMDF & WIN/MHS guy, <david@twg.com> <- Formerly: David Herron -- NonResident E-Mail Hack <david@ms.uky.edu> <- <- Sign me up for one "I survived Jaka's Story" T-shirt!