leel@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Lee Lawrence) (06/16/90)
This is a summary of the responses I received on the topic of using an amiga to emulate a mac versus getting a real mac. Thanks to all who replied... Here is a list of all the people who commented by e-mail or news as of the time this summary was created: From: lsr@Apple.COM (Larry Rosenstein) From: mofo@bucsf.bu.edu (jason greene) From: Marc Barrett <BARRETT@FOREST.ECIL.IASTATE.EDU> From: plonka@carroll1.cc.edu (Dave Plonka) From: arthur walker <roadman@portia.stanford.edu> From: huebner@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Robert E. Huebner) From: Udo K Schuermann <walrus@wam.umd.edu> From: Brad Hathaway <bradh@hpcc01.corp.hp.com> From: mpmst1@unix.cis.pitt.edu (metlay) From: GHGAQBA@BLEKUL11.BITNET (Pottie Karl) From: ews00461@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu From: amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) From: Sylvain@speedy.CAM.ORG (Sylvain Tremblay) ========== summarized comments follow ========== * AMAX is based on the Mac Plus ROM set * Since Color QuickDraw needs the SE/30 or MAC II ROMs, color is currently not available. Under AMAX you can choose a foreground and background rather than just B/W * On a plain 68000 based Amiga, AMAX runs faster than a Mac+ (One happy AMAX user said it's slightly slower than an SE and another said it's faster.) On Amiga's faster CPUs it supposedly beats equivalent Macs. This is partially due to the Amiga special chips which do graphics and memory moves faster. * MIDI programs won't work under current versions of AMAX * Full Macintosh sound emulation is not implemented, but is expected in future releases. Simple system beeps *are* supported. * AppleTalk, Local Talk, and related hardware dependent networking stuff doesn't work. * Mac developers will probably not be testing compatibility in the AMAX amiga environments. But, overall AMAX compatibility is very good, and "you don't feel like its going to bomb on you." * New Mac educational prices make it close in cost to an AMAX Amiga system. * If need to run Amiga software, then only one choice. * To bring one's Mac work home, AMAX was highly touted. * Interlace mode is needed to see full Mac screen at once, and most monitors produce flicker in this mode but their are lots of flicker fixing solutions and the Amiga 3000 monitor doesn't have this problem. * About dots per inch and monitors: If you buy the 15" a2024 monitor from commodore you can have a 1024 x 800 screen in addition to the 640 x 400 which you will likely use with all other displays, interlaced or not (using the ECS which ain't out yet). However, you won't get 72 dpi this way, which is a tenet of the mac religion. A 19" monitor which at 1152 x 870 is about 81 dpi makes a difference. This would be about 100 dpi, that might be pretty weird. On the other hand, you could run it in 640 x 400 mode when required. * In lower resolutions, one must scroll the Mac screen which is supposedly not much of a hassle. And,in higher than Mac resolutions you get bigger screens than SE or Plus. * Without a special floppy drive ($150-$180ish) you can only store 400k per Mac-style floppy and must use a transfer program. * Extra mem can also become a bootable RAM disk for Mac. And some weird or non-contig. mem may only work as RAM disk (e.g. frances) But super agnus or rumored future AMAX releases can fix this. * With a partitioned hard drive this is not a problem. But it currently only supports the "trumpcard" or "supra" HD controller until next AMAX version. * Mac programs can also be downloaded from via modem using Amiga terminal program and store to Mac HD partition. * You need more than 1meg RAM to emulate a 1meg Mac (overhead) * OS7.0 which Apple is developing probably won't work under AMAX * Amiga tasks can run in background while running Mac Emulation I hope that the information contained herein is accurate...but not guarantees. Overall, most people who use AMAX liked it a lot although a couple of folks felt that it is just a gizmo or limited tool. Basically, if a person wants a Mac as a computer and they don't really have a particular need for an Amiga then they should get a Mac But, if they already have an Amiga, or if they also want to run Amiga programs then AMAX seems to be a perfectly good choice. As for my decision... given unlimited money I'd own both an Amiga 3000 and a Mac IIfx. But in reality, I'll probably get a used Amiga 2000/30 *or* a new Mac SE with a 3rd party hard-drive. Budget remains my main constraint until I win the Lottery :-) Thanks again for all your help, and I hope this summary is of use to others. Lee Lawrence University of Colorado at Boulder leel@boulder.colorado.edu