barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dan Barrett) (05/03/90)
I just tried out the A3000 at my local dealer ("Greetings &
Readings" in Baltimore, MD). It looks great!!! It had the 1950 monitor,
25 MHz 68030, 40 MB hard disk (19ms Quantum), and CBM's new little stereo
speakers.
My impressions are listed below, in several parts:
o Speed
o Workbench 2.0
o Software compatibility
o Prices
SPEED
-----
Whoa! This is a fast machine! A warm boot (ctrl-A-A) took only
about 8 seconds to load Workbench and get completely ready. I think the
startup-sequence was pretty minimal, but still...!
WORKBENCH 2.0
--------------
It looks really beautiful. The display is wonderful, and Preferences
gives you an amazing amount of control over the look. You can have a 2, 4, 8
or 16 color Workbench in Hires (640x200), Hires interlace (640x400),
Super Hires (1280x200) or Super Hires interlace (1280x400), plus overscan.
NOTE that the "super" modes can have at most 4 colors.
Background patterns and window background patterns are fun. The
screen updating is FAST FAST FAST. Moving windows around, even with
background patterns, was extremely quick, even with a 16-color Workbench
in Hires interlace mode.
The hires interlace multicolor Workbench setups do use quite a
bit more memory than the "old" Workbench, but that is obviously to be
expected: more pixels/colors need to be stored in more memory! Of course,
you can run in the old resolutions if you want to. Almost all of the
memory used was FAST RAM, not CHIP RAM.
The upper-right window gadgets are now (as has been said already)
front/back and iconify. "Iconify" turns a window into an icon the size
of its title-bar, as far as I could tell. I wish there were a way to blow
up a window to full-screen size with a single mouse-click, but I didn't
see one. (I could have missed this easily.)
The deinterlacer worked fantastically -- the display was indeed
rock-solid. Now, the "super hires" modes (1280x...) are not deinterlaced
completely, but I tried them anyway. Certain parts, notably vertical lines,
had a sort of "crawling ants" look to them -- little dots moving upwards.
This is a limitation of the deinterlacer (it would have required doubling
the deinterlacer's internal RAM, and its cost). This was a fine tradeoff,
in my opinion -- the normal hires interlace looks great as is!
Preferences had TONS of stuff to play with. The "Input" tools was
one of the cutest. It allows you to set the double-click and keyboard
repeat times (nothing new here), but it has this GREAT little "test" feature
to let you try out various settings to see how they work in practice! For
example, there's a little gadget that you click on, and it highlights for
EXACTLY your "double-click" time, so you can see how long between clicks
you really have. NICE, WELL-THOUGHT-OUT stuff. Bravo, CBM! It is indeed
these little details that count a lot.
There were a bunch of different fonts you could use for defaults:
various incarnations of Topaz, Courier, and a few others. Some are
obviously optimized for the hires interlace screens.
The hard disk backup utility (BRU) looked a lot like Quarterback.
I didn't try it out.
The icon editor has a GREAT new feature -- it really made me
beam! Start up IconEd, grab any icon from the Workbench, and "drop" it into
IconEd with your mouse. Presto -- it is available for editing!!!!
SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY
----------------------
I brought along a whole bunch of software to test if it works
on the A3000 with AmigaOS 2.0. NOTE that the dealer said the Kickstart
ROMs in this A3000 were "Alpha" version, NOT the release version. The
results of my brief tests are listed below:
SOFTWARE THAT APPEARED TO WORK FINE
DELUXE PAINT III (other people have reported minor bugs w/ overscan)
AEGIS ANIMATOR 1.2, by Aegis.
LARN, by the Software Distillery
FLOW, by New Horizons Software
QUARTERBACK 4.0, by Central Coast Software
MARAUDER II (Brainfile 10), by Discovery Software
VT100 v2.9b, by Tony Surmall
MINDWALKER, by CBM (of course!)
SIM CITY, by Maxis
FREE, by me (to appear on a Fish Disk) :-)
SOFTWARE THAT DID NOT WORK
TETRIX 1.1, by David Corbin
Game started normally, but nothing happened when you
clicked to start a new game. Exited normally.
ARKANOID, by Discovery Software
Guru'ed while trying to boot.
I have heard that Discovery Software is out of business.
I would guess that this will never be updated.
POPULOUS, by Electronic Arts
Guru'ed while trying to boot.
I called EA and asked them about update plans. The person I
spoke with sounded very confused about the A3000, and made
statements like "oh, most software on the market is going to
break under 2.0". He didn't know anything about the A3000's
hardware or capabilities.
He did say, however, that it was extremely likely that DPaint
III would be fixed to work under 2.0. He had no idea about
any other products.
DUNGEON MASTER v2.2, by FTL
Guru'ed while trying to boot.
I called FTL, and they said that they were working on
updating Dungeonmaster for AmigaOS 2.0.
NOTE! REMEMBER! YO!! These did not work under the ALPHA release of
2.0!! This does NOT MEAN that they won't work under the FINAL release
of 2.0!! DON'T SPREAD RUMORS!!
PRICES
------
My dealer said his selling price (25 MHz, 40 MB disk, 1 floppy)
was $3999, INCLUDING the 1950 monitor and the stereo speakers. The
monitor lists for $799, and the speakers would sell for about $30-40.
He had no information about Educational Discounts for the A3000.
CONCLUSIONS
-----------
I want one!
Dan
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| Dan Barrett, Department of Computer Science Johns Hopkins University |
| INTERNET: barrett@cs.jhu.edu | |
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\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////////joe@cbmvax.commodore.com (Joe O'Hara - Product Assurance) (05/03/90)
In article <5124@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dan Barrett) writes: > The upper-right window gadgets are now (as has been said already) >front/back and iconify. "Iconify" turns a window into an icon the size >of its title-bar, as far as I could tell. I wish there were a way to blow >up a window to full-screen size with a single mouse-click, but I didn't >see one. (I could have missed this easily.) The 'Iconify' gadget is really a 'switch between two sizes' gadget. So, if you use the sizing gadget to expand either the original size or the 'iconified' size, then your newly expanded size becomes the alternative for the window when clicking the 'iconify' gadget. In short, _you_ control the two sizes. -- ========================================================================== Joe O'Hara || Disclaimer: I didn't say that! Commodore Electronics Ltd || Product Assurance || "I never lie when I have sand in my shoes." Systems Evaluation Group || - Geordi LeForge, Star Trek TNG ==========================================================================
jmeissen@oregon.oacis.org (John Meissen) (05/03/90)
In article <11267@cbmvax.commodore.com> joe@cbmvax (Joe O'Hara - Product Assurance) writes: >In article <5124@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU> barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dan Barrett) writes: >> The upper-right window gadgets are now (as has been said already) >>front/back and iconify. "Iconify" turns a window into an icon the size [etc., etc.] Well, I got my first look when my BYTE mag arrived yesterday. I also finally got the screen dumps to look at. True, it does look more "professional". However I will miss with much sadness the intuitive feel of "iconic" gadgets. It used to be you could tell what gadgets did what just by looking at them. Now they have been replaced by a generic "button" image. <sigh> Such is progress, I guess. Although I will miss some features of the old 'look and feel', I won't complain as long as long as the power and flexibility remain. In all, good job guys! -- John Meissen ............................... Oregon Advanced Computing Institute jmeissen@oacis.org (Internet) | "That's the remarkable thing about life; ..!sequent!oacis!jmeissen (UUCP) | things are never so bad that they can't jmeissen (BIX) | get worse." - Calvin & Hobbes
mamba@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Paul A Deisinger) (05/04/90)
In article <471@oregon.oacis.org> jmeissen@oregon.oacis.org (John Meissen) writes: >In article <11267@cbmvax.commodore.com> joe@cbmvax (Joe O'Hara - Product Assurance) writes: >True, it does look more "professional". >However I will miss with much sadness the >intuitive feel of "iconic" gadgets. >It used to be you could tell what gadgets did >what just by looking at them. Now they >have been replaced by a generic "button" >image. <sigh> Such is progress, I guess. The pictures in Byete of WB 2.0 are of an older revision. The current release of workbench features front to back and iconify gadgets with more conventional looks to them. -- Paul Deisinger "**** this planet, I'm going home..." mamba@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
joe@cbmvax.commodore.com (Joe O'Hara - Product Assurance) (05/04/90)
In article <471@oregon.oacis.org> jmeissen@oregon.oacis.org (John Meissen) writes: >Well, I got my first look when my BYTE mag arrived yesterday. I also finally got >the screen dumps to look at. > >It used to be you could tell what gadgets did >what just by looking at them. Now they have been replaced by a generic "button" >image. The screen shots shown in the Byte (and AmigaWorld) article were taken before new gadget artwork was integrated into the system. (Remember that mags need lead time for their articles.) Take a look at the A3000 at your local dealer and you will find that the 'buttons' have been replaced by iconic gadgets. -- ========================================================================== Joe O'Hara || Disclaimer: I didn't say that! Commodore Electronics Ltd || Product Assurance || "I never lie when I have sand in my shoes." Systems Evaluation Group || - Geordi LeForge, Star Trek TNG ==========================================================================
barrett@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Dan Barrett) (05/04/90)
In article <471@oregon.oacis.org> jmeissen@oregon.oacis.org (John Meissen) writes: >Well, I got my first look when my BYTE mag arrived yesterday. I also >finally got the screen dumps to look at. >True, it does look more "professional". However I will miss with much >sadness the intuitive feel of "iconic" gadgets. It used to be you could tell >what gadgets did.... The WB 2.0 I saw at my dealer did indeed have some imagery on the system gadgets. Breathe easier. Dan //////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ | Dan Barrett, Department of Computer Science Johns Hopkins University | | INTERNET: barrett@cs.jhu.edu | | | COMPUSERVE: >internet:barrett@cs.jhu.edu | UUCP: barrett@jhunix.UUCP | \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////////