g.greene@cooper.UUCP (Glenn Greene ) (05/14/87)
I am looking for opinions from Amiga and Atari 1040ST owners as to which computer is better. I am especially interested in the animation,graphics and MIDI music areas. I would like to know if the animation programs for the Amiga work as well as they are advertised to and if there are any animation programs for the ST. Also are there any Lotus 123 comparable spreadsheets available for either machine and if so how good are they. I would also like to hear about Macintosh interfaces for both machines and whether there are any other interfaces available and if so how good they are. IN GENERAL I WOULD LIKE THE PROS AND CONS OF BOTH MACHINES FROM AN EXPERIENCED USERS POINT OF VIEW CONCERNING GRAPHICS,SOFTWARE, ANIMATION ,BUSINESS APPLICATIONS,PROGRAMMING AND COMPUTER BASED MUSIC SYSTEMS.
hadeishi@husc7.HARVARD.EDU (Mitsuharu Hadeishi) (05/21/87)
In article <943@cooper.UUCP> g.greene@cooper.UUCP (Glenn Greene ) writes: >I am looking for opinions from Amiga and Atari 1040ST owners >as to which computer is better. Glenn Greene, computer terrorist! Seriously, Glenn, we've had a lot of Amiga vs. ST battles on the net and although you may be quite serious in your query, we really don't need more intigations to violence. Please reply via email, everyone. Peace to you all. -Mitsu
kagle@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Jonathan C. Kagle) (05/21/87)
In article <943@cooper.UUCP> g.greene@cooper.UUCP (Glenn Greene ) writes: >I am looking for opinions from Amiga and Atari 1040ST owners >as to which computer is better. ... Oh no! Not again!!! Everyone, please use mail, not rn, to reply to his request. -Jonathan
richard@pnet02.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) (05/22/87)
The atari is cheaper, and has a slightly better MIDI interface. (they provide
the
connector :-> ). The amiga has better hardware graphics support. I have used
an amiga 1-2-3 clone on the amiga (vip pro something or other) and in my
limited experiencd with it, it works. They are both nice machines, before
a friend told me about the amiga 21/3 years ago, i was GOING to buy an atari.
The bottom line is, the atari is cheaper and does less, the amiga costs more
and does more. It all depends how much money you have :->
UUCP: {akgua!crash, hplabs!hp-sdd!crash}!gryphon!pnet02!richard
INET: richard@pnet02.CTS.COMbakken@tahoma.ARPA (Dave Bakken) (05/22/87)
In article <943@cooper.UUCP>, g.greene@cooper.UUCP (Glenn Greene ) writes: > IN GENERAL I WOULD LIKE THE PROS AND CONS OF BOTH MACHINES FROM AN > EXPERIENCED USERS POINT OF VIEW CONCERNING GRAPHICS,SOFTWARE, > ANIMATION ,BUSINESS APPLICATIONS,PROGRAMMING AND COMPUTER > BASED MUSIC SYSTEMS. > I bought my Amiga in December of '85, and I chose it over the Atari because it was (and still is) the only PC to offer true multitasking. I wasn't even too interested in the sound and graphics, but am glad I got the Amiga on that count, too. The user interface is great. And, as a series of articles discussed a few months ago, the Amiga is the best hacking machine out there today. The programmer's interface to graphics, devices, multitasking, etc. is at a very high level and is (relatively) easy to use, freeing the programmer to do the work he or she really wants to do. To get a feel for the high level you can program at, find the Byte article from about 6 months ago that compared programming on the Amiga vs. the Mac. I forget what the example was but on the Mac you had to do a lot more work. Also, the Commodore technical folks read the net and respond to questions as often as possible. That is a big help, and I understand the Atari folks are not accessible in that way. Dave Bakken Boeing Commercial Airplane Company Flight Simulation Lab uw-beaver!ssc-vax!shuksan!tahoma!bakken (206) 237-5890 My views are my own, not my employer's. Don't let them deter you from buying the 747 you've been saving hard for.
jimomura@lsuc.UUCP (05/23/87)
There are quite a few animation packages on the market for both
the Atari ST and Amigas, but one of the most outstanding from a technological
viewpoint is Aegis Animator, which is available on both. I run Animator
on the ST and depending on how you use the program, you can run the output
file on both computers. My freinds have run my own ST output files on
Amigas without problems. Animator calculates movements over time and
draws the frames according to the parameters you set. It's fairly easy
to use and is the easiest way to obtain complex movement animation with
simple 2 dimensional objects. It supports some 3D animation as well, but
the 3D usage.
Tom Hudson has done some pretty interesting things with Delta files
lately and Jim Kent (author of Animator) has found a way to convert Animator
output to Delta format. Delta format is only used on the ST right now.
It makes for extremely fast, smooth animation, but requires much more memory
than Animator for storage and for adequate length animation.
Ironically, what is likely the most flexible animation package on
the ST I've seen is Flicker, which is written by Jim Kent, the author of
Animator. I've had the opportunity to beta test this program and it's
probably the finest medium res graphics program out for the ST even aside
from the animation capabilities. Actually, I should qualify my statement:
Flicker as I'm using it is *NOT* available yet for public usage. There
is an early version of Flicker in this or next month's STart magazine.
What I'm using is a much farther developed program than that version,
however, even the version in STart comes with most of the important
capabilities. In fact, I've posted demo files to BIX which were made
aside from compression, with only the abilities which the STart version
has. That is to say, the only thing I used in Flicker which isn't in
the STart version is the ability to compress the files to take up less
disk space. The latest 'player' program Jim has posted to BIX will play
both the compressed files I've posted and the uncompressed files which
the STart version creates. Distribution of the latest version of Flicker
has not been finalized as far as I know, so I can't say when the public
will see it. For the time being, I suggest a combination of Degas Elite,
(or Neochrome, or both) with Flicker, to produce flip book style animation
on the ST. There may be other good combinations on the ST or on the
Amiga, but I don't expect to see better on the current ST hardware.
Having said that, I should also say that the current version of Flicker
is a memory glutton compared to Animator. That's because each frame is
sitting in its own memory (32K per frame). Keeping in mind that animation
of this type requires at the very least about 8 frames per second, a bit
of math will show you that the 1040ST is really minimal and the 4 Meg.
systems coming later will be much more comfortable. It will also tell you
that it takes a *lot* of work to produce good animation on this type of
system.
--
Jim Omura, 2A King George's Drive, Toronto, (416) 652-3880
ihnp4!utzoo!lsuc!jimomura
Byte Information eXchange: jimomuraewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) (05/23/87)
In article <943@cooper.UUCP> g.greene@cooper.UUCP (Glenn Greene ) writes: >I am looking for opinions from Amiga and Atari 1040ST owners >as to which computer is better. [ ... ] > PRIVATE E-MAIL! PRIVATE E-MAIL! OH, **GOD**, PLEASE, PRIVATE E-MAIL! Schwab
sullivan@edn-vax.dca.mil (Pat Sullivan) (06/07/89)
No doubt this question has been asked before but I beg your indulgence. I want to buy a "first" system which will serve the needs of a family whose ages range from 3 to 78. We are all into video and musical things, some more seriously than others. In addition, we need some business applications and maybe some technical things, though bringing work home is not a primary objective for this system. My 3-year old and I both need it for games. And we don't want to lay a lot of money out. At this point, I'm down to two finalists: Amiga and Atari ST. They appear to be very similar in capability and design intent. Amiga seems to do a few more things than Atari ST, while Atari ST seems to enjoy a slight price advantage, at least when comparing 1 meg systems. Is there any reason why this isn't a coin toss? I could well be overlooking something. Thanks for any and all advice and information. Please reply directly to me as I am not on this list. Thanks again, -Pat Sullivan Reston, VA.
jms@tardis.Tymnet.COM (Joe Smith) (06/08/89)
Don't try to reply to the original message, it came thru the gateway at
udel and Pat did not include an e-mail address. I found his address in
comp.sys.atari.st and sent a copy of "Introduction to comp.sys.amiga" to
"sullivan@EDN-VAX.DCA.MIL (Pat Sullivan)".
--
Joe Smith (408)922-6220 | SMTP: JMS@F74.TYMNET.COM or jms@tymix.tymnet.com
McDonnell Douglas FSCO | UUCP: ...!{ames,pyramid}!oliveb!tymix!tardis!jms
PO Box 49019, MS-D21 | PDP-10 support: My car's license plate is "POPJ P,"
San Jose, CA 95161-9019 | narrator.device: "I didn't say that, my Amiga did!"craigy@hprnd.HP.COM (Craig Yamasaki) (06/09/89)
AMIGA: - Multitasking OS - Overscan and interlace for video aplications. - More hardware/software support from Third party companies. - Superb animation capabilities. - 4096 colors on screen at the same time. - More serius programs selection. (Word processors, CAD, Planning, etc.) - More expandable (68020-68881 or so boards, 8Megs memory, large selection of hard-disks, video cards, frame grabbers, genlocks, audio and video digitizers, 3D-glasses, etc, etc, etc.) The above is just what the ATAR* ST does NOT have and the AMIGA does. so, how much did you said is the price difference from the AMIGA 500 (1MEG) to the ATAR* ST??... $80?.
sean@ms.uky.edu (Sean Casey) (06/11/89)
Another thing that one might consider is that the Atari software market seems
to be on the decline, while the Amiga's is picking up. A lot of things have
been blamed for this, especially piracy. More likely it is lack of effort
on Atari's part to promote their product, and the availability of low cost
Amigas.
Hardware is important, but remember it's just a vehicle for software. If
the software you want isn't available, you're going to be dissapointed with
your computer.
Sean
--
*** Sean Casey sean@ms.uky.edu, sean@ukma.bitnet
*** Quid, me vexari? {backbone|rutgers|uunet}!ukma!sean
*** ``I'm not the forumnet lord; I'm the forumnet janitor.'' - me