papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (12/15/88)
I had just picked up the December issue of BYTE and as ususal I turned to Jerry Pournelle's CHAOS MANOR section, expecting the usual ramblings about the Amiga, when I was surprised by 3 pages of Amiga coverage, mostly all positive, even at times apologetic. 3 pages are too long to report (and would probably not be covered by "fair use" anyway), so I'll just pick phrases here and there. "...I've sometimes had problems with Amiga Computers. Part of the difficulty is me: the Amiga is a powerful multitasking machine, with a fairly complex operating system. Unlike the Macintosh, which is easy to use but limited in what it can do ... the Amiga has lots of capabilities. ... The machine is sometime beastly slow ... Some of that changed. Commodore sent Andy Finkel to update my Amiga 20000.. I also invited the local Amiga guru, Joanne Dow to come over ... The new Amiga has a 68020 processor, ... new ROMS with version 1.3 of the operating system. Now the Amiga boots up from the hard disk, just like any other computer. ... You no longer have time to grow a beard while the Amiga loads files. Then they did a lot of trick with the startup sequence. I don't understand most of them. It is not that I CANT'T understand, just that it will take time: the Amiga is a bit different from any other machine we have here. ... Joanne Dow brought over the most popular [third party video board] one, a board called Flicker Fixer from MicroWay. ... In particult [Flicker Fixer] works with the NEC MultiSync monitor, and spectacularly well with the FTM [Zenith's Flat Technology Monitor]. The result is GORGEOUS. Now there's Deluxe Productions. .... The results can be rather spectacular. .. I don't create ads, but if I did, I'd want a capability like this. It's sure great for noodling around with images. ... [Coming attractions mentions the 1 Meg FAT Agnus] ... [The PC Side, a.k.a. the BridgeBoard] It is pretty close to 100 percent [compatible with PC AT] .. We were even able to get the LAN-tastic local area network running. As a result, you can access CD-ROM and WORM drives ... ... The Amiga itself is a FASCINATING machine, the sort of thing most BYTE readers always wanted, especially back in the early days when all we really wanted from our machines was a bit of fun. ... The Amiga also has enormous potential for education. It is cheaper than a Mac II, and powerful enough for nearly everyting you'd want in a classroom. ... Commodore is making progress. The 68020 Amiga with AmigaDOS 1.3 is a GIANT step in the right direction." Well, Andy and Joanne, thank again. Let's get some more business software for this puppy! Enjoy. -- Marco Papa 'Doc' -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= uucp:...!pollux!papa BIX:papa ARPAnet:pollux!papa@oberon.usc.edu "There's Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Diga!" -- Leo Schwab [quoting Rick Unland] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=