wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) (09/02/88)
Well I'm not going to do C= bashing today. In I would like to take a
Apple dream (well Alan Kay) and apply it to the Amiga.
What I want is a Laptop Amiga
-----------------------------
1. Should be your basic 8 lbs. A power cord is fine, a battery pack is
heavy and doesn't have much power.
2. CPU - since we have a power cord give us the fastest 68020 or 68030
that can be put in. Put in the fastest 32 bit wide memory that can be
afforded. This may require a little glue logic for the Amiga chip set,
but should be reasonable. Give the user 1meg of chip RAM and at least
2megs of fast RAM.
3. 1 880k floppy on the side and a built in 30 or 40meg hard disk. Plus
connectors on the back for more.
4. A flip up color flat panel, I don't care what type, but it should
be at least 640 by 400 resolution. (704 by 440 would be nicer)
5. Lots of I/O connections on the back, for video, printers, modems, and
whatever can be fit in.
6. Price $4500 in stores, $1500 to college students. Get college students
hooked on the Amiga and when they are out of school they will sell many
more.
7. Most important, don't go off and rest, keep bringing out new improvements.
For a crew that never rests, things are kind of slow. (So much for no bashing)
The above would really be something to have, even better than the Dyna-Mac,
that Apple will someday make.
Wayne Knappbaer@percival.UUCP (Ken Baer) (09/02/88)
Dale Luck was working on LapTop Amiga. But I don't think it fits ALL of
your parameters. I sure would have like one during my flight to SIGGRAPH
last month.
--
-Ken Baer.
// Hash Enterprises: When the Going gets Wierd, the Wierd go Professional
\X/ USENET - baer@percival.UUCP, PLINK - KEN BAER,
BIX - kbaer, "while (AINTGOTNOSATISFACTION) { do stuff }" - RJ Micalclaudio@forty2.UUCP (Claudio Nieder) (09/06/88)
In article <3210@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM> wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) writes: > >What I want is a Laptop Amiga >----------------------------- > Finaly somebody else which wants a Laptop Amiga. I already suggested that, when last time everybody asked Commodore for a Sun-like workstation featuring X Meg of Memory, > 68030 CPU etc. In contrast to Wayne I wouldn't even request so much features from a Laptop Amiga. Basically the features of a A500 with A501 expansion are enough, but I should be able to carry that with me, and use it wherever I am (battery pack needed !). What do other comp.sys.amiga readers think about it ?? claudio UUCP: claudio@forty2.uucp BITNET: K538912@CZHRZU1A Mail: Claudio Nieder, Kanalweg 1, CH-8610 Uster
bell@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell) (09/06/88)
In article <3210@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM> wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) writes: >What I want is a Laptop Amiga On this we agree. >1. Should be your basic 8 lbs. A power cord is fine, a battery pack is >heavy and doesn't have much power. Should have battery pack as option, at least. Battery pack should be sufficient for minimal configuration, although souped-up versions may need a cord. > >2. CPU - since we have a power cord give us the fastest 68020 or 68030 >that can be put in. Put in the fastest 32 bit wide memory that can be >afforded. This may require a little glue logic for the Amiga chip set, >but should be reasonable. Give the user 1meg of chip RAM and at least >2megs of fast RAM. No, keep it cheap. What do you need a super laptop for? If you need that much power, put it on your desk where it doesn't require expensive miniaturizing/cooling. >3. 1 880k floppy on the side and a built in 30 or 40meg hard disk. Plus >connectors on the back for more. Optional hard disk, room for it (or second floppy) in the "box". >4. A flip up color flat panel, I don't care what type, but it should >be at least 640 by 400 resolution. (704 by 440 would be nicer) A variety of options here would be nice, say a B/W 704x232 minimal up to a Color 704x464. >5. Lots of I/O connections on the back, for video, printers, modems, and >whatever can be fit in. A built-in modem (or room for it) would be nice. Obviously, don't bother with PC slots unless you want to have a built-in bridgeboard capability. Frankly, I wouldn't bother with IBM-PC issues. >6. Price $4500 in stores, $1500 to college students. Get college students >hooked on the Amiga and when they are out of school they will sell many >more. Do I detect a college student here? I'm not a marketroid (All together now: but I play one on TV...), but selling below cost is never a good idea. That's why I suggest the lesser machine to start with. 7. A no-click keyboard (or at least a switch for it) helps us loonies who would use it to take notes occasionally. Also, a built-in trackball would be better than a mouse for a portable. >The above would really be something to have, even better than the Dyna-Mac, >that Apple will someday make. It's also overkill. I don't have a 68020 in my 1000 or 2000, I don't need it in an Amy portable. A large portion of the laptop market will be people who already own Amigas, and want another one for travelling. I suspect the color LCD is really important (showing Berserk/RGB/et al to the unbenighted), but aiming for the least common denominator first will really get the machine to sell. It should also be much easier and faster to produce.. > Wayne Knapp -Andrew Bell The schitzophrenic grad student! bell@cs.unc.edu acb@cs.duke.edu
wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) (09/08/88)
In article <4045@thorin.cs.unc.edu>, bell@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell) writes: . In article <3210@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM> wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) writes: . >What I want is a Laptop Amiga . . >2. CPU - since we have a power cord give us the fastest 68020 or 68030 . >that can be put in. Put in the fastest 32 bit wide memory that can be . >afforded. This may require a little glue logic for the Amiga chip set, . >but should be reasonable. Give the user 1meg of chip RAM and at least . >2megs of fast RAM. . . No, keep it cheap. What do you need a super laptop for? If you need that . much power, put it on your desk where it doesn't require expensive . miniaturizing/cooling. I talking sports car here, not a VW bug. Anyway I already have a Amiga 1000, a Mac, an Atari 1040, and soon a PC clone -- I don't have room for a B2000. When I go an a trip, I'll only take one computer with me, so I want a powerful one. Price isn't the problem, if the computer is good enough I can find the money. : >6. Price $4500 in stores, $1500 to college students. Get college students : >hooked on the Amiga and when they are out of school they will sell many : >more. : : Do I detect a college student here? Nope. Been out for almost 5 years. However if you do sell a lot to college students, when they get out of school they go all over the place. Many go to places that have money. If the student are carrying the Amiga with them to the places of money it can grow into sales. These sales can lead to more sales and pretty soon Amigas are all over the place. Spreading and SPreading and SPReading and SPREading and SPREADING and S*P*R*E*A*D*I*N*G until the Amiga is a very major player in the computer market. Just is case you don't think this can happen just think about the Mac and how it is getting into business. TV ads, phooey, no it is caused by Apple carries. I knew one that came here a few years ago with his $1000 Mac. He kept showing people here all these neat Mac things, next thing you know we gone from zero Macs to dozens around here, and the speading isn't over yet. At the rate things are going, in a few years there will be more Macs than people here. The TV ads just prime the minds of the buyers, the carriers do the damage. > I'm not a marketroid (All together now: but I play one on TV...), but selling > below cost is never a good idea. That's why I suggest the lesser machine to > start with. Who said anything about selling below cost? If you are building things in large numbers a $1000 is a fair amount of money. Wayne Knapp
bell@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell) (09/09/88)
[Hundreds if not thousands of $ were here to pay USENET, but... <MUNCH>] In article <3229@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM> wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) writes: >In article <4045@thorin.cs.unc.edu>, bell@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell) writes: Me>In article <3210@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM> wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) writes: WK>What I want is a Laptop Amiga Me> WK>2. CPU - since we have a power cord give us the fastest 68020 or 68030 WK>that can be put in. [...] Me>No, keep it cheap. What do you need a super laptop for? If you need that Me>much power, put it on your desk where it doesn't require expensive Me>miniaturizing/cooling. > >I talking sports car here, not a VW bug. Anyway I already have a Amiga 1000, >a Mac, an Atari 1040, and soon a PC clone -- I don't have room for a B2000. >When I go an a trip, I'll only take one computer with me, so I want a powerful >one. Price isn't the problem, if the computer is good enough I can find the >money. However, price is an issue for most folk. Admittedly, price hasn't made the Amiga the hottest thing on the market, but it can certainly help. Notice what the intro offers for the 500 and 2000 did to Amiga sales. A sports car version would be nice too, but a honda with room for a V8 will probably sell better. Best to get the honda out first, and then the ferarri. WK>6. Price $4500 in stores, $1500 to college students. If you're going to sell a new machine to folks, without IBM or Apple as sales incentives, either you need good pricing or revolutionary technology. Revolutionary technology costs bucks. I'm not sure what price you can get an analog LCD color monitor with 704x464 resolution; my guess is it isn't cheap. Anybody know? Sorry about the remark about college students. I agree, give college students the best price you can, but part of this is allowing them to buy less than the top-of-the-line stuff. Jane college student generally buys her computer to do word-processing on primarily, which is why the WYSIWYG Mac programs sell the machine to collegiates so well. You can do that as easily with a 68000 as with a 68020/30, without the higher cost of the fast chip and fast memory. You can also borrow more from the 500/1000/2000 if you start slower. > Wayne Knapp Any comments, Dale? -Andrew Bell The schizophrenic grad student acb@cs.duke.edu bell@cs.unc.edu
spencer@eris.berkeley.edu (Randal m. Spencer [RmS]) (09/09/88)
Recently on *comp.sys.amiga* claudio@forty2.UUCP (Claudio Nieder) wrote:
...In article <3210@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM> wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) writes:
...>
...>What I want is a Laptop Amiga
...In contrast to Wayne I wouldn't even request so much features from a Laptop
...Amiga. Basically the features of a A500 with A501 expansion are enough,
...but I should be able to carry that with me, and use it wherever I am
...(battery pack needed !).
... claudio
Actually, if you just want a portable that has a built in keyboard, a single
floppy drive in the side, 1 meg of ram and a clock, all you need is an
Amiga 500 with a briefcase. The briefcase should also hold one of those
8 hour batteries that they used to sell for portable (ha!) VCRs, and one
of those 4" b/w Sony Watchmen. Plug the monochrome video out of the 500
into the video in of the Watchman and get power connecters for the 500 and
the Watchman. Open the briefcase and set the monitor verticle, and power
everything up and you have a portable Amiga in under 15 pounds (I bet).
"He who dies with the most toys... is dead"
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Randy Spencer P.O. Box 4542 Berkeley CA 94704 (415)222-7595
spencer@mica.berkeley.edu I N F I N I T Y BBS: (415)222-9416
..ucbvax!mica!spencer s o f t w a r e AAA-WH1Mframbo::schabacker (Tim, posting for <schabacker@frambo.dec.com>) (09/12/88)
[No matter where you line, you get eaten] In a recent article bell@cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell) writes: >In article <3210@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM> wayneck@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) writes: >>What I want is a Laptop Amiga > >On this we agree. If this is a vote, count me in. :-) >>4. A flip up color flat panel, I don't care what type, but it should >>be at least 640 by 400 resolution. (704 by 440 would be nicer) > ^^^ ^^^ >A variety of options here would be nice, say a B/W 704x232 minimal up to a >Color 704x464. ^^^ ^^^ Ouch, argh, ick, yuck. No, non, nein, njet. :-) Enough of this creepy american ignorance, please! :-) Please keep in mind that about one third of the global Amigas are PAL machines, sometimes even with software that uses or needs the PAL resolution. So a Laptop Amiga should display at least 256/512 (plus overscan) vertical pixels. And I'd bet that a LOT of U.S. developers and users will use PAL resolution in the very near future. Why??? Simply because the new 1MB Fat Agnus has the ability to be switched from NTSC to PAL via hardware (the TEST pin) and also via software!!! So everbody who's not permanently into desktop video or running his Workbench in interlace on a short percistance (sp?) monitor (the additional 5Hz in NTSC help interlace somewhat), will gladly switch to PAL, because those extra lines are SURE nice. I only wish more U.S. developers would understand what PAL (or at least a dynamic screen/window), keymapping and non-ASCII characters are. I could list several pages of software that is anything from uncomfortable to useless due to those points only... But I really would like to see a Laptop Amiga, or better yet a range of Laptops from a $1000 A500 compatible to a $XXXX A3000 compatible... Yours visionary, - <CB> -- _ _ / / | \ \ <CB> aka Christian Balzer - The Software Brewery - < < |-< > decwrl!frambo.dec.com!schabacker OR schabacker@frambo.dec.com \ \_ |_/ / CIS: 71001,210 (be brief!), Phone: +49 6150 4151 ------------ Snail: Im Wingertsberg 45, D-6108 Weiterstadt, F.R.G. "In the beginning there was CAOS..."
claudio@forty2.UUCP (Claudio Nieder) (09/13/88)
|Actually, if you just want a portable that has a built in keyboard, a single |floppy drive in the side, 1 meg of ram and a clock, all you need is an |Amiga 500 with a briefcase. The briefcase should also hold one of those |8 hour batteries that they used to sell for portable (ha!) VCRs, and one |of those 4" b/w Sony Watchmen. Plug the monochrome video out of the 500 |into the video in of the Watchman and get power connecters for the 500 and |the Watchman. Open the briefcase and set the monitor verticle, and power |everything up and you have a portable Amiga in under 15 pounds (I bet). That's not exactly what I would like. First of all a 4" Screen is not large enough, I would prefer to have a screen size like most other Laptops. I also doubt, that the idea with the battery works with a standard Amiga 500. Does it really require only 12 V, or does it need several voltages ? And finally I think that a standard A500 is too big. You would have to go back to the A1000 keyboard size to have a reasonable Laptop :-) claudio UUCP: claudio@forty2.uucp BITNET: K538912@CZHRZU1A Mail: Claudio Nieder, Kanalweg 1, CH-8610 Uster
iphwk%MTSUNIX1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bill Kinnersley) (09/17/88)
[In "Re: Laptop Amiga", Yuan Chang said:]
:
: In article <8941@cup.portal.com> Ian_Matthew_Smith@cup.portal.com writes:
: >Laptop Amiga?
: >
: >Sounds good to me. $1500 for students sounds even better but a little low.
: >Color 640x400 LCD diaplays and hard-drives are not cheap!
:
: Probably can charge $500 more with that color LCD display. Just
: think: You don't have to buy a FlickerFixer and a MultiSync! 8)
:
Isn't it going to be just a little awkward rolling a mouse around in your lap??
--
Bill Kinnersley
Physics Department BITNET: iphwk@mtsunix1
Montana State University INTERNET: iphwk%mtsunix1.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu
Bozeman, MT 59717 CSNET: iphwk%mtsunix1.bitnet@relay.cs.net
(406)994-3614 UUCP: ...ucbvax!mtsunix1.bitnet!iphwk
"This message was packed as full as practicable by modern electronic
equipment. Some settling of contents may have occurred during transmission."lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Fish-Guts) (09/18/88)
In article <4107@louie.udel.EDU> iphwk%MTSUNIX1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bill Kinnersley) writes: > >Isn't it going to be just a little awkward rolling a mouse around in your lap?? Use a trackball. I know that one laptop already uses this method (I believe it is the Macintosh Laptop [a Mac-LapTop ? ;-) ] ). Also provide a mouse port (and maybe a mouse garage) for those who still want to use one (let's see, where *IS* the best place to roll the mouse from this airplane seat? ;-) ). I know that a lot of people seem to like trackballs better than mice (I saw Dale Luck using one at AmiExpo). >Bill Kinnersley .oO Chris Oo. -- Christopher Lishka ...!{rutgers|ucbvax|...}!uwvax!uwslh!lishka Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene lishka%uwslh.uucp@cs.wisc.edu Immunology Section (608)262-1617 lishka@uwslh.uucp ---- "...Just because someone is shy and gets straight A's does not mean they won't put wads of gum in your arm pits." - Lynda Barry, "Ernie Pook's Commeek: Gum of Mystery"
claudio@forty2.UUCP (Claudio Nieder) (09/19/88)
In article <4107@louie.udel.EDU> iphwk%MTSUNIX1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bill Kinnersley) writes: >Isn't it going to be just a little awkward rolling a mouse around in your lap?? I think it is. What about having a touch screen, where you can point with a 'pencil' on it to indicate the mouse position ? Should of course have a resolution of 640x512 Dots, as the screen has. claudio UUCP: claudio@forty2.uucp BITNET: K538912@CZHRZU1A Mail: Claudio Nieder, Kanalweg 1, CH-8610 Uster
dale@boing.UUCP (Dale Luck) (09/19/88)
In article <381@uwslh.UUCP> lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Fish-Guts) writes: > >I know that a lot of people >seem to like trackballs better than mice (I saw Dale Luck using one at >AmiExpo). That was not because I prefered it! I had left my optical 3 button mouse in a conference room at cbm in West Chester PA, prior to arriving AmiExpo. I looked all over AmiExpo for another mouse. The trackball replacement was the only item I could use. I thank very much the company (I forgot the name) that I could buy it from. Otherwise my X demo would have been rather lame. The trackball can be useful for several applications, X was not one of them though, although it will do in a pinch. -- Dale Luck Boing, Inc. {cbmvax|oliveb|pyramid}|!amiga!boing!dale Although I do contract work for Amiga-LosGatos, my opinions probably don't represent those of Commodore or its management or its engineers, but I think the world would be a better place if they did.
utoddl@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Todd M. Lewis) (09/20/88)
In article <465@forty2.UUCP>, claudio@forty2.UUCP (Claudio Nieder) writes: > In article <4107@louie.udel.EDU> iphwk%MTSUNIX1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (Bill Kinnersley) writes: > >Isn't it going to be just a little awkward rolling a mouse around in your lap?? > > I think it is. What about having a touch screen, where you can point with a > 'pencil' on it to indicate the mouse position ? Should of course have a What about having some gizzmo that watches where you are looking on the screen and makes the mouse pointer follow that. Blinking your left eye sends a left mouse button event, right eye is the right button, and it would ignore (almost) simultanious left- and right-eye events so you could still keep your eye balls from drying out and falling out of your face. <+_*> |^) Todd M. Lewis (utoddl@unc.bitnet) This disclaimer is my employers idea, the rest are mine.
bell@unc.cs.unc.edu (Andrew Bell) (09/21/88)
In article <5362@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> utoddl@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Todd M. Lewis) writes: [various people talking about mouse alternatives for laptop Amigas] :What about having some gizzmo that watches where you are looking :on the screen and makes the mouse pointer follow that. Blinking :your left eye sends a left mouse button event, right eye is the :right button, and it would ignore (almost) simultanious left- and :right-eye events so you could still keep your eye balls from :drying out and falling out of your face. <+_*> |^) But what if we want to simulate a 3 button mouse? I still haven't figured out how to wink my pineal gland... >Todd M. Lewis (utoddl@unc.bitnet) -Andrew Bell The Schizophrenic Grad Student bell@cs.unc.edu acb@cs.duke.edu