jimm@amiga.UUCP (06/03/88)
In article <2300009@hpsadla.HP> jimh@hpsadla.HP (Jim Horn) writes:
) A quick question: Does anybody have any news or serious insight as to
)the availability of the 80286 Bridgeboard or the 68020 processor boards
)from Commodore? CEBIT and COMDEX showings are nice, but what about how
)much and (more important!), when?
I agree that this is what people really want to know ...
) There are a number of folks who are
) basing their future machine purchases on the results.
... and this is why you can't expect reliable answers from any
company which presumes to tell you. Anyway, you mention results, which
are typically independent of promises.
)[A 386 clone] machine *now* beats a '286 board `Real Soon Now'.
But think how you'd feel about a '286 board that is months overdue.'
Current management of Commodore USA tries, I believe, not to make a
"product announcement" until they are ready to ship, which I think
goes over better than Atari's approach (hook your cd-rom player up to
your laser printer via your Promised LAN). I noticed CBM (-USA) took
great pains to term the Hannover stuff a "technology preview."
So, I dig your wanting to know (I do, too), but you can always expect
to be frustrated waiting for computer hardware.
Why don't you ask something technical, like how fast the A2620 is,
compared to Mac II running same benchmarks on same compiler (such
as greenhills/mpw or aztec)?
And how much will it cost? ;^)
And what will the discount for developers be?
) Jim Horn
cheers, Jim.
jimm
Go pistons.
--
Jim Mackraz, I and I Computing
amiga!jimm BIX:jmackraz
Opinions are my own. Comments regarding the Amiga operating system, and
all others, are not to be taken as Commodore official policy.david@ms.uky.edu (David Herron -- One of the vertebrae) (06/05/88)
In article <4336@killer.UUCP> elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green) writes: >in article <2300009@hpsadla.HP>, jimh@hpsadla.HP (Jim Horn) says: ^^^^^^^^^^ This isn't a valid domain name -- how would I be able to respone to this address if I wanted to? >As for that slower'n molasses bit, the IBM AT people are solving that with >high-powered array processors and other custom hardware that currently isn't >available for the Amiga. The 80286-based machines have no trouble moving 256K >of graphics data in under a second... just so long as they don't have to >actually process it. It'd be quite handy if we could access some of that AT >hardware, since we need to do real-time processing of 16 frames/minute... um, I read recently somewhere (I read too many magazines so I have no idea where I saw this) that Transputer boards were going to be available for Amiga's (I suppose in a Zorro II form) along with the Helios OS. This will match similar availability for IBM PC, Atari ST, Sun, probably Mac II, and so forth. Transputers (especially the T800 with the floating pt chips) have lots of cpu power by themselves and can be easily networked to provide lots more cpu. This is especially important for graphics because graphics algorithms lend themselves so well to parallel processing. Now, if only I could convince myself to be able to spend many thousands of dollars building a small network of transputers :-). -- <---- David Herron -- The E-Mail guy <david@ms.uky.edu> <---- s.k.a.: David le casse\*' {rutgers,uunet}!ukma!david, david@UKMA.BITNET <---- <---- Goodbye RAH.
elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green) (06/06/88)
in article <9552@g.ms.uky.edu>, david@ms.uky.edu (David Herron -- One of the vertebrae) says: >>As for that slower'n molasses bit, the IBM AT people are solving that with >>high-powered array processors and other custom hardware that currently isn't >>available for the Amiga. The 80286-based machines have no trouble moving 256K > um, I read recently somewhere (I read too many magazines so I have no > idea where I saw this) that Transputer boards were going to be available > for Amiga's (I suppose in a Zorro II form) along with the Helios OS. > This will match similar availability for IBM PC, Atari ST, Sun, probably > Mac II, and so forth. Perhaps you saw a paper handed out at Devcon, entitled "Transputer design concept" or something like that. Note the words "DESIGN CONCEPT" -- that is, it's just an idea, that may or may not eventually be available, depending upon whether Commodore sees any market for such a board. My thoughts on the matter: 8 Transputers (2 boards) would be handy for the graphics stuff, with appropriate programming. But I really don't relish the thought of Occam :-). On related topics, has anybody else had a CSA 68020 board for their A-2000 that made the computer SLOWER than just a plain A-2000? Sure, the one he had, had no 32-bit RAM. But still, it shouldn't have been SLOWER than a plain 68000, especially considering that most instructions complete in fewer cycles. -- Eric Lee Green ..!{ames,att,decwrl,ihnp4,mit-eddie,osu-cis}!killer!elg Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191 Lafayette, LA 70509 "Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?"
cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (06/07/88)
In article <4336@killer.UUCP> elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green) writes: >Talking about which, Commodore better do some looking at upgrading the Amiga's >graphics capabilities. Some of the "extended VGA" cards out there can display >256 colors simultaneously, 720x480. True, AT's are slower'n molasses in >dealing with 256K images. But, some applications simply need that kind of >resolution (in particular, stuff we're doing results in 256-grey-scale digital >images -- which doesn't look so great when mashed down to 16 grey scales to >display on the Amiga in hires interlace overscan mode, because of the >gradations). > Eric Lee Green {cuae2,ihnp4}!killer!elg Actually, it's almost too easy to take pot shots like this at cost constrained computer companies. Of course people will continue to do it but that's life I guess. To Eric, why not put an 'Extended VGA' card in the AT side of a 2000? Write some buffer routines that can be called from the Amiga side to write to it, and poof two headed machine that lets you look at your source and an image too. This is actually a big plus for the 2000. Because you can get nicer frame buffers for the AT bus (like the Targa et al). And as you said in your posting, 90% of the applications aren't really interested in animating 720 X 480 displays, just looking at them. I would like to see Commodore make a 'dumb' Bridge card (basically a bus connector with some dip switches and autoconfig logic so that peripherals on the AT bus could be addressed directly on the Amiga side. (I'm thinking the AT bus would look like 1Meg of fast ram to the Amiga.) This is one of those projects I would do if I had a couple of grand and a CAD system sitting around idle. --Chuck McManis uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
farmer@ico.ISC.COM (David Farmer) (06/07/88)
in article <2300009@hpsadla.HP>, jimh@hpsadla.HP (Jim Horn) says: > A quick question: Does anybody have any news or serious insight as to > the availability of the 80286 Bridgeboard or the 68020 processor boards > from Commodore? CEBIT and COMDEX showings are nice, but what about how > much and (more important!), when? There are a number of folks who are > basing their future machine purchases on the results - a `mere' Mylex '386 > machine *now* beats a '286 board `Real Soon Now'. Thought some one might be interested, but I heard at the last amiga meeting here, that the president had plugged a 386 huricane board into his 2086 bridgeboard, and that it seemed to work real well. He wasn't there to ask questions of though.
dkhusema@faui44.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Dirk Husemann) (06/09/88)
In article <AT Bridgeboard, '020 Status?>, Jim horn asks: > . . . . . > > A quick question: Does anybody have any news or serious insight as to > the availability of the 80286 Bridgeboard or the 68020 processor boards > from Commodore? Serious? Well - more or less. Depends on wether you'll count comp magazines as serious or not! > CEBIT and COMDEX showings are nice, but what about how > much and (more important!), when? There are a number of folks who are > basing their future machine purchases on the results - a `mere' Mylex '386 > machine *now* beats a '286 board `Real Soon Now'. > > Jim Horn > 1212 Valley House Drive {The World}!hplabs!hpspdla!hpsrla!jimh > Rohnert Park, CA 94928-4999 (707) 794-3130 I've been to the CeBit in Hannover, West Germany, and spoke with a salesperson from Commodore there. His info: ~ DM 5000 - 6000 (-> ~US$ 3000 - 3600 at DM 1.70/US$ 1.00) for the WHOLE machine (Amiga 2000 + 68020 + UNIX Sys V)! Sure sounded too good to be true ... In mid-May a popular German computer magazine did a pre-review on the Amiga 2000 w/ 68020 (in fact, they reviewed the AT and UNIX versions): The price was up to ~ DM 13000 (-> ~US$ 7700). Next - in the end of May - was another computer magazine doing also a pre-review, their price version: ~ DM 17000 (-> US$ 10000) All prices mentioned so far were for the UNIX version of the Amiga and included all components (Commodore supposedly thinks) necessary for work- ing with Sys V UNIX! The date for shipment reported by all sources of information was fall 1988. Dirk Husemann ------------------ Smile, tomorrow will be worse! ------------- Business: Dirk Husemann Home: Dirk Husemann Friedrich-Alexander University Aufsess-Str. 19 Erlangen-Nuremberg D-8520 Erlangen Comp.Science Dep. IMMD IV West Germany Martensstrasse 1 +49 9131 302036 D-8520 Erlangen West Germany +49 9131 867908 uucp: ...uunet!unido!fauern!faui10!dkhusema ------------------ Did I say smile? Forget it! ---------------- Disclaimer: The opinions, views, statements, ... expressed here are NOT those of the university nor of those of the student body as a whole. In fact, they're mine! ---------------------------------------------------------------