dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU.UUCP (02/24/87)
I don't know about you, but I need positive feedback every once in a while to keep me going. Now I know that all the C-A people know they're doing a good job, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody at C-A for providing us with an all-around well-done machine. I mean, you can do things with this machine that would have to be hacked into other OS's. Intercepting keyboard strokes, fooling around with custom screens, making homemade DOS devices, direct lockable resource access, modify any arbitrary library vector, The ability to completely replace any module we want, the ability to tag processes with procedures to call when 'loosing' or 'getting' CPU (to make them compatible with other coprocessors one may eventually want to incorporate into the multitasking)... the list goes on endlessly. We discuss hard disk interfacing but we never worry about integrating them to the OS. We throw around bit planes and varying screen sizes without realizing the generality. "Oh, I want to simulate a disk... letsee, do I want to do it at the DOS level or at the TRACKDISK level?". Memory? AllocMem() Boom! (This is why programs will be compatible with the 2Meg AddrSpace chips). If I wanted to make a remote file server the OS interface and DOS hookup would be trivial. Interlace, Asyncronous IO, Cooperating Processes, and Monitor programs. Yahoo! One doesn't realize how easy it is to do all those things to the Amiga unless one compares it to other microcomputer OS's around. I think this plus the fact that the OS in general is very well put together and well integrated (except for the BCPL parts of DOS, but we can ignore that), is why there is such fierce loyalty in the Amiga camp of which I am honored to be a part of. In my own experience, the Amiga OS hampers me the least of every other OS I have ever used in my quest to write neato programs that do wonders at the speed of light. So even If I sometimes put the Flame on high, keep in mind that the Amiga will forever be a favorite of mine. -Matt
rjg@nis.UUCP (02/26/87)
In article <8702241749.AA00655@cory.Berkeley.EDU> dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) writes: > > I don't know about you, but I need positive feedback every once in >a while to keep me going. Now I know that all the C-A people know they're >doing a good job, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody >at C-A for providing us with an all-around well-done machine. I mean, you : ... and more positive stuff. I must agree with you, but I must also comment that my only real aggravations that I occasionally get from C-A is their inability/unwillingness sometimes to respond to my private questions. Sure. I ask pointed questions, and some (not all) I am sure they can't answer right now, but even that is an answer that I can accept to a letter. However, on the other hand, if there is a question they _can_ answer, I would prefer a short blurb to nothing at all. (Many times I prefer to ask questions in private rather than post them, for whatever reasons.) Otherwise, my experiences with them tend to be quite good... -- Robert J. Granvin UUCP: ihnp4!meccts!nis!rjg Programmer/Analyst - Technical Services ATT: (612) 894-9494 National Information Systems, Inc. "It's all in the reflexes..."
higgin@cbmvax.UUCP (03/01/87)
In article <179@nis.UUCP> rjg@nis.UUCP (Robert J. Granvin) writes:
$...I must agree with you, but I must also comment that my only real
$aggravations that I occasionally get from C-A is their
$inability/unwillingness sometimes to respond to my private questions.
$Sure. I ask pointed questions, and some (not all) I am sure they
$can't answer right now, but even that is an answer that I can accept
$to a letter. However, on the other hand, if there is a question they
$_can_ answer, I would prefer a short blurb to nothing at all. (Many times
$I prefer to ask questions in private rather than post them, for
$whatever reasons.)
$
$ Robert J. Granvin UUCP: ihnp4!meccts!nis!rjg
$ Programmer/Analyst - Technical Services ATT: (612) 894-9494
$ National Information Systems, Inc.
$ "It's all in the reflexes..."
Robert:
I'd be more than happy to reply to any questions I have, even if
the answers have to be "I don't know / can't say". I'll respond to ANYONE's
private mail if I can figure out a return mailing route!
Sometimes people are too busy with deadlines, other times maybe the
mail never reached them for one reason or another, but anyway, if you [or
anyone] sends me mail, I promise to reply even if I can't be of much help.
Paul Higginbottom
Amiga Sales Support Manager.news@umnd-cs.UUCP (03/01/87)
[Here boy...]
Not to start a war, but I think the Amiga is the greatest HACKING machine
around. I mean there is an infinite number of things that can and will
be done with it. I think it's a machine for your "above average" computer
user. I don't think its a machine for a business person, at least not until
some heavy duty software comes out.
For me, H*LL I wouldn't and could't live without it. Thanks C-A.
-pat
A.S. (Amiga subscript) If you really want to yell at me send me mail, lets
keep our line clean.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Everything above was probabally intercepted by some NSA person and totally
changed so these opinions might or might not be mine."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------carolyn@cbmvax.UUCP (03/03/87)
In article <179@nis.UUCP> rjg@nis.UUCP (Robert J. Granvin) writes: > >I must agree with you, but I must also comment that my only real >aggravations that I occasionally get from C-A is their >inability/unwillingness sometimes to respond to my private questions. >Sure. I ask pointed questions, and some (not all) I am sure they >can't answer right now, but even that is an answer that I can accept >to a letter. However, on the other hand, if there is a question they >_can_ answer, I would prefer a short blurb to nothing at all. (Many times >I prefer to ask questions in private rather than post them, for >whatever reasons.) I don't think I've ever gotten any private questions from rjg, but I do get several private questions each week. If I don't know the answer but know someone who might, I forward it to them. Most of the time I can and do answer the question myself. At least 50% of the time, the path it came by won't work the other way. I usually make two more attempts with paths suggested by our system. If that fails, I just file it. It get very aggravating to play message tennis with the MAILER-DAEMONs. Answering private emailed and mailed questions is not one of my priorities. My priority is generally whatever I can do to help the MOST developers in the LEAST time. Responding to private questions helps the LEAST developers and takes the MOST time. I feel that my time is better spent researching answers to unanswered posted questions. -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Carolyn Scheppner -- CBM >>Amiga Technical Support<< UUCP ...{allegra,caip,ihnp4,seismo}!cbmvax!carolyn PHONE 215-431-9180 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
kim@amdahl.UUCP (03/03/87)
[ "Send lawyers, guns, and money ..." ]
The following was excerpted and posted on an internal conference
topic. With sorrow, I repost it here, without further comment.
/kim
From the San Francisco Chronicle, February 26th 1987, page 27 ...
Adios Amiga: Commodore Goes Another Direction
Nirvana for many entrepeneurs is selling out to a large corporation.
But what happens after the founder buys the Ferrari?
All too often, the small unit is among the first to be dismembered
when the new owner falls on hard times. Kodak, for example, bought
Garlic Technology in 1985 and is now auctioning off the assets of the
small Morgan Hill firm.
Or take the more significant case: Amiga Computer, which designed
the personal computer of the sam name and was bought by Commodore
International in 1984 for $27.1 million.
Amiga, based in Los Gatos, has dwindled from 70 to about seven
employees through layoffs and voluntary staff departures over the past
year. The lease on its building expires march 31, and Commodore
intends to consolidate its research and development elsewhere.
"In its present form,, Amiga in Los Gatos will cease to exist'"
confirmed Mike evans, Commodore's vice president of finance, in an
interview.
The news comes at an ironic moment, when the rebounding Commodore
is about to reaffirm the importance of the innovative Amiga design to
its corporate computd Germany.
At the Hanover Fair in Germany next week, Commodore will unveil two
new Amiga models, Evans confirmed. The Los Gatos group contributed, but
the lion's share of the follow-on hardware design was carried out in
Pennsylvania and Germany.
In addition to the Amiga 1000, a new low-end model called the Amiga
500 is expected to compete with Atari's 520 ST system and may sell for
less than $1,000. Sources say the machine has the original model's
excellent color and sound.
The Amiga 2000, a business-oriented machine at the higher end of the
spectrum, is likely to be best known for options that make it compatible
with the IBM PC-XT. It has expansion slots that can handle an optional
circuit board enabling use of software based on Microsoft's MS-DOS
operanting system for IBM-compatible machines. Pricing is not clear,
but, may be around $2,000. for a system that includes monitor.
David Moore, the Amiga Computer founder who left as a result of the
sale, applauds this proof that the Amiga product line will continue. He
also notes that most of the original Amiga team have found other good
jobs. On the other hand, they are not all together.
"We had some plans for doing some pretty exciting things," Morse
said. Those are the kinds of things that won't happen."
That's all folks!
Vern
--
UUCP: kim@amdahl.amdahl.com
or: {sun,decwrl,hplabs,pyramid,ihnp4,seismo,oliveb,cbosgd}!amdahl!kim
DDD: 408-746-8462
USPS: Amdahl Corp. M/S 249, 1250 E. Arques Av, Sunnyvale, CA 94086
CIS: 76535,25
[ Any thoughts or opinions which may or may not have been expressed ]
[ herein are my own. They are not necessarily those of my employer. ]