q1cbw@turing.newcastle.ac.uk (D.C. Halliday) (09/11/90)
In article <678@aio.jesnet.jsc.nasa.gov> you write: >Hey Netters, > >I have a handfull of questions about STe, mega, and this TT machine. >I am shopping for a machine that can be both a heavy duty number >cruncher (I am doing research in large scale neural nets) and a good >home/hobby machine. I went to a local dealer here in Houston and >although he was helpfull, I need some more, in depth answers to some >questions. Sorry if these have been asked before but I hvae been >reading this group for a couple of weeks now and I havn't seen any >answers yet. > >1) My dealer made it a point of telling me that the Atari machines all >had a "load of support chips" but the only one he could tell me about >was the MMU. What other support chips are there on board and can a >math co-processor be added? In an ST of any brew (not TT) there are a number of custom chips: The MMU looks after all the memory management; The SHIFTER deals with video output, colour pallet etc; The GLUE chip holds the whole system together; a yamaha sound chip; a DMA chip used by the DMA port and the floppy drive; Various ram and rom chips; a M68000 processor clocked at 9Mhz and the BLITTER chip fitted in some machines performs fast memory block moves using DMA (Direct memory access.) The STe varient has much better graphics ability and easally expandable memory (due to the use of simms), the better graphics is due to an improved SHIFTER chip. None of the standard keyboard ST's can have maths coprocessor added as standard but there are companies that offer processor accelerators (a 16Mhz 68000) that can replace the standard 68000 and I think some of these have a socket for a 68881 maths coprocessor. Now for the mega ST, this beast is very similar to the standard Keyboard ST (ie. no STe features). The Mega range are actually seperates with detached keyboard but more importantly they have one internal expansion bus (yes Atari specific I am afraid.) One of the cards available for this bus is a coprocessor card. The TT is a much more recent concoction, indead it is not readilly available yet. (Will be available in about 4 weeks here in the UK). This machine is about an order of magnitude more powerfull than the current ST range and uses a M68030 CPU clocked at 32Mhz. The machine also comes with a M68881 maths coprocessor as standard. This co processor is socketed and can be replaced with the faster 68882 copocessor. >2) What technical docs are available for the Atari machines? To what >extent do they cover the various machines? The developers docs are very good but expensive, there are a few excellent books that describe the machines amicably (The compute series is of note). >3) What is the price of the Developers Kits for each of the machines? >What compilers/debuggers do they use. My code will most likely be in >C but a pascal compiler would also be nice. A good debugger is also a >must. The developers kits here in the UK cost 195pound +vat, I belive it is actually cheaper in the US. If you have lots of memory and are UNIX fluent you may like to try out the GNU compilers GCC, G++, SMALTALK etc. these have a wide range of tools proted including GDB, GPROFF, etc. oh yes EMACS is available also. On the comertial side I use Lattice C Vsn 5, this is an excellent development envirtoment and the code produced is very nippy. Prosporo also do a good set of compilers. As a note I was not impressed by the compilers included in the standard developers pack. An extended developers pack includes the Mark Williams C compiler (NB. This is not ansi compatible like the others mentioned above.) but a good system non the less. >4) What bus in in the new TT machine. How many slots will be open >after a standard configuration of a color monitor and a hard disk? The TT actually uses a standard VME bus of wich there is one in the current version of the TT, It should however be possible to extend this to a full backplane if desperatly required. The hard disk uses a SCSI bus, and thus it is also possible to connect 7 more SCSI devices to the controller. As a note the Hard drive included on the TT is a 40meg 28ms device. Generaly the TT is a very nice machine and should run most of the ST software, it does however cost much more than the basic ST. >5) What about network products so that I can talk to my PC clone? The cheapest way I have found to transfer data between the ST and a PC is to take a PC formatted disk and use that to transfer the data. The ST will read and write PC disks, the STe can not only use these disks but can also formats disks in a PC compatible way. The other method I have used is to use a serial link on a fast PC, this is actually very usable since the ST can easilly transfer at 19600baud. If you are rolling in mony ethernet is available (here in eourope at any rate.) On the TT front the machine comes as standard with 4 serial ports, one of which is compatible with appletalk as used on the mac. >6) Can a multi-sync monitor be connected to Atari machines? The 12 >inch monitors that I saw in the store would drive me crazy after my 20 >incher at work. Yes you can, but the resolution will not change (there is a mod that can use the extra space for more pixels called overscan which you may wish to check this out). A 19inch mono moniter can be used with the mega series if you have the many $$$ it takes to purchase the item. BTW, I actualy find the small 12inch mono moniter from Atari excellent, It would have been nice to have it in a 14 inch variety but since it scans at 70Hz it causes vertually no eye strain. The other advantage of this mono is that it it is crystal clear since the image does not have to go through a colour mask. If I wish to use a colour mode then I simply use a Portable TV to play that odd game on. One final note on the use of TV's the only ST's with modulators are either the STe or any keyboard ST with the letter m after the memory size. (ie 520STe, 1040STe, 520STfm, 1040STfm are the models with a modulator.) None of the mega range has a modulator nor does the TT. (These machines are aimed at the bussiness market.) >If you reply by e-mail, I'll summarize (no need to burn bandwidth on >repeated answers). In short I am very happy with my ST (2meg STe, 65Meg Harddrive, mono moniter and a telly.) and may purchase a TT if I win a lottery. I know the machine is populor here in europe but less so in the states. Whatever you choose good luck and think carfully. Hope I have helped rather than confused, if you require any more info please email me at your leasure. Dave Halliday (D.C.Halliday@newcastle.ac.uk)