jan@looking.UUCP (Jan Gray) (07/28/85)
Here is a comparison of the Atari 520ST and the Commodore Amiga. Any
information in this article has been taken from various magazine articles
(Infoworld, Personal Computing, Analog, Antic and Atari Explorer), first
hand experience, net articles, and of course rumours. Take *everything*
with a pinch of salt.
Atari 520ST Commodore Amiga
processor 8 MHz 68000 8 Mhz 68000
RAM 512K 256K + 256K expansion board
ROM little (later, 192K?) 192K
GEM may be available in ROMs
sometime around August, for
a $40 upgrade fee.
expansion 128K ROM cartridge slot, hard 256K RAM slot, full system bus
connectors disk (DMA), floppy disk, modem connector(!), floppy disk, modem
(RS-232), printer (Centronics), (RS-232), printer (Centronics),
monochrome/colour monitor, stereo RCA audio plugs, RGB
MIDI in and out, joystick and monitor, TV/MOD? and NTSC video,
mouse ports. joystick and mouse ports.
graphics 640 X 400 monochrome 640 X 400 16 colours
resolution 640 X 200 4 colours 640 X 200 16 colours
320 X 200 16 colours 320 X 400 32 colours
320 X 200 32 colours
(plus some ability to display
different resolutions on
different parts of screen)
palette size 512 colours 4096 colours
fancy graphics no? bitblt in VLSI?
hardware
video outputs monochrome, RGB analog RGB, digital RGB, NTSC
sound hardware GI sound chip (AY-8910?) Three Who knows? Stereo sound
voices, 30-20000 Hz, program- generation, and some special
mable waveform, envelope, and functions in VLSI?
filters.
keyboard part of unit; function keys, detachable; function keys,
numeric keypad, cursor keys, numeric keypad, cursor keys
HELP and UNDO keys(!)
floppies 3.5" floppy, holds 350K (for- 3.5" floppy, holds 880K (for-
matted), attached by expansion matted?), built-in. Expansion
connector, more floppies daisy connector for second drive.
chained?
hard disk 15 Mbytes, $500? Attaches 20 Mbytes (from Tecmar), $1000?
to DMA and hard disk expansion Attaches to system expansion
connector (built-in). bus.
IBM compat. no yes, via $500 Trump card
OS GEM and TOS (CPM/68K) Intuition and AmigaDOS
Similar to Mac Finder Similar to Mac Finder?
(multitasking!)
future compact disk ROM (holds 500 Trump card ($500); digitizer;
peripherals MBytes of data); 800K floppy; "Genlock Interface" (merges
cheap graphics printers video with screen images);
frame grabber; MIDI interface;
music keyboard; multifunction
accessory card (2 Mbytes of
RAM, serial port, printer port
or Winchester interface, and
power supply); Pitchwriter
("sound grabber"?)
mass market Atari 260STD Doubtful.
versions
general Real soon now. Real soon now?
availability
software Real soon now. Real soon now.
price $800 $2000
(Atari 520ST with high res. (Commodore Amiga with 256K
monochrome monitor, mouse, of memory, built in 880K
and 350K floppy drive) floppy, and mouse ($1300),
plus 256K board ($200),
plus high resolution colour
monitor ($500).
The Amiga, with all of its special function VLSIs, seems to be the
better machine -- but is it worth 2.5X as much as the Atari 520ST?
How badly do *you* want multitasking and spiffing graphics?
Jan Gray and David Rowley
watmath!looking!{jan,david}
Looking Glass Software, Waterloo, ON
(519) 884-7473LAVITSKY@RU-BLUE.ARPA (Eric) (07/31/85)
Hi,
Here are some corrections to Jan Gray's Amiga/ST comparison. My
corrections look like TECO comments (!* xxx !)...
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Atari 520ST Commodore Amiga
processor 8 MHz 68000 8 Mhz 68000 !* 7.8Mhz !
RAM 512K 256K + 256K expansion board
!* 8 Meg externally !
ROM little (later, 192K?) 192K
GEM may be available in ROMs
sometime around August, for
a $40 upgrade fee.
expansion 128K ROM cartridge slot, hard 256K RAM slot, full system bus
connectors disk (DMA), floppy disk, modem connector(!), floppy disk,modem
(RS-232), printer (Centronics), (RS-232), printer (Centronics),
monochrome/colour monitor, stereo RCA audio plugs, RGB
MIDI in and out, joystick and monitor, TV/MOD? and NTSC video,
mouse ports. joystick and mouse ports.
!* Connector for RF Mod !
graphics 640 X 400 monochrome 640 X 400 16 colours
resolution 640 X 200 4 colours 640 X 200 16 colours
320 X 200 16 colours 320 X 400 32 colours
320 X 200 32 colours
(plus some ability to display
different resolutions on
different parts of screen)
!* Special 'hold and modify
mode allows displaying all
4096 colors at once. Sprites
and 'blobs' (blitter objects)!
palette size 512 colours 4096 colours
fancy graphics no? bitblt in VLSI?
hardware !* Yes, and sprites !
video outputs monochrome, RGB analog RGB, digital RGB, NTSC
sound hardware GI sound chip (AY-8910?) Three Who knows? Stereo sound
voices, 30-20000 Hz, program- generation, and some special
mable waveform, envelope, and functions in VLSI?
filters.
!* Custom VLSI, stero output.
Four channels (multiple voices
on each). Plus digital sampling
capability. !
keyboard part of unit; function keys, detachable; function keys,
numeric keypad, cursor keys, numeric keypad, cursor keys
HELP and UNDO keys(!) !* Slides under main unit !
floppies 3.5" floppy, holds 350K (for- 3.5" floppy, holds 880K (for-
matted), attached by expansion matted?), built-in. Expansion
connector, more floppies daisy connector for second drive.
chained? !* May daisy chain up to 3
external floppies !
hard disk 15 Mbytes, $500? Attaches 20 Mbytes (from Tecmar), $1000?
to DMA and hard disk expansion Attaches to system expansion
connector (built-in). bus.
IBM compat. no yes, via $500 Trump card
!* Check that - IBM stuff
is done in sofware. If you
want a 5-1/4" drive, add
~$300 !
OS GEM and TOS (CPM/68K) Intuition and AmigaDOS
Similar to Mac Finder Similar to Mac Finder?
(multitasking!)
!* Similiar only in that
they both use windows and
icons. Amiga option lets
you use CLI, a Command Line
Interface smiliar to MS-DOS.!
future compact disk ROM (holds 500 Trump card ($500); digitizer;
peripherals MBytes of data); 800K floppy; "Genlock Interface" (merges
cheap graphics printers video with screen images);
frame grabber; MIDI interface;
music keyboard; multifunction
accessory card (2 Mbytes of
RAM, serial port, printer port
or Winchester interface, and
power supply); Pitchwriter
("sound grabber"?)
mass market Atari 260STD Doubtful.
versions !* Maybe later next year, but
Commodore will maintain a
minimum 30% profit margin
for dealers !
general Real soon now. Real soon now?
availability !* Sept. 15 !
software Real soon now. Real soon now.
!* Some packages available
even now. At least 20 will
be available on Sept 15 !
price $800 $2000
(Atari 520ST with high res. (Commodore Amiga with 256K
monochrome monitor, mouse, of memory, built in 880K
and 350K floppy drive) floppy, and mouse ($1300),
plus 256K board ($200),
plus high resolution colour
monitor ($500).
>The Amiga, with all of its special function VLSIs, seems to be the
>better machine -- but is it worth 2.5X as much as the Atari 520ST?
>How badly do *you* want multitasking and spiffing graphics?
The Amiga is faster, more expandable has more built in and is
generally more powerfull by a large margin.
Eric
ARPA: LAVITSKY@RUTGERS
UUCP: ...{harvard,seismo,ut-sally,sri-iu,ihnp4!packard}!topaz!eric
SNAIL: 16 Oak St., Flr 2
New Brunswick, NJ 08903
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