rlcarr@athena.mit.edu (Richard L. Carreiro) (11/07/90)
I sent mail to the Maple people asking them what's up, and here's the reply: Date: Tue, 6 Nov 90 12:47:01 GMT From: Joyce Brennan <jbrennan@daisy.waterloo.edu> To: rlcarr@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Subject: Re: Maple for Amiga Cc: jbrennan@daisy.waterloo.edu > From rlcarr@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Mon Nov 5 18:39 EST 1990 > From: rlcarr@ATHENA.MIT.EDU > To: wmsi@daisy > Subject: Maple for Amiga > > Hello, > > I would like to know what the status of Maple for the Amiga is. > Specifically, > a) is 4.4 being ported to the Amiga? > b) if so, any estimated time of completion? We have a programmer who is currently working on porting Maple V, our newest software release, to the Amiga. This version of Maple features 3-D graphics and several other user interface enhancements. Maple V is expected to be released on the Amiga platform in the first quarter of 1991. Here is the latest report from our technical department: The kernel of Maple is finished. The projected user interface would be very similar to the X Maple. In fact, our idea is to copy the X Maple features into the Amiga machine. This will be finalized once I receive and read through all the manuals. For the graphics part, we will have both POSTSCRIPT and the IFF format. > c) if so, will 4.4 have any support for the 68881/2 math coprocessor? In an effort to accommodate the needs of all Amiga users, this new version will probably not support the math coprocessor (since many Amiga machines are not equipped with this coprocessor). -----end of reply---- This last bit I really disagree with. Considering the purpose of Maple, and its price relative to Amiga software in general, I really, really doubt people with non-accelerated machines are going to be the people who would be that interested Maple. I'd be willing to bet that of the people who would be interested in buying Maple V, that most would have 68881 or 68882 coprocessors. Casually throwing away a factor of 10 speedup annoys me. Heck, I assume they're doing double precision math in their code, so why not use the CBM math libraries - then those with the chips get the advantage, and it'll still work on those without the chips. And on Amigas without accelerator cards, things'll be slow enough that the overhead of mathieeedoub*.library probably won't matter. It's too bad - I've seen Maple 4.4 on Suns, and it's REALLY nice. I'm willing to spend the $400+ for Maple V on the Amiga, but I can't justify it if the program will not take advantage of a major part of my machine - a part which is designed to do high-precision math quickly. Am I outta line feeling this way? Comments folks? -- Rich Carreiro The "War on Drugs" ARPA: rlcarr@athena.mit.edu is merely a smokescreen for UUCP: ...!mit-eddie!mit-athena!rlcarr The War on the Constitution BITNET: rlcarr@athena.mit.edu JITTLOV FOREVER!
perley@galaxy (Donald P Perley) (11/07/90)
In article <1990Nov6.191819.13114@athena.mit.edu>, rlcarr@athena (Richard L. Carreiro) writes: > >>In an effort to accommodate the needs of all Amiga users, this new >>version will probably not support the math coprocessor (since many >>Amiga machines are not equipped with this coprocessor). >It's too bad - I've seen Maple 4.4 on Suns, and it's REALLY nice. >I'm willing to spend the $400+ for Maple V on the Amiga, but I can't >justify it if the program will not take advantage of a major part >of my machine - a part which is designed to do high-precision math >quickly. > >Am I outta line feeling this way? Comments folks? This may be a case of "be careful what you ask for." Some software companies price their software on different platforms on the basis of performance. They would charge more for a sparcstation version than for a sun 3, even if "porting" meant just recompiling. Some even charge more for a sun3/260 than a sun3/50 (both 68020, but the first is faster). Would you be willing to pay as much as a sun3 license for an amiga version with coprocessor support? -don perley perley@trub.crd.ge.com
slassini@convex.cl.msu.edu (lassini stefano) (11/08/90)
re: Maple V 5 wil not have FPU support... This is SILLY! I was thinking to get Maple for my A3000 and they ome out with a new version that does not use fpus... It makes NO sense at all to me. Considered the kind of program that Maple is, the biggest target machine should be an accelerated A2000 or an A3000: a plain 68000 user will probably not be too much interested in spending 400$ for a package that will take forever to run, and a 68030 user will want to minimize execution time anyway [why else buy a 3000]. I really hope that the Maple people will reconsider their decision: I'll pay that money only for a program that can take advantage of my machine! Stefano A. M. Lassini slassini@convex.cl.msu.edu
UH2@psuvm.psu.edu (Lee Sailer) (11/08/90)
In article <1990Nov6.191819.13114@athena.mit.edu>, rlcarr@athena.mit.edu (Richard L. Carreiro) says: >I sent mail to the Maple people asking them what's up, and here's the >reply: >Date: Tue, 6 Nov 90 12:47:01 GMT >From: Joyce Brennan <jbrennan@daisy.waterloo.edu> >To: rlcarr@ATHENA.MIT.EDU >Subject: Re: Maple for Amiga >Cc: jbrennan@daisy.waterloo.edu ... stuff omitted .... >The kernel of Maple is finished. The projected user interface would >be very similar to the X Maple. In fact, our idea is to copy the X >Maple features into the Amiga machine. This will be finalized >once I receive and read through all the manuals. Since X is available for the Amiga, maybe Waterloo would simply license it. Then they'd be finished today. This has the usual X advantages, too (no flames about the X disadvantages, if you can resist please please please) >> c) if so, will 4.4 have any support for the 68881/2 math coprocessor? >In an effort to accommodate the needs of all Amiga users, this new >version will probably not support the math coprocessor (since many >Amiga machines are not equipped with this coprocessor). Isn't the point of the math libraries that all programs use the math libraries to do math? Then, if your machine doesn't have a math processor, the math library does the work. If it does have a math processor, then the math library knows how to access it. Perhaps Maple has written all their own floating point math functions. If so, unless they have some really good reason, they should be shown the error of their ways. Discalaimer: What do I know?
amiga@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Paul) (11/08/90)
Although it is a kluge sort of thing, You can replace the math library with one that takes advantage of the 881/2 and still get the speed increase. I also agree with the original poster that it should support the chips right out of the box. Amiga@walt.utexas.edu .....Paul...... I like boats, they're healthier than valium. Cost more tho.