glassey@elecvb.canterbury.ac.nz (10/14/90)
I seek advice. I'm considering buying an A3000 and would like some feedback from A3000 users about the computer. Firstly, Here in New Zealand the A3000 has not yet been released and right about now lots of salesmen are trying to get rid of A2000 and A2500 stock. Info on the A3000 isn't that easy to come across and of course, as there is only one in the country, nobody around here has one. I've been using IBM compatibles for years and am quite familiar with their operation, capabilities and LIMITATIONS. I'm tossing up whether to stay IBM compatible and get a 386 machine or instead move to the vastly superior technology of the A3000. Some salesmen have been telling me that AMIGA DOS 2.0 is incompatible with many older programs. Surely if this is so, it should be possible to run DOS 1.3? I've also read in one of these columns that IBM emulators such as the "transformer" do not work on the A3000. Are there any others? Are there any other incompatibilities between the A3000 and the A500 etc? From articles I've read in magazines the A3000 has a myriad of display modes. How many of these are supported by the software available and is it worth getting a multisync monitor. Finally what software is available for the A3000. In particular, engineering software like SPICE and Schematic and PCB packages. A public domain version of MATLAB seems to be floating around for the A500 but I am told that this is slow and has many bugs - the PLOT command doesn't even work properly! Are there better versions and do they support the coprocessor in the A3000? At university I use MS WORD and find it far superior to Word perfect or anything else I've seen. Is it available for the AMIGA? How about other software, Hard Drive utilities etc. What is available via FTP? Thanx in advance Robert Glassey Glassey@elec.canterbury.ac.nz