peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) (11/12/89)
In article <4679@cbnewsc.ATT.COM> gregg@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (gregg.g.wonderly) writes of the desirability of switching to UNIX. > Everybody that I have talked computer purchasing with as of late > wants UN*X, or at least UN*X compatibility. Most are buying 386 > machines because they want it now. UNIX is not real time. Many of the things we now take for granted would just not be possible under UNIX, or would be unbearably slow. It would kill the Amiga as a platform for MIDI (and music in general), animation, games, and other real-time applications. Window and screen updates would slow down by a factor of 10 (a 25 MHz 80386 under X is less responsive than a 7 MHz 68000 under Intuition, and it's about a 5 MIPS machine instead of a .7 MIPS one). In my opinion, Commodore is doing the right thing in making UNIX a seperate product. Now if they could set things up so that you could use Amigas running AmigaOS as X/News servers, with X/News running concurrently with intuition, they'd blow the doors off the competition. Using a proprietary protocol optimised for serial transmission, or adopting the Graph-On protocol, they would be able to sell a multi-user workstation package that would seriously undercut the compatition, consisting of a central Amiga 2000UX and a bunch of 500s and 2000s as smart terminals. The little Amigas would also be able to run software locally, under NeWS and AmigaOS. With the right protocol, you'd be able to "copy unix:/usr1/peter/News/comp/sources/amiga/mg32/Part1 df0:", or even "cp /n/petersamiga/df0:work-at-home ~/work". It wouldn't have the same remote performance as a network of Suns, but with a per-station cost of $1000 it'd still be great value. I know one company that's been looing for a solution like this for some time. Stuff like the Graph-on just don't cut it: they can't use Suns. -- Peter "Have you hugged your wolf today" da Silva <peter@sugar.hackercorp.com> `-_-' "IT'S THE TWO GODDAMNED CULTURES AGAIN !*! Bit-brained nerdery on one 'U` side, effete fin-de-siecle malaise on the other. And kingdoms of hybrid delight abandoned in the middle." -- burns@latcs1.oz (Jonathan Burns)
bagpiper@pnet02.gryphon.com (Michael Hunter) (11/13/89)
peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes: >UNIX is not real time. Many of the things we now take for granted would just Now Now Now...not quite so hasty. There are extensions to Unix' that make doing real time work easier. I think your following comments are more along the lines of Unix has more overhead then Intuit. which is very true. But it also is more portable (even BSD to ATT) then any set of micro OS. A curious though that just came to mind is that Ada is suppose to be part of the POSIX standard....Ada is (suppose to) react to certain real time stimili so I think that implies that POSIX will be able to be used for real time tasks...??? >not be possible under UNIX, or would be unbearably slow. It would kill the >Amiga as a platform for MIDI (and music in general), animation, games, and >other real-time applications. Window and screen updates would slow down by a >factor of 10 (a 25 MHz 80386 under X is less responsive than a 7 MHz 68000 >under Intuition, and it's about a 5 MIPS machine instead of a .7 MIPS one). Personal gripe: The acronym MIPS has no real hard meaning. It is a relative measurement that is not relative to anything easily tied down.... >Peter "Have you hugged your wolf today" da Silva <peter@sugar.hackercorp.com> >`-_-' "IT'S THE TWO GODDAMNED CULTURES AGAIN !*! Bit-brained nerdery on one > 'U` side, effete fin-de-siecle malaise on the other. And kingdoms of hybrid > delight abandoned in the middle." -- burns@latcs1.oz (Jonathan Burns) Michael Hunter Mike Hunter - Box's and CPU's from HELL: iapx80[012]86, PR1ME 50 Series, 1750a UUCP: {ames!elroy, <routing site>}!gryphon!pnet02!bagpiper INET: bagpiper@pnet02.gryphon.com