dz@pear.ucsb.edu (Daniel James Zerkle) (06/05/90)
I'm seriously contemplating blowing my life savings on an A3000. Just so
I don't have a conniption when I try to write the check, would some of you
knowledgeable souls answer a few questions? I know a little about the
Amiga line from looking in magazines, but I've never really used one.
I'm going to be a Ph.D. student Real Soon Now (TM), so I will use the thing
for heavy development, telecommunications ('twould be nice to get a few
groups via UUCP), word processing, and (naturally) games. Computer art
and desktop publishing are possible but in no way certain. Setting up
a BBS is a remote but enticing possibility.
Next come the 29 questions (I counted). Please don't feel obligated to answer
them all, but please do answer a few. Respond via mail or post a response.
Is there a bridgeboard for the A3000 yet? My dealer said "no" but I don't
trust her. If not, when? What are the relevant specs (probably want
AT-class, minimum)? What's this I read in Byte about the thing using
EITHER an AT slot or a Zorro slot?
What's the situation like when I want to add 32-bit RAM? Where do I get
ZIPs? How much do they cost? How much RAM would be reasonable for
multi-tasking two of the jobs I mentioned above? Three?
What is the Unix situation? It sounds like Amix is in beta. It would be
very nice to have Unix at home, as everything that happens at the Universities
of California happens in Unix. Any prospective information about features,
compatibility, cost, or release date? It is clearly understood, as
Amix is not released, that any information is not official. Just for ref-
erence, SCO Unix seems to run around $2000 for a complete set up, which is
too expensive.
How usable are the different resources in different modes? Can the bridge-
board use all of the Amiga ports for I/O? What kind of graphics modes are
supported by the bridgeboard? If I got a VGA card, could the bridgeboard
drive a second monitor? Can the bridgeboard and the main unit access each
other's file systems? How well? What about if I bought a non-SCSI (cheap)
drive for the bridgeboard? Would the Amiga side be able to access it? Would
it want to? If I got an internal 2400 bps modem for the AT bus (cheap), would
an Amiga terminal program be able to use it? If I had an external 2400 bps
modem hooked into the serial port, would the bridgeboard be able to use it?
Finally, if I get this 3000 right now, I will be one of the first. First
models tend to have multitudinous problems, often corrected by ROM updates.
How good is Commodore at providing this sort of customer service to owners?
Past history with the company would not bode well, but there seems to be
a recent trend towards more quality support. There is also a 1-year warranty,
now. What would this sort of thing cover?
Is the 1950 just like any other multisync monitor, or is there something
special about it?
The A3000 has internal and external SCSI ports. Does this mean that I can
just hop out and buy any old 3 1/2" SCSI drive, plug it in, and expect it
to work? What kind of termination is required?
Rumors abound of of graphics modes with > 4096 colors. What happens if I
later want to upgrade? Do I plug in a card, or do I start prying out chips
with first names on them?
Many thanks in advance!
| Dan Zerkle home:(805) 968-4683 work:687-0110 |
| dz@cornu.ucsb.edu dz%cornu@ucsbuxa.bitnet ...ucbvax!hub!cornu!dz |
| Snailmail: 6681 Berkshire Terrace #5, Isla Vista, CA 93117 |
| Disclaimer: My fish are stupid. |hcobb@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Henry J. Cobb) (06/05/90)
Either Bridgeboard will work on the A3000 and block one of your Zorro slots. I've been seeing 80$/MB for ZIP rams in the megabit size. Figure $320 to fill out to a 6MB system (4MB fast, 2MB chip). Personally I can almost edit compile and dailup in a meg. That sounds about what I've been hearing for Amix, but you get a tape drive to boot. (pun intended ;-) Complain to "The Wight Choice" about pricing. I wonder if Amix is going to be a two user licence? The Bridgeboard can drive a video card, but count slots. (Wonder if the SX bridge got's builtin VGA?) Cross machine drives are fun, but slow. There is as yet no programs that allow bridge serial through the serial device or bridge use of the Amiga serial port. I've gotten two upgrades for my machine, I bought one for $30 and got the other through my local users group. There's no magic to the 1950, its just a good design. The SCSI is standard, but your mount list must describe the device before it can be used. There's a new graphics card on the way, good luck finding any software that'll run on it. RULE #1: Before buying a computer, go to the local users group meeting, sit and listen. Henry J. Cobb hcobb@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu Tyrant of the SFB-tactics E-Mailing list.
jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) (06/06/90)
In article <30975@ut-emx.UUCP> hcobb@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Henry J. Cobb) writes: > The SCSI is standard, but your mount list must describe the device >before it can be used. Actually on the A3000 (like the A2091/A590) there's no need for mountlists. Just run HDToolBox, partition it, reboot, and there they are, ready for formatting and using. -- Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com BIX: rjesup Common phrase heard at Amiga Devcon '89: "It's in there!"
monty@sagpd1.UUCP (Monty Saine) (06/06/90)
In article <30975@ut-emx.UUCP> hcobb@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Henry J. Cobb) writes: > > That sounds about what I've been hearing for Amix, but you get a tape >drive to boot. (pun intended ;-) Complain to "The Wight Choice" about pricing. >I wonder if Amix is going to be a two user licence? ^^^^ For what it's worth, at our users group meeting last night (SDAUG) we had as a speaker the Commodore reginoal educational program manager. He made a statement that Unix on the Amiga will be called (now get this) Unix! There is NO AMIX, just UNIX, sv5 release 4.0! Since I am talking about Educational stuff, the educational program is very much alive and expanding. He outlined a very generous program for the dealers as ALL educational sales will be channelled thru dealers. Book stores will be tied to a local dealer for service and support and the dealer recieves a percentage of the sale to provide this support. The figures were said to be a couple of percent over what Apple gives there dealer fro the same service. He also commented that Apple removes the dealers from the loop in the larger schools. They get nothing, but end up supporting students anyway. Sounds like CBM is trying at least. I propose a new motto for CBM: "No More Cold Dead Fish!" Monty Saine