wgh@ubbpc.UUCP (William G. Hutchison) (02/21/90)
I am interested in the new Amiga UNIX system, which was shown at last year's Unix Expo in New York. My Datapro Microcomputer Report says that the Amiga 2500 series has an "Amiga Bus" and an "XT Bus". Does anybody know what speed they run at? Are these busses fast enough to support graphics-intensive applications like the X Window system? Datapro further says that the Amiga screen is 768x480 pixels (if I remember correctly). Will the Unix system have more resolution for X Windows? Most X Window System servers have 1024x768 or 1280x1024 resolution. Thanks! -- Bill Hutchison, DP Consultant rutgers!cbmvax!burdvax!ubbpc!wgh Unisys UNIX Portation Center "Unless you are very rich and very eccentric, P.O. Box 500, M.S. B121 you will not enjoy the luxury of a computer Blue Bell, PA 19424 in your own home", Edward Yourdon, 1975.
daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) (02/23/90)
In article <640@ubbpc.UUCP> wgh@ubbpc.UUCP (William G. Hutchison) writes: > I am interested in the new Amiga UNIX system, which was shown at last year's >Unix Expo in New York. > My Datapro Microcomputer Report says that the Amiga 2500 series has an >"Amiga Bus" and an "XT Bus". Does anybody know what speed they run at? The Amiga Bus, otherwise referred to as the Zorro II bus, is a 16D/24A bus clocked at 7.1MHz. Its maximum throughput is about 3.5 MB/sec, it supports multiple bus masters and shared interrupts. The "XT" bus mentioned is really the optional PC-XT/AT expansion bus. With an optional Amiga Bus card, the Amiga 2500 will also drive PC XT or AT cards. These are the typical PC-AT cards, which run up to 4.0 MB/sec, without bus mastering or shared interrupts. > Are these busses fast enough to support graphics-intensive applications like >the X Window system? The A2500 does a fine job at X-Windows. What's not apparent is that there are several buses involved. The video chips are on a second 3.5MB/s bus, and video coprocessor or blit operations can occur simultaneously with any bus operations. The actual 68020 or 68030 in the Amiga 2500 machines is on its own 32 bit bus, along with the 32 bit memory in the system. > Datapro further says that the Amiga screen is 768x480 pixels (if I remember >correctly). Will the Unix system have more resolution for X Windows? > Most X Window System servers have 1024x768 or 1280x1024 resolution. There's a monochrome monitor that gives you a 1008x800x2 display that's already supported; this uses the built-in Amiga display chips and a clever scheme to reorder multiple screens into one single screen. There's also an expansion bus card in development that runs color X and TIGA; based on the TI 34010 chip, it does 1024x768x8, with 2 overlay planes. >Bill Hutchison, DP Consultant rutgers!cbmvax!burdvax!ubbpc!wgh >Unisys UNIX Portation Center "Unless you are very rich and very eccentric, -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Systems Engineering) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy Too much of everything is just enough