ele9056@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it (Alberto Schiavon) (05/28/91)
What does commodore expect we to do when (if the rumours I heard R true it will happen within the current year...) the A2000 will not be produced ? and what do they think to sell? only A500 & A3000? or (more realistic) do they think to sell only PC? please, reply!!!!
6600dmx@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (Richard A. Boyd) (05/28/91)
What!!! Not make the A2000!?!? I think that would be a big mistake. Maybe they mean they won't make the A2000 without a harddrive, but outright discontinuing it is simply stupid.
es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) (05/28/91)
In article <1991May27.210910.24220@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it> ele9056@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it (Alberto Schiavon) writes: >What does commodore expect we to do when (if the rumours I heard R true it >will happen within the current year...) the A2000 will not be produced ? > >and what do they think to sell? only A500 & A3000? or (more realistic) >do they think to sell only PC? > >please, reply!!!! > > Commodore isn't THAT stupid. <I shall refrain from defining ANY level stupidity before I slit my own throat 8> If they remove the A2000 it'll be because they've either introduced something else new, or they've dropped the price on the 2000HD significantly or the 3000-16 significantly, or, hopefully, because they have a redesigned Amiga. I have no knowledge myself of ANY of these matters. BTW, I'll make you a bet that if CBM is coming out with an A500 replacement, or an A2000 replacement, that'll be the tightest secret they HAVE. I can't imagine the hit that'll take on sales if any real info got around. There is a distinction, BTW, between not making any more A2000s and not making any more of the 2000 line. That would hurt a lot cause of the state of the Toaster. Now the world has gone to bed, Now I lay me down to sleep, Darkness won't engulf my head, Try to count electric sheep, I can see by infrared, Sweet dream wishes you can keep, How I hate the night. How I hate the night. -- Marvin
greg@pfloyd.UUCP (Greg Harp) (05/28/91)
In article <1991May27.210910.24220@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it> ele9056@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it (Alberto Schiavon) writes: >What does commodore expect we to do when (if the rumours I heard R true it >will happen within the current year...) the A2000 will not be produced ? > >and what do they think to sell? only A500 & A3000? or (more realistic) >do they think to sell only PC? > >please, reply!!!! I am certain that you can put your rumor out of it's misery... While the Toaster and other products find a home in the A2000 (and not the A3000) it is an essential part of the Amiga family. Its main advantage is the greatly increased expandability over the A500, and many users have elected to drop the extra bucks for that. Eventually, of course, the A2000 will probably go the way of the A1000, but my prediction is that it won't happen until it's cheaper to produce a better machine (i.e. what happened to the A1000 when the A500 came out). That's going to be a good while in the case of the 2000. -- Greg-Harp----------greg%pfloyd@cirr.com----------convex!egsner!pfloyd!greg "I was there to match my intellect on national TV, against a plumber and an architect, both with a PhD." -- "I Lost on Jeopardy," Weird Al Yankovic
rknop@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Robert Andrew Knop) (05/28/91)
es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) writes: >In article <1991May27.210910.24220@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it> ele9056@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it (Alberto Schiavon) writes: >>What does commodore expect we to do when (if the rumours I heard R true it >>will happen within the current year...) the A2000 will not be produced ? >> > Commodore isn't THAT stupid. Remember, this is the Commdore that discontinued the 128 while continuing the 64. -Rob Knop rknop@tybalt.caltech.edu
elg@elgamy.RAIDERNET.COM (Eric Lee Green) (05/29/91)
From article <1991May27.210910.24220@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it>, by ele9056@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it (Alberto Schiavon): > What does commodore expect we to do when (if the rumours I heard R true it > will happen within the current year...) the A2000 will not be produced ? > > and what do they think to sell? only A500 & A3000? or (more realistic) > do they think to sell only PC? Hmm. One possibility: Commodore will lower the price of the Amiga 3000/16 (the "crippled" version) to be about the same as the current Amiga 2000HD. Then why would anybody have a reason to buy a 2000HD? Another possibility: Commodore will come out with a "Commodore 1500", which will be the 2000 with the 3000 enhancements (hd controller on motherboard, flickerfixer on motherboard) and the in-line video slot a'la A3000 (for a common video-slot architecture across their high-end computers), and no Bridgeboard slots, all in a smaller sleeker case. One common complaint about the A2000 is that the case design is just plain UGLY, and much too big for the common desktop. In that scenario, the A3000T (tower-case version) would be the mega-expandable system, rather than the A2000. Another possibility: Commodore will retain the current A2000, but put it through the design wringer to cost-reduce it some more, with maybe some new casework to make it look more attractive. Unfortunately, the machine is just plain expensive to build in its current configuration... the power supply, for one thing, is a killer (due to all those slots and floppy drive bays). Last possibility: Commodore will continue selling the Amiga 2000 as-is until it stops selling anymore. (Which may be soon, if you look at the number of "A2000 for sale" ads on the net). This is what they did with the Amiga 1000, so history may repeat itself. -- Eric Lee Green (318) 984-1820 P.O. Box 92191 Lafayette, LA 70509 elg@elgamy.RAIDERNET.COM uunet!mjbtn!raider!elgamy!elg Looking for a job... tips, leads appreciated... inquire within...
chucks@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Erik Funkenbusch) (05/30/91)
rknop@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Robert Andrew Knop) writes: >es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) writes: >>In article <1991May27.210910.24220@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it> ele9056@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it (Alberto Schiavon) writes: >>>What does commodore expect we to do when (if the rumours I heard R true it >>>will happen within the current year...) the A2000 will not be produced ? >>> >> Commodore isn't THAT stupid. > >Remember, this is the Commdore that discontinued the 128 while continuing the >64. > >-Rob Knop >rknop@tybalt.caltech.edu Hey, there were ALOT of good reasons to drop the 128. 1: nobody was developing software for it, since it had a 64 in it nobody wanted to take a chance and develop just for the 128 (the same thing will happen if cbm continues to support 1.3 in amiga's after 2.0 comes out) 2: After the fall of the berlin wall (and even before it, but not to so much of an extent) the 64 passed the technology restrictions to let it be sold to East Germany (back when it was around). 3: people stopped buying 128's when it became obvious that no software was being written that wouldn't run on a 64. .--------------------------------------------------------------------------. | UUCP: {amdahl!tcnet, crash}!orbit!pnet51!chucks | "I know he's come back | | ARPA: crash!orbit!pnet51!chucks@nosc.mil | from the dead, but do | | INET: chucks@pnet51.orb.mn.org | you really think he's | |-------------------------------------------------| moved back in?" | | Amiga programmer at large, employment options | Lou Diamond Philips in | | welcome, inquire within. | "The First Power". | `--------------------------------------------------------------------------'
6600dmx@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (Richard A. Boyd) (05/30/91)
Remember though that the C128 had horrible sales and virtually no support for its extended features. I was wise, in my opinion, to discontinue that machine.
jtravis@dworkin.Amber.COM (Jim, Sysop) (05/30/91)
greg@pfloyd.UUCP (Greg Harp) writes: > In article <1991May27.210910.24220@cdc835.cdc.polimi.it> ele9056@cdc835.cdc.p > >What does commodore expect we to do when (if the rumours I heard R true it > >will happen within the current year...) the A2000 will not be produced ? > > > >and what do they think to sell? only A500 & A3000? or (more realistic) > >do they think to sell only PC? > > > >please, reply!!!! > > I am certain that you can put your rumor out of it's misery... > > While the Toaster and other products find a home in the A2000 (and not > the A3000) it is an essential part of the Amiga family. Its main > advantage is the greatly increased expandability over the A500, and > many users have elected to drop the extra bucks for that. > > Eventually, of course, the A2000 will probably go the way of the A1000, > but my prediction is that it won't happen until it's cheaper to produce > a better machine (i.e. what happened to the A1000 when the A500 came out). > That's going to be a good while in the case of the 2000. > -- > Greg-Harp----------greg%pfloyd@cirr.com----------convex!egsner!pfloyd!greg > "I was there to match my intellect on national TV, against a plumber and an > architect, both with a PhD." -- "I Lost on Jeopardy," Weird Al Yankovic Agreed - the 2000 is the "common man"'s workhorse. I don't think that I'd have jumped into another Amiga years ago unless the upgrade path was as potentially easy as the 2000 made it. Never looked back too...sold the 386 and the Mac Plus (kept the roms though..hee hee) and grew from the 1000 to a 2000 and then added a 2091 with a 40 Meg Quantum and the CBM 030 accellerator card with 4 megs of RAM. I've moved up to a 3000 only because the kind of work I want to do (modelling and DTP) are best suited to that machine. Otherwise, I'd still have that 2000. But what it really COULD use, in the worst way, is a face life. Looks like it was designed by some iron-curtain country..it needs to show how sexy a box it is.. Jim ..and now the commercial.. --------///---------------------------------------------------------- /// Jim Trascapoulos * CSAccess BBS * 609-584-8774 /// *** Usenet: jtravis@dworkin.amber.mccc.Edu *** \\\ /// "I was told once that people don't like to think anymore, \\\/// so I tried to sell one a Mac. It worked." --\XX/--------------------------------------------------------------- "Spread the legs, open breach, erect launcher, apply lube, ram home into the breach, fire." -Field Artillery manual
daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) (05/30/91)
In article <11685@hub.ucsb.edu> 6600dmx@ucsbuxa.ucsb.edu (Richard A. Boyd) writes: >Remember though that the C128 had horrible sales True, they only sold about 3 million of the fool things... >and virtually no support for its extended features. That's reasonably true. Mainly just "productivity" applications appeared that would take advantage of the C128, generally upgraded versions of something C64ish. Most companies didn't want to limit the market for something by making it C128-only, and didn't want to spend the time to offer special C128 versions of things that didn't absolutely have to be C128 to function. The main problem with the C128 was that we didn't get the necessary chip design resources to "do it right". So the resulting system wasn't that much cheaper to make than something like an A500. >I was wise, in my opinion, to discontinue that machine. It is wise to discontinue any machine that doesn't sell. I suspect when the C128 sales dropped below a certain level, they decided it wasn't worth making them anymore. Still, it was a great project to work on, back then, and the C128 still has one of the all-time great hidden messages in it. Made all that much greater because the "Engineerin QA" group at the time was told to look for hidden names in the system. The software guys put decoy names in. Not only didn't the QA group find the encrypted screen, they missed the decoys as well. -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "That's me in the corner, that's me in the spotlight" -R.E.M.
cma5_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Chin) (05/31/91)
Why would you want to tie your computing future with one single company?
blgardne@javelin.sim.es.com (Blaine Gardner) (06/01/91)
daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes: >Still, it was a great project to work on, back then, and the C128 still has >one of the all-time great hidden messages in it. Made all that much greater Care to enlighten those of us that have never had their hands on a C128? Sounds like it must be a good one. :-) -- Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland 580 Arapeen Drive, SLC, Utah 84108 blgardne@javelin.sim.es.com BIX: blaine_g DoD #46 My other motorcycle is a Quadracer. FJ1200 Now I know why they are called BUTTERflys!
MBS110@psuvm.psu.edu (MarkNo Goofy Nickname Sachs) (06/02/91)
In article <1991May31.190737.22003@javelin.sim.es.com>, blgardne@javelin.sim.es.com (Blaine Gardner) says: > >daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes: >>Still, it was a great project to work on, back then, and the C128 still has >>one of the all-time great hidden messages in it. Made all that much greater > >Care to enlighten those of us that have never had their hands on a C128? >Sounds like it must be a good one. :-) Well, as I recall you would type SYS 32800,123,45,6, the screen would clear, and it would display the names of (six? it's been a while) people who worked on the C128, plus the message "Link arms, don't make them." (Of which I heartily approve! :) ) I don't pull out the old C128 much any more (obviously, since I have this nice shiny Amiga 500) but I still have a soft spot for the thing. Definitely the pinnacle of 8-bit computers. BASIC 7.0 with all that memory space and all the special commands was a joy to program in. Plus the nifty 80-column display chip -- last I recall, someone had convinced it to display more horizontal resolution in 16 colors than an Amiga is capable of: the max was something like 800x400 interlace, with some REALLY clever programming. Plus the 1571 drive, a nice surprise after the awfulness of using a 1541, plus... Admittedly the 64-compatibility practically destroyed any chance of a large market for 128-specific stuff ever coming out. But on the other hand, if it HADN'T been 64-compatible, the 128 would never have sold anywhere near the 3 million it did. So... Oh yeah, it was CP/M compatible, too! Just as CP/M was giving its last gasp before vanishing forever, unfortunately, but still it was a neat idea. Sigh. The good old days... [Your blood pressure just went up.] //-Mark Sachs, aka mbs110@psuvm.psu.edu --//----- Remember the 1980's? ----// // DISCLAIMER: It's NOT MY FAULT! /AMIGA When things were so // //-Kei and Yuri forced me to say it. --\X/------- uncomplicated... - ELO --//
bruce@zuhause.MN.ORG (Bruce Albrecht) (06/02/91)
In article <14299@ur-cc.UUCP> cma5_ltd@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Chin) writes: > >Why would you want to tie your computing future with one single company? Like with Apple, NeXT, or with IBM's System 3x, RS-6000, HP, etc.? -- bruce@zuhause.mn.org