mmoore@ux.acs.umn.edu (Malcolm Diallo Moore) (05/09/91)
Well, I had a chance to check out the Institute of Technology Fair here at the University of Minnesota, and it got me thinking about Amiga computers in general. I walked up into one of the tents and was immediately lambasted by IBM software and hardware reps. But I just moved my way out of there and found...an Amiga table! Yes, I coudln't believe it, Amiga was actually present! Too bad they were jacked up against the far end of the tent, in the corner, without so much as a sign to alert their presence. And the Amiga table wasn't too exciting either. It pretty much consisted of an A500 with a new 1084S and a Golden Image df1: running Lemmings, and two 2000HDs, one running Deluxe Paint III and the second running a Toaster (and it had 10MB of RAM!) They had a really nice Toaster demo running, and then they did some live Toaster images. All in all it was pretty sweet, but very lackluster. I'm not saying that people weren't looking at the toaster do its work, they were....but they just weren't staying long. A partial reason for the lack of 3000s there was probably due to the fact that they were running some 3000/Toaster demos at the convention center in downtown Minneapolis. On my way out, I ventured through the flood of IBM software and hardware in- cluding a new RISC 6000 running an F-19 fighter demo, something called AVC (audio visual something-or-other) and one thing that particularly caught my eye: A portable IBM playing a sound and graphics demo. According to the hardware rep that latched onto me like crazy glue the moment I stopped moving to watch this demo, it was an IBM PS/2 Model P75, a 33Mhz portable 486 running two 660meg CD-ROM drives at the same time. It was hooked up to an XGA 1024x768x256 monitor, and it was pushing different animations across the screen WELL. I think it was getting the animations off one CD, while it was playing David Sanborn's "Close Up" through Roland speakers. Let's suffice it to say that it was playing the song quite WELL. At one point there was a picture of a flower, and a butterfly fluttered along and landed on the petals, and David Sanborn was blowing in the meanwhile. As all this was hap- penning, the rep told me that it came standard with 4 MB of RAM, but this one was maxed out at 16MB. He couldn't give me a price quote on the machine (I wonder why?) but he said he "wished he could have something like that at his house." Well, all of this really got me thinking about where Amiga sits right now in the computer industry. It's like, suddenly IBM has XGA graphics and we're not able to laugh at those graphics anymore. And even though an IBM equipped with a Roland/Ad-Lib sound board sounds like shit, the fact that they have sound boards and people CAN go to the store and CAN make their IBM sound nicer unnerves me. And now suddenly Mac has 24-bit graphics. And Amiga, while there are products like DCTV and the Toaster, seems to be sitting idly by while the 'big' companies rip up territory that once was Amiga's own. Hell, all we've got is interlaced HAM! (I'd love to have something like 1280x1024x4096, that would be too raw, but I'm just dreamin). Hey, if yall don't like what I have to say, than flame away. It proves why my comp.sys.amiga.advocacy is backed up with 1 415 articles at the present time, and growing by at least a hundred every day. It proves that you all like to talk a whole bunch of good shit, but you don't want to put it to use. So if you want to dish out the flames then go right ahead. Your opinionated bullshit does not affect me. BUt as a concerned Amiga owner I feel that I as well as all other Amiga users need to address these issues and address them now. This ain't just some bullshit I'm writing up just to get some radio play. I'm truly concerned about Amiga and its status at present and if you all are as concerned as I am about it then you won't have a reason to flame. Because the last thing I want to happen is for AMiga to go out like Atari and we need to wake up and stop kidding ourselves before it does. Peace. Malcolm Moore mmoore@ux.acs.umn.edu The Man Your Momma Warned You About. P.S. Amiga: The One and only. P.P.S. Beware of the dog.
torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan Torrie) (05/09/91)
mmoore@ux.acs.umn.edu (Malcolm Diallo Moore) writes: >eye: A portable IBM playing a sound and graphics demo. >According to the hardware rep that latched onto me like crazy glue the moment >I stopped moving to watch this demo, it was an IBM PS/2 Model P75, a 33Mhz >was maxed out at 16MB. He couldn't give me a price quote on the machine (I >wonder why?) but he said he "wished he could have something like that at his >house." These 486 portable beasts are priced around the $15000 mark!! No wonder he didn't want to give you a price quote. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Evan Torrie. Stanford University, Class of 199? torrie@cs.stanford.edu "Cold is God's way of telling us to burn more Catholics" - Lady Whiteadder
r3drs@VAX1.CC.UAKRON.EDU (david r snyder) (05/10/91)
Are great graphics and sound the pinnacle of computer performance? Sure, it has given the amiga its edge so far, but look at the comparative costs of a similar Mac or Ibm which can perform to the degree that an amiga can. There is more to computing than a 24 bit display. The amiga has been out for six years, and im sure commodore is addressing these issues. I would like to see some more software of a proffesional level (CAD , spreadsheets). (while im on the subject, is anyone out there using x-cad 3d? a quick review?) Dave Snyder
dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann) (05/10/91)
Yow! Ya gotta love those descriptive subject lines, doncha? People, let's use a little imagination, here! -- Dave Schaumann | There is no cause so right that one cannot find a fool dave@cs.arizona.edu | following it. - Niven's Law # 16
murphy@gibbs.physics.purdue.edu (William J. Murphy) (05/10/91)
In article <3887@ux.acs.umn.edu> mmoore@ux.acs.umn.edu (Malcolm Diallo Moore) writes: >'big' companies rip up territory that once was Amiga's own. Hell, all we've got >is interlaced HAM! (I'd love to have something like 1280x1024x4096, that would >be too raw, but I'm just dreamin). > I just can't resist this one, You don't have to dream any longer, what you want is a NeXT Color Station. 8-) 8-) Follow-ups can go to /dev/null. Bill Murphy murphy@physics.purdue.edu Anything above the line beneath the line below is false. ________________The Line Beneath________________________