asg@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Bruce Varney) (04/11/91)
Ok here is the scoop.
Part A -
I am planning to buy a computer soon. I am capable of affording something
in the 4-6000$ range. What I would like is a comparison of the amiga 3000ux
and an IBM 486. PLEASE NO KNEE-JERK FLAMES ABOUT IBM's. Just a plain and
simple comparison. Some starter questions
1) I currently have a 286. How well will my software run on an Amiga
a) with the software emulater --------cost?
b) with the AT emulator board --------cost?
1.1) is the amiga 3000ux faster than a 486-33MHz? (rated at 14.5 MIPS)
2) I have heard that when the 040 comes out, it will be easy to put it
in the 3000ux, and that it will cost around $1000. I have also heard
that it will be easy to make a few mods to make the 040 see the 030
and use it to process in parralell. Comments?
3) Can the amiga even emulate VGA software?
4) Can the amiga access it's 3.5 drive for dos software?
5) How good is the Amiga SVR4 software?
6) I have heard price quotes at $4000, and $4900 for the
Amiga3000ux with 5M ram, 100M HD, and the OS included.
which is correct?
6.4) 5.25 drice? Cost?
6.5) Extra disk space? How much cna I get? How much does it cost?
6.6) Tape backup? How much?
7) what is a genloc? Cost?
8) any CD-rom stuff for the amiga? Cost?
9) and Midi interface stuff for the Amiga? Cost?
10) Input interface for VHs? Cost? Scanners? Cost?
11) Is there anything an Amiga cannot do?
Part B - I am going to be starting a computer buisiness with some
friends this summer. I am going to make more money (I am a Co-op
student) than I expected this year, and will have paid quite alot
in income tax. Will I be able to deduct some portion (an approx how much?)
of the purchase price for tax purposes?
I thank you for your time and any help you can give me.
Bruce
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Courtesy of Bruce Varney ### #
aka -> The Grand Master #
asg@sage.cc.purdue.edu ### ##### #
PUCC ### #
;-) # #
;'> # ##peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY) (04/11/91)
In article <10047@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> asg@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Bruce Varney) writes: (Sorry, no real prices from me) > 1) I currently have a 286. How well will my software run on an Amiga > a) with the software emulater --------cost? *** not fast, like an old XT, few (CGA?) if any graphics > b) with the AT emulator board --------cost? *** A little slower perhaps than on your present 286. If you need, you can plug in an additional VGA card. > 2) I have heard that when the 040 comes out, it will be easy to put it > in the 3000ux, and that it will cost around $1000. I have also heard > that it will be easy to make a few mods to make the 040 see the 030 > and use it to process in parralell. Comments? *** All possible, all dependant on the design of the add-on board. > 3) Can the amiga even emulate VGA software? *** Not directly, but you can use that AT emulator board plus a real VGA card. On the Amiga you have different video modes like the HAM mode, that can display up to 4096 colors simultaneously (VGA only 256) with some restrictions. > 4) Can the amiga access it's 3.5 drive for dos software? *** Yes, by means of special (PD) driver software only 720 KB. A 1.44 MB compatible drive is announced. > 5) How good is the Amiga SVR4 software? *** They are all fond of it. > 6) I have heard price quotes at $4000, and $4900 for the > Amiga3000ux with 5M ram, 100M HD, and the OS included. > which is correct? > 6.4) 5.25 drive? Cost? *** Available from 3rd party, a little more expensive than 3.5" Note: no place for it in normal A3000, put it external (normal configuration of such a drive) or choose A3000T (tower) > 6.5) Extra disk space? How much cna I get? How much does it cost? *** You have SCSI. Theoretically you can connect 7x8 drives with 2 (4?) GB each, enough? > 6.6) Tape backup? How much? *** Yes, e.g. A3070. > 7) what is a genloc? Cost? *** A genlock takes an external video source, synchronizes your Amiga to it and mixes the two signals. With the A3000, you can choose by software to have either the pure Amiga or pure video signal on the output, or having the Amiga picture overlaid on the video pic. One of the Amiga colors (normally background, color 0, but now with ECS choosable, as far as I understand) is defined transparent to let the video pic shine through. Costs range from extremely cheap to professionally expensive. > 8) any CD-rom stuff for the amiga? Cost? *** As CDTV is starting to ship, there will probably be an external CD-ROM drive, perhaps in future also CDTV emulation software? This is future, but perhaps near future. > 9) and Midi interface stuff for the Amiga? Cost? *** Available, cheap. > 10) Input interface for VHs? Cost? Scanners? Cost? *** Diverse digitizers, framegrabbers and scanners available. Scanners at comparable cost as on PCs. Much other equipment much cheaper than for PCs, because Amiga pre-designed for this application. Amiga really shines here, keynote: VideoToaster. > 11) Is there anything an Amiga cannot do? *** Well, can't outperform a Cray II, but else? But in fact, it is a little weak in text processing, but that's by common opinion not up to the machine, but only politics with software houses. If you really want to expand the machine so heavily, you should consider the A3000T model in the tower case, coming RSN. >Part B - I am going to be starting a computer buisiness with some >friends this summer. I am going to make more money (I am a Co-op >student) than I expected this year, and will have paid quite alot >in income tax. Will I be able to deduct some portion (an approx how much?) >of the purchase price for tax purposes? If you lived in Germany: Sure :-) -- Best regards, Dr. Peter Kittel // E-Mail to \\ Only my personal opinions... Commodore Frankfurt, Germany \X/ {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!cbmger!peterk
elg@elgamy.RAIDERNET.COM (Eric Lee Green) (04/12/91)
From article <10047@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>, by asg@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Bruce Varney): > 1) I currently have a 286. How well will my software run on an Amiga > a) with the software emulater --------cost? Software emulator is free, and slow. > b) with the AT emulator board --------cost? The AT "emulator" board is actually a complete AT on a plug-in circuit card. Including floppy disk controller and fake "video chip", etc. Completely compatible, except for those software products that don't have an option to use the BIOS for hard drive access (since the BIOS has been patched to allow auto-booting the AT emulator off of the Amiga's hard drive). > 1.1) is the amiga 3000ux faster than a 486-33MHz? (rated at 14.5 MIPS) CPU speed is slower. I/O speed is *MUCH* faster. The Amiga 3000's Zorro III I/O bus will go the full speed of the CPU, meaning that the limit becomes how fast the drive will go, rather than the 8 or 10 or 12mhz 16-bit bus in a PC. For Unix, this means that basically you will get better performance in many cases, because Unix is very I/O dependent. Note that Unix kernals on the '386/'486 class machines do not generally do DMA, they hand-copy the data from the I/O controller... since the AT-class machines don't have a fast bus or fast DMA controller, that's about the only way to do it. But this burns up CPU cycles that could be better used for computing. > 2) I have heard that when the 040 comes out, it will be easy to put it > in the 3000ux, and that it will cost around $1000. I have also heard > that it will be easy to make a few mods to make the 040 see the 030 > and use it to process in parralell. Comments? '040 will be cheap. Using the '030 in parallel won't, because it would require major kernal changes. > 3) Can the amiga even emulate VGA software? You mean with the PC Bridgeboard? No, you'd have to add a VGA card to the IBM bus to get VGA with the BridgeBoard. Standard Amiga resolutions are similar to standard VGA, but not as big of a palette. Higher resolutions require the TIGA card for color, or the Hedley monitor (forget the number) for high-resolution monochrome. > 4) Can the amiga access it's 3.5 drive for dos software? Yes. > 5) How good is the Amiga SVR4 software? Good. Very complete. Includes "X" and a windowing system, as well as all the networking software, etc. > 6) I have heard price quotes at $4000, and $4900 for the > Amiga3000ux with 5M ram, 100M HD, and the OS included. > which is correct? You probably would want to immediately add more RAM and hard drive. A 9mb Amiga3000ux with 200mb drive is usable. The base model is only barely usable. Note that dealers are independent entities, free to price as they wish. Shope for the best value. > 6.4) 5.25 drice? Cost? Comes with the Bridgeboard. But you'd have to get an Amiga 3000T (tower case version) to fit it into the 3000. There's no space for it in the "slimline" 3000. > 6.5) Extra disk space? How much cna I get? How much does it cost? Amiga takes standard SCSI hard drives. 200mb 3 1/2" drives are selling for around $700-$800 nowdays, 360mb at around $1500. If you're really feeling outrageous, a full-height Fujitsu 5 1/4" 1.2 gigabyte drive can be yours for the low low cost of around $3600. (The Fujitsu would have to be in an external case, of course). > 6.6) Tape backup? How much? SCSI. Basically Mac tape backup units. Around $400-$500. > 7) what is a genloc? Cost? Allows overlaying an Amiga screen on top of video output. E.g., adding titles to your home movies. (Or doing full professional titling in a video studio... e.g., most cable TV companies are using Amigas to do this nowdays). > 8) any CD-rom stuff for the amiga? Cost? Yes. A variety of stuff. CDTV titles will run on the Amiga, for one thing. CD-rom's are around $600? > 9) and Midi interface stuff for the Amiga? Cost? Cheap. Maybe $40/$50. Basically consists of a couple of bus buffers hung off the RS232 port (which was designed for MIDI in the first place). > 10) Input interface for VHs? Cost? Scanners? Cost? All sorts. > 11) Is there anything an Amiga cannot do? Spreadsheets. Databases are okay, though clumsy, but Amiga spreadsheets stink. The Amiga has some decent word processors. Doesn't have that great of accounting software, though. > Part B - I am going to be starting a computer buisiness with some > friends this summer. I am going to make more money (I am a Co-op > student) than I expected this year, and will have paid quite alot > in income tax. Will I be able to deduct some portion (an approx how much?) > of the purchase price for tax purposes? Risky. If you use the computer 100% for the business, you can depreciate it. You can take a lump-sum depreciation up to a certain amount, and past that, it has to be depreciated according to the IRS's depreciation tables. But you better darn well have every minute of computer usage documented and billed to a client, or you won't have a leg to stand on when the IRS audits you. If it's not used 100% for the business, you can depreciate the percentage that is used, I believe... but note that this is still risky, and you better have darn good documentation. As always, talking to a competent tax expert (accountant etc.) is advisable in this as in all other tax matters. The IRS doesn't play. When the IRS comes into town you're assumed guilty until you prove you're innocent, and in the meantime they've seized your house and checking account. "Taxpayer's rights" is an oxymoron. -- 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...
holgerl@amiux.UUCP (Holger Lubitz) (04/16/91)
In article <00671420662@elgamy.RAIDERNET.COM> elg@elgamy.RAIDERNET.COM (Eric Lee Green) writes: >Software emulator is free, and slow. Where do you get a *free* MS-DOS-Emulator ? Please tell me. The only one I know of is IBeM, and that one is shareware, not fully working in the freely distributable version (it exits after a certain amount of time), and *very* SLOOOW, compared to what I would expect from a 25-MHz-68030-Machine... Best regards, Holger -- Holger Lubitz, Kl. Drakenburger Str. 24, D-W-3070 Nienburg/Weser