From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: CBM is a game machine company
Date: 9 Apr 92 16:29:51 GMT
Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

In article <mykes.2235@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG> mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes:
>OK, folks, the last 3 machines that CBM has released are all game machines.
>[...] To be specific, the three machines are CDTV, A500+, and A600.

Didn't CDTV come out before the A3000T?  I thought so...

>Compare this to the progress the Amiga has made.  The A3000T represents
>the high end, and it is cool.  But it could have (and should have) been
>built in 1987.  

Unfortunately, you couldn't get 25MHz '030s in '87.  I got some of the very
first available (unmarked, room-temperature operation only) in April of '88.
It would have been nice to jump into "bigger and better" faster, but the
A3000 series was the second generation '030 system.  And I do stress _system_;
if you just want a faster CPU like most of the PCs stress, you can use the
Coprocessor slot in the A2000 and have your high end machine.

>In 1987, Apple was doing 256 color hires, DIG, and 68020 based computers at 
>their high-end and those machines cost then what the A3000T costs NOW.  

Apple's Mac IIs went for $5,000+ when they hit the street.  Of course, the
A2000/20 wasn't too far behind when it came out in '88.  And you kind of got
it backwards up there -- Apple had 256 color hires specifically because they
had RTG from the beginning.  That's analogous to the Amiga's DMA driven I/O
and multitasking, the software enables the hardware.  Mac's QuickDraw was
its best feature.  A Mac video card is a slam-dunk design; all you need is
visable memory, it's simple than the A3000's Amber chip.  You got decent
graphics, but no horsepower.

>I wouldn't go near the low-end Amigas now, except to use as a game
>machine.  

You don't think there are kids out there who want something more than just a
game system?  I know I sure did when I spent $1200 for a 16K character and
cassette based Exidy Sorcerer back in '79, even though game machines were
considerably less expensive.  Nowadays I have my A3000, I have no need for an
A600.  But you and I are about as far from the typical home computer shopper
as anyone gets.

>At the high-end, the A3000 is becoming obsolete, due to the availability of 
>much faster computers with better graphics capabilities.  

There's that misconception again...  The existence of something in some way 
better doesn't take away from what's already good.  If it doesn't do the job
you got it for, it was obselete before you got it, for that one job.  If it
still does the job to your satisfaction, it's not obselete no matter what else
is around.  I'm typing this in my office on an A2500/30.  I could have a much
better system if I wanted one, for free, since we make the things.  I have no
need for a better system here; extra CPU cycles would pretty much go to waste
for the email, wordprocessing, and CAD work I use this for.  I already have too
much memory (21 Megabytes), thanks to a DKB A2632 board.  

>This only leaves Unix boxes.  As much as I hate Unix, I am beginning to 
>believe that is the direction I will end up going.

If you're a high powered hard core computer type, UNIX may be the way.  I
have no use for it at home.  Here, I could use a Sun or HP/Apollo on my desk,
but mainly because those are the systems that support our EE CAD software,
there's no need for higher resolutions or faster processors to do most of this 
job -- the Apollos around here are slower than the A3000 in the first place
(in fact, they are A[pollo]3000s), and you have your choice of monochrome or 
color in 1024x768, roughly the Moniterm resolution. 

>But I'm going to need a 2nd mortgage on my house to afford the kind
>of computer I feel I need :(

Isn't there some saying about how the more you learn about doing something, the
less satisfied you're going to be doing that.  Beginners are the happiest of
all.  And an A600 with hard disk is certainly more than enough computer for a
beginning computer user.  I would have traded my Exidy, my camera system, my
bicycle, and my sea shell collection for something like that back in '79.
-- 
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests"
   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      BIX: hazy
   "We can't be silent, because they might be giants" - The Might Be Giants
 
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy