From: barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N. Barrett)
Subject: Re: Commodores AGA uppgrade board.
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 22:30:42 GMT

In article <1993Jan20.191926.22449@ra.msstate.edu> skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls) writes:
>In article <C15zt6.27v@news.iastate.edu> barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N. Barrett) writes:
>
><babbling about an AGA board for the A3000 deleted>
>
>>   Let's compare prices.  An A4000 with a SCSI II card and a deinterlacer
>>card versus an A3000 with an AGA board:
>>
>>A4000:                         $2700
>>Deinterlacer card:              $250
>>SCSI II card:                   $250
>>Total:                         $3200
>>
>>A3000/25:                      $1200
>>AGA upgrade board:              $700
>>Amiga HD floppy drive:          $150
>>Total:                         $2050
>>
>>Savings:                       $1150
>
>Marc, you want a de-interlacer, yet you don't specify one for the A3000's
>AGA board, so add another $250.  Your savings drop to around $900.

   That is ludicrous.  Any deinterlacer plugged into the A4000 would only
handle the ECS color capabilities and resolutions.  So if you would ever
want to use such a color/resolution mode, you could just drop back to the
internal chipset in the A3000.  

>But I seem to be getting along just fine without a de-interlacer.  

   How well do games and demos run in that VGA-only 17" monitor of yours?

>>   Sure, the A4000 also has an '040, but for my purposes I don't need an
>>'040.  The resulting system, but upgrading the A3000, is MUCH nicer, with a
>
>What?  All you do is complain about performance, yet you don't need an 040?

   I don't remember making an issue of CPU performance for a long time.
The issues I bring up are usually things like color capabilities, 
non-interlaced resolutions, the quality of the GUI, availability of CD-ROM
hardware and software, etc.  None of this is related to CPU performance.

>>better-looking case and a far more integrated system (more on the motherboard
>
>I have to agree with you on the style of the case, but you are forgetting
>one thing: the 5.25" bay.  You have been saying how much C= needs a CDROM
>drive for the Amiga, but it would have to be external on the A3000 and it
>would detract from that case you love so much...

   No big deal.  If the external drive is built small and has an attractive
case, the fact that it is not internal would not matter as much.

>>and less on plug-in cards means more reliability).  It also has some 
>
>What do you mean by this?  Would a mythical AGA upgrade board be more
>reliable than a SCSI-II board?  My guess it that the AGA board would be
>much more complex...

   But we would be talking about two plug-in cards in the case of the
A4000 and one in the case of the A3000.

>>capabilities that the A4000 does not have, namely multiprocessing capability
>>if an '040 card is added to the CPU slot.  Finally, it is every bit as 
>>upgradable to '060 cards as the A4000 is.
>
>Name a board for the A3000's CPU slot that offers multiprocessing capability.

   I don't know if any of the third-party '040 cards for the A3000
support this, but one or more of them might.  

>For that matter, tell us how the OS is going to use it...

   The OS would not have to.  Software like Emplant could be developed 
in multiprocessing versions for people with A3000s and '040 cards, if
the market was big enough.

---
| Marc Barrett -MB-  |  email: barrett@iastate.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------
"I suppose if I had two X chromosomes, I'd feel hostile too."
                              - Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes)

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy