From: jkh@sparc3.lotus.com (Jordan K Hubbard)
Subject: Amiga / 486 Owner needs information on ARM A5000 / A570(?)
Organization: Lotus Ireland
Distribution: comp
Date: 27 Jul 92 19:12:34

Hi!  Yes, you read that correctly, an actual PC and Amiga user
considering the purchase of an ARM machine and not just invading the
newsgroup for a quick "my-machine-is-better-than-your-machine" shot
and beating a hasty retreat!

Why do I want to shell out well over 2000 quid for an ARM machine?
Because they look interesting (read: different from everything else
:-) and I'm a sucker for strange hardware.

What I would very much like to know, preferably from the most crazed
Acorn fan(s) among you, is the following:

1. What's the difference between the A5000 and the A570 (or is that
   A520?)?  If I want the fastest machine that support SCSI from the
   outset, which should I buy?  Assume money no significant object.

3. What's the maximum practical resolution of the machine?  That is,
   I'd like a decent array of colors and GOOD refresh rate.  Assume a
   high-end monitor (well, it's a 17" MAG) that can take whatever the
   Acorn dishes out.  Can I get SVGA quality graphics, at least? (that
   is to say 1024x768x256).  Does the Acorn have any graphics assist?
   If not, how fast can one reasonably expect to be able to push the pixels
   around?

4. What are the audio capabilities in comparison to the Amiga?  We could
   compare with the PC, but even with a Roland GS sound card, it's still
   apples and oranges.  Given that the Amiga's also digital audio out (4
   channels), we'll call it the closest comparison.

5. How is the machine fixed for higher end audio (16 bit, say) and video
   (24 bit, perhaps with GP assist for pushing the pixels around)
   peripherals?

6. How good is the operating system software, really?  Does it compare
   favorably with AmigaDOS 2.0?  We won't mention DOS 5.0 since it's not
   really an operating system (I use it, I know).  Is it well structured?
   Extensible?

7. How good is the UNIX port?  What's its lineage?  V.4 or BSD 4.[23]?
   Anybody using it?

8. How good is the general application software?  Many (or any?) 3rd
   party software available of any note?

9. Any good ANSI C / C++ compilers available for it?  GCC?

10.  A reasonably good-sized array of PD software?  Is most GNU software
     ported?

11. Any good magazines for the Acorn user?  Perhaps something that remotely
   compares with the production standards of PC Professional or Amiga Format?

12. Any other interesting machine features I should know about, given
    my Amiga / PC background?

13. Is Acorn's corporate attitude towards the machine any better than
   Commodore's is towards the Amiga (Abysmal)?  I.E. does the machine really
   have any future?


Without describing my own current configurations too closely, let's
just say that both my PC and amiga systems are pretty much the maximum
available configurations (no 68000's or 286's here) with enough
additional audio (Roland / Soundblaster / etc) and video hardware
hooked up that I'm not going to have low expectations for the ARM
machine.  I.E. I'm not going to be easily impressed, so please
try hard! :-)

To be fair to the ARM, I expect to be able to have at least 8MB of RAM
in it and I'll be providing plenty of disk space as well as a nice
monitor for it, so I should not be hampered by hardware when it comes
to pushing the machine to its full potential.  Whether the machine HAS
any potential is something I hope to learn from this group!

Many thanks in advance for any information you can give me..

					Jordan

Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn