From: sheldon@iastate.edu (Steve Sheldon)
Subject: Re: Byte's Amiga 4000 review...
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 18:28:02 GMT

 I've put this back in amiga.advocacy which is where this damn discussion
belongs, not in cs.IBM.PC.HARDWARE.

In <dmkasten.04ly@redorc.chi.il.us> dmkasten@redorc.chi.il.us (Bowie Poag) writes:

>1) The A4000 (again, '040 at 25 Mhz, 16.7 million colors, EXTREMELY efficient
>   multitasking OS, 100% window-based GUI, stereo sound, max resolution stands


 Ahh, now it's EXTREMELY efficient multitasking.  A couple years back when I
was an Amigadroid it was just the fact that we can multitask.

 But now since the Amiga doesn't have all the advantages of multi-tasking
that something like OS/2 or Unix has... It's just EXTREMELY efficient.

 This is funny, really...

>   VGA cards, and such. Inclues a SCSI controller hardwired into the   
>motherboard (soon to be SCSI-2) with your choice of 120 or 210 Meg Quantum

 Wait, I thought it was an IDE controller in there...  According to all the
reviews I've seen.  This must have changed.

>   List price is about $3500, but ive seen them street-priced at the local
>   Amiga dealership for about --$2400-- for the Model just listed..CBM-Amiga
>   is intent on moving into the high-end PC/workstation market, and have
>   priced their machines to compete with with the new Mac Quadras..

 $2400 doesn't include the monitor, does it?  And do I get my choice of 120
or 200 Meg drives for the same price?  Be realistic, will ya?


>As far as compatibility goes, we have no use for "Windows" programs.. To us,
>(PLEASE--NO FLAMING!) we consider Windows to be somewhat of a laughable joke.

 Sorry, the rest of the world actually likes to do something with their
computers.  Windows may be a joke, but at least it has software.

>Laughable in terms of Windows 3.1 touting itself as "multitasking" .. We view
>it as little more than a program launcher. Our definintion of Multitasking

 You're right.  Windows is a program launcher, nothing more.

>and the typical Windows user's definition differ dramatically. For example--Im
>currently running about 60 tasks in background at the moment.. everything from

 Gee, I'm multitasking Windows and DOS applications right now.  And what's
more, I've got virtual memory so that I can swap a task out of memory and
run something else without those dreaded "Out of Memory" errors.

 Oh, I'm running OS/2.  I suppose if I had a use for 60 tasks, I could do
that.  If you counted all the system tasks running, like you do, it's
probably close to that.  I usually have well over 60 "tasks" running on my
Unix boxes at work all the time. (Both the DECStation and the PC running
SCO)

>my screenblanker to the 3D image im rendering with Imagine 3D at the moment..

 Oh, I don't do 3D image rendering.  But right now I'm splitting soil
polygons from a large coverage to do an analysis of corn suitability. 
Something you can't do on your Amiga, because of a lack of applications.
(Although MIPS is available for the A3000UX)


>while writing this out in my term program, connected to a local UUCP Node at
>19,200 baud. This is not that big of a deal to us, because we do such things
>all the time. Again, I dont want this discussion to degenerate into a flame
>war, its just thats -how we see it-..

 Yep, I do this all the time.  Plus more, because the applications are
available to me.


>However, if PC compatibility is a must for you, you can buy whats called a
>"Bridgeboard" for your Amiga..its basically an IBM on a card, that you can
>drop into your machine. There are 8088XT bridgeboards, all the way up to 486
>Bridgeboards. With a Bridgeboard, its like having two computers inside of one

 Yep, and if you just buy the PC clone, which is about 1/3rd the cost of
your bridgeboard solution, and offers more compatibility with video and
other solutions.


 Basically, get a clue.  This stuff is no longer new and exciting.
-- 
sheldon@iastate.edu                Steve Sheldon
Project Vincent                    ICSS Resource Unit
SCO ODT, Arc/Info, Atlas GIS       2142 Agronomy Hall
                                   Iowa State University
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy