From: barrett@astro.cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Finally got to play with an A4000
Date: 9 Oct 92 20:29:31 GMT
Reply-To: barrett@astro.cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett)
Organization: BLAZEMONGER INCORPORATED


	I had a chance to play with an A4000 for about an hour today.
I won't repeat what other people have said about it, but I did notice
some interesting things.

	It's true about the graphics speed -- a 16-color A4000 Workbench is
as fast as a 2-color Workbench on the A3000.  A 256-color A4000 Workbench is
about the same speed (maybe slightly slower) than a 16-color A3000 Workbench.

	The dealer displayed some 24-bit pictures using AdPro, and they
looked stunning.  I assume they were converted to 8-bit HAM mode.  There
was no fringing I could see; they looked photo-quality.

	Hard disk speed seemed slow to me... but then I noticed that the
dealer had not used "AddBuffers" at all to speed up the disk access!  I did
a quick "AddBuffers dh0: 200" and the speed became very acceptable.  [NOTE
TO COMMODORE:  Increase the default AddBuffers on the A4000's you ship!]

	The first thing I did was go into the Prefs drawer and try things
out.  There are 2 new Preferences tools:  Locale (for setting language and
country-specific parameters) and Sound (for beeps and sampled sound
playback).  I noticed that several of the Preferences programs changed their
look for (as far as I could tell) no real reason:  Time, Font, and
IControl.  Gadgets were rearranged when (I thought) they looked fine in
version 2.04.  In addition, some Prefs programs have new features; for
example, WBScreen lets you put an IFF graphic as a backdrop, rather than a
simple pattern.

	We had a very hard time trying to make the A4000+A1960 do full
overscan using the Overscan preferences.  But then again, I really didn't
know what I was doing with all those dozens of monitor modes listed by
ScreenMode.  I couldn't get the Overscan to stretch far enough.  [NOTE TO
COMMODORE:  Please document the differences between these new monitor modes
very carefully, with enough detail to satisfy the technically adept user.]

	A few of the Prefs programs had a scrolling list setup that looks a
bit like the ASL file requester.  Does GadTools now have a generic scrolling
list gadget?  (Or has it always had one?  I don't know.)  If so, then great!

	The Palette Prefs have changed considerably -- you now use
a circle (color wheel?) to choose colors.  It was very intuititive.
You can also choose the 8 colors that have special meanings:  text
color, background color, outline color, menu color, menu text color,
etc.  Some of these colors were forced by the program to be identical.
Why is this?

	Next, I looked around for new programs and new features.  The
Calculator program now has a menu, appears to support the Clipboard (it had
cut/copy/paste menu entries anyway), and has a "show tape" option to display
your whole sequence of calculations as you do them.

	I found some unidentifiable files in the devs:DataTypes drawer.
They had names like ILBM, 8SVX, and AmigaGuide, and their default Workbench
tool is c:AddDataTypes.  Is this some new way to recognize certain types of
files?  Any more details on it?

	I found CrossDOS in the Commodities drawer, so I assume it's
a commodity now -- very sensible.

	Now for some great news -- the standard (ASL) file requester
operates MUCH MUCH faster than in version 2.04.  I opened a file requester
and stretched it to fill the entire screen.  Then I listed the c: directory
(fairly large on this dealer's machine).  There was a half second of delay,
and then all the filenames appeared instantaneously, and in sorted order.
Wonderful.

	One bad thing I noticed:  when flipping screens between interlaced
and non-interlaced screens (pressing Left-Amiga-M), the A1960 monitor image
made a big and awful-looking "jump" as it switched resolutions.  I don't know
whether the A1960 was at fault or not.

	Another thing I noticed is that highlighted text in the Shell, such
as the first line of the usage message for DiskSalv, changes color while the
shell window is scrolling.  The effect is unpleasant.  However, I went home
and tried this on an A1000 in interlaced mode, and I saw the same effect.
Somehow, I never noticed it before.  What causes it?  [Note to prevent
rumors -- I don't know if DiskSalv comes with 3.0 or whether the dealer
put it on disk himself.]

	So... would I sell my A3000 to buy an A4000?  Probably not, because
I have no need right now for more colors, and my 68030's speed is
sufficient.  IMHO, the A4000 and AmigaOS 3.0 are evolutionary, not
revolutionary.  But if you have an unaccelerated A1000, A2000, or A500, and
have the money, take a serious look at the A4000.

                                                        Dan

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| Dan Barrett -- Dept of Computer Science, Lederle Graduate Research Center |
| University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA  01003  --  barrett@cs.umass.edu |
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Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc