HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hcheng@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (Dr. Hsueh-li Cheng)
Subject: Re: No AGA for current users!?! *Excuse Me?*
Organization: University of Hawaii
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 10:08:42 GMT

In article <David_Corn.0cnm@fcircus.sat.tx.us> David_Corn@fcircus.sat.tx.us (David Corn) writes:
>
>  Commodore has been much better than most other computer manufacturers
>  in this respect. Just look at the Mac for instance - none of the early
>  models are upgradable to a Quadra.
>  
>_________
>
>
>Huh?  Last I checked, you could go from MANY of the Mac II's to a Quadra
>- the II, IIx, IIcx, and IIci, among others.
>
>
	Doesn't this involve an expensive motherboard swap?  If it does
then it might be better to sell off the old Mac II and pickup a new Quadra.
I think the kind of upgrade everyone was hoping for the 500/2000/3000 
was something not quite as drastic as that.  Instead, we want something
that you could plug in to get the new AGA abilities. 

Joseph
hcheng@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu
Xref: sparky comp.sys.amiga.graphics:6075 comp.sys.amiga.hardware:15413
From: jc@crosfield.co.uk (jerry cullingford)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics,comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Toaster and DCTV (was Re: DCTV flickers !!!!
Keywords: DCTV
Date: 15 Sep 92 11:56:23 GMT
Organization: Crosfield Electronics, Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom.

Just to add another data point :-) I use a PAL DCTV on a 2000 with a
GVP 33MHz Combo accelerator and microway flicker fixer, and it works fine.
No toaster though.. will NewTek _ever_ get around to a PAL version :-( :-(



-- 
+------------------------------------------------------------------+     |
| Jerry Cullingford  #include <std.disclaimer> +44 442 230000 x3868|   ,-|--
| jc@crosfield.co.uk (jc@cel.uucp) or jc@selune.demon.co.uk        |   \_|__
+-----(Work)---------------------------------(home)----------------+ \___/
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics,rec.video.production,rec.music.synth
From: kholland@hydra.unm.edu (Kiernan Holland)
Subject: Re: What config. for MIDI and Graphics
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 92 06:49:47 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <Btz1z0.Ev8.2@cs.cmu.edu> cain@silverblue.fac.cs.cmu.edu (Sebastian Nightingale Cain) writes:
>I've been puttering around with MIDI and been wanting to get
>into computer graphics and video production for awhile, but 
>never had the funds. Now I'm quite a bit more serious, and have
>been looking around Pittsburgh for a dealer, but there are only
>2 that I have found - one is inconvienent for me to get to.
>The other is much closer, but is just getting into the Video 
>Toaster and the Amiga (they are actually a small audio/video
>store) and so are not ready to actually sell and support them
>just yet.  
>
>What I wanted to know was what I should be looking at inorder
>to get into this stuff.  I was recommended an A2000 with an 
>accelerator board to begin with.  I would like to start out 
>with just the MIDI  and then aquire the video after I 
>know a bit more about the subject. So what I'm asking, is what 
>should I look at for a starter system that is easily expandable
>but not extremely expensive to start with?
>
>Thanks.

Well, the Amiga 2000 is best for the Video Stuff. If you plan to 
get a Toaster that is the one to get. An accelerator board would 
help a lot, too. I recomend a 100-200 meg hard drive 
becuase if you are planning to stuff 24-bit images on your 
system you must have lots of space. In theory a typical 
NTSC resolution image takes about 600x500x3 Bytes per image. 
If you get a acellerator card, you can do things 
such as decompress and compress 24-bit images using 
lossy and lossless compressions like LHA and JPEG (respectively!)
Note that both are FREE!!
 
Using JPEG you can compress a 24-bit image down to about 
1/10th its size or more, it terms of the data representation, not size. 
JPEG loses some information, but only what you eye cannot perceive. 
You'd have to get something like TAD-PRO (ASDG tm) and 
raise the gamma slider on the images before you could see what JPEG 
gets rid of (looks like a bunch of small boxes overlayed on top 
of the image, but you wouldn't see them if you had no 
image processing software). 

In video, it is not a matter of what is real but what you 
can fool the audience with. For instance, DCTV doesn't display 
its information in the typical way most 21/24 bit graphics cards 
do, it uses a form of digital NTSC encoding, magic cookie code 
and use of the amiga's 4-bit video output. Since DCTV 
uses only 4-bits, the video is bound to be 6 times faster 
than other forms, animation wise. 
And 6 times smaller (as they are). 

If you had 32 megs of ram, which would cost about 1000 dollars 
these days, you could display a 300 frame animation without 
accessing the hard drive. At 10 fps that means about 30 seconds 
on your TV set, enough for a short commercial. 

I'm interested in video myself, but I'm looking for a 
solution that makes use of cheap +2\-2 frame accurate 
VCRs or camcorders. 
Ones that I can render frames from my Amiga to.
From: ecarroll@maths.tcd.ie (Eddy Carroll)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
Subject: Re: Problem with No New Copper in A4000
Date: 15 Sep 92 10:53:41 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Maths, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N Barrett) writes:
>In the ECS, the copper requires 2 scanlines to update the palette registers
>between pull-down screens.  The AGA Lisa chip now has many more palette regs
>but the copper has not been updates accordingly.  The result is bigger
>blank space between pull-down screens on the AGA chipset.  A total of 11
>scanlines of space, in fact.  Thus, you can write off enhanced equivelents
>to the Dynamic HiRes or SHAM modes for the AGA chipset.

On the contrary, SHAM and Dynamic Hi-Res are much more feasible on the new
chipset than on the old. If a screen uses less than 8 bitplanes, then a
single register can be used to select the offset into the 256 colour table
to determine which colours are actually used. (For example, a 6 bitplane
hi-res screen can display colours 0-63, 64-127, 128-191 or 192-255). This
allows the copper to reload one part of the palette at its own speed, without
the screen being affected, and then load a single register to make all the
changes take effect immediately, and saves having to play tricks with CPU
timing.

Granted, an enhanced copper with a block load facility would have been nice.

Eddy
-- 
Eddy Carroll      ----* Genuine MUD Wizard  | "You haven't lived until you've
Internet: ecarroll@maths.tcd.ie             |  died in MUD!" -- Richard Bartle
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
From: mlelstv@specklec.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Michael van Elst)
Subject: Re: double hard drive capacity??? NOT
Organization: Max-Planck-Institut f"ur Radioastronomie
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 10:31:00 GMT

In <ciH2qB1w165w@micromed.com> diskount@micromed.com (don hirschfeld) writes:
>I have Stacker on my 200meg HD and I get an average 1:1.7 compression 
>average on 160megs of files. Not 2x but not bad. There are almost no text 
>files in that either , mostly programs and data. I see no delay in 
>compression or decompression. I wish Stacker was for the Amiga also!

There IS something similar called XFH. It is currently sold together with
a german Amiga magazine but will be freeware at the end of the month.

Regards,
-- 
Michael van Elst
UUCP:     universe!local-cluster!milky-way!sol!earth!uunet!unido!mpirbn!p554mve
Internet: p554mve@mpirbn.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
                                "A potential Snark may lurk in every tree."
From: diskount@micromed.com (don hirschfeld)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
Subject: Re: double hard drive capacity??? NOT
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 92 05:21:23 PDT
Organization: Micro-Medic BBS - +1 408 279 5240 - Public Access

DonD@cup.portal.com (Don Robert DeCosta) writes:

> hard disk!"  It's a flat out lie!  if you store NOTHING but WordPerfect 
> text files and un-run-length-encoded pictures then maybe Stacker can
> double your disk space... but then, Is that all YOU have on YOUR hard disk?
> 

I have Stacker on my 200meg HD and I get an average 1:1.7 compression 
average on 160megs of files. Not 2x but not bad. There are almost no text 
files in that either , mostly programs and data. I see no delay in 
compression or decompression. I wish Stacker was for the Amiga also!

-- 
diskount@micromed.com (don hirschfeld)
From: sacke@gn.ecn.purdue.edu (Jeff Hanna)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
Subject: Re: Why CBM sucks!
Date: 15 Sep 92 21:16:52 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network

In article <1959vgINNsa5@network.ucsd.edu> simon@ivem.uucp (Simon Lee) writes:
>Ok.  That's it.  I'll just start my own computer company and make the killer
>computer.  It'll have 48 bit graphics!  20 bit resolution audio!
>Forget 16 bits.  That's old.  Let's see, it'll have the 99 Mhz 040 since the
>25 Mhz 040 is way too slow.  And then we'll put in our own set of 96 custom
>chips.  Each chip will handle each key on the keyboard so that ultra fast
>typers won't complain that the keyboard can't handle their blazing speed.  And
>then I'll have 99 meg flopticals instead of the 1.77 meg HD drives.  All this
>plus 1280x1024 screen resolution MINIMUM, FREE 21" monitor, and a THREE button
>mouse!  I'll even throw in a mouse pad!  The best part of this will be the
>price.  In order to compete with those darn clone makers, I'll have to price
>this so that it's not only competitive, but I'll anticipate their lowering of
>price and mark this machine at $1000 LIST.  That way dealers can discount it
>to $700.  Oh, almost forgot the FREE CD-ROM drive for those who purchase in
>the next 4 months.  Those who miss out will have to buy them at $50 each.
>I know that this will make people happy and I'll be the hit of the parties and
>everyone will love my company.  Complaints?  I'll just let them leave them on
>my personal answering machine.  They need something done tomorrow.  No
>problem.  My engineers can work 24 hours.  I hope developement of this machine
>doesn't take more than 3 months, or people will be upset.  Wouldn't want that.
>
>
>-- 
>*   Simon Lee              *   Microscopy and Imaging Resource          *

Ever heard of Jim Drew, VP of Utilities Unlimited--and their EMPLANT
board?  You sound just like him :) And, you can probably deliver just about
as much product has he can :) :)

Jeff
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
From: ebers@gfxbase.in-berlin.de (Thorsten Ebers)
Subject: Colorburst,Opalvision
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 20:32:51 GMT
Organization: private
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Hi Folks,

does any of you know if I may upgrade from Colorburst to Opalvison.
I heard that the Company that produces Opalvision has bought MAST
and are offering upgrades or discounts if buying Opalvision.

Can someone give me advise at that.

Thanx all

Thorsten

-- 
Thorsten Ebers     email: ebers@gfxbase.in-berlin.de,ebers@aball.in-berlin.de

Macht Macht Machtbesessene machtbesessenner,
oder macht Macht machtbesessen,oder Macht macht machtbesessen,
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
From: 22black@sol.cs.wmich.edu (Martin E. Black)
Subject: No de-interlacer in the a4000?
Organization: Western Michigan Univ. Comp. Sci. Dept.
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 17:00:52 GMT

I can't believe what I heard.  I heard there will be absolutely no type of 
deinterlacer on the a4000, just the productivity modes that are atainable
in the ecs.  That is junk, I meen hell if I want normal hires in interlace, but
want it deinterlaced I won't beable to.  This is a poor judgement of Commodore
to remove it.  Since I have a monitor capable of 50khz and up to 73hz, I wanted
the super72 mode of 800x600 deinterlace.  Since the super72 requires a 25khz 
monitor it would work great.  
I hope the deinterlace car that is out will work with it.  After all there will
be lots of productivity programs that will only write for regular hires and 
hires interlace.

marty
From: DonD@cup.portal.com (Don Robert DeCosta)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
Subject: double hard drive capacity??? NOT
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 92 18:58:36 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
  <1992Sep12.125138.632@pro-freedom.cts.com>

>Is that all you have on your hard disk?  Programs?  What about data
>files, like anims, pictures, fonts, mods, text files, and other useful
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>things?  Imploder can't do any more for these than LHA, and constantly
>--
>#ifdef TRUE         | Fuzzy Fox                  fuzzy@netcom.com

I think that was exactly his point! I have yet to see ANY program cut an
Anim or Picture in HALF!! Stacker comes no where near "Doubling your
hard disk!"  It's a flat out lie!  if you store NOTHING but WordPerfect 
text files and un-run-length-encoded pictures then maybe Stacker can
double your disk space... but then, Is that all YOU have on YOUR hard disk?

I use Power Packer, and there is a place on the earth for Stacker, but it 
DOES NOT double your disk space and that was the original complaint about it.

Don DeCosta           |The nice thing about sanity is|  VM/Nomad2
DonD@cup.portal.com   |you can lose it more than once|  Amiga/Imagine
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
From: mhoesing@cwis.unomaha.edu (Michael Hoesing)
Subject: Caligari and other features
Organization: University of Nebraska at Omaha
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 21:07:52 GMT

 I am looking for a rendering system for the Amiga, and am having a
difficult time finding some information.  Right now I am using Imagine
(The original version) but am looking for something more along the
line of LightWave.  I cannot afford the upgrade to the Toaster, and
probably don't need to.  I have been looking at Caligari 2 as one of
my primary choices, as it seems to be the only non-raytracing 
renderer of any quality (Please correct me if I am wrong with this :-)
) other than LightWave.  Going by what the AmigaWorld review stated,
Caligari 2 seems to have all of the features of Caligari Broadcast
other than the support of 24 bit rendering.  Is this true?  Does
Caligari 2 have all of the features of it's big brother other than
the 24 bit support?
  Does anyone have any other suggestions for software like this (I
know that is probably a common question, but I am looking for some
specific features).  I would like something with strong texture
support, quick rendering (Not raytacing), various shader types,
various light source types, a great modeler, transparency, and
general flexibility, especially along the lines of textures.
Ideally I would like to use something along the lines of
PhotoRealistic RenderMan, but there don't seem to be any such
programs on the Amiga.
 Any suggestions and comments would be much appreciated!
 Thanks!

Xref: sparky comp.sys.amiga.graphics:5960 comp.sys.amiga.hardware:15209
From: katefans@chinet.chi.il.us (Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago)
Subject: Re: Info wanted about Hash Enterprises: Will WIntons Playmation
Organization: Chinet - Public Access UNIX
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 06:33:30 GMT

In article <tbwn1sh@lynx.unm.edu> kholland@hydra.unm.edu (Kiernan Holland) writes:
>In article <2396@compel.UUCP> her@compel.UUCP (Helge Egelund Rasmussen) writes:
>>I just received a newsletter from Impulse where they describe a
>>new product from Hash Enterprises called "Will Wintons playmation".
>>Apparently it looks somewhat like Imagine, but uses spline
>>modelling.
>>
>>Does anyone know more about this new product?
>>
>>What is the difference between this product and Journeyman?
>>
>
>Yes, Amazing Computing has a article about it in the back of its 
>newest issue (either September or October). Playmation is made by the 
>same company that started "Claymation" (ya, the guys that 

  Will Vinton has contributed nothing other than his name.

>did the California Raisins). It is not an exclusive Amiga product, 
>being made for the 486/386 systems and then will be ported to the 
>Amiga

   It has existed on the Amiga for far longer than Imagine, as Animation
Apprentice, then Animation Journeyman, but has had amazingly bad luck
getting noticed, compounded by a "no-dealers" policy that limited it's
audience to those willing to shell out >$400.00 for a program sight-unseen.

>I have been looking at Aladin in Amazing computing. It looks 
>pretty spiffy. Aladin is Prodraw4D (I think that is it) 
>with more features. the article was talking about prioritized 
>target points which is a capability under Aladin. That 
>is when your obsever moves from place to another, it 
>will look at certain targets depending on how far away from each target 
>point it is. Whichever is closer is what the observer looks at. 
>I guess that is what it means, but I assume that means the observer 
>will look at targets on a line between two priortized targets, to assure 
>smooth turns. 

   Journeyman/Playmation has an entirely Catmull-Rom spline based animation
enviorment. The Camera is connected to a visible 3-D spline, and the Camera's
"look-at-point" is attached to another. The method described above sounds
like a hard-to-control hack, while J/P's method is infintly controllable.

                                   Chris Williams
                                      katefans@chinet.chi.il.us

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
From: ian@ug.cs.dal.ca (Ian Littlewood)
Subject: Re: 4000
Organization: Math, Stats & CS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Distribution: dal
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 18:11:48 GMT

In <mqH2qB2w165w@micromed.com> diskount@micromed.com (don hirschfeld) writes:

>> SpeedStar 24X that can do true 24-bit color at 800 x 600 or 16 color at
>> 1024 x 1280. 
>> 
>> 

>Just a slight correction. I have the Diamond Speedstar 24X. There is only 
>a $20 difference between that and the Speedstar. I wouldn't use the term 
>high end inplying more expensive. Anyway, it displays 16.7 million colors 
>only at 640x480. At 800x600, it displays 32k colors. Still the best card 
>for the money. I use it to display my Imagine renderings in 24bit at 
>640x480. The stock Amiga can't do that!

>-- 
>diskount@micromed.com (don hirschfeld)

Nor can the stock 486... don't you realize that when you buy an IBM system such as
the one you described, that the company has put together a system that will sell;
they take the drive controller from company X, the drive from company Y, the 
graphics card form company Z, etc... you have not bought a stock 486; you've 
bought a PRE-CONFIGURED system; i.e. one set up FOR YOU; you have bought a card.
therefore it is NOT part of a stock system!
From: msnider@Rapnet.Sanders.Lockheed.Com (Marc A. Snider x0193)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
Subject: Re: Apology
Date: 14 Sep 92 12:13:21 GMT
Organization: Sanders Associates

In article <5cwn!4q@lynx.unm.edu> kholland@hydra.unm.edu (Kiernan Holland) writes:
>I'm sorry, I have no right to judge the other users of the amiga community. 
>
>I just get a bit disatisfied with amiga users when they say something
>that will cause rumors that are far more untruthful and far more 
>destructive than helpful. I guess we all must use our own 
>critical thinking about what people see here and elsewhere. 
>
>I have see so many developers and companies cheat amiga users 
>that I wonder why I still own an Amiga after all these years. 
>
>I tend to think twice and wait a year before I buy something 
>like more ram or a commercial program. You just can't 
>assume that the first release of a program or a piece of hardware 
>or such will be perfect the first time. 
>
>It is wise to know the physical limitations of things such 
>as graphics cards on the general multi-platform scale 
>before buying a graphics card right now. Right now, 
>as I understand, some company could release a 24-bit 
>640x480 graphics card with a super fast accelerator chip
>for under 600 dollars, non-interlaced. This is the ruler 
>I judge amiga graphics cards by. I understand how 
>graphics cards work (in general) that I'm not as impressed 
>about certain Amiga hardware as everyone else is. 
> 
>If the Video toaster (for instance) used the Amiga 3000's 
>bus rather than the 2000's you could move pictures 
>to and from the Video Toaster much faster than what is 
>claimed for the 2000, but you can't expect NewTek 
>to re-think a pice of hardware and software 
>that was pieced together and probably written on a 
>assembly-code level. This fame will only last about 
>a year or two more, I estimate. At the rate 
>things are being developed for the PC, things should 
>be developed in less than 2 years that will meet 
>or exceed the Toaster in every area. For now, NEW-TEK 
>must see how much money they can drain out of the public 
>then they'll start a bigger company (similar to SONY)
>that will work on high-end hardware/software and 
>will probably dump the Amigas. 
>
>That is my prediction. Take it or leave it. 
>
>For now, I will wait until Windows NT comes out 
>and until chips such as the P5/P6 come out. 
>The 66mhz 486's (with clock doublers) exist 
>and are double that speed internally, or 132mhz 
>386 if you want to call it that. Those systems go for
>under 3000 bucks and the graphics cards are just as amazing (and cheaper)
>as Amiga graphics cards. 
>
>Just remember, no body or no thing is untouchable, just 
>commercial exagerations make it seem that way.
>
>
>

There are other things to consider besides pure computational power.  A
cray will do you no good without accompanying software.  You will wait
for a prolonged time before a P5 based machine will allow you to
advantage of it advanced power via software.

M. Snider
msnider@rapnet.sanders.lockheed.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
From: cs902125@ariel.yorku.ca (SHUK C YIP)
Subject: Re: Press Release/Babylon 5 Info/MorphPlus
Organization: York University, Toronto, Canada
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1992 03:25:07 GMT

In article <65944@cup.portal.com> pk-asdg@cup.portal.com (Perry S Kivolowitz) writes:
>
>On Friday night, at the close-of-show, we held a press conference at
>which the vice president of The Post Group, the largest post production
>company in the world, spoke on our behalf. He said that he had the two
>other morphing program now available. And he chose ours, which he received
>last, as the best choice for professional needs.
>

What is the other program? Mirage and ImageMaster!?
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
From: mlelstv@specklec.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Michael van Elst)
Subject: Re: double hard drive capacity??? NOT
Organization: Max-Planck-Institut f"ur Radioastronomie
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 14:57:11 GMT

In <10667547.198.716538062@eng2.eng.monash.edu.au> 10667547@eng2.eng.monash.edu.au (JIMMY FANG) writes:
>In article <1992Sep14.103100.26349@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de> mlelstv@specklec.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de (Michael van Elst) writes:
>>There IS something similar called XFH. It is currently sold together with
>>a german Amiga magazine but will be freeware at the end of the month.

>Slight correction.  It's called XPK, version 2.3

XPK is the packer library. XFH is the filesystem on top of XPK. :-)

>It will be free-ware at the end of the month and will be available from FTP.

Yes. That's what I meant.

Regards,
-- 
Michael van Elst
UUCP:     universe!local-cluster!milky-way!sol!earth!uunet!unido!mpirbn!p554mve
Internet: p554mve@mpirbn.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de
                                "A potential Snark may lurk in every tree."
Xref: sparky comp.sys.amiga.graphics:5995 comp.sys.amiga.misc:13877