From: peter@gem.stack.urc.tue.nl (Peter Korsten)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: IDE drive in A600 (was: Re: A600 specs)
Date: 6 Apr 92 13:41:00 GMT
Reply-To: peter@stack.urc.tue.nl

OK, there seems to be a misunderstanding about what I meant with my
statement "The Amiga 600 is a games machine" and the remark that the IDE
drive inside was the final proof that it really was a games machine.

I KNOW that IDE is the standard in PC clones - at least, it still is.
I KNOW that IDE is not a toy. I KNOW that IDE and SCSI drives don't differ
that much.

But I also know that IDE is NOT the standard for Amiga's. If you look into
an Amiga magazine, you see all kinds of SCSI controllers advertised, just
a few IDE ones. Commodore has never put an IDE product on the market (until
now, that is). The A590 and the A2090 (also the A2091?) did have ST506
interfaces, but that was, ST506 is dead.

The market for Amiga is definatly SCSI. In fact, many computers systems
like Macintoshes, Atari TT's and all kinds of workstations use SCSI drives.
The fact that PC's use IDE and that every other idiot owns a PC doesn't
change that. You see SCSI even in more and more PC's.

So, if then Commodore puts a machine on the market that has an IDE drive
instead of SCSI (while all other Amiga's use SCSI), that's a good clue
that this machine is meant for other purposes than, let's say, an A3000.

It's still my opinion that this machine can't be extended, just for some
memory and the stuff for the flashcard connector. But NOTHING for that
connector exists at the moment.

If you compare the A600 to the A500, you'll have to compare it to the A500+.
Then you see that both machines have 2.0 (of course, Commodore wouldn't
put the old ROM inside a brand new machine, for more and more applications
require 2.0), both have 1 Mb RAM and can be expanded with more memory. The
A500+ can't be connected directly to a TV set, it doesn't have a flashcard
connector. The A600 doesn't have a clock, doesn't have the 86-pin connector
for which tons of expansion hardware exist and lacks the numeric keypad.

OK, you can expand the A600 via the flashcard connector. But when I read
that you can boot from it, in about 1 second, that vaguely reminds me of
game consoles.

But well, the A500 was also meant for the home market, or, in other words,
a games machine. The Amiga itself was to be a games console. The A600 is
meant for the home market and you know those people do with a computer:
some non-serious business (there aren't that many serious business
applications for the Amiga), some educational programs and games. Most
of all games, because those home market-people have children and what
do children do with a computer? An Amiga? Games. I'm 22 and I still like
to play games on my Amiga, just because they look and sounds so great.

Ah well... just my opinion, but I'd rather see some improvements in the
system software (VM, MMU, DIG, we all know the story) in stead of a
product like the A600, which is to bring in large sales figures.

						Greetings from Peter.
-- 
Peter Korsten, in real life peter@stack.urc.tue.nl
"Now that we know how humans do it, how does the Amiga do it ?"
- Amiga ROM Kernel Reference Manual, Libraries & Devices, 2nd edition
--- This signature will change when I get the 3rd edition ---