From: barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N Barrett)
Subject: A Study in Balance
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 17:57:33 GMT

In article <1992Sep15.151355.29326@dartvax.dartmouth.edu> abs0@coos.dartmouth.edu (Kelvin Leung) writes:
>Marc, seriously, what exactly do you want C= to do?  what is your dream
>computer... just tell us.

   I'm glad you asked.  Way back in 1985 when the Amiga first came out, a 
columnist for Byte was reviewing various systems for what he called "balance".
This was a comparison between the graphics and sound capabilities of the
computer with other things such as the amount of RAM usable by the computer,
the storage of the floppy disks, and so on.  He mentioned that of the major
systems on the market at the time, the A1000 was by far the most well-balanced
computer he had seen.  The storage of the floppy disks (880K) was in good
proportion to the graphics capabilities of the system (640x200 w/16 colors),
and the RAM provided was adequate and more easily upgraded than on other
systems.  And the sound capabilities were on par with the excellent graphics
capabilities.

   Unfortunately, if the A1000 was the most well-balanced computer of its
time, the A4000 has to be the most off-balance computer available today.
The color has been upgraded tremendously, the resolution has been upgraded
a little (by virtue of a built-in display enhancer that handles Super HiRes),
but the sound capabilities, the blitter, copper, and chip RAM addressing 
have not been upgraded at all.  

   Of the most importance to guaging "balance" is the chip RAM addressing and
floppy disk storage.  The A4000 now offers the ability to display 1280x400
with 8 bitplanes.  This is more than 10 times as much data as the 320x200x6
mode, still the most common mode used in games.  Yet the chip RAM has been
improved by only a factor of four from the A1000, and the floppy disk 
storage has been improved by only a factor of two. 

   What I wanted from a next-generation Amiga, in short, was a new system
as well-balanced as the A1000, and which offered the same level of improvements
throughout the system.  I wanted to see sound capabilities improved to 16-bits,
a new copper capable of handling all of the new palette registers with the
same ease that the copper in the ECS handles the palette registers in that
chipset, a new blitter that can blit data with the same fluidity in 
1280x400x8 that the old blitter did in 320x200x6, much greater chip RAM
addressing (preferably to 24-bit), improved resolutions on the same level
as the improvements in everything else, and the adoption of the floptical
drives to keep pace with the new storage needs from the improved video.

   I am dissatisfied with the A4000 primarily because it is not a well-balanced
system that offers balanced upgrades across the board.  The improvements that
the A4000 offers are almost entirely in the area of color, with few 
improvements in anything else.

>                                            ____________________________
> __________________________________________/ Undergraduate, Class of 94 \___ 
>/____________________________________________________________\_____/________\
>|  Kelvin    /   Internet: Kelvin.Leung@Dartmouth.edu       ({o   o})       |
>|   Leung   /       or     abs0@Coos.Dartmouth.edu        <  #  ^  #  >     | 
>|__________/_______________________________________________(vvvvvvvvv)______|
>| "Unless someone like you cares a whole |  Do you see a doll? a beast?     |
>|  awful lot, nothing is going to get    |                                  |
>|  better.  It's not."                   |  There are always more than one  |
>|      -- Dr. Seuss (The Lorax)          |  side to any story...            |
> \______________________________________/ \________________________________/ 
>                         I want THE AGA chipset!!! :(                               
---
| Marc Barrett -MB-  |  email: barrett@iastate.edu
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Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics,comp.sys.amiga.hardware