HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 00:58:03 -0500 
From: "Eugene M. Feinberg" <ef23+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: 300 MIP Amiga

Lately, the threads in .advocacy have achieved an unparallel level of
uselessness.  So, in an attempt to bring some life back to this
newsgroup, I'll share a few quick ideas about the Dec Alpha chips and
the future of the Amiga.

1)  Commodore and Dec signed some sort of agreement earlier in the year

2)  For the Alpha information sheet from Dec:

    "The Open Advantage: 
    The 21064 (Alpha) microprocessor is strong testimony to Digital's
commitment     
    to dilivering the Open Advantage to our customers.  Openness also requires 
    open business practices.  So, in addition to selling systems built around 
    the 21064 microprocessor, Digital will license the technology and form 
    partnerships with vendors who want to use the architecture in their 
    systems or embed the microprocessor in special purpose products....."

3)  WOC Speech by VP of Engineering at Commodore hints at future RISC machines.

4)  From a talk a went to by a representative from Dec:  "We are eager to show 
    how the Alpha can be implemented into other architectures."  For
example,     
    Dec plans to release Alpha based PC, and it took only a week for a Dec
    engineer to buy clone parts from Computer Shopper, plug in a Alpha board,
    and get Unix running on it.

For a little tech info, I'll refer to the sheet:

Clock rate:    150MHZ,  soon to be 200MHZ.  Next generation: 400MHZ

Peak MIPS:    300 @ 150MHZ
Peak MFLOPS:  150 @ 150MHZ

The chip is 64 bit architecture internally, but the current
implementation only uses 34 bit addressing for real memory and 43 for
virtual.  

I played with an Alpha desk-side model.  It was running two 320x400 anims at
around 15-25 fps, while calculating the data for another.  It was far and
away the quickest computer I have ever seen in terms of responsiveness. 
Even though benchmarks lie, the computer is SUBJECTIVELY incredibly fast.

So how about some thoughts, comments, and arguement!

Eugene M. Feinberg

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: kodak@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Jason Balicki (KodaK))
Subject: Re: PC, Redneck President, and other bad news. (was Re: Amiga 1200)
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:00:17 GMT

In article <1992Nov06.134148.16284@zds-oem.zds.com> easton@zds-oem.zds.com (Jeff Easton) writes:
>  Our resident Amiga graphics wiz here at ZDS did a morph of 
>Bush -> Clinton -> Perot -> Bush...  It looked pretty funny.

I saw exactly that on Headline News one time (about a week befor the
election I think.)  I happened to catch it out of the corner of my eye.


--Jason Balicki
kodak@mentor.cc.purdue.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: Ray_Hines@dream.uucp (Ray Hines)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: COMMODORE NORWAY FOLDS!!!
Date: 12 Nov 92 14:13:51 GMT
Organization: DreamStates BBS & CyberNet HQ in G'ville, FL   1-904-331-4317

In a message dated Tue 10 Nov 92 19:08, Ggg@kepler.unh.edu (gregory G Green
wrote:

 GGG>  No need to flame you.  I've been saying the A4000 is overpriced
 GGG> since Commodore released it.  $3800 with monitor around here.

Then don't buy it and stop whining about it.

-- Via DLG Pro v0.995

* IF replying by MAIL, please reply to the addresses listed below...
--__-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 / /\     Raymond Hines              Internet: Ray_Hines%dream.uucp@ufl.edu
/_/  \  DreamStates BBS                    or: dream!Ray_Hines@ufl.edu
\ \  /   1-904-331-4317                  UUCP: uflorida!dream!Ray_Hines
 \_\/ FidoNet 1:3601/30  DreamStates: An Amiga supporting Amiga, Mac, IBM!
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: griffita@fraser.sfu.ca (David Stuart Griffiths)
Subject: Re: Oh my God! Help my friend not buy an IBM!
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 07:19:44 GMT

x90wardell@gw.wmich.edu writes:

>	She made a good decision.  Engineers use either PCs or
>workstations by IBM, SUN, DEC or HP -- Not Amigas.

True enough

>	I should probably keep quiet and less this nonsense pass since
>I am in the middle of the Amiga Advocacy group, but I have enough faith
>that most Amiga users are knowledgeable enough about computers to know
>that an Amiga 500 is nothing compared to a 33mhz 486 based PC.
>	I used to have an Amiga and when I went to a PC I vowed to
>make sure it did mroe than my Amiga did and it does.  My PC blows
>away any Amiga I have ever seen in terms of graphics, sound, animation
>and multitasking.  Hence, OS/2, 16 megs of memory, 24 bit coprocessed
>graphics, an Sound Blaster Pro.
>	By the way, never had a problem with it since I bought it (2 years
>ago).

>> 
>> I like Heidi, so I want her to be happy, and I feel it would be best
>> if she cancelled her order and instead purchased an Amiga.
>> 
>	Moving to an Amiga would be a major major mistake.  Most college
>people and nearly all engineers (myself included) have PCs.  If they
>don't have PCs, they have to use the labs.  PCs are far more supported
>than Amigas.

I agree, in this SPECIFIC case, the Amiga WOULD be a mistake.  Why buy
a machine you can't use in your line of work.  I don't agree with
Amigans who try and push their machines on everyone else for any use.
Being an adept Amiga user, and generally a knowledgeable computer
user, I try and suggest machines that would benefit their users the
most.  For graphics/sound/creativity I can suggest the Amiga without
any problems.  For business I would suggest the Mac and the IBM.  I
would suggest the Mac first however as novices will like it a lot more
because of its ease of use (Windows and OS/2 do truly suck compared
with the Mac's ICON driven environment).

It's nice to see Amiga uses who try and help other potential users by
suggesting what machine would best fit their needs.  It's a shame the
IBM community doesn't share the same consideration and tell people to
use Amigas for graphics and sound rather than trying to convince them
that an 80x86 based machine is the end-all-be all of computers.













-- 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Griffiths  / / Internet: griffita@sfu.ca  
____________    / /   Fidonet: David Griffiths @ 1:153/765.0 or 1:153/910.0
 DLG "Pro"  \ \/ /   Broadcast TV @ British Columbia Institute of Technology
>The Best!<  \/\/      "Where semesters are long and courses are hard..."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: mikeh@starnine.com (Mike Haas)
Subject: Re: OS/2 .MOD player! Wheee!
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 03:40:27 GMT
Organization: StarNine Technologies, Inc.

In article <david.039g@ariane.cam.org> david@ariane.cam.org (David Lebel) writes:
>In article <1992Oct27.211727.22874@ncsu.edu> linville@garfield.catt.ncsu.edu (John W. Linville) writes:
>
>> How about the fact that it is multi-threaded?  Has AmigaDOS added this ability
>> yet?  If not, I'll bet there aren't many multi-threaded MOD players for Amigas.

In the latest version of my shareware Textra text editor, one can edit text
in one window, run an ARexx script in another, while printing another...
all simultaneously.

AmigaDOS makes it extremely easy for programs to do such things
since you can be waiting on several message ports for a multitude
of events at once.

Even in earlier versions of the OS... since day 1, actually.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: eyvind@Lise.Unit.NO (Eyvind Bernhardsen)
Subject: Re:  NO MORE *&#*$(^*& FEMALE BIMBO ADS!!!!!!!!
Organization: Norwegian Institute of Technology
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 92 18:50:38 GMT

This thread has DEFINITELY got out of hand.  I'm sure that there's a place for 
discussion on the relative merits of weapons...  This is NOT it.  Go away.

-Eyvind

-- 
     //|                             | DISCLAIMER: I don't HAVE opinions.
    // |                             | I just repeat what everyone else says!
\\ //--|miga: There can be only one. |
 \X/   |         eyvind@lise.unit.no | Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!  Ackpth!
From: njale@dhhalden.no (NJAL EIDE)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: An Amiga *ADVANTAGE*
Date: 5 Nov 92 12:20:50 GMT
Organization: Ostfold College

In article <david.039a@ariane.cam.org> david@ariane.cam.org (David Lebel) writes:
>From: david@ariane.cam.org (David Lebel)
>Subject: Re: An Amiga *ADVANTAGE*
>Date: 31 Oct 92 18:27:11 GMT
>In article <njale.20.720443174@dhhalden.no> njale@dhhalden.no (NJAL EIDE) writes:
>
>> software. And remember, the software selection is larger for the PC, but
>> the selection for Amiga is so great, that it makes no problem. Having to
>> choose from 10 wordprocessors instead of 50 is no great loss.
>
>   The  main problem is, on the Amiga, you maybe have to choose between ten
>wordprocessors,  but  they  are all entry-level, or at some point mid-level
>ones.   There's  no full-blown, full-featured wordprocessors for the Amiga.
>There's  no  "Word"  for  the  Amiga, no WordPerfect either, and sure Lotus
>won't  port  Ami Pro for the Amiga.  IMHO, I would rather choose between 50
>(entry, mid and high-level) and 10 entry-level programs.
>
Oh yeah, you are right. Prowrite 3.3 and Final Copy II are entry level 
wordprocessors. Exactly, what features are you looking for in a 
wordprocessor ? I guess if you are in need of some obscure, rarely used 
options you could possibly find them in the multi-megabyte, costing-tons-of-
money, demanding-25mhz-plus-hardware, but still are slow as a snail-
wordprocessors for the PCs. But otherwise, you would manage more than all-
right. Lets hear it, what features are Amiga-processors lacking ? I now you 
can find some, but which ? (I could probably match them with Arexx anyway.)

By the way, the Amiga has WordPerfect. An old version (4.2 ??), but it has 
it.

Njal E.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: das9674@usl.edu (Stephenson Daniel A)
Subject: Re:  Top 10 reasons why ...
Organization: University of Southwestern Louisiana
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 22:29:11 GMT

Why is it that Amiga hires mode seem to have LOTS higher horizontal res than
vertical res?

Ex: Resolution on the order of the 'super wooper duper productivity mode' might
be something like 1200X350 or something weird like that.

Can someone explain to me why this is so different from the marginal 
horizontal res edge in PC, Ex: 640X480, 800X600,1024X768,1280X960,1280X1024.
If it were an Amiga with similar horzontal resolution, they might
read:                          640X200, 800X300,1024X350, 1280X450,1280X550,etc.
Note, these may/may NOT be actually figures.

Thanks-
.


-- 
Dan Stephenson                                                 das9674@usl.edu  
"There once was a Lady from Hyde/who ate some bad apples and died/but while we
lamented/the apples fermented/making cider inside her inside!" 
                        -Member of the Court, Texas Renaissance Festival  
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: tsirbasc@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Tsirbas Christos)
Subject: Re: ATARI Canada folds! MicroSoft possibly in trouble!
Organization: Universite de Montreal
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 02:56:41 GMT

Ian@Microshaft writes:
_______________________
I am sorry, MARIO, but millions of happy camper MS customers don't agree
with you. Neither do most of the trade magazines. We do not market junk.
I test some of what you call "junk" and I can say with confidence that
I and my team do our best to insure it is not junk.
_______________________

That's right Ian, you do not market junk (with the notable exceptions
of Mess-Dos and Windows), but that is not to say that you create
good, non-junky applications.  Mess-Dos was simply a case of Schlockmeister
Bill Gates taking the source code for a public domain operating system
(namely CP/M) and toying with it until he came up with a usable program.  Win-
dows was a case of Mac envy.  As for recent developments, it seems that 
Microshaft is a) either waiting for Apple and Digital Research to come
out with something and then copying it or b) buying out a small company
that makes a better program than Microsoft engineers will ever be able to
create.  Case in point (regarding the first accusation):  As soon as apple 
announced voice input technology for Macintosh, guess what Bill and the 
boyz announced.  A few weeks after Digital Research announced DR.DOS 5.0,
Bill and the boyz announced Mess Dos 5.0 with the same features (or similar
features as the DR product).  Not to mention what a disaster DOS 4 was.
Also Ian, what about the persisent rumour that MS did not have good enough
programmers to come up with a properly running version of Excel (the first
time around) and had to hire a programming firm to do the job?
As for the second accusation, due to the inherent lameness of MS-File, did
Microsoft try to develop a better product.  NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
They bought out Fox-base (which, by the way, is based on the arcane D-base
language (sounds like Mess-DOS all over)).  Also, I love the thesaurus on
Microsoft Word 5.0 for the Mac (isn't it the Houghton-Miffin thesaurus soft-
ware, by the way).  And isn't Microsoft Mail based on the product of another
small company you guys bought out.

You are quite right Ian, Microsoft does not market junk.  But you go to
very little effort to create what you market and when you do, more often than
not, you are merely copying the ideas of more creative companies and are following an already established lead.
BTW, how does it feel to have Apple and IBM co-operating on the Taligent
operating system, thus shutting you out completely?  Too bad Bill and the
Boyz shafted Big Blue by dropping OS/2 in favour of Windows.  Now that
IBM and Apple, along with Silicon Graphics and NeXT will be pushing a
whole new generation of operating systems and increasingly supporting
Unix, is MS-Unix that far off, and how much lamer will it be than
From: Aric.Caley@ofa123.fidonet.org
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Deinterlacer for A60
X-Sender: newtout 0.02 Oct  1 1992
Date: 04 Nov 92  11:04:00

> Organization: New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
> From: dleland@dante.nmsu.edu (LELAND)
> Message-ID: 1992Nov3.222057.18534@nmsu.edu
> Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
>
> I realize it has a flaw in that it isn't as expandable as the 500 is
> (or was). But that brings me to my question: can you add a deinterlacer
> card to the A600 through the PCMIA slot? I know nothing about such things.
> It seemed to me that for a base machine that was all it really needed.

No,  you couldnt add a de-interlacer through the PCMCIA slot (why do people
miss-spell  "PCMCIA"  so  much??).  You could, however, add an external de-
interlacer  that connects to the RGB port - I think there is even a product
now  that  does  this  (and  such  a  product would also work on A500's and
A2000's)

> dleland@nmsu.edu

 - Dances With Coyotes - World's slowest programer -Given that the universe-
 ---------------------------------------------------is infinate, and god is-
 ------------ And the fat lady sings... ------------all powerful, would you-
 ---------------------------------------------------like some toast?       -


--- Maximus 2.00
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: das9674@usl.edu (Stephenson Daniel A)
Subject: Re: Clinton/Gore (Was: A4000 graphics)
Organization: University of Southwestern Louisiana
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 14:49:49 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.085507.27694@cs.uow.edu.au> u9148043@cs.uow.edu.au (Justin Jay Lister) writes:
>das9674@usl.edu (Stephenson Daniel A) writes:
>
>>In article <1992Nov3.125456.2740@ghost.dsi.unimi.it> spisser@ghost.dsi.unimi.it (reinhard spisser) writes:
>>>
>>>Is comp.sys.amiga.advocacy the right place to discuss about the new
>>>president??? I`m really not interested if Mark Barrett and other guys
>>>like or don`t like Clinton or Bush.
>>>
>>>I think there are enough places in the net for politic, the best
>>>thing is not posting a news, but answering via e-mail. 
>>>
>>>Everybody should consider that no one posts news when there are
>>>elcections in Europe.                    
>
>>Personally, I'd like to hear about European elections!
>
>Nah what you want to do is watch the question time of Australian parliment.
>Keating sure does make for interesting, humourous watching.
>Unless you are a Hewson supporter.

Who are these people?  Remember - I'd like to hear about it.

>|.#...#..#....#..#......|   email:  u9148043@cs.uow.edu.au                  |
-- 
Dan Stephenson                                                 das9674@usl.edu  
"There once was a Lady from Hyde/who ate some bad apples and died/but while we
lamented/the apples fermented/making cider inside her inside!" 
                        -Member of the Court, Texas Renaissance Festival  
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: tmc@spartan.ac.BrockU.CA (Tim Ciceran)
Subject: Re: PowerPC: how much of a threat?
Organization: Brock University, St. Catharines Ontario
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 19:27:44 GMT

In article <1992Nov12.072056.6583@nmsu.edu> dleland@dante.nmsu.edu
(LELAND) writes:

>I keep hearing ye olde rumors floating around that the Power PC being built
>by Apple and IBM is going to be the greatest computer ever made since the
>world began...

>Well, seriously, how much of a threat is it really?

Taken from another perspective, if the A4000's CPU modularity is extensive
enough, what's preventing CBM or a third-party developer from adopting
the PowerPC technology?
From: ralph@bugend.edvina.se (Staffan Vilcans)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Falcon's Super was: FALCON SPEED ......
Keywords: FALCON, ST, ATARI.
Date: Mon, 09 Nov 92 01:21:29 GMT
Organization: Bugend BBS

oyakea@warren1a.its.rpi.edu (Amalaye Oyake) writes:

>     I talked to a Media Arts Professor at my school. He was very impressed 
> with the Falcon. He said it is an amazing machine, and it is no doubt.
> It is super, like it or not. With true 030, 32 bit ram, dsp, 16bit audio,
> SCSI II, 16bit graphics (no dumb dependence on interlace, I get to choose),
> Audio in and out, midi, lan port, enhanced joystick and input selectors,
> dsp port etc. NOW TELL ME WHY WOULD I WANT A 1200 ?
                -------------------------------------

(. Why would I like an Amiga when there is (or rather not) Sinclair 
Enigma? .)

Well, I guess most people want a machine that exist outside some 
people's dreams... I suggest that you keep your mouth shut until the 
Falcon is actually in production. And it looks as if you will have to 
wait as I have read information about that the Falcon is delayed as 
there is no interest in it. The price on it is said to be about 10000 
SEK (about 2000 USD).


***       REALLY NICE SIG I THINK     ***
      INTEGER I
      DO 42 I=1,4711
         WRITE(*,*) 'WHO NEEDS C ANYWAY?'
42    CONTINUE
      STOP
      END
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: tpoulin@phobos.ucc.umass.edu (THOMAS J POULIN)
Subject: Monitor for the 1200
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 00:35:00 GMT

	I currently have a a500, and it's hooked up to a television
set.  My 1084s broke... it's not my fault.  Well anyways, I am planning
on upgrading to a 1200 when it is released in the states.  The point I am
trying to make is that I currently need a monitor, but I don't want to
buy one that is incapable of supporting the 1200.  Would the 1960 do????
Suggestions are very welcome,

Thanx
Tom

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: 22black@sol.cs.wmich.edu (Martin Black)
Subject: Re: The Amiga-1200 is not for me...
Organization: Western Michigan Univ. Comp. Sci. Dept.
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:31:16 GMT

fheitkamp@desire.wright.edu writes:

>In article <1992Nov5.131851.90515@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au>, bull@vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au writes:
>> 10667547@eng2.eng.monash.edu.au (JIMMY "Nosferatu" FANG) writes:

>>> Why is the Commodore Bridgeboard so expensive?  Commodore can buy lots of
>>> parts for its clones, why not subsidize the BridgeBoard production?
>>> Commodore should make a cheap '386 clone bridgeboard for the A1200.  I
>>> couldn't recommend it to anyone except for current Amiga owners.  I don't
>>> believe you can get by at University without something that is IBM
>>> compatible to some extent.  Why get an Amiga at all?  Because I believe that
>>> it is much easier to use than a Windows or DOS system, has more creative
>>> applications and is more fun to use on a daily basis.  IBM PC compatibility
>>> should be there for those who *may* need it.
>> 
>>         It is there, C= has released 2 Bridgeboards. If you can't run
>> something on an A2286 Bridgeboard, you're probably better off running it
>> on a dedicated 386 box in the first place.
>> 
>	I would be perfectly happy with a bug free 286 BB.  Too bad one
>	doesn't exit.  The 386sx BB with CGA is not cost effective because,
>	for the most part CGA software is obsolete on that class processor.
>	i.e  Know anyone using Windows with CGA?  The BB is a good idea,
>	it just hasn't been executed properly and is too expensive.
>  
Well I wouldn't say it is real expensive I saw a 386bb for about $550.  Of
course there is now a need for a new janus software to emulate vga and svga.
But vga and svga is only a software thing on the a4000.  I would think that
the emulation should be pretty snappy on the aga chips, and wouldn't mind
buying a 386bb if I got an a4000 and there was an update of janus.

Martin
From: root@rkamiga.UUCP (Rick Kelly)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re:   CDTV vs CD-I, Photo CD, etc
Distribution: world
Date: 9 Nov 92 12:08:11 EST
Organization: Rick's Amiga

In article <69107@cup.portal.com> TomK@cup.portal.com (Tom R Krotchko) writes:
>>CD-I and CDTV are still solutions in search of a problem, as far as most
>>consumers are concerned.
>
>Do you realize last year around this time the proponents of CD-I were busy
>telling everyone how several Japanese makers were going to introduce players
>this year.
>
>Well, they haven't. And more significantly, the number of titles for CD-I
>hasn't really increased.
>
>I wonder if anyone will have the guts to say "next year several Japanese
>makers are going to introduce players..."

That's the point.  Japanese companies won't get interested until they see
some action.

I've seen the current Phillips ads on tv, and they are fairly lame.  The
thing comes off as looking like a specialized Nintendo machine.

--
Rick Kelly		Rick's Amiga		Framingham, Mass.

		think!unixland!rmkhome!rkamiga!root