From: fheitkamp@desire.wright.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re:    I am giving up on the Amiga
Date: 16 Aug 92 14:41:48 GMT
Organization: Wright State University

In article <root.02a5@rkamiga.UUCP>, root@rkamiga.UUCP (Rick Kelly) writes:
> In article <mykes.0c6g@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG> mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes:
>>In article <root.028b@rkamiga.UUCP> root@rkamiga.UUCP (Rick Kelly) writes:
>>> In article <mykes.0bsd@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG> mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes:
>>> >In article <root.027z@rkamiga.UUCP> root@rkamiga.UUCP (Rick Kelly) writes:
>>> >> In article <mykes.0bj3@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG> mykes@amiga0.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes:
>>> >> >In article <torrie.712890026@Xenon.Stanford.EDU> torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan Torrie) writes:
>>> >> >>   How much for a Dell EISA machine?  It was Dell vs Apple that we were
>>> >> >> comparing.
>>> >> >>
>>> >> >
>>> >> >$300 more than for the ISA machines.  No local bus video - YET.
>>> >>
>>> >> How is the local bus video implemented?  Is it built into the motherboard
>>> >> or is it a dedicated slot?  If it is a dedicated slot, is there an industry
>>> >> standard for it?  How well does the local bus video work with current UNIX
>>> >> packages?
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> >Localbus is built into the motherboard.  There is no industry wide standard
>>> >for localbus slots - YET (there WILL be).  There is a 32-bit data path to
>>> >the localbus video, or so it claims on the Dell D/50 and P/50 flyers I

	From what I've read on the standard and there are evidently two:
	PCI (from Intel) and I don't have the name of other one handy.
	PCI sounds like it can be interpreted by the maker several ways,
	each manufacturers' implementation may not be cross compatible.  The
	other one is more limited and probably has more chance of wide
	compatibility.  BTW I'm definitely no Dave H., I just got that
	message from the article.

>>> >picked up...   Considering Dell makes Unix and Dell makes the machine,
>>> >expect it to work :)  I see nothing that makes this implementation of
>>> >localbus video to be incompatible with any other SVGA (i.e. the "standard")
>>> >implementation.
> 
>>I installed OS/2 - fullblown, and it is a marvelous piece of work.  Too bad
>>there aren't enough OS/2 specific apps to make it useful.  As well, I called
>>IBM to ask if I could get the 1024x768 mode to work and they told me that
>>this mode is NOT supported by OS/2.  And I was unhappy with the way it jumped
>>me in and out of full-screen stand-alone Windows and Command.com sessions when
>>I clicked on various icons...  And borland C++ crashed under it in every way
>>I tried - commandline, windows environment, and dos environment.  So I gave
>>up on OS/2 for now.
>
	This is sad.  OS/2 will end up like the Amiga because developers
	will be afraid to support a non-standard (read non-Microsoft)
	machine.  The manufactures only want maximum $$$, thus killing
	off promissing technologies in favor of a less potentially
	superior one.
 
> There are lots of 1024x768 PD drivers out there for OS/2.  And there is
> supposed to be a supplemental disk of SVGA drivers coming from IBM at
> some point.
> 
>>For what it's worth - if OS/2 were well supported (IMO, it is NOT), it would
>>be the finest OS on the planet.  The GUI is wonderful - the desktop buries
>>Amiga OS' workbench.  The on-line documentation is a joy to use.  The whole
>>experience reminded me of the Indigos I have seen close up.
>>
	[ other neat stuff about networking, Unix deleted ]
> --
> Rick Kelly		Rick's Amiga		Framingham, Mass.
> 
> 		think!unixland!rmkhome!rkamiga!root
> 
Fred Heitkamp, ** Only my opinions.  Not an organization **