From: skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls)
Subject: Re: Some A4000 questions
Organization: University of Mississippi, Dept. of Computer Science
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 17:25:53 GMT

In article <1jmk9jINNig9@uwm.edu> brandt@point.cs.uwm.edu (Robert Allan Brandt) writes:
>
>I have recently came to the decision that I would like to buy the new A4000.
>I have been following the comments posted the last few weeks or so, but a
>few of the questions I have seem to not have been addressed, or I just
>missed the answer.  I hope these weren't asked recently, so here goes!
>
>    1)  Other than the fan problem and some HD's formatted with the OFS,
>        are there any other major problems with the 4000?

Well, it's butt-ugly...  :-)  Seriously though, if you use a floppy drive
alot, you might disklike the keyboard blocking the slot.

>    2)  Can the OS be mapped to 32-bit ram as on the 3000?

Kickstart can and in fact seems to be on boot-up.

>    3)  Since the 4000 doesn't have a flicker-fixer, how well does it
>        handle the flicker on resolutions > 200?
>        I have a 1950 monitor so should I have any problems? 

For programs that use the OS properly, you can set something called
"promotion" on to eliminate the flicker.  Most games and demos will
not be promoted, but that should change if programmers will stop
writing bad code.

The A1950 should handle all the modes properly, but some of them are
still interlaced and will flicker.

>    4)  I have a 1950 and I was wondering is the 1960 any better?
>        What is its max resolution?
>        What frequencies does it support?

I don't know the exact differences, but I believe that the A1950 has a
max res of 800x600 and the A1960 has a max res of 1024x768.  

>    5)  How well does this scan-promotion feature work?

Oops, I see you know about this already.  :-)

>        Are there any problems associated with it?

Not many, but it is as slow as the Productivity modes.

>        What are its advantages?

No half-line flicker at the top of the screen, and the sprite-pointer
doesn't (I don't know of a good word, but it looks odd) up when moved.

>        Is it compatible with older (2 yrs or less) software?

Well-written software, including games and demos, from 1986 still work
on my A4000.  I've got an old demo called "wiredemo" that works great
and is very quick on the A4000.  It is a pity that more people didn't
write better code.

>        Does it work with any software such as games?

Depends on whether a hacker or a programmer wrote it...

>    6)  How downwardly compatible are the AGA chips with the ECS chips?
>        Can I boot the machine in the old ECS mode to use non-AGA software,
>        or does ECS compatible software work fine under AGA?

Alot of stuff works just fine, but there are ECS and OCS modes if you
want to use them.  I haven't used either mode except just to try them
out, but they should do the job.

>    7)  How well do commercial games run on the 4000?  I assume faster,
>        but are there any major problems getting them to run?

Well, it all depends on who wrote the game.  Hacker-dung coded by the
K00L-D00DZ at WAREZ 'R' US probably won't run at all, but some games 
should work.  I haven't tried many of them, but another A4000 owner has
and posted quite a list a while back.

>Thanks again for any help that can be provided concerning these questions.

No problem.  If there is something more specific you'd like me to try,
email me about it and I will if at all possible.

>Bob
>
>brandt@point.cs.uwm.edu

Skip Sauls, Amiga Advocate
skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu