HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: stevew@mksol.dseg.ti.com (steve wootton)
Subject: Re: Atari Falcon Discount Supermachine  Re: Sydnes is gone?!!
Organization: Texas Instruments, Inc
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 16:38:14 GMT

In article <1992Aug27.152935.28954@uwm.edu> gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Gregory R Block) writes:
>
>	1) PCMCIA is NOT proprietary, there are pepole making
>peripherals in both laptop, Amiga, and several other markets.
>Meanwhile, only Atari and maybe a developer or two are making boards
>for a "processor slot" which gives the system no true expansion
>through an arbitrated bus.
>
>	2) PCMCIA also has MANY cards available, from various
>manufacturers, and competition, as it always does in the IBM world,
>shall drive down prices to very low end-user costs.  On the other
>hand, since there's no real jockeying for position going on in the
>Atari-Falcon-Direct-slot market, you're not going to see a price drop
>happen nearly as fast, if at all.  Because they're not competing to
>sell their card.
>
>There are two well explained advantages.  Do your best to shoot them
>down, but I don't think it's POSSIBLE.

How about the fact that the PCMCIA 1.0 spec applies only to memory cards,
and not peripherals.  Or maybe that only the PCMCIA 2.0 electrical spec has
been finalized, but not the 2.0 software interface spec?

The effect of this is that all those peripheral cards are (right now) not
only computer specific, but also operating system specific.  That means
MS-DOS, not the A600, will benefit from all of the PCMCIA not-quite-2.0
cards on the market.

Are there plans to upgrade the A600's operating system to support both the
PCMCIA 2.0 Socket Service and Card Service Layers, after they've been set
in stone?  If not, A600 owners will only be able to use 1.0-compliant
memory cards.

Interoperability is not cheap.

-- 
Steve Wootton  --  stevew@mksol.dseg.ti.com
Hey, don't blame TI... they haven't told me what to say.
From: devasoft@cup.portal.com (David Michael Alves)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Unreal demo!
Date: Wed,  2 Sep 92 13:34:29 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
  <1992Sep2.131652.5527@ra.msstate.edu>

Skip Sauls writes:
>Yeah, and it gets pretty old after a while.  The "EuroDemos" are neat at
>first, but many of them have lots of sine-wave text that is written by
>kids who have just learned lots of English curse words.  The Unreal demo
>suffers from this also and I nearly hit ctrl-alt-del while watching all
>of the crap flow by.  I'm glad that I waited though, I honestly did not
>expect to see that sort of thing on a PC.

I agree, the "text" parts of these demos are rather boring... fortunately
the programmers of UNREAL allow the viewer to press the <ESC> key to skip 
over parts they don't care for. (like the scrolling text)  

>However, as neat as it may be, you need quite a bit of horsepower to run
>the thing as fast as an A500.  When not in "Turbo" mode, the 486-33 I 
>was using slowed to a crawl and I could see how poor some of the graphics
>really are.  

Yes, that's true, UNREAL does require a speedy machine to run with any 
respectability.  But now that prices on 486 machines are coming down so 
quickly, (not to mention the fact that a lot of the big clone companies 
don't even sell anything below a 486 anymore), we'll probably see the 486 
become a pretty common setup.  (Hopefully with a sound card installed --  
UNREAL looses a bit of its emotional impact without its great musical
score.)

>Skip Sauls
>skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu

David Alves ............... Devasoft .............. devasoft@cup.portal.com
From: ewilts@galaxy.gov.bc.ca (Ed Wilts)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Emplant passed FCC
Date: 31 Aug 92 19:10:01 -0700
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Reply-To: EWILTS@GALAXY.GOV.BC.CA
Organization: BC Systems Corporation

In article <52737@dime.cs.umass.edu>, barrett@astro.cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett) writes:
> In article <1992Aug29.031540.10769@en.ecn.purdue.edu> wwarner@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Art Warner) writes:
> 
>>...the shipping date had *AGAIN* been pushed back to SEP20!!!
>>...
>>Why announce a product before it is ready to be shipped?
> 
> 	So hundreds of people can speculate, argue, and become angry about
> it, of course!
> 
>                                                         Dan

Don't forget that these same hundreds of people are the ones screaming at
Commodore to announce their new systems.  They'd rather speculate, argue, and
become angry at not having the systems available the day it's announced than
speculate, argue, and become angry for not having the systems announced.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't...

-- 

Ed Wilts, BC Systems Corp., 4000 Seymour Place, Victoria, B.C., Canada, V8X 4S8
EWilts@Galaxy.Gov.BC.CA   |   Ed.Wilts@BCSystems.Gov.BC.CA   |   (604) 389-3430
From: gfm@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (George Francis McBay)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: POLL : NEW MACHINE according to .advocacy
Date: 3 Sep 92 23:42:14 GMT
Organization: /etc/organization

In article <AHANSFOR.92Sep3020817@wpi.wpi.edu> ahansfor@wpi.wpi.edu (Andrew L. Hansford) writes:
>For kicks:
>How many new AA machine will be introduced in Sept.

	Two (not including same machines with different proccessor) (5.0)
>Name                : A4000, A3000+, etc

	A4000 (9.9) , ??
>CPU location        : mother board, daughter card

	Definatly on a card (9.9)
>CPU                 : 020, 030, 040, choice (ie daughter card)
	
	Exactly (9.9)
>floppy              : 880K, High Density

	High Density (9.9)
>Hard drive interface: IDE, SCSI

	IDE (9.999)
>Sound               : Same, new

	Same! (9.9)
>DSP                 : yes, no

	Nope! (9.9)
>OS                  : 2.1, 3.0, 2.1 and beta 3.0

	3.0, probably semi-beta as was done in A3000 (8)
>Price               : ????????????

	Lots more than it should be sold for (10.0)

	
	I also included sure-ity ratings in ( )
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: dtiberio@libws2.ic.sunysb.edu (David Tiberio)
Subject: Re: Heh heh (was Re: Huh? (was Re: Hah! (was Re: Huh?)))
Organization: State University of New York at Stony Brook
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 20:50:50 GMT

In article <64825@cup.portal.com> barrett@cup.portal.com (Dave - Silon) writes:
>OK Gleeep.  You win - my higher brain functions have
>flat-lined and my willpower has reverted to the third
>trimester.  I am expecting a relentless succubus to arrive
>at any moment and take whatever is left of me into a life
>of eternal damnation.  You were ruthless in your assault
>on my credibility, and now because of your slanderous
>TRUSSY the Wonder Hog stories, I have lost my job at the
>Sea Monkey Preening factory and my life is in ruin.

>                                    Dan, posthumously
> 
> //////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
>| Dan Barrett -- Dept of Computer Science, Lederle Graduate Research Center |
>| University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA  01003  --  barrett@cs.umass.edu |
> \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////////

	Nice job, Gleep. It is very kind of you to go get other people
fired from their jobs as well as divorced from their wives. And I bet you
don't care anyway.

	Why don't you get off the nets and go back to where you came from. We
don't need people like you here. And stop trying to impersonate others! :)

	But watch out... it is much easier for a UNIX account user to get
a fake address than it is for a Portal user to try and fake an address. :)



-- 
      //   David Tiberio  SUNY Stony Brook 516-473-5156 AMIGA  DDD-MEN   
     //  bounce-resistant:    dtiberio%libserv1.ic.sunysb.edu@sunysb.edu
   \X/	    Perot for President 1-516-399-2259 Long Island, New York

 	PPPP  EEEEE RRRR   OOO  TTTTT    IIIII N   N      999  2222
	P   P E     R   R O   O   T        I   NN  N     9   9     2
	PPPP  EEEE  RRRR  O   O   T        I   N N N      9999  222
 	P     E     R R   O   O   T        I   N  NN         9 2
 	P     EEEEE R  R   OOO    T      IIIII N   N     9999  22222
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy,comp.sys.amiga.misc
From: skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls)
Subject: Re: Bundling options Was: Re: Atari Falcon Discount Supermachine
Organization: University of Mississippi, Dept. of Computer Science
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 18:23:37 GMT

In article <ALANB.92Aug26164622@tornado.sdl.mdcbbs.com> alanb@sdl.mdcbbs.com (Alan Braggins) writes:
>>>>>> On 24 Aug 92 11:41:30 GMT, stockamp@ztivax.UUCP (Klaus Stockamp) said:
>
>> skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu writes:
>>>the dealer do the bundling to make the prices more competitive.  I wish
>>>that C= would offer an A3000 with no HD and a socketed EC030.  Let the
>>>dealer add the HD, 881/882, true 030, monitor, RAM, etc.  C= could 
>>>simplify their production lines, the price for a bare system would be
>>>lower, and the third-party companies could benefit by supplying the rest
>>>of the components.  Apple has taken this approach somewhat and seems to
>>>be doing well with it.
>
>> An A3000 without HD, '030 and 881/882 (and no (much) RAM) ?
>
>> --> Buy an A2000 !
>
>And if you wanted the ZorroIII bus??

The original suggestion goes back to discussions both here and in other groups 
a few months ago.  The idea was for C= to offer a machine which had the potential
of being expanded into a full A3000, but which started off "bare".  It would allow
C= to advertise a stripped machine at low price, say around $1000 for the EC030
motherboard with 1M chip, 1M fast, and a floppy.  By adding a true 030, an 882, 
and a hard drive they would then have an A3000 equivalent.  Some also suggested
that the PC-AT slots be left off and using only 2 Zorro III slots with the video
slot inline.

Would a machine like this sell?  I don't know, but there is a huge gap in the
product line in the $1000-$2000 range that the A2000 just doesn't fill.  If
the rumors of the A3400/A4000 are close to the truth, C= may just be trying
this sort of thing.  

Skip Sauls
skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Amiga 4000/Atari Falcon
From: lkoop@TIGGER.STCLOUD.MSUS.EDU (LaMonte Koop)
Date: 30 Aug 92 17:06:06 -0600
Reply-To: lkoop@TIGGER.STCLOUD.MSUS.EDU
 <1992Aug28.175134.11380@endicor.com>  
 <1992Aug28.185823.26687@ctr.columbia.edu>  
 <1992Aug28.203809.12523@endicor.com> <1992Aug28.213334.121@ctr.columbia.edu> 
 <jbickers.0e2k@templar.actrix.gen.nz>,<1992Aug30.211620.3145@ctr.columbia.edu>
Organization: St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, MN

In article <1992Aug30.211620.3145@ctr.columbia.edu>, jerry@connection.prospect.com (Jerry Shekhel) writes:
>jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz (John Bickers) writes:
>>
>>> priority when its quantum expires, no?  Is it possible, in AmigaOS, to
>>> designate a task as "non-preemptible"?  If not, there's no difference in
>>
>>    Yes it is possible to make a task non-preemtible. One function
>>    call to get into that state, another one to get out.
>>
>
>Doesn't that interfere with the realtime operation of the rest of the
>system?  By the way, what *are* these functions?  What happens when a
>non-preemptible task makes a system call?  Is the system tied up waiting
>for the I/O?

    As a matter of fact, it does interfere with real-time operations.
Programmers are urged to avoid calls such as Forbid() unless it is strictly
necessary (such cases do exist, such as when traversing system shared
resource lists, etc...so they aren't modified while you are grabbing the next
pointer in the list (and throw yourself out in the weeds :) )).
    AmigaOS basically has two levels of these special calls (not counting
priority considerations).  Forbid() halts all task switches, leaving the
calling program in complete control until a Permit() call is made.  HOWEVER,
if the program under Forbid() ends up waiting for I/O, (in such was as doing
a Wait() on a port or I/O device), the Forbid()'en state is "broken" until
the I/O or other waiting situation is satisfied, at which time the state is
re-entered.  This allows other tasks/processes CPU time while the Forbid()'en
program is waiting.  Note that breaking a Forbid() can occur during a system
call as well, if for some reason the system call has to do a Wait(), etc.
    The next, more drastic level in the context is a call to Disable().
Disable() basically stops all interrupt processing (Disables interrupts),
and in effect also stops all task switching, as this is interrupt-driven.
The Disable()'ed state remains in effect until a call to Enable() is given,
or the same circumstances as with a Forbid() being broken are encountered.

                 ----------------------------------------
           LaMonte Koop -- SCSU Electrical/Computer Engineering
 Internet: lkoop@tigger.stcloud.msus.edu -OR- f00012@kanga.stcloud.msus.edu
              "You mean you want MORE lights on this thing???"
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Gregory R Block)
Subject: Re: A3000T ad (was: Re: New A3000T ?!?
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 06:00:32 GMT

mikeh@starnine.com (Mike Haas) writes:
: Kind of a delayed reaction, eh?  That's better than me.  I never
: DID catch on.  I'm still trying to figure out if it was an ad
: for a new feminine hygiene product or a Buick.

With a man licking his lips, with a knife and fork, the thought that
it was an ad for a new, biodegradable, edible-after-use Tampax never
crossed my mind.

Greg

--
(: (: (: (: Have you overdosed on smileys today?  Why NOT!?! :) :) :) :) :)
(: "...and here's Clinton giving the correct spelling of bong-resin..."  :)
(:	gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu			Gregory R. Block         :)
(: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: kdarling@garfield.catt.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling)
Subject: Slu Aspiks vs Jeff Young
Organization: North Carolina State University
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 01:26:02 GMT

skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls) writes:
>
>P.S.  All of the whiny-butts who keep saying that we shouldn't be so mean
>to morons can go pleasure themselves with an old Amiga Joystick.

Lighten up, Slu!  I don't think too many people take Jeff seriously.
Certainly, far fewer people than the number of "morons" who took
your infamous "new machines report" seriously :^)

kevin <kdarling@catt.ncsu.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Gregory R Block)
Subject: Re: Atari Falcon Discount Supermachine  Re: Sydnes is gone?!!
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 06:49:39 GMT

jyoung@nyx.cs.du.edu (Jeff Young) writes:
: That is truth! People buying cheap A600 have more potential for heart 
: attack when they see price tag for PCMICA ram!

Prices will go down.  And as has been said, PCMCIA isn't the only way
to expand the system ram.

: Falcons have cheap ram boards NOW and anyone can make it in garage.

And you're obviously full of it.  Not "anyone" can do that.  An
engineer or someone with experience, maybe.  But not "anyone".  And
since the machine seems to be pointed at musicians, not engineers,
don't you think that's a crock?

: Falcons have DSP NOW but A600 will never have cheap PCMIA DSP card.

There will never BE a PCMCIA DSP card.

: A600 out for 6 months already and people tired of vAApor talk.

Maybe you are, but there are some who know better.

Did you buy your falcon yet?

: C= said same thing about many Japanese companies supporting CDTV
: but stick shaking scared them away!!

Nobody's scared them away, and nothing has changed.  Get a grip, and
maybe when you find out what's going on you can come back.

Greg

--
(: (: (: (: Have you overdosed on smileys today?  Why NOT!?! :) :) :) :) :)
(: "...and here's Clinton giving the correct spelling of bong-resin..."  :)
(:	gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu			Gregory R. Block         :)
(: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
From: kjohnson@castor.cs.uga.edu (Kristopher Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Atari Falcon Discount Supermachine  Re: Sydnes is gone?!!
Date: 2 Sep 92 00:12:52 GMT
Article-I.D.: athena.1992Sep2.001252.11581
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens

In article <1992Sep1.222812.15047@ra.msstate.edu> ada@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Sunga Rettaf) writes:
>In article <1992Sep1.084427.27049@uwm.edu> gblock@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Gregory R Block) writes:
>>kjohnson@castor.cs.uga.edu (Kristopher Johnson) writes:
>>: One of the planned third-party 'peripherals' for the Falcon030's 
>>: processor-direct slot is an external 'bus cage' (an external box
>>: with several VMEbus and/or other-type bus slots), so it *WILL* be
>>: able to handle more than a single peripheral card.
>>
>>But there's a slight problem:  The other third party "peripherals"
>>being designed are FOR that "processor direct slot".  They won't work
>>with the cage...  Which gives it even less of a base than the PDS will
>>have.
>
>What are the chances of compatibility with the CPU slot on the Amiga
>A3000 model?  It would be very nice to have the capability to add
>the 040 boards for the A3000 to the Falcon.  Also, is there a way to
>add a Zorro III card cage to the Falcon?  

The Falcon030's "PDS" (as it's come to be called) is just a set of 
connectors which bring out all the 68030's address/signal/etc. lines
so that they can easily be accessed.  It's not a proprietary bus or
anything like that, but just a feature to make it easier for others
to design peripherals that need direct access to the 68030 rather
than having to do their own hardware hacks to get access to the
68030.

Steve
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy,comp.sys.atari.st
From: dave@admiral.uucp (Dave Litchman)
Subject: Re: Falcon 030 specs released! No more rumor...
Organization: The Admiral's Unix System & The Grid BBS
Distribution: eunet
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 02:59:34 GMT

In article <1992Aug17.201937.14113@mits.mdata.fi> paetau@mits.mdata.fi (Rasmus Paetau) writes:
>In article <1992Aug17.090237.24295@rhrk.uni-kl.de> seimet@rhrk.uni-kl.de (Uwe Seimet) writes:
>>paetau@mits.mdata.fi (Rasmus Paetau) writes:
>>
>>>I've heard that the new Amiga (A800) should be released next spring.
>>That't to late for Commodore. Next spring everybody interested in a Falcon
>>or A800 like machine will have bought the Falcon, won't he? :-)
>
>I don't know about me, for the moment I have very little money. Maybe
>it will be spring before I have saved enough (that doesn't mean I'll
>buy the Amiga).

I'm a die-hard Atari fan, but even if I had the money, I wouldn't buy a Falcon
right away. Let's take a look at the last two computers Atari released, the
STe and the TT. The STe is now starting to have some software written 
specifically for it, but many software houses just don't bother, in the
interest of staying ST-compatible with their new releases. Now, the TT has
very little machine-specific software available, and considering the
non-impact that the TT has had on the market, I would not expect too much
more. In fact, if the Falcon is sucessful it may end up killing the TT complete-
ly.

So, I just want to see how the Falcon will do before I consider buying one. Not
to mention that I'd rather wait until all the initial-release bugs are ironed
out!


-- 
"Dammit Jim, I'm a free man, not a number!"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Quick, man! Cling tenaciously to my buttocks!" -- Powdered Toast Man
From: James_Hastings-Trew@telepro.UUCP (James Hastings-Trew)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Amiga 4000 & HYPE!
Distribution: world
Date: 31 Aug 92 19:41:03 CST
Organization: TelePro Technologies

In a message dated Mon 31 Aug 92  6:08, Amigo@milton.u.washington.edu (the 
wrote:

 A> getting better - I made the switch, and I'm sure many will follow. The
 A> Amiga is _old technology_ - course the PC is too, if you want a true
 A> state
 A> of the art machine, I guess the Quadra is the best overall
 A> example...sheer
 A> horsepower with a 68040, video is incredible, a _true_ Amiga basher
 A> (should
 A> be say flat?). I'm not much of a Mac fan, but once in awhile Apple
 A> does 
 A> something impressive - beyond the NeXT even, and I thought the NeXT
 A> was
 A> impressive when it came out (except for B/W screens).

I have a Quadra on my desk at work. It is impressive, for a Mac. The 040 in
it almost makes the Mac OS as fast as my 030 Amiga at home. Except that it
still does not multitask.

All I can say is, if anyone can use an Amiga, and then be happy with a Mac
or a PC, then they were not using the Amiga right! I cannot stand the lack
of multitasking on my Quadra. It is a constant nagging headache. If you've
ever been in the situation of actually sitting and waiting for a machine to
finish something so that you can continue working, you'll know what I mean.

I just typed the text for an entire brochure while picking up my news feed
and tossing and linking the messages. On the mighty Quadra, this would have
been impossible. The first disk-access would have caused the serial connect
to loose a bunch of characters, causing a cascading series of serial
errors, resulting in a dropped connection.

Don't even talk to me about Windoids 3.1...


-- Via DLG Pro v0.992
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: IFF database of .advocacy folks
From: jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz (John Bickers)
Date: 28 Aug 92 12:36:16 PST
 <1992Aug27.054653.28730@pdnfido.fidonet.org> <1992Aug27.102521.8189@marlin.jcu.edu.au>
Organization: TAP, NZAmigaUG

Quoted from <1992Aug27.102521.8189@marlin.jcu.edu.au> by cpca@marlin.jcu.edu.au (Colin Adams):

> How about gifs?  Surely everybody can get hold of a gif viewer.

    Same thing goes for IFF. Personally, I think it would be utterly
    dense to go for anything else. For the portrait/landscape
    argument, remember that an IFF doesn't have to be 320x200 or
    whatever.

> Colin Adams       Honours Student - James Cook University of North Queensland
--
*** John Bickers, TAP, NZAmigaUG.        jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz ***
***    "Radioactivity - It's in the air, for you and me" - Kraftwerk    ***
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
From: torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan Torrie)
Subject: Re: REAL Information????
Originator: torrie@Xenon.Stanford.EDU
Organization: CS Department, Stanford University, California, USA
Date:  4 Sep 92 17:54:50 GMT

skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls) writes:

>I don't know why a DSP is considered so essential in an Amiga.  The NeXT
>has had one for quite some time, yet it has hardly taken the world by
>storm.  There may be a Mac out sometime soon which has a DSP and there
>is some sort of thing called the Atari Fallacy or something like that
>which may have one.  What are they good for?

  I think the real reason to put in a DSP is more for audio input, 
than audio output.  Speech recognition for example.

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evan Torrie.  Stanford University, Class of 199?       torrie@cs.stanford.edu 
Embrace rationalism, reject superstition.           Break away from the past.