From: gerald@seas.gwu.edu (Gerald G. Washington)
Subject: Re: A4000 - Early Impressions
Organization: George Washington University
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 04:02:27 GMT

peter@blade (Peter Korsten) writes:
>gerald@seas.gwu.edu (Gerald G. Washington) writes:
>: There are a few things Commodore should be doing immediately:
>: [I skipped the parts I agree with]
>
>: 2>  Drop the A600.  The base Amiga should at least include AmigaDOS 3.0
>:     and the AGA chips.
>
>A600 -> low cost -> high sales -> much profit

Yes, I have seen this argument many times.  However, while people are buying
these ECS machines, developers will be writing ECS code.  The AGA features
will not be used.  Commodore should completely break away from the old
7MHz 68000 and low-resolution machines.  For the A3000 owners an AGA board
should be developed.

>You should consider the fact that the Amiga isn't quite the standard
>business machine. Instead, most people (who don't know sh*t about
>computers) buy PCs instead. The A600 is a nice entry model, you can
>play all kinds of games on it, with even better quality than the
>normal Sega/Nintendo consoles and you can run small business or
>educative programs on it. The A600 can bring in the cash, so that
>more hardware for the entire range could be developed.

Sega and Nintendo have already gone beyond their "normal" consoles.  The
Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo are quite popular.  I absolutely love
Street Fighter II on the Super Nintendo (my younger brother has one).

More importantly, I want to see professional packages which support the
AGA features--such things as DTP, image processing, and CAD packages.

>: 4>  Take advantage of the expansion provided in the A4000.  If third
>:     parties do not immediately release certain products, then Commodore
>:     should.
>:     a>  A 386 BrideBoard for less than $500.  Such a board can use the
>:         standard AGA graphics to provide full SVGA support.
>
>The AA-chipset doesn't support all SVGA features, like 800x600 or
>1024x768 in 256 colors.

The AGA chips do support 800x600x8-bit graphics, according to all reports.
The lack of 1024x768 resolution is regrettable but hardly necessary.  I have
seen very few IBM PC-compatibles running at that resolution--the monitors to
give a readable display are quite expensive.  I know 1024x768 SVGA boards
are common, but is that resolution part of the SVGA definition?

>Furthermore, I have always doubted the use of a bridgeboard. Well,
>they've made the SX board, so why not a real 386? Maybe because
>designing a full 32-bit bridgeboard is more complex and because
>you would have to make it a Zorro III board (-> no A2000) to make
>full use of the 32 bit bus. Well, at least we would see a
>Zorro III board...

Yes, and now both the A3000 and the A4000 could use this board.  Maybe
this Emplant product will help some if it ever disperses the vapors.

>:     b>  A 24-bit display board.  This is an easy and inexpensive upgrade
>:         for the A4000.  The boards available now must create a 24-bit
>:         palette, while the A4000 already has this.
>
>There are numbers of 24-bit boards. I don't know about 3.0, but system
>software supporting these would do the trick.

The are quite a few expensive 24-bit boards.  Developing a 24-bit display
board for the A4000 should be much cheaper than other such boards.  As I
said, Commodore only needs to do this if other manufacturers do not beat
them to it.  I suspect that GVP may have such a board in the works--and
maybe DMI.

>:     c>  An 040/33MHz package would be nice.  They could include the 24-bit
>:         display as Apple does with the Quadra 950.
>
>It won't take too long for third party developers to make those boards.
>If there would be a possibility to get a refund from Commodore when
>you would trade in your standard processor board...

Yes, this is not a pressing issue at the moment (at least for me).

-- Gerald
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy