From: hyc@hanauma.jpl.nasa.gov (Howard Chu)
Subject: Re: Falcon is an Ape
Keywords: Me Too!
Organization: SAR Systems Development & Processing, JPL
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 18:41:36 GMT

In article <1992Oct14.071912.18249@sol.ctr.columbia.edu> falavi@bach.mth.kcl.ac.uk (Farrukh Alavi) writes:
>At this point, I started to pity him. I started to ask him about the sound  
>capabilities, but one of his colleagues came over and interjected on his  
>behalf. This guy looked quite unfriendly. He affirmed, with a sense of  
>finality, that the Falcon still uses the same 8-bit sound chip as in the  
>STe, and 8-channel 16-bit audio is possible only through the DSP. I  

The Falcon's audio is completely compatible with the ST and STe's audio
because the same components as used in those older systems are still
present in the Falcon. The ST's YM-2149 PSG is still there, and the STe's
microwire 8 bit stereo DMA audio chip is still there. But in addition,
there is a 16 bit stereo CODEC which can be used independently of the DSP
and the other devices. It can also mix the YM-2149 output into its input,
as well as select input from a number of other sources.

>decided to say goodbye at this point, and picked up some of the literature  
>being given out. It says in there that the Falcon is incompatible with the  
>STe, and that Atari is confident of selling 20,000 this year (worldwide or  
>in the UK?). As for software availability, it mentions forthcoming stuff  
>like D2HD recording and conferencing software that uses the DSP. Atari is  
>leaving no doubts, however, that this machine is being aimed squarely at  
>the consumer market.

The Falcon is incompatible with the STe? Hm. I would say that the STe is
the machine the Falcon is *most* compatible with. The "ST-compatible"
graphics modes are all STe modes (12 bit palette instead of 9 bit ST palette),
the machine includes the STe analog controller ports, etc...
>
>Verdict: The Falcon is an Ape - you know, imitate everyone. A bizarre  
>cocktail (pun intended:) of a machine whose hardware is a combination of  
>features inspired mainly by the Amiga and the NeXT, plus a few others. For  
>instance:
>
> The colour palettes and resolutions are very much SVGA-like (8/15/16-bit   
>colour from an 18-bit palette). The 32K/65K "TrueColor" modes remind one  
>of some of the cards you can get to run Windows in. 

Yes

> Overscanning, interlacing, genlocking - wonder where they got those  
>from!! Around the time of the launch of the TT, Sam Tramiel was  
>interviewed by a magazine, and he criticised the Amiga 3000 for its  
>flicker. Now he builds a machine with interlace.

A long time ago, that was the party line "interlace is bad. No Atari
machine will do interlaced video." I thought it was a bad decision
before. Obviously, if you want a machine that can be used for broadcast
video work, you need to support interlace... (I use the term "broadcast
video" loosely, only to distinguish from what I would call "computer
video," (which I would take to mean any kind of video that any kind of
computer can put out that typically cannot be recorded by a consumer
VHS deck, for example))

> Mucho NeXT emulation in things like their choice of DSP, the SCSI-2  
>port, the black colour of the case. Even things like BLiTTER and MiNT are  
>dead giveaways. Again, in the aforementioned interview, Sam was quoted as  
>saying that he hoped that the TT would "clobber" the NeXT. Imitation is  
>the sincerest form of plagiarism....

Sincerest form of flattery, I thought the line went... Blitter and MiNT
have nothing to do with the NeXT box. The ST blitter has been around in
some form or another since 1987, and MiNT arose merely because someone
who was fed up with a single-tasking OS decided to do something about it,
and didn't feel like running ST-Minix.

The DSP, on the other hand ... there's no denying that it's a cheap chip
nowadays, which is one reason for using it, as well as that there's probably
a good number of NeXT programmers out there who could easily move their
software over to the Falcon platform. (I happen to know a fair number of
people fitting that description, who are busily porting stuff right now.)

> That built-in LocalTalk networking port appeared very similar to  
>AppleTalk ports you find on any Mac

Nothing new here, that's what "LocalTalk" means, after all, and that port
has been present on the Mega STe and TT as well.
>
>I don't mean to incubate :) another Falcon flame war here, so any Atari  
>fans reading this please note that the above does not include anything  
>other than raw facts. I will, however, say the following (mainly because  
>it is too difficult to resist:):

Hm, I would say the article contained a number of raw facts followed by
a number of ludicrous conclusions.
-- 
  -- Howard Chu @ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA

All true wisdom is conveyed in one-line witticisms.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.graphics