Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!unido!laura!atoenne From: atoenne@laura.UUCP (Andreas Toenne) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Duesseldorf: personal impression of the TT(T) Message-ID: <1572@laura.UUCP> Date: 26 Aug 89 18:57:08 GMT References: <8908251936.AA19454@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Reply-To: atoenne@laura.UUCP (Andreas Toenne) Organization: Universitaet Dortmund Lines: 92 OK, don't believe everything you see or hear :-) :-0 I've been demoing the TT today and (prob.) tomorrow with Smalltalk80. So please let me correct some mistakes and official :-) romours. In article <8908251936.AA19454@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> V61@DHDURZ1.BITNET (Ronald Lamprecht) writes: >-68030, 16MHz >- VME slot (A24,D16) >- shared RAM for video and processor with an access time of 250ns >- tiny ugly box with the old ST keyboard with it's famous function keys >Price: appr. DM 5700 -- including 30MB Harddisk and color monitor >(They said it wouldn't be sold without the Harddisk or the color monitor -- > no chance for a cheap upgrade) Wrong. What you saw was the 'complete' low-cost version. Certainly there will be packages without harddrive. However the monitor is somewhat special (close to VGA but not close enough) so good ones like NEC multisync will work but result in a bad picture with thick borders around. It RUNS the old ST harddisks so you can get it cheaper than 6500DM incl.VAT None at Atari is willing to give final statements about that though. Leonard Tramiel said to me: 'Germain sales will determine the packages (in Germany)'. So I'll stay optimistic. >Seeing this I called it a TTT --- namely a Tic Tac Toe machine: You will never >loose something with respect to the old ST, but you have no chance to win >a jackpot with it. Ouch, Amiga owner? >Actually I would call it a wastage of highly sophisticated microprocessors >the way an 68030 is slowed down to 2MHz Busfrequency. A (A24,D16) VME slot >that would have been something useful for the ST, but an 68030 should be >worth an full 32bit VME slot ! A speedupfactor of 4 that's a shame and I'm >quite sure the TT will be the slowest 68030 machine that will ever exist. >I wouldn't call the TTT a workstation -- and I won't buy it. Tstststs, turn your mind on before you talk! 1. The processor runs at 2MHz with VME bus only but at full 16Mhz else. 2. The speed factor is 3times(my minimal guess) < 4times < 5times (Leonard). So do some calculations.... Smalltalk80 for instance runs at 40% Dorado on the ST. It runs at 116% Dorado on the MacII (CX) with the same software! So if the TT is 4 times faster than the ST it will run at 160% Dorado and thats a bringer. I estimate this machine as equivalent to the Max II (CX). 3. The TT uses this so called 'Slow Ram' for the lower 2meg only. The real memory expansion (who uses a workstation with 2meg anyway?) takes place at 16meg++ addresses and is called "Fast Ram". This uses full and sophisticated caching with 4*64bit burst filling. The application can decide (loader flag) where the binaries should lie and where Malloc() calls should take place. So my impressions (I AM NOT PAID BY ATARI, BUT I LIKE TO TAKE ONE :-) It has a *UGLY* design (at least). It is as fast as a MacII (at least) It is *VERY* TOS compatible. Well, I'd say the Software is not TOS compatible. Calamus for instance runs and about 90% of professional software too. Expect problems with alot of games. It has nice color graphics (forgot howmany, but *ALOT*) and a nice high resolution monochrome mode (16??@6??). It is the cheapest workstation of that power around (about 1/2 the price of comparable competitors here in Germany). Besides: - the drive will be 1.44 meg although they show 720 right now - the keyboard will be better. It's just a mega keyboard on the fair. - the monitors will be better. They took VGA monitors for the fair. It will be in the shops sometimes between Christmas and early spring. Nobody dared to name an exact date though :-) If you'll find to take a ride to Duesseldorf you'll enjoy the fair. There are alot of nice presentations. Andreas Toenne atoenne@unido.uucp Disclaimer: I speak for myself only and not for Atari or my boss. I may have misunderstood some things and perhaps some of the 'facts' are wrong or will change. But the machine is real and not bad either.