Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!udel!mmdf From: WDV91@ccvax.iastate.edu (NetMonster) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: AMIGA Fading? Message-ID: <4105@nigel.udel.EDU> Date: 15 Nov 89 02:52:38 GMT Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU Lines: 88 Like it or not, the Amiga is fading, and fading fast. The Amiga's main competition -- cheap IBM clones -- have largely caught up to the Amiga in multitasking capability and ease-of-use. The gap between the Amiga and its closest rival in features is getting closer and closer. The following article is from the October 1989 issue of TIME (P. 72): "The twin fetes had all the glitz and hoopla of a Hollywood premiere. Champagne flowed freely, and soft jazz whispered in the background. Guests nibbled on caviar and smoked-salmon quiche. The big bashes, which took place on the same day this month in New York City and Los Angeles, were staged by Commodore Business Machines to kick off a $15 million advertizing compaign, ]tarring celebrities ranging from the Pointer Sisters to Tommy Lasorda, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. But instead of coming off as a preview, the even seemed more like a benefit for an aging star. "In this case, the focus of attention was the Amiga, a personal computer introduced by Commodore four years ago, whose sagging sales and fading image the company is trying to repair." Yes, the Amiga's image is fading. But Commodore can resurrect the Amiga's image very easily. Here is what Commodore needs to do: IT IS TIME FOR COMMODORE TO TOTALLY ABANDON THE 68000 MICROPROCESSOR, FOR ALL MODELS OF THE AMIGA. The OEM price of the 68020 and 68881 chips has fallen to the price of the 68000 when the Amiga 1000 was first introduced. It ]s now possible for Commodore to get these chips in large quantities from Motorola or Hitachi for less than $50 each. Commodore should start immediate development of machines to replace the Amiga 500 and Amiga 2000 when the O.S. 1.4 is finished. These models should be improved with the following features: (1) 512K of ROM, containing all of Workbench and AmigaDOS, as well as all the system libraries and devices. This should be done to compete with Commodore's closest competition -- Tandy and Headstart -- which also produce computers with their operating systems entirely in ROM. (2) 1.76MB floppy drive, to upgrade the Amiga's storage capabilities and also allow the Amiga to read IBM 1.44MB disks. (3)68020 running at 14Mhz. The replacement for the A500 should include a socket for the 68881. The replacement for the B2000 should include the 68881. (4) The memory should be configured such that all memory is 32-bit RAM, but the custom chips would access the first 1M as 16-bit RAM. I have looked at the architecture, and I don't see any reason why this isn't possible. (5) Use the new Enhanced Chip Set (of course). (6) The Amiga 500 replacement should have 1M of RAM. The B2000 replacement should have 2M of RAM. (7) The B2000 replacement should have 32-bit ZORRO-III slots. The replacement for the A500 should have a 32-bit side expansion port. I don't want anyone to tell me that it isn't possible for CBM to sell a complete 68020 system for less than $1500, and still make a very substantiale profit on it. Hell, if an engineer friend of mine can turn an Amiga 1000 into a 68020 system (using the LUCAS system) -- complete with 68881 and 32-bit RAM -- for $350, Commodore can do it to the Amiga 500 for much less. For one thing, the CPU and memory chips don't cost Commdore as much. Second, they would eliminate the PC boards and PAL chips that make up most of the cost of a LUCAS system. Commodore has no choice about this. They can put it off until the last minute -- until 486 systems are available cheap, and such an introduction of 68020-based systems would get absolutely no attention anywhere -- or they can do it now, when such systems would get lots of attention, propel the Amiga back into the limelight, and strengthen the Amiga's fading image. -MB-