Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!samsung!ctrsol!cica!iuvax!rutgers!cbmvax!atha!rwa
From: rwa@cs.AthabascaU.CA (Ross Alexander)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Blitter disappointment (was: Time to create comp.sys.atari.flames)
Message-ID: <1261@atha.AthabascaU.CA>
Date: 21 Nov 89 20:29:08 GMT
References: <1989Nov8.182505.11625@uunet!unhd> <23996@cup.portal.com> <24111@cup.portal.com>
Distribution: na
Organization: Athabasca University
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For what it's worth:  I have a blitter.  It's $75 down the toilet.
The speedup it provides is _very_ marginal ( < 25% ), and affects
only a few operations (essentailly, large blits).  QuikST and the
TOS 1.4 upgrade are much more cost effective.  When I get home
tonight I'll try to post some benchmark numbers.

Also for what it's worth: the JRI Jato board is another $100 down the
toilet.  (This is a soi-disant cpu-"speedup" board).  I measure about
5 to 10% speedup.  This is not enough to notice; it's measurable, but
not _noticeable_.  I agree a benchmark can be cooked up that this
board will show much better results from, but in general use (which is
what I generally do, of course) it's a looser.

On a more upbeat note, I am encouraged by what I've seen so far of
Dave Small's '030 board proposal, and hope he can make it into a
product.  Between this, the TT/p, and the TT/x, there may indeed be an
upgrade path for ST users who need more horespower and better video
after all.  It sure has been a long time coming, though.  1985 -->
1990 is five years; in this business, that's about a half century.

	Ross