Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Atari TT 030 Launched! Message-ID: <12544@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 11 Jun 90 19:09:36 GMT References: <1990Jun5.143231.4977@watserv1.waterloo.edu> <1990Jun5.182949.2439@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax (Dave Haynie) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 71 Just a few clarifications... In article riddler@iesd.auc.dk (Claus Priisholm) writes: >In article <1990Jun5.182949.2439@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) writes: > 7Mhz graphic accelerator chips :-( In 68000-equivalent terms, the Amiga chips have always run at 14.3MHz. > 2 wait states fast-ram :-( The A3000's memory system is as fast as on any similar 68030 machine, Mac IIci and NeXT included. The 68030 has two types of minimum cycles, the 68020 compatible cycle called "asynchronous" (a minimum of 3 clocks), and the 68030-specific cycle called "synchronous" (a minimum of 2 clocks), which also goes along with the 68030's cache line push, what most folks call "burst-mode". Burst allows up to 3 longwords to be transferred as quickly as 1 clock each. The A3000 also has a special page-detect mode in it's memory controller, which can speed things up. The A3000 clocks like this: A3000/16 A3000/25 Standard Cycle 4 5 Page Cycle 3 3 Burst Cycle 2 2 Page and burst can work together, so a page with burst at 25MHz would run a 3-2-2-2, or 9 clock cycle. The is the fastest you can do with a 25MHz 68030 without going to 60ns DRAM. Don't expect 60ns DRAM in any $3000 computer for quite some time. > Guru meditations :-( I suppose you'd rather have bombs? Or a system that just hangs when an error happens. >- Both Atari and C= has a full PC-line (down the drain). I didn't realize that Atari had 386 Tower machines. >- Atari has the 520, 1040, MEGA's & STE, C= has A500, A1000, A2000 & A2500, Except for a few minor differences, the 520, 1040, MEGAs, and STE are the same thing. Execept for a few minor differences, the A500, A1000, and A2000 are the same thing (the A2000 does provide a full fledge expansion bus, not available yet in any Atari). The A2500/20 is a 14.3MHz 68020/68881 machine, the A2500/30 is a 25MHz 68030/68882 machine. >UNIX? I believe the TT was running UNIX at CeBit in Hannover, and the fairly >high resolution in monochrome, is a better platform for X-windows, than >4096 colours hold-and-modify mode at a medium resolution. So when it comes >to UNIX, I would prefer the TT (but still more I would like it to use >a 25 MHz 68040 and the Blossom graphics chip). Commodore's been showing real (eg, AT&T, not Idris or some other clone) UNIX for quite some time. They showed X-Windows under UNIX running on the A2500/30 with A2410 display card (1024x768, 256 out of 16 million colors) nearly a year ago. If Atari really is doing a real UNIX, don't expect it soon. And you don't want it rushed out -- UNIX people might find A3000s or Atari TTs a nice shot at being a good UNIX box, but without a standard and reliable UNIX the first time around, they'll never have a chance to correct problems. A flakey UNIX at the right price might attract a hacker or two, but it'll never recoup the costs of development or support. >* Claus Priisholm * ******* *********** -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "I have been given the freedom to do as I see fit" -REM