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From: cameron@kirk.nmg.bu.oz (Cameron Stevenson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware,comp.sys.amiga
Subject: 80386 BridgeBoard
Message-ID: <1694@kirk.nmg.bu.oz>
Date: 14 Aug 90 02:10:04 GMT
Organization: Network Management Group, Bond University, Australia
Lines: 43


 I haven't seen this question posted before, so here goes...

 Does anybody know if Commodore are working on an 80386 bridgeboard? Sure,
 the question is hypothetical until a product is actually released, and
 undoubtedly raises the question of why bother (build one). So I'll try 
 to spark a little discussion...

 The main reason (at least this is what I was told) for not producing such
 a card was that the 2000 system could not keep up with the 80386. By this,
 I don't mean that the Amiga is slower than a '386 generally; just that
 software that is specifically written for the '386 would get tangled inside
 the Amiga because of the Janus software/bus speed/Amiga CPU speed.(As you
 appreciate from the tone of this explanation, I'm no hardware guru)

 Now with the 3000, I would expect these problems to be soluble (? able to
 be solved).

 As to why build one, well I for one find the notion of the Bridgeboard
 appealing. I used an A2500/AT for a couple of months and loved it (this 
 is not my only experience with an Amiga BTW - I have owned a 1000 and a 
 2000 - both were machines released early in their product's life). I am a 
 great fan of the Amiga, but in a work related environment, I find there
 are PC based applications that I must use. Whether I like using them, etc,
 etc, is part of the flame based my-system-is-betther-than-your-system
 discussion that I'm not interested in here. The main point is that there are
 applications that I must use for work that don't run on the Amiga (and have
 no Amiga based equivalent - SQL/RDBMS and CAD in a combined environment - 
 email me if you're interested). I now find that new versions of these 
 applications are being written to take advantage of the '386 chip, and will
 not run on the '286. Which leads straight to the heart of my original
 question.

 I'm considering applying pressure here at work to buy the 3000. This
 is primarily a Mac site, with a number of PS/2's thrown in so that we don't
 look exclusively Mac. On the whole though "other" machines are frowned upon.
 If I can slip the Amigas through the safety net as capable '386 machines
 (with another very good machine lurking inside the box for extra value),
 then the accountant types may be swayed. Any news?

 Cameron Stephenson                      Telephone +61 75 951220
 Bond University
 Gold Coast    Australia