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From: dg@sundog.caltech.edu (DALE GARY)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Cheesy Amiga Video
Summary: moderately long Amiga diatribe
Message-ID: <1990Sep5.052521.14221@laguna.ccsf.caltech.edu>
Date: 5 Sep 90 04:06:03 GMT
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Reply-To: dg@sundog.caltech.edu
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Organization: California Institute of Technology
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In article <9714@scorn.sco.COM>, allanh@sco.COM (Boy Howdy) writes...
> 
	[Deleted description of A3000 display modes]

>So if I understand this correctly, this means that the A3000--which
>otherwise sounds like a wonderful machine, 16- or 25-Mhz 68030 and
>all--can't do something even the most basic PS/1 or PC with a cheap VGA
>card can do: decent, high-resolution noninterlaced video with a real
>selection of colors.  (Since when does 640x480x16 colors constitute
>"a large burden on system resources" for a 68030?)

   Remember that the display is coordinated by the graphics coprocessor
chips, running at 7.14 MHz.  The custom chips are what limit the number
of colors, etc.  However, if you have ever tried a paint program on
a '386 machine you will see what a real dog is.  Try signing your name,
and you get one or two straight lines, because it doesn't read the
mouse location fast enough.  That is because the '386 processor is busy
drawing the little pointer arrow (no such thing as a hardware sprite).
You make a choice...do you want a machine that is fast and comfortable
to use, or one with infinite colors?  I'm not saying that you can't get
both, theoretically, but if Commodore changes the custom chips (which
I suspect is in the works eventually) what you get is no longer an
Amiga.  Most of the programs in the established software base would 
not work unless Commodore goes to great lengths for compatibility.  The
A3000 is a step in the right direction, but Commodore can't burn too many
bridges at once.

>I'm not saying that an Amiga should have workstation-quality video out
>of the box, nor am I saying that the Amiga should become "IBM-
>compatible," but something as expensive and as powerful as an A3000
>_should_ come with video that's at least as good as what's standard in
>the IBM and Macintosh worlds.  

When the A3000 is better established (6 months? A year?) we should
see lots of amazing video boards and 68040 boards that can do
everything you want, right guys?  In the meantime, I am having a
great time with my A3000.  I've astounded the boss (who has a '386
PC) twice with stuff he _could_ do with his system, just not as
easily--and I've only had my machine two days.

>In fact, I'd bet that if Commodore were to introduce a new A3000 that
>was identical to the original _except that Super Denise was replaced
>with VGA and Super-VGA-like capabilities_, the new one would easily
>outsell the original, simply because of the better standard video.  Such
>a machine would appeal to the mainstream crowd, a crowd that doesn't
>have software that uses weird video and that wants a cheap '030 box.
>Hell, I'd buy one over a Mac any day.

I'd buy the present A3000 over a Mac any day.  In fact, I already did.
Buy two. [A3000s for the price of a Mac]

>Allan J. Heim / ...!uunet!sco!allanh / allanh@sco.COM
>voice: +1 408 425 7222 x6343 / fax: +1 408 429 1887

Dale E. Gary