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From: hyc@math.lsa.umich.edu (Howard Chu)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: A4000,Lotus,Microsoft,UNIX...
Message-ID: <1990Oct13.232623.927@math.lsa.umich.edu>
Date: 13 Oct 90 23:26:23 GMT
References: <4798@crash.cts.com>
Sender: usenet@math.lsa.umich.edu
Organization: University of Michigan Math Dept., Ann Arbor
Lines: 58

In article <4798@crash.cts.com> seanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) writes:
>In-Reply-To: message from ckp@grebyn.com
>The TT beats the A3000 by the numbers???  The only number I saw was the
>32-33MHz clock speed.  Haven't you been around in the Amiga community long
>enough to know that flat clock-speed when compared to an Amiga doesn't account
>for didly?  Well, in some cases it would...but remember, we're talking about
>an Atari box here.

For number-crunching, processor speed and memory bandwidth are all that
really matters. The Amiga's graphics and sound co-processors don't "account
for diddly" in that application. Just a matter of target audience, I guess.

>The "industry-standard" VME buss, as you quote, is only 16bits, with less
>through-put than ZORRO3.  A consideration for Atari users: What are you going
>to stick in that slot?  Sure, a SUN or Apollo card would FIT, but you need
>software.  And as you point out, the TT doesn't run UNIX, so what software
>would be able to use the board anyway?  

You seem to think that the world is full of users, but no programmers. If
someone gave me a TT030, a VME card-cage extension, and a bunch of cards
(SMD disk controller, ethernet controller, async multiplexer, say) I would
damn well figure out how to use them.

>Which brings me to another question...what ST software is there that would
>even be able to take advantage of the '030?  I think DynaCadd might...will it
>run on a TT though?

Most ST programs run fine. DynaCadd runs fine. Of course, without '030 specific
ocject code, you don't get as much of a speedup as you'd expect.

>A hires, non-interlaced display mode, eh?  You left out something
>though...that's a MONITERM mode, for use with the Moniter Viking I moniter. 
>AmigaDOS supports similar resolution on the A2024 or Moniterm moniters.  No
>point for Atari on that one either.

>Hmmm, so what do we have now...oh, back to clock-speed.  Well, did Atari
>incorporate any custom coprocessors into the TT?

I don't think the blitter is there any more, but no loss, the '030 would
run rings around it anyway. Dunno fer sure.

>Oh yeah, it does come with 4MB of RAM.  I'll give you that one...unless you
>get the 100Mb HD version of the A3000, it only comes with two.  But would 2Mb
>of RAM make me choose the TT...nah...I don't think so...I don't get it...I'm
>not impressed.

It comes with 4 meg of ST RAM, i.e., memory that looks exactly like what ST
folks are used to seeing. You can expand it beyond that tho, to up to 36 Meg
on board, and the rest of the address space is left purely for the '030.
(Actually, I think it is also addressable by the SCSI controller, but not
by the VME device.) This seems to correspond with the Amiga's "fast RAM" in
that there are no other processes (video, DMA, etc) contending for access.
>Sean
--
  -- Howard Chu @ University of Michigan
  one million data bits stored on a chip, one million bits per chip
	if one of those data bits happens to flip,
		one million data bits stored on the chip...