Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!bagate!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech Subject: Re: AmigaOS/UNIX - A Suggestion Message-ID: <15973@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 20 Nov 90 07:37:21 GMT References: <6653@chorus.fr> <6944@sugar.hackercorp.com> <8222@gollum.twg.com> <6998@sugar.hackercorp.com> <8284@gollum.twg.com> <7057@sugar.hackercorp.com> Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 48 In article <7057@sugar.hackercorp.com> peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes: >In article <8284@gollum.twg.com> david@twg.com (David S. Herron) writes: >> I expect that Unix running on Amiga would give me a much faster/nicer >> environment than a 386 clone or a NeXT (tho' comparing to NeXT is much >> closer in those terms). >And I can't see how it could be afster than the NeXT, given the NeXT has a >faster processor and a better base operating system (Mach vs. System V). Uh, if you're thinking of NeXTs you can actually buy today, they have the same speed processor -- a 25MHz 68030. I like the Mach kernel, and I'd say that even if I didn't get my degree at CMU. But the overall NeXT OS environment, which includes NeXTStep as well, is awfully slow. Though I've never used it from a real hard disk, or as a plain UNIX machine -- it should approach the speed of the A3000 at most UNIXish things. AmigaOS is faster at quite a few things than UNIX, but also of course unprotected. I think one of the main advantages of Amiga UNIX is that it's Standard UNIX. You have a zillion '386 machines out there, and if they're not running one of the ugly MS operating systems, they're running System V, probably 3.x but soon moving to 4.0. If you're thinking of Workstations and GUIs, according to Personal Workstation there are nearly twice as many shipping OpenLook applications as those for any other UNIX GUI, thanks to the large installed base of Sun machines. >As for the environment... have you *used* a NeXT? It's to other workstations >what the Amiga is to other PCs. It's alot like the A1000 -- nice and pretty, but not, out of the box, comparable to other Workstations. For instance, its the only machine in the Workstation category in recent memory without external cache (except the original Sun 4s, which had 100% 0-wait state memory, which in a uniprocessor system certainly eliminates the need for any cache). Fortunately, like the A1000, it has a very sound architecture, so I suspect the '040 machines, if they're out in time, will be pretty cool. The software environment is really cool. And, like most modern machines (including both the Mac and the Amiga), the first NeXT struggled to run this OS. But it looks pretty, and it comes with lots of development tools, some of the best on any machine. At least for the moment. >Peter da Silva. `-_-' >. -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy Standing on the shoulders of giants leaves me cold -REM