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From: jac423@leah.albany.edu (Julius Andrew Cisek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Ataris
Message-ID: <1990Dec4.214048.2428@sarah.albany.edu>
Date: 4 Dec 90 21:40:48 GMT
References: <37882@nigel.ee.udel.edu> <2401@unsvax.NEVADA.EDU>
Sender: news@sarah.albany.edu
Reply-To: jac423@leah.albany.edu (Julius Andrew Cisek)
Organization: Computing Services Center/Systems SUNY Albany
Lines: 37


>My Amiga 1000 had a better range of colors and sounded
>better in comparison to this particular ST. 

I used to have an Atari 520ST and my brother  had the 1040ST.  We both
switched to Amigas 2  years ago.  Sound on the  ST was MUCH worse than
the Amiga.  To get the ST to sample  required giant clock  cycles from
the CPU (there is no  dedicated sampler hardware).  I used  to have an
Atari 800 before the ST and the sound on the 8-bit was better than the
ST sound.

The MIDI interface is nice, but has no  THRU which makes it rediculous
for  a professional.  Most people with  a  serious MIDI setup   end up
buying  a serial MIDI  interface   (with multiple outs,  thrus,  etc.)
anyway.

TOS functionality is poor, but  it does LOOK a  lot better than WB (in
my opinion, anyways).   Floppies are much faster  on  the ST  but they
have  two formats:  single and double  sided,   which  makes  software
distribution a major pain (I had two single sided floppies with my 500
and 360K is just not enough, you should have seen me trying to compile
something...)  (actually, I think   they've gone to   DS disks  as the
standard, but I feel bad for the users  who still have SS drives (like
the poor chap I sold my machine to :))

Graphics are good,   but Amiga color  and  blitter make  them pale  in
comparison.

The  only  thing going  for the  ST   is the excellent music  software
support.  This is too bad.  I  wish the ST  would just go away and let
the  music people notice  the  Amiga more.  (I   hope I don't  get any
letters saying how great MIDI software on the Amiga  is.  If you think
so, you haven't seen the stuff on the ST).
-- 
|    // .______. J.Cisek  CSC MiniSystems  "i don't want the world,   \_o_/ |
|  \X/--|UU UUU| jac423@leah.albany.edu     i just want your half..." \\|   |
| AMIGA |______| Amiga Student On Campus Consultant  SUNY@Albany, USA  \\   |