Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!cbmvax!bj
From: bj@cbmvax.commodore.com (Brian Jackson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: A3000UX Seems Fated
Message-ID: <16532@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 14 Dec 90 16:37:45 GMT
References: <1990Dec14.045924.20212@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: bj@cbmvax.commodore.com (Brian Jackson)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 37

In article <1990Dec14.045924.20212@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> sl35746@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (By-Tor) writes:
>Another interesting point he made was that Sun is almost guaranteed to support
>their computers.  Commodore is just starting out, so things will be even harder.

Sun just recently gave a fixed cut-off date for support of their 680x0
products. So the key word in there is "almost" :)

>I don't really see the point of putting Unix on an Amiga.  I think they should
>have just made a Unix box that was competitive, and started from there. 

Define "Unix box."  In the not too distant past Sun defined this as a big
box with a monochrome monitor and Unix, all powered by a lone 68010.  Is
that a "Unix box"? If so then I would have to argue that a 25 mhz 68030 in
a SMALL box with a COLOR monitor running Unix would qualify as well.  

>The fact that AmigaDOS and Unix are totally isolated basically makes the point
>almost moot to combine them in one box.

What other operating systems do you have running concurrently with Unix
now? If you consider the A3000UX to be a "UNIX box" with the ability to
also be an Amiga it takes on a different glow, no?

> The Unix side is limited to the hardware that is needed to keep it Amiga 
>compatible.

The hardware 'required' to run Unix is a subset of the hardware required to
run AmigaOS. That means that Unix in an "Amiga box" gets to take advantage
of graphics coprocessors and the like - things that Unix in other boxes
can't.  Some might consider this a plus.

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Brian Jackson  Software Engineer, Commodore-Amiga Inc.  GEmie: B.J. |
 | bj@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com    or  ...{uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!bj     |
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 | It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of        |
 | the obvious."                                                       |
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