Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ncar!gatech!ncsuvx!news From: kdarling@hobbes.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Time For A New Computer? Message-ID: <1990Dec18.120222.13278@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> Date: 18 Dec 90 12:02:22 GMT References: <9012180315.AA23854@cwns1.INS.CWRU.Edu> Sender: news@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu (USENET News System) Organization: NCSU Computing Center Lines: 31 In <9012180315.AA23854@cwns1.INS.CWRU.Edu> ai065@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Thomas Hill)... >[gives a neat list of features for a hot computer and concludes...] >Well, I think this would be a killer idea for Commodore to think over. >Commodore well sell a lot of machines by providing the first '30 CPU and >24bit graphics machine at a under-$1000 price. Nobody has done this yet. Great list! And yes, I bet they'd sell zillions, no doubt about it. Alas, there is a reason nobody has done this yet... cost. We recently looked into building a similarily equipped machine. Surprise: our estimated retail price was right up there past the current A3000. Simply designing around the 030 itself adds minimum $400-600 to retail. And then you still have video, I/O, memory, keyboard, case, etc costs. But perhaps in a coupla years someone will take you up on it! >I'm sure Commodore will come up with some type of driver, along with >maybe a little hardware, to make the thing emulate the old Amiga >graphic modes. No problem there, probably. Hard to judge. Depends on whether they include backward-mode hardware, or pull a Bridgeboard video trick. My instinct is that virtually all the "fancy" Amiga apps directly diddle video memory at some point (I'd be happy to know of exceptions; AmigaVision probably doesn't (?)). Perhaps the best solution is a video overlay: continue using original video hardware for current programs, use new hardware only for newer apps. I'd like to hear a knowledgeable discussion of this. - kev | , who seems stuck as a devil's advocate | Must be a consequence of pushing 40, with your own biz. Help! ;-) | (But I swear I'm still trying to change the world!)