Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!think.com!mintaka!ai-lab!life!burley From: burley@geech.ai.mit.edu (Craig Burley) Newsgroups: comp.unix.amiga Subject: GNU Development Possible? Message-ID: Date: 9 Jan 91 13:17:34 GMT Sender: news@ai.mit.edu Distribution: comp Organization: Free Software Foundation 545 Tech Square Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 253-8568 Lines: 74 Is Amiga UNIX going to be sufficiently solid to enable me to get GNU EMACS, GNU CC, and other GNU software up and running, and to continue development of GNU Fortran (gf77) on it? If it was and I decided to do that, the gf77 would be available for the Amiga sooner than most other machines (especially those not 680x0-based). I'm currently using the 680x0-based HP workstations here at the Free Software Foundation, and they're great -- fast and solid and all that. But I'd like to save the 2.5 hours per day commute (not to mention the commuting costs), and I've gotten mail on this issue from people recommending the Amiga. Although I don't have much $$ to spend, I do have both a Mac SE/30 with 8MB/80MB and a Mac SE with 2.5MB/20MB, and could sell either one or, if absolutely necessary and Mac emulation were available on the Amiga, both. Although I do like the Macs, for various reasons primarily having to do with the Apple boycott, I'd like to get away from doing free software development on the Mac. (That is why I don't simply get A/UX and use it on my SE/30.) I'm interested only in 68030-based machines, as powerful as possible -- though my 16MHz 68030 Mac is plenty fast for work under the Mac OS, I realize that an equivalent Amiga might be a bit sluggish running UNIX, so I'd like to get a 25MHz or above, perhaps with cache or a zero-wait-state (whatever that means) memory subsystem. What are the available high-end models? Although I've been told that the "fastest" Amiga is a model that is not the high-end but enhanced with an accelerator, I don't know how well this would work with Unix and such. I also know nothing about the availability of monitors on Amiga; is the architecture open enough to allow a variety of choices? Although color and gray-scale monitors can be lots of fun, I'd lean towards a solid monochrome display over anything fancy even if I were offered a choice without having to pay. If I saw a color monitor that did B&W as well as a given monochrome, however, I might be persuaded. What's the status of this kind of stuff on the Amiga? If I end up getting an Amiga, I might start writing some good, useful personal software on it for use under UNIX & X or perhaps even the Amiga OS, and releasing it as free software. That's why I'd like to find a "personable" machine (i.e. like a Mac in terms of accessibility and affordability) not sold by Apple -- so any efforts I expend making free software for it can benefit more users than if I get a Next, Sun, or whatever, since they're workstations with little need for personal software. I might end up doing primarily development software for a while, like Fortran and C compilers, however, so I'm not sure what is next, which is why I want it to run UNIX (aside from getting me through the remainder of gf77 development, if I get it in time for that). Anyone with good, definitive information on these topics, please email me or, if it's general enough, post a response. I don't know if it's wise for me to say I'll post a summary later -- my needs are probably rather unique, since I'm essentially self- employed, doing the gf77 work as a volunteer, and hence plan to work on my Amiga full-time (except for when I'm doing contracts, when I'd like to be able to bring my Amiga along as a front-end development machine with my home-grown environment on it -- as I've been successful doing with my SE/30 in the past). I.e. I'm not looking for an evening/weekend-hack machine only. (Although I enjoy playing games on computers, I no longer spend any significant time doing so, so I'm not really interested in the availability of game software. MIDI software, however, is critical -- I do have synths and use Pro 4 on my SE/30, and have some ideas for unique MIDI-related software to write for end-users that I'd like to pursue. I believe the Amiga is an excellent MIDI machine with lots of good software. If this belief is wrong, please correct me!) -- James Craig Burley, Software Craftsperson burley@ai.mit.edu