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From: rjc@pogo.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: AMIGA
Message-ID: <1991Jan15.024807.25384@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>
Date: 15 Jan 91 02:48:07 GMT
References: <1991Jan10.194127.20625@rice.edu> <17564@cbmvax.commodore.com> <1991Jan15.015644.24380@rice.edu>
Sender: daemon@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu (Lucifer Maleficius)
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In article <1991Jan15.015644.24380@rice.edu> jsd@pygmy.rice.edu (Shawn Joel Dube) writes:
>In article <17564@cbmvax.commodore.com>, daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) writes:
>|> In article <1991Jan10.194127.20625@rice.edu> jsd@spotted.rice.edu (Shawn Joel Dube) writes:
>|> 
>|> >|> The DSP in the NeXT is SLOW, and integer only. 
>|> 
>|> Well, it's actually 24 bit fixed point.  Still, that limits its usefulness
>|> tremendously.
>|> 
   Opps. Thats what I meant. I usually think of fixed-point as integer
math because it always seems that way to me.

>Correct me if I'm wrong but the DSP on the NeXT is much more usefull than 
>not having one at all.  

  If would be useful if the NeXT actually used it effectively, and shared it.
Wouldn't it be nice if NeXT software could be compiled to multiprocess with
the DSP and the 68040? Wouldn't it be nice if someone implemented a software
version of the Discrete Cosine Transform so all NeXT users could have
JPEG compression instead of just NeXTDimension?

>|> Workstations just about require these days is at least 1.5-2 MFLOPS or better.
>
>I guess you haven't seen the stats on the 040.  It does 2 MFLOPS at 25 MHz.

  MIPS and MFLOPS are pretty much meaningless as benchmarks. I've heard
motorola quotes of 25mips and 3 mflops on a 68040, this was 1 year ago.
It has yet to be seen.

>
>PS:  One of my Amiga friends (doubt@owlnet.rice.edu) suggested that I say 
>     something nice about the Amiga before I get labled as another 
>     Dan Beinstien (SP?).  So here it is:  The Amiga makes a great game machine.

 Maybe I should reciprocate?
 The NeXT makes a great...umm..uh..I dunno, it really has no market, I guess
its a great Unix Workstation, but I'll hold off on that until I see
the next generation of Sparc Machines.

 I seriously doubt you were being sincere in saying something nice. Everyone
knows the 'game machine' image is something Amiga has been trying to get
rid of for years. Its more of an insult. The Amiga does have great games,
but that's not all it is, clearly its one of the best multimedia machines
around, and has enjoyed a great hardware architecture for years, before the
NeXT was even dreamed of.

 When 68040 boards are released for the Amiga soon, what will be your
arguement then? The DSP? What if the 68040 board contains a 96001/2 DSP
(surpassing the NeXT) Then what?

  I think comparing machines with faster cpu clocks/newer processors is
dumb. Just as soon as 040s ship, 040 cards will be out for the Amiga, so
for now, how about comparing the NeXT/030 to the Amiga3000? Or how
about ending this thread. If you don't want to buy an Amiga, you can
always by a NeXT. Hanging around in Amiga constantly bombarding
Amiga users with comparisions presents a negative image to potential
buyers Try bugging the IBM groups, or the Sun/Sparc groups and see what
they think of Sun Sparc vs NeXT.


>
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>r    /__     | \           You thought that was a flame???   r
>r   ___/hawn |__\ube       That was just the pilot light!!   r
>r  jsd@owlnet.rice.edu                                       r
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