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From: dah@zoot.avgrp.cr.rok.com (Dave Haverkamp)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: A3500 ??
Message-ID: <1991Jan24.192933.11944@zoot.avgrp.cr.rok.com>
Date: 24 Jan 91 19:29:33 GMT
References: <7100@crash.cts.com>
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Distribution: comp.sys.amiga
Organization: Rockwell International; Cedar Rapids, IA
Lines: 68

In article <7100@crash.cts.com> seanc@pro-party.cts.com (Sean Cunningham) writes:
>In-Reply-To: message from tron1@tronsbox.xei.com
>
[ Stuff deleted...]
> 
>Here's my wishlist for future Amigas:
> 
>        1.) Of course equip it with the latest and greatest in Motorola
>            chip, but build on the CPU slot idea.  Ship the machine w/o
>            a CPU on the motherboard, just upgrade through a fast slot.
> 
>        2.) Finish and release an rtg.library, before the developers 
>            get together and create their own "committee" standard (as
>            they may be doing now in Europe)...this will save some face.
>            But be sure to get developer input on what they'd like to see.
> 
>        3.) A 3D standard.  We already have Amigas that can wax an IRIS in
>            integer and floating point, but they have nifty 3D accelerators
>            that still let them do shaded renderings interactively.  

All of these sound pretty resonable to me.
> 
>        4.) High-speed EtherNet on the motherboard.
Yuck!  Stick us with only one network option,  realisticly some people don't
even want to pay for having networking on the motherboard.  It makes things
cost more too.  I would rather vote for C= to give us more networking options.
What about a Token-Ring board?  How about the 20 Mbit ARCNET?  FDDI?
Some very good arguments can be made for each of these network options.
    Token-Ring -- Would allow hooking into IBM and possibly Apollo Rings.
    20Mbit ARCNET -- Will work with the current 2.5 Mbit ARCNET.  C= needs
            to get more PC network vendors besides Novell to support the
            Amiga. ( Banyan, 3COM would be good choices. )
    FDDI -- The wave of the future... Everyone wants a high speed network.
           Some College Campus networks are FDDI, and a few large companies
           are either installing or looking at FDDI.

FYI - Current ARCNET supports 255 nodes, many of our ARCNETs have 200+ nodes
  on them. 20 MBit ARCNET supports 2048(?) nodes and is compatible with
  existing 2.5 MBit ARCNET.  Our Token-Ring network is also in the 200+ range.
  For people with large networks it is much better to use a token passing
  network because then each node has a guaranteed chance to access and pass
  data on the network.  Granted some people put large numbers of nodes on
  Ethernet... But sooner or later, they break it into segments with bridges
  or routers.  :-)

> 
>        5.) Sound input, both line level stereo and microphone miniplug.
> 
     I would rather see C= offer a sound digitizer as an add on.  Or just
let things as they are.  Once C= puts something on the motherboard, it
discourages developers from making same piece of hardware.  Then everyone
is forced to wait on C= to upgrade system, and C= is forced to maintain
compatibility with previous chips.

>...I'd also like to see C= publish a minimum styleguide for developers to
>follow.  Not as strict as Apple's, but something that Ami developers could
>build on while maintaining some consistency across applications.
> 
   Very, good suggestion.  C= needs to take an active role in establishing
standards for the Amiga.  That way developers will be compatible with 
each other to some degree.  Users always benefit when there is a low learning
curve for some new software package.  Plus, it would be nice to think you
can continue purchasing Brand-X software to run on Brand-Y hardware.
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
David A. Haverkamp                    Collins Commercial Avionics Division
                                      Rockwell International   MS 124-211
INTERNET: dah@zoot.avgrp.cr.rok.com   Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52498