Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc Subject: Re: True Multitasking Message-ID: <18032@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 24 Jan 91 22:13:53 GMT References: <1991Jan11.075022.16943@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <1991Jan11.081137.17529@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <1991Jan18.055614.13889@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <1991Jan18.165311.18870@Neon.Stanford.EDU> Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 31 In article <1991Jan18.165311.18870@Neon.Stanford.EDU> torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan J Torrie) writes: >mykes@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Mike Schwartz) writes: > As a matter of interest, does Commodore sell their ROMs and custom >chips (Blitter, Copper) etc to anybody?? They have an OEM program which sells things like A500 motherboards. These wind up in strange places, like arcade video machines and similar devices. And of course ROMs are sold through normal dealer channels. The custom chips are available as upgrades, but not priced in such a way that you'd want to base a commercially available system (eg, AmigaClone) on them. With few exceptions, Commodore systems have traditionally been tied to hardware enough to make clones difficult, at least within a generation (an Amiga can kind of emulate a C64, but it would be difficult to build any C64 compatible for less than a real C64 and therefore compete). Apple has been virtually hardware independent (as long as you have a 680x0 based CPU or a software engine that does a reasonably fast 680x0 emulation), so they naturally have to keep tight controls on their ROMs, if they wish to prevent Mac clones. A SoftAmiga running on a Mac or other system would actually be a good advertisement for real Amigas, since the blitter, copper, and other hardware would be difficult to emulate in realtime in software. So you would probably find only rather generic programs ran well, assuming Intuition and Graphics were rewritten to be blitterless. >Evan Torrie. Stanford University, Class of 199? torrie@cs.stanford.edu -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy "What works for me might work for you" -Jimmy Buffett