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From: rjc@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell)
Subject: Re: Amiga OS *IS* state of the art, but the NeXT is better
Message-ID: <1991Apr3.093614.15967@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>
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References: <u76Ge_wf1@cs.psu.edu> <1991Apr3.082443.12888@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> <*68Gc&.f1@cs.psu.edu>
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Date: Wed, 3 Apr 91 09:36:14 GMT
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In article <*68Gc&.f1@cs.psu.edu> melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes:
>   >Great statement.  The big question is: "How much will they cost?" 
>     Well, GVP and Supra (small companies) have quoted prices at $895 list.
>   The Commodore card will probably be cheaper since Commodore can buy
>   040's and RAM in muchbigger quantities.
>
>I think the 040 itself normally costs around $700.  If you're right, a
>lot of Mac users will be jumping ship.

 Data Point: It is harder to add an 040 to a Mac than it is to an A3000. And
and damn near impossible to upgrade the NeXTStation since it has NO SLOTS.
Another point: Mac harder/softwaree is historically more expensive than
Amiga hardware.

>     NeXT owner's act like the no other computer will have an 040 at the same
>   price. I remember NeXT users saying 040 Ami boards would cost $2000.
>   The sad fact is, the headstart that the NeXT had with the 040 isn't going to
>   help. 040's will be availible for the Amiga and Mac this year.
>
>I'm sure that other companies will sell you an 040 machine for the
>same price as NeXT, but will they do it in 1991?
  Sure. Because other machines are expandible. Keep in mind, lots of
companies have already announced and developed 040 boards/computers. They
are merely waiting for Motorola to ship the chips.

>Keep in mind that the NeXT is more than an 040.  The Amiga still
>doesn't have virtual memory(even Macs have this) or memory protection.
>The Amiga is a nice machine, but the market is heating up and
>consumers educated enough to know the better machine by looking at
>spec. sheet.

 The Amiga has virtual memory/mmu protection if you purchase Unix for it
which IS availible. AT&T Sys V R4 with X windows and openlook.
S5R4 Unix incorperates everything BSD has and adds much more. There is
lots more software availible for X than there is for NeXTSTEP.

 The Mac doesn't have VM unless you count unreleased System 7. There is
another product called virtual that doesn't use an MMU but the only reason
this hack works is because Macs reference memory by double
dereferencing pointers. (They call it 'handles')

>-Mike
>
>


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|n|   rjc@albert.ai.mit.edu   Amiga, the computer for the creative mind.  |n|
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