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From: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita)
Subject: Re: Mac emulating Amiga
Message-ID: <1991Apr2.000456.26982@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
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Reply-To: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita)
Organization: Columbia University
References: <9104012131.AA03364@covax.co.iup.edu>
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 1991 00:04:56 GMT

In article <9104012131.AA03364@covax.co.iup.edu> student@COVAX.CO.IUP.EDU (student) writes:
>
>     Whoever seriously considers an Amiga emulator on a Mac likely knows
>very little about both the hardware and software of both systems.  The
>custom chips: How in the world will you emulate the blitter or copper
>at anything remotely approaching their speed?  The operating systems:
>The reason AMAX exists is the inherent simplicity of the Mac's OS.  The
>Amiga emulates the Mac; I don't think that could work vice-versa.

	The reason that AMax can emulate the Mac OS has nothing
to do with its perceived simplicity, but because it REQUIRES you
to somehow get the Mac OS on disk and load it before you BOOT!

>What about the Amiga's hardware multitasking?  How can the Mac properly
>emulate multitasking when it can't even do it right with its own OS?!

	Multitasking has NOTHING to do with hardware. The Mac and
Amiga both have the same CPU and that is the key. Although
programs that directly access the hardware, even legally, on the
Amiga will crash on a Mac->Amiga emulator, any programs which
legally call the system can have hardware access "emulated",
although I can't account for the speed.

>I could go on, but I'm not going to, since I just don't have the time
>to list the multitude of other problems.  The final word, in my opinion:
>An Amiga emulator on any PC would have to be the Amiga itself without
>a keyboard or RAM.
>
>Carlos
>Disclaimer: Don't bother.  You think I have the time?

	In order for it to be full-speed, yes it would need the
hardware. But I don't believe it is impossible with a
well-written emulator to achieve reasonable speed, at least on a
machine with a Motorola 680x0 processor.

BTW: people who know better than I (no ego trips please 8) please
correct any misconceptions. Is it possible to trap all attempts
to use the hardware, even direct access?

	-- Ethan

Q: How many Comp Sci majors does it take to change a lightbulb
A: None. It's a hardware problem.