Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!ucsd!sdcc6!sdcc13!dlou From: dlou@sdcc13.ucsd.edu (Dennis Lou) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: Amiga Custom Chips - why hasn't C= made them faster? Message-ID: <17979@sdcc6.ucsd.edu> Date: 4 Apr 91 09:38:35 GMT References: <1991Apr2.235710.13984@news.iastate.edu> <1991Apr3.130218.25163@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> Sender: news@sdcc6.ucsd.edu Organization: University of California, San Diego Lines: 36 In article <1991Apr3.130218.25163@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> rjc@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell) writes: > The Amiga is mainly a 16bit machine except for the A3000, so what about all >those other models out there? The majority of the machines are >A500s. Redesigning the custom chips means breaking most of all the software >out there. It also means abandoning the low-end machines. Do we really >want to do that? Now let's consider this question Marc. Why hasn't MS-DOS Is abandoning the low end machines really that bad? In the MS-DOS world, the 8088 is virtually being dropped. Most of the software that is on the market is designed for only the 80286/i386 and those that aren't have weak concessions to the 8088. I suspect that a lot of this is due to 80286/i386 prices dropping like rocks; 386sx systems are approaching the price of a comparably equpped A2000. >been significantly improved? The answer is, because of its design >limitations any 'quantum leap' or major improvements will break >BILLIONS of dollars of software. The Amiga, by design, uses a shared memory Again, the MS-DOS world, you break it slowly. > You see Marc, you fail to consider the big picture and how hard these >problems are to solve. Throwing money at them doesn't help. The IBM Market >beeen trying to solve the MS-DOS problem for years throwing more R&D >(total market wise) than Commodore's total net worth. Do you think >if we invested 100 billion dollars in AIDS research we could cure it in a >month? Throwing money at MS-DOS is not the same as throwing money at AIDS research. You throw money at R&D for MS-DOS for the purpose of advancing the state of the art and for making more money. You throw money at AIDS research to solve a specific problem. -- Dennis Lou | dlou@ucsd.edu | "But Yossarian, what if everyone thought that way?" [backbone]!ucsd!dlou | "Then I'd be crazy to think any other way!"