Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!IRO.UMontreal.CA!kovic.IRO.UMontreal.CA.IRO.UMontreal.CA!martin From: martin@IRO.UMontreal.CA (Daniel Martin) Newsgroups: comp.multimedia Subject: Re: NeXT/Amiga Multimedia.. Keywords: Intersecting Arctangent Message-ID: <1991May22.015324.11494@IRO.UMontreal.CA> Date: 22 May 91 01:53:24 GMT References: <62084@masscomp.westford.ccur.com> <62085@masscomp.westford.ccur.com> Sender: news@IRO.UMontreal.CA Reply-To: martin@IRO.UMontreal.CA (Daniel Martin) Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Organization: Universite de Montreal Lines: 141 Relating to a series of articles from "Arctangent": >>> Organization: Amiga Network Information Systems Foreword - If you intent to give information on the Amiga over the Network, as your organisation name states, I hope you change your style, since IMHO you do more harm than good. > There are more than a few Ethernet cards for the A2000/3000 series. Theyre not > that hard to find... More than a few? Beside the card from Commodore (actually bought from Ameristar) which ones are you talking about? > Besides, CBM already has a VERY nice Unix-based Amiga, which stacks up rather > nicel when measured up to a Next. Have you ever work on NeXT? The 3000UX is a very nice home workstation (I have one at home). The NeXT is a very nice office workstation (I have one at my office). Wouldn't interchange them. Both are good machines, each in their own realm. I don't expect to use TAD on the NeXT (yet), but neither do I use FrameMaker on my Amiga (yet). The NeXT has interesting features: Interface Builder, display postscrip, object oriented everywhere, DSP and mike standards, Mach, high quality monitor etc. Just for those concepts, I would NeXT Inc. to survive. They really make the competition move... > Exactly. For instance.. Picked up a MacUser today with some news on System > 7.0... They were making a big shit out what they call IPC... Inter-process > communication, making the average idiot think that this is some kind of > technical innoovation available only to Mac users..Sheesh. > Amigas have been doing inter-process communcation since 1985. BIG DEAL.... > Even when I look back on what I reas about System 7 for the Mac, the Amiga > already has it all..Its like theyre doing a catch-up job. The point is that they are catching up. And they have a bigger userbase. And IMHO, better marketing. Normally, when the amiga has a working prototype of something, Apple "discover" it until IBM and Microsoft invent it! :-) > Well, Mark.. it IS true.. There are some "stunts" an Amiga can perform that a > NeXT, Mac OR IBM will NEVER be able to perform. > WHy? To enable each one of those machines to perform it, youde render it > incompatible with what was made before. I wouldn't use NEVER. I think an IBM 34010 based graphic card can easily do whatever copper-blitter operation I can think of right now on a 1024x1024 256 colors screen. Now with a nice midi module, you can do some pretty neat "intro". Of course you NEVER mentionned price... Now we can reverse your statement: there's quite a lot of things that those platforms have that the amiga does not support right now: video in a window, 24 bit RGB color (not NTSC, or composite), postscript display, 68040, virtual memory, etc. >Should send you a videotape of some good european demos. The simple fact is, >when it comes to the Amiga and audio/visual stuff, what we consider >commonplace, and even in some cased BORING, other users of other platforms >look at it and drool. The Amiga was BUILT to handle audio and video >simultaneously, ever since the beginning of the machine in 1985. And it shows. Those demo are quite impressive. Now people do work, you know. And they use BORING stuff like spreadsheets, word processors, mathematical tools, etc. (I.e. Wings, Lotus Improv, 4th Dimension, DBase, Mathematica, Words, FrameMaker, etc.) None of them available on AmigaDos (Some, like FrameMaker, can be used via X Windows). >And just to remind you, incase you may have forgotten. simultaneous audio and >video is what the multi in "multimedia" means. It now regroups also text, animation, graphics, and images. Simultaneous. > This is why the Amiga is the best choice.... Because you can do wild cool intros? I agree that the hardware WAS built to support sound and video, but "almost" no changes have been made in the basic functionnalities offered by the special chipset (number of colors, screen size, CHIPMEM speed limitations, etc.). It still gives you good performance price wise, but the market is catching up FAST. > over NeXT, and their barely-there-at-all software base Haven't we spoke of software yet? Frame and Mathematica work on NeXT computers. Those tools are used *heavily* in universities. I agree that they lack commercial softwares. It's like the amiga used to be, back in 1986. > the IBM in its cryptic, cold text interfaces and clogged up operating system. Agreed on the OS. But Windows have been invented :-) and that will give fuel for at least 5 other years of IBM PC's compatible monopole. They'll be supplanted by workstation and palmtop, not by other PC's. > The only viable solution under an Amiga is a Mac.. They have just begun to step into > multimedia, and even still, they cant multitask to any successful degree... > Even to get the effect you want, youre going to have to dish out a gigazillion > dollars to do it. Yup, but they just begun :-). As far as the multitasking issue goes, I'm hoping 7.0 will support preemptive multitasking. I find it really unproductive to work under a non-preemptive multitasking environment anymore. And they have HyperCard and Macromind Director. HyperCard is shipped with every MacIntosh, and is really a wonderfull prototyping tool. (AmigaVision did not fullfill our expectations.) >WHY BOTHER. The Amiga does it, has been doing it, and WILL CONTINUE to do it >well into the future.. The only problem is, is the public's lack of attention >for so called "cult" machines.. Conclusion: If you intent to give information on the Amiga on the Network, I hope you change your style and do a more research, since IMHO you do more harm than good for the Amiga. That's all folks, Daniel. P.S. All 'noise' should be redirected to comp.sys.amiga.advocacy. Please. -- // Daniel Martin Universite de Montreal \\ // MediaLab, ca vous regarde! C.P. 6128, Succursale A, \\ \\// Mail: martin@IRO.UMontreal.CA Montreal (Quebec), CANADA, \\// \/ Tel.: (514) 343-6111 poste 3494 H3C 3J7 \/