Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Amiga/NeXt/Mac - don't forget the Archimedes
Message-ID: <22343@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 11 Jun 91 20:51:30 GMT
References: <954@mrcu>
Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 34

In article <954@mrcu> yc58@uk.co.gec-mrc (MRC Library) writes:
>Sender:Brian Debenham

>This newsgroup has been full of messages saying that the Amiga/NeXt/Mac is
>better than the NeXt/Mac/Amiga.  A machine that really ought not be forgotten
>is the Acorn Archimedes, which incidentally had a model A3000 before
>Commodore.

Actually, Commodore doesn't have an "A3000", though they do have an "Amiga
3000".  I imagine the Apollo 3000, which predates them both, is called the
A3000 in Apollo circles, too.

>They are built around Acorn's ARM processor (Acorn RISC machine), recently
>bought into by Apple, and use a non-preemptive multi-tasking operating
>system called RISCOS. They are *VERY* fast, especially with the ARM3
>processor fitted, which has a built-in cache. 

ARM chips (actually manufactured by LSI Logic, as I recall) are somewhat
interesting.  They're pretty cheap, which has pushed them to some extent into
the low end of the embedded RISCish controller market.  The small size of the
processor unit let them put lots of cache on the ARM3 (4K of unified cache, as
I recall, but it's been awhile).  The main problem with them, at present, is
their memory management.  You need one MMU per 4MB, with a maximum of four.
That's acceptible in the personal computer market, but not for workstations.

Acorn uses a number of standard, off the shelf PClone parts for them, like
floppy controller and (I think) video display, which helps keep the cost down
compared to an Amiga or Mac.  I never heard any details on expanison bus or
other real system hardware on these machines.

-- 
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests"
   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: hazy     BIX: hazy
	"This is my mistake.  Let me make it good." -R.E.M.