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From: rjc@wookumz.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: (Video) Hardware Idiots ?
Message-ID: <1991Jun15.032812.15122@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>
Date: 15 Jun 91 03:28:12 GMT
References: <1991Jun10.103543.22097@news.iastate.edu> <1991Jun10.135715.23727@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> <1131@stewart.UUCP>
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In article <1131@stewart.UUCP> jerry@stewart.UUCP (Jerry Shekhel) writes:
>rjc@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Ray Cromwell) writes:
>>
>>No they are not hacks, they are clever optimizations. Marc, I'd hate
>>to see you EVER design a computer system. Your answer to every problem would
>>be brute force brute cost approach. A flicker-fixer is much cheaper
>>than redesigning the whole chipset for twice the speed. The flicker
>>fixer works, so what's your point? If something works and gets the
>>job done cheaper and quicker I call it brilliant.
>>
>
>The flicker fixer IS a total hack, not to mention the biggest ripoff in
>the history of computer hardware.  Just think: if you have an IBM you can
>get a VGA card that produces a 72Hz 1024x768 non-interlaced 256 color
>display (as well as a dozen other resolutions) for $175, and if you have
>an Amiga, it'll cost you $300 to "fix" your 640x400 screen.  What's wrong
>with this picture?

  You can't animate super-VGA like you can on the Amiga. I just love
how people support they're arguements in .advocacy with subtle
misinformation. $300 is the list price of the A2320 flickerfixer,
$175 is the street-price of VGA cards. Compare the real prices.
The A2320 can be purchased for around $220 now.

  What you don't understand is the difference of building off
an existing design (the custom chips) and starting from scratch.
The Amiga motherboard (chip bus) isn't fast enough for 1024x768x8
and a plug in replacement isn't going to fix that. Starting from
scratch will be expensive, take long, and be risky. What about those
millions of A500 users out there, are they all willing to send in their
computers for a motherboard swap or a $200 installation for a daughterboard?


>>
>>You wanna talk about SUPER KLUDGES, go bash Microsoft windows. It gets
>>the hall of fame kludge award for layering multitasking and GUI ontop of
>>MS-DOS. 2) place runner up is Multifinder/Switcher.
>>
>
>You know nothing about Windows or MultiFinder, so stop parading your
>ignorance.  Besides, MultiFinder works, so what's your point (I'm using
>your own logic here)?  If it gets the job done, it's brilliant, isn't it?
>That IS what you said, no?

  I get fed up with C= solutions being called hacks, and other companies'
solutions being called "innovation". Multifinder is no more a solution
that patching the C64 interupt vector to swap the PC's every few 
interupts. In fact, the C64 procedure would be preemptive.
Windows _IS_ a kludge solution. The problem should be fixed at the
source, a totally new operating system for PC's that replaces
BIOS. Unfortunately, this kills backwards compatibility just like
replacing the Amiga's chip set with a totally new one.


--
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