Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!sdd.hp.com!wuarchive!ukma!lunatix!jmay From: jmay@lunatix.uucp (Jimmie Mayfield) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Amiga is better then what??? Summary: Please include facts/figures... Keywords: just the facts, figures Message-ID: <1991Jun26.225604.6514@lunatix.uucp> Date: 26 Jun 91 22:56:04 GMT References: <677913506.0@therip.FidoNet> Sender: lunatix!jmay@ms.uky.edu (J. Mayfield) Organization: Lexington Public Access Unix Lines: 94 I generally try to stay away from computer wars regardless of the platforms involved so I'll be brief. In article <677913506.0@therip.FidoNet> Rod.Fulk@f24.n228.z1.FidoNet.Org (Rod Fulk) writes: >However there is a 24bit card available for $800 with a coprocessor of some >sort for really good graphics... There are 24bit cards for the A500 that run as low as $400 list. Granted these don't include racy processors such as i860s or anything but they offer good displays for a good price (you can even choose between RGB or composite (in case you're a video professional) ). >Adding things to the ST come alot cheaper over all then on the amiga and the >standard equipment atari sells is of better quality on average. How about some supporting for this? >Compare.... >An Ste with tos 1.6 and blitter performs pretty well... >Compared to an Amiga 500 the amiga only has a slight edge over the Atari.. Again, please support your assertions with benchmarks, etc. otherwise they're ineffective as arguments. I'm not an Atari expert so I'd like to see some numbers. >Compare OS's... The St is built with a much more complete OS then ANY of the >amiga OS's.. (The 2.0 doesnt really count at this point since last time I >looked it was not available on amiga 500's yet) From what little I've read in this newsgroup, there seem to be more than a few people who think that TOS should be trashed (and, of course, some people who think that TOS still has merits). I'm curious how friendly the ST's OS is to program. Is it library-based or something else. From a programmer's POV, the Amiga's libraries make programming even an enjoyable process :-) >It is easy to use HD floppies on an ST.. I have yet to see on on an amiga... I agree with you on this point. Thus far, Amiga HD floppies aren't compat. with the 1.4 meg standard (to my knowledge). >Comparing an ST to an Amiga at purely CPU intensive things the Amiga can not >be compared very favorably. How so? Again, benchmarks and the like please. >ALL the memory can be used in an ST as compared to the amigas limitation of >chip memory... This only applies to applications which utilize the custom chips. This has currently been increased to 2 MB though there are ways around the limitation. >You must waste memory on >an amiga to do double buffered graphics and digital sound at the same time.) Exactly how does the Amiga waste memory doing this? >The sound systems are for the most part the same.. Differences can be over >come by the speed of the processor. If you REALLY push it the amiga can do a ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Which _should_ be considered an important factor. If I offered an engineer two systems identical systems (note that I am not implying that the ST and Amiga are identical...) with the exception of processor speed, one may assume that the engineer will choose the faster of the two. >few things better in the graphics arena though.. Over all though you have no >bussiness stating the ST is no where as good as the amiga.. It is not true.. I have made no such claim. However, I have found no facts which state that the ST is the better of the two. >(Multi tasking doesnt make a better machine but since most people dont realize >they are not gonna need it they think they need it and might lewt it make some >sort of an effect on them..) I suppose the trend towards multitasking operating systems is bogus then? Now I'm not going to say that "I'm running a WP, this terminal program, and am archiving a big program while I type this" because I'm not :-) BUT, I do have a virus checker running in the background, and I have the aformentioned multitasking that the OS does on its own going on as I type this. Question: when you load a program from disk, does the rest of the system come to a halt? I don't know the ST that well but I will vouch that this doesn't happen on the Ami. > > > * Origin: The R.I.P. (616)235-2313 [HST] (1:228/24) Jimmie -- Jimmie Mayfield - TRA# 1226 UUCP: lunatix!jmay@ms.uky.edu BitNet: S0E3@TRANSY #include "Climbin' the Walls"