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Path: utzoo!watmath!looking!jan
From: jan@looking.UUCP (Jan Gray)
Newsgroups: net.micro.amiga,net.micro.atari
Subject: Reposting of comparison between Atari 520ST and Commodore Amiga
Message-ID: <343@looking.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 9-Sep-85 00:00:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: looking.343
Posted: Mon Sep  9 00:00:00 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 10-Sep-85 04:13:45 EDT
Organization: Looking Glass Software, Waterloo, Ont
Lines: 135
Xref: watmath net.micro.amiga:94 net.micro.atari:1098

By popular demand, this is a reposting of my comparison between
the Atari 520ST and the Amiga, as well as Eric L's added comments.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Here are some corrections to Jan Gray's Amiga/ST comparison. My
corrections look like TECO comments (!* xxx !)...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

		Atari 520ST			Commodore Amiga

processor	8 MHz 68000			8 Mhz 68000 !* 7.8Mhz !

RAM		512K				256K + 256K expansion board
						!* 8 Meg externally !

ROM		little (later, 192K?)		192K
		GEM may be available in ROMs
		sometime around August, for
		a $40 upgrade fee.

expansion	128K ROM cartridge slot, hard	256K RAM slot, full system bus
connectors	disk (DMA), floppy disk, modem	connector(!), floppy disk,modem
		(RS-232), printer (Centronics), (RS-232), printer (Centronics),
		monochrome/colour monitor,	stereo RCA audio plugs, RGB
		MIDI in and out, joystick and	monitor, TV/MOD? and NTSC video,
		mouse ports.			joystick and mouse ports.
						!* Connector for RF Mod !

graphics	640 X 400  monochrome		640 X 400  16 colours
resolution	640 X 200   4 colours		640 X 200  16 colours
		320 X 200  16 colours		320 X 400  32 colours
						320 X 200  32 colours
						(plus some ability to display
						 different resolutions on
						 different parts of screen)
 						!* Special 'hold and modify
						mode allows displaying all
						4096 colors at once. Sprites
						and 'blobs' (blitter objects)!

palette size	512 colours			4096 colours

fancy graphics	no?				bitblt in VLSI?
hardware					!* Yes, and sprites !

video outputs	monochrome, RGB			analog RGB, digital RGB, NTSC

sound hardware	GI sound chip (AY-8910?) Three	Who knows? Stereo sound
		voices, 30-20000 Hz, program-	generation, and some special
		mable waveform, envelope, and	functions in VLSI?
		filters.
						!* Custom VLSI, stero output.
						Four channels (multiple voices
						on each). Plus digital sampling
						capability. !

keyboard	part of unit; function keys,	detachable; function keys,
		numeric keypad, cursor keys,	numeric keypad, cursor keys
		HELP and UNDO keys(!)		!* Slides under main unit !

floppies	3.5" floppy, holds 350K (for-	3.5" floppy, holds 880K (for-
		matted), attached by expansion	matted?), built-in.  Expansion
		connector, more floppies daisy	connector for second drive.
		chained?			!* May daisy chain up to 3
						external floppies !

hard disk	15 Mbytes, $500?  Attaches	20 Mbytes (from Tecmar), $1000?
		to DMA and hard disk expansion	Attaches to system expansion
		connector (built-in).		bus.

IBM compat.	no				yes, via $500 Trump card
						!* Check that - IBM stuff
						is done in sofware. If you
						want a 5-1/4" drive, add
						~$300 !

OS		GEM and TOS (CPM/68K)		Intuition and AmigaDOS
		Similar to Mac Finder		Similar to Mac Finder?
						(multitasking!)
						!* Similiar only in that
						they both use windows and
						icons. Amiga option lets
						you use CLI, a Command Line
						Interface smiliar to MS-DOS.!

future		compact disk ROM (holds 500	Trump card ($500); digitizer;
peripherals	MBytes of data); 800K floppy;	"Genlock Interface" (merges
		cheap graphics printers 	video with screen images);
						frame grabber; MIDI interface;
						music keyboard; multifunction
						accessory card (2 Mbytes of
						RAM, serial port, printer port
						or Winchester interface, and
						power supply); Pitchwriter
						("sound grabber"?)

mass market	Atari 260STD			Doubtful.
versions					!* Maybe later next year, but
						Commodore will maintain a
						minimum 30% profit margin
						for dealers !

general		Real soon now.			Real soon now?
availability					!* Sept. 15 !

software	Real soon now.			Real soon now.
						!* Some packages available
						even now. At least 20 will
						be available on Sept 15 !

price		$800				$2000
		(Atari 520ST with high res.	(Commodore Amiga with 256K
		 monochrome monitor, mouse,	 of memory, built in 880K
		 and 350K floppy drive)		 floppy, and mouse ($1300),
						 plus 256K board ($200),
						 plus high resolution colour
						 monitor ($500).

>The Amiga, with all of its special function VLSIs, seems to be the
>better machine -- but is it worth 2.5X as much as the Atari 520ST?
>How badly do *you* want multitasking and spiffing graphics?

The Amiga is faster, more expandable has more built in and is
generally more powerfull by a large margin.

Eric

ARPA:	LAVITSKY@RUTGERS
UUCP:	...{harvard,seismo,ut-sally,sri-iu,ihnp4!packard}!topaz!eric
SNAIL:	16 Oak St., Flr 2
	New Brunswick, NJ  08903
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Jan Gray, soon to be jsgray@watrose.