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From: bakken@tahoma.UUCP (Dave Bakken)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Some thoughts and questions about the Ranger
Message-ID: <140@tahoma.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 3-Mar-87 15:19:16 EST
Article-I.D.: tahoma.140
Posted: Tue Mar  3 15:19:16 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 7-Mar-87 05:38:44 EST
Organization: Boeing Commercial Airplane Co., Seattle, WA
Lines: 98
Keywords: A2500, Ranger, X-Windows, Unix


[ line eater food  ]


Some thoughts and a few questions about the elusive A2500 Ranger, which seems to
be out of the picture until at least fall:

1)  Please give us a Ranger, not just expecting us to buy an A2000 and
    upgrade to the 68020.  See items 3, 4, and 6.

2)  Please give us X-Windows, Version 11, in addition to the current window
    system.  X-11 is in beta now (or real soon) and is supposed to hit the 
    streets by fall. I really like the windows now, better than the windows
    from workstations A,M, and S.  But X-11 would give the A2500 users
    a host of public domain programs that will likely be circulating
    within 6-12 months.  And it would make it easy for vendors to
    port sophisticated applications to the A2500 that probably would not get
    ported if it were not that easy.  CAD and CAE programs, especially circut
    schematic capture, simulation, and PCB layout seem likely
    candidates.  


3)  Please give us a 19" monitor and at least 700x1000 resolution.
    I have worked on 19" workstations tubes from 2 different vendors, and
    then gone home to my 13" Amiga, and the extra room sure makes a difference.
    With 13" screens you can really see one page of information at once, where 
    with 19" you can see most of 2 1/2 pages.

    I think the cost of bigger tubes  will go down soon.  I saw a flood of
    20" monitors for $450-$500 on sale this January, and a 27" (Sony?) for $600
    (unfortunately, none had RBG - I checked at least 6 of them).  Sony seems 
    enlightened on this, at least if you look at their KV1311CR, so perhaps they
    will have out a larger monitor with RGB out by fall.  Does anyone know how 
    much more it costs a manufacturer to make a monitore with analog RGB than 
    with NTSC?


4)  Please give us Unix with the Korn shell.  And please give us a full Unix,
    not selling make or other utilities separately.


5)  Thank heavens the A2000's planned 68020 upgrade includes an MMU, 
    according to BYTE and COMPUTE.  That means our Ranger will have to, also.
    Has anyone heard when this upgrade should hit the streets (maybe we may
    hear after C-A announces the A2000 or units ship in volume).  Given how
    quickly the A2000 followed the Sidecar, I think it is not unreasonable to
    assume the Ranger announcement will follow fairly quickly after the shipment
    of that upgrade.



6)  CA seems to doubt whether there is a market for a $2500-$3000
    super-PC.  Certainly marketing realities rather than the dreams
    of comp.sys.amiga subscribers (this one included)  must dictate many of
    the details of the machine, but I think they are underestimating the market.
    Look at how many business types and even home users paid $3000-$5000 for XT
    or AT systems when they first came out.  When they see how much they can get
    done on the A2500 with  the horsepower, large and elegant windows, and IBM 
    compatibility and slots (which seems to be a given), I think a lot may jump.
    (Perhaps I should say *IF* they see this, because CA advertising types seem
    to like chiq BW pictures of schoolchildren or pictures of King Tut rather 
    than showing off the multitasking and elegent windowing interface, which
    set it apart from all other PCs.  The machine sells itself, given half
    a chance).   And there are a lot of companies that would like to give each 
    technical type a workstation on his/her desk but are too cheap or lack the 
    insight to pay $10K-$15K per desk.  Me thinks a lot of these may jump, too,
    especially with Unix and X-11.


7)  8 sound channels would be very nice.


8)  An SCSI port built in would be nice, too, and a strong selling point.


9)  Finally, a question.  Could the OS provide a convention for a program
    to detect which Amiga model it was running on so it could fully exploit
    its features.  Otherwise, programs might be written to the lowest
    common denominator (A500) and not take advantage of the 2500.   For
    example, if the A2500 had 8 sound channels a software vendor might have
    to have an A2500 version of his music program or only use 4 channels.



Comments are welcome - I hope this stimulates some discussion about what
features are desirable and feasible for the Ranger.  C-A, how about a
comment on 7-9?



Dave Bakken
Boeing Commercial Airplane Company
Flight Simulation Lab
uw-beaver!ssc-vax!shuksan!tahoma!bakken
(206) 237-5890

My views are my own, not my employer's.  Don't let them deter you from
buying the 747 you've been saving hard for.