Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!lll-lcc!well!ewhac From: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Amiga good for hacking?? Message-ID: <2719@well.UUCP> Date: Sat, 7-Mar-87 04:02:28 EST Article-I.D.: well.2719 Posted: Sat Mar 7 04:02:28 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 8-Mar-87 13:33:58 EST Reply-To: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) Distribution: world Organization: Whole Earth Lectroinic Link, Sausalito, CA Lines: 77 In-Reply-To: <1055@cad.cs.cmu.edu> [ Ok, smarty pants, what's the capital of Mesopotamia? ] I tried mailing this, but more often than not, anything I try to mail off this site fails miserably. My apologies to the net.police. -----------------Original un-sent message follows--------------- In article <1055@cad.cs.cmu.edu> you write: > >[eat this, line-eater: << >I don't want to start any great arguments here, but: > Which is why I'm mailing you.... >I've been thinking of dumping my big blue and getting an Amiga. Good for you. >Basically, my reasons are that there's really no interesting hacking >that I can do on my IBM, and all I use it for is dialing up. I have >heard conflicting reports on the Amiga's hackibility, does anyone have >comments, either good or bad? Is it nice to hack on, and if so, why? >Is it really nasty to hack on, and if so why? > Yes, it is a Real Hacker's machine. Allow me to attempt to qualify this statement. There are three little custom chips inside with several dozen registers that can be fiddled with. There is a co-processor that can be programmed to reload any of the custom chip registers on a video frame-by- frame or line-by-line basis. However, direct hardware tromping is not a nice thing to do under the Amiga's multitasking OS. The OS has been written to help arbitrate the resources to competing tasks. The OS design is very clean, efficient, and easy to use (for me). Note that, in speaking of the OS, I am seperating the Exec from the DOS. The Exec is the underlying and true core of the Amiga OS, and it's wonderful. The DOS was written in England by MetaComCo, and sucks rocks. But you can usually code around the DOS, and there is fame and fortune to be made in this area. Note that there is a VERY STEEP learning curve on the Amiga, and it will take you about four months of hacking before you begin to see the global picture. It will also change your way of thinking about the way computers should be designed and programmed. The system will also make you a better programmer, by forcing you to write paranoid code that checks to make sure that you really did get the resource you asked for, and that you free all the resources you allocated (no resource tracking in the Amiga). I think the rewards far outweigh the drawbacks, and am pleased that Yet Another Hacker is turning to the Amiga for its hackability. I think it's the most hackable machine to come out since the old S-100 systems of the late 70's, and has the same kind of wonderful feel to it. This is all my subjective reaction. I strongly suggest you play with an Amiga for a while before buying one. And you'll also have to get used to seeing Guru Meditation Numbers when developing code. Also, get the MANX compiler. Lattice is cheaper, and that's because it's crud. MANX also comes with an assembler, Lattice doesn't. Oh well, hope this helps. >Thanks muchly! > You're very welcome. _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ ________ ___ Leo L. Schwab \ /___--__ The Guy in The Cape ___ ___ /\ ---##\ ihnp4!ptsfa!well!ewhac / X \_____ | __ _---)) ..or.. / /_\-- -----+==____\ // \ _ well ---\ ___ ( o---+------------------O/ \/ \ dual ----> !unicom!ewhac \ / ___ \_ (`o ) hplabs -/ ("AE-wack") ____ \___/ \_/ Recumbent Bikes: "Work FOR? I don't work FOR The _O_n_l_y Way To Fly! anybody! I'm just having fun."