Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!cbmvax!daveh From: daveh@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (Dave Haynie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: The New IBM Wonder-Toys Message-ID: <1694@cbmvax.cbmvax.cbm.UUCP> Date: Mon, 20-Apr-87 12:30:28 EST Article-I.D.: cbmvax.1694 Posted: Mon Apr 20 12:30:28 1987 Date-Received: Tue, 21-Apr-87 01:05:34 EST References: <2004@hoptoad.uucp> Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA Lines: 55 in article <2004@hoptoad.uucp>, farren@hoptoad.uucp (Mike Farren) says: > Keywords: PC AT XT PS/2 barf aggh ugh > > In article <1177@spice.cs.cmu.edu> mjp@spice.cs.cmu.edu (Michael Portuesi) writes: >>The expansion bus is proprietary and is also auto-config, if I understood >>the saleslady correctly (she was glowing about how the auto-config >>"intelligence is distributed across the machine.") > > My understanding is that cards can now have a lot more intelligence, and the > resources will be there to support it. The expansion bus ("microchannel") is > evidently set up to allow for independent communications between cards at will, > without requiring data to be routed through the processor. This can be a BIG > advantage in terms of I/O speed if software allows for it. The larger machines are supposed to have the "micro-channel" bus, whatever that is, along with some kind of autoconfiguration scheme. Haven't seen any of the larger machines, though, as of now. We did get the Model 30 in house. The configuration is 1 3-1/2" floppy, one 3-1/2" hard disk (the hard disk uses an IBM-specific hard disk inferface, involving some large IBM custom controller chips), and one color monitor. The system cost something over $3000. There's no "micro-channel" bus on the Model 30, its a normal PC 62 pin bus. The unusual thing about it is that the 3 slots are available on a plug-in card, and everything mounts horizontally. Its possible that this plug-in 3-slot card could be replaced with something else, like a different bus or more slots (more slots would require a larger case). The video, while still driven by the processor (in this case an 8086) is good looking. The video circuitry consists of two gate arrays, 64K of video memory (shift register DRAM), and various glue chips. The only really interesting graphic mode is the 320x200x8, which of course gives you 256 simultaneous colors out of a palette of 256K? (they're using an INMOS color lookup table, I forget the exact size of this pallette). The video logic is doing scan doubling as well as the more common pixel doubling in this lo-res mode, so there aren't any signal differences between the low and high resolution modes. The high resolution modes allow a maximum of 16 colors (all video is based on that 64K of video RAM), so they're nothing different than Amiga hi-res modes, and of course, there's no blitter or copper to speed things up. > The ESDI interface used on the IBM is considerably quicker than the SCSI > the Mac uses. Even the 10 meg/sec of a SCSI drive is fast enough for me, if only our DOS would do something more efficiently with it. Someday... > Still an Amigan --- > ---------------- > "... if the church put in half the time on covetousness > Mike Farren that it does on lust, this would be a better world ..." > hoptoad!farren Garrison Keillor, "Lake Wobegon Days" -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga Usenet: {ihnp4|caip|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh "The A2000 Guy" BIX : hazy "These are the days of miracle and wonder" -P. Simon