Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!husc6!seismo!uunet!steinmetz!vdsvax!barnett
From: barnett@vdsvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Amiga: Which replacment OS?/UN*X ??
Message-ID: <1771@vdsvax.steinmetz.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 12-Jun-87 17:17:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: vdsvax.1771
Posted: Fri Jun 12 17:17:19 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 16-Jun-87 01:13:53 EDT
References: <600@gryphon.CTS.COM> <1705@vdsvax.steinmetz.UUCP> <3862@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: barnett@ge-crd.arpa (Bruce G Barnett)
Organization: General Electric CRD, Schenectady, NY
Lines: 86

In article <3862@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer) writes:
>In article <1705@vdsvax.steinmetz.UUCP> I  (Bruce G Barnett) wrote:
><	The A2000 is a 16 bit machine that can support a 32 bit
><CPU card. If I buy a home computer, I would like to have
><a system that can be used for 5 - 10 years (sounds foolish - doesn't it :-).
>
>Yeah, it sounds foolish. Anything you buy now will be in the "toy"
>class four years from now. Including the Mac ][.

Let me clarify why I raised this point, and possible head of the noise
level.

Commodore: I would like the next Amiga to have a better path towards
future systems.

My foolish assumption is: it is cheaper to exchange one board than
exchange a complete system. A Mac II can be upgraded because better
video boards can be added, faster processors can be added, disk
controllers, etc. The expensive part is upgrading to a new system, and
finding out all of your old boards won't fit.

Let's look at the limiting factor: the bus. You can only go so far
with 16 bits. We are now hearing the last gasps of the 16 bit
machines. (I don't think the PC users know this yet :-).

Now if I had a backplane that really supported 32 bits of address and
data, (fill in the good buzzwords of bus architecture), and a low
initial entry Amiga, I would buy one, and, as I save up my bucks, add

	More memory
	hard disk
	More memory
	Faster CPU
	MMU
	UNIX (please - no flames)
	More memory
	Bigger video
	more Disk
	More goodies
	tape system
	Faster disk
	more memory
	.etc

Now suppose I bought an A2000. What is the upgrade policy? 

Well, there isn't one now. We could GUESS. But nothing is sure.

Suppose I want to buy a A3000. What do I do with my old boards?
Adapter cards? An extra chassis? Using the A2000 chassis as an
expansion box? I shudder to think of THAT!

How much would it cost me to convert all of my memory, and peripherals
over to a new backplane? What? you need four backplanes on the Amiga
3000? for AT's, Zorro, IBM's PS/2 and the next Amiga bus?

Maybe the next Amiga should have the new IBM PS/2 bus.

Or the NUbus. VME? 

> I plan on buying a
>new machine in the $3 to $5K price range every four years, and
>probably haveing to start from scratch on software. 


I don't plan to have the fastest CPU on the block. I would wait until
the prices drop on the peripherals. 80Megs for $400 - yeah! that's the
ticket!

><I can only afford a major purchase in computing power ONCE.
>
>Once, ever? You mean when NeXT starts on their third-generation
>machine, you expect to be using a machine you bought in the next 6
>month or so? Or do you mean "only at infrequent intervals?" The two
>make a *lot* of difference.

yeah, I guess I wasn't thinking about 10 years later. I suppose
I could buy something then - a 64 bit CPU!! :-) maybe I ought to wait
for a 64 bit bus :-) :-) :-) :-).


-- 
Bruce G. Barnett  (barnett@ge-crd.ARPA) (barnett@steinmetz.UUCP)
-- 
"The difference between a Buddha and an ordinary man is that one knows
the difference and the other does not."