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From: grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: CBM and upgrade paths ( My two cents ).
Message-ID: <2786@cbmvax.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 15-Nov-87 09:17:25 EST
Article-I.D.: cbmvax.2786
Posted: Sun Nov 15 09:17:25 1987
Date-Received: Mon, 16-Nov-87 05:40:55 EST
References: <8711040542.AA29099@violet.berkeley.edu> <2696@cbmvax.UUCP> <685@louie.udel.EDU> <1061@sugar.UUCP>
Reply-To: grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins)
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 74

In article <1061@sugar.UUCP> peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes:
> This is all true. However, the 1000 is a fine machine in its own right.
> The 500 and the 2000 would not exist if it hadn't preceded them, and it's
> 100% software compatible with them. Remember the last time you saw a
> claim of 100% software compatibility and had it justified? I don't.

Note that we have never claimed 100% software compatibility.  The machines
are highly compatible, but a clever, careless or demented programmer is sure
to find ways to break things, or worse try to figure out which system they
are runing on.

> >    C= inherited a neat machine with some serious design problems.
> 
> C= did more than inherit it. A lot of the design did originate at C=. I
> believe they can take credit for the large amount of RAM built in (Jay
> Miner wanted less) and the operating system. If it wasn't for the O/S,
> I wouldn't own the machine.

This might be misleading.  CBM wasn't directly involved in much of the design
process, however CBM managment representatives may have exerted considerable
influence in some areas.  CBM also provided a moderate amount of support when
Amiga was short on people resources, especially in the peripheral and the
software areas.

I believe there were a number of intersting points of contention between the
Amiga folks and CBM managment, but I am not familiar enought with the details
to venture a listing.  Maybe Neil could give a little overall perspective.
 
Project Breakdown (engineering only, management and support omitted):

Amiga Chips, Design and Implementation	- LG
Amiga Chips, Fabrication and Testing	- MOS
Amiga Design and Prototypes		- LG
A1000 Production			- CJL/Sanyo
A1000 Multi-layer board			- CJL (combined mainboard and tower)
A1000 Cost Reduced			- LG/CJL (too little, too late)
Amiga Modem				- WC
Answer Mate				- WC (rip)
Genlock					- WC/LG/WC/LG/WC... (it took a while)
Amiga Live				- A2/LG/WC (returned to A2)
A1000 Zorro Expansion prototype		- LG (copied by a few)
Hard Disk Controller			- WC (licensed to byte-by-byte)
GargantuRam				- LG (licensed to byte-by-byte)
Software				- LG + bodies from WC
Sidecar					- BSW
A2000 (Los Gatos prototype)		- LG
A2500 (european A2000)			- BSW
Bridgecard				- BSW
Bridgecard chips			- BSW/WC
A2000 expansion cards			- WC
B2000 (US A2000)			- WC
A500					- WC
Fat Agnus and other A500/A200 chips	- WC/LG
A500/A2000 Production			- CETL/HK/WC/BSW
[current non-released projects omitted]

The following "important" projects were among the many that were
canceled or never completed while the Amiga was kept going:

C900 Commodore Unix PC			- WC (prototypes done by BSW)
Commodore LCD Portable			- WC
C128 Hard Drive				- WC

LG - Los Gatos, WC - West Chester, BSW - Braunschweig, MOS - MOS Technology,
CETL - Commodore Taiwan, HK - Commodore Hong Kong, CJL - Commodore Japan

I've probably ommitted a number of important items, but I think this shows
the trend - Amiga creation and Design by Los Gatos; Production, Peripherals
and followup products a world-wide Commodore commitment.

-- 
George Robbins - now working for,	uucp: {ihnp4|rutgers|allegra}!cbmvax!grr
but no way officially representing	arpa: out to lunch...
Commodore, Engineering Department	fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)