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From: mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: CBM and upgrade paths ( My two cents ).
Message-ID: <5937@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Tue, 17-Nov-87 00:39:07 EST
Article-I.D.: jade.5937
Posted: Tue Nov 17 00:39:07 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Nov-87 05:38:35 EST
References: <5883@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> <2759@cbmvax.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@jade.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer)
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In article <2759@cbmvax.UUCP> daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) writes:
<in article <5883@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>, mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer) says:
<> Which, so I've been told, will have *yet another* bus. Maybe compatable
<> with Zorro ][, maybe not.
<
<The bus has NEVER changed, only the form-factor.

Except for a few minor lines, and the name. Or was I hallucinating
when I saw a claim that processor cards that worked in Zorro I
wouldn't work in Zorro ][.

<At least you can speak
<accurately, I know you're intelligent enough to perform such a feat.

You should take your own advice.

<And
<no one will have any reason to complain if we introduce a 32 bit buss that
<still runs 16 bit cards.  Unless you can get your mindset convoluted enough
<to get angry about the fact that 32 bit cards would run faster than 16 bit
<cards, so we're "forcing" folks to upgrade to 32 bit.

Nope - a 32/16 bit bus would be doing it right, as opposed to the
Zorro I/Zorro ][ change. From what I've seen of the CBM people here,
I'm certain they can design such a thing - all it takes is a modicum
of intelligence. Whether CBM would actually *market* something like
that is another question entirely. But they might surprise me.

<> To quote a Go master: "If that's the best way you can live, then you
<> might as well drop dead." 
<
<Which Go master?  I'd rather hear from Zen masters, as what they say
<applies to any case.

If you really want to know which Go master, send mail. And Go, like
Zen, applies in almost any situation. Why do you think Japanese
corporations spend hundreds of dollars/hour to teach their top
executives how to play Go?

<But regardless of the validity of the application,
<such an appication can very easily be pointless.  Such as the current 
<case.  If I don't survive this generation, I can't progress to the next
<one.  This principal is also applicable to all cases, and is far older and
<more universal than anything Go masters or Zen masters have considered in 
<the paultry several thousand years they've existed.

There are cases where *not* surviving to the next generation is better
than what has to happen to survive. I don't think that's what happened
here; I think CBM has found a path that would have been better not
taken.

<> All I did was describe the Zorro I -> Zorro ][
<> change. I carefully pointed out that the cards would work in either
<> bus, but if you put it in the wrong one, you'd have to run with the
<> cover off. Since these people normally deal with serious machines,
<> that was quite sufficient.
<
<NO!  These people don't normally deal with serious machines.  The large
<majority of the world as we know it doesn't deal with serious machines.

No, the people I spoke to *do* deal with serious machines. The large
majority of the population doesn't - they deal with toys. I thought
CBM was selling serious machines. I was mistaken.

<> You think I don't know this? Be careful not to confuse *acting*
<> irrational with *being* irrational. There are ratoinal reasons to act
<> irrationally.
<
<Let's not drag Ayn Rand into this... 

I wasn't - I was draggin Norse mythology into it. Not the same thing
at all. Though Ayn Rand might well apply in this case.

<> I dunno - with luck, the next time around, you'll bloody well have an
<> upgrade path. If I've convinced even *one* person that this is a good
<> idea, then it was worth it.
<
<Naa.  Maybe we'll be like Apple, and charge $800 for a 360K memory upgrade.
<Or be like everyone else, and offer no upgrade at all.  AND DON'T START 
<BRINGING UP MINICOMPUTERS AGAIN!

I won't - I'll point out that my previous system was a micro, was over
four years old, could use more memory than an Amiga, had options for
better graphics than the Amiga, and started out life as a z80 box. It also
still had hardware and software coming out for it, even though the
original manufacturer had switched from doing systems to doing
high-dollar color graphics terminals.

Minicomputer companies aren't the only ones who believe that computers
should be upgradeable - they're just the ones most mentioned on USENet.

<At $2000 for an Amiga, I've got no place EXPECTING an upgrade.

No, but you ought to be able to expect an upgrade *path* that's not as
hard on your hardware as changing computers completely. The two aren't
the same thing at all.

	<mike
--
And then up spoke his own dear wife,			Mike Meyer
Never heard to speak so free.				mwm@berkeley.edu
"I'd rather a kiss from dead Matty's lips,		ucbvax!mwm
Than you or your finery."				mwm@ucbjade.BITNET