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From: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: CBM and upgrade paths
Message-ID: <4410@well.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 9-Nov-87 05:24:59 EST
Article-I.D.: well.4410
Posted: Mon Nov  9 05:24:59 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 11-Nov-87 06:15:54 EST
References: <8711040542.AA29099@violet.berkeley.edu> <2696@cbmvax.UUCP> <5807@jade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Reply-To: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Organization: Lorimar Telepictures
Lines: 130

[ My turn: ]

	I bought an Amiga 1000 in October 1985.

	I like it.

	I'm keeping it.

	So there.

	PTHPTHPBBBPTBTHTBTPTPTTT!!!!!!!

	Perry Kivolowitz:  Request feasability study on bringing a Zorro
slot outside the 2000 (via ribbon cable or somesuch) to allow plugging in
of old SOTS boxes or card cages.

In article <5807@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> mwm@eris.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer) writes:
>Anyone wanna buy an A1000? MiniRack C + 8M/4, Lattice C 4.0, MCC LISP,
>Dpaint ][ (unprotected), a complete collection of Fish disks (through
>110), and much other random software. Asking $2000.
>
	How much you want for just Lattice?

SillyMode (ON);

	I don't know about anyone else, but I seem to have been able to
"sense" what was done right, and what was done wrong.  They are mostly
purely subjective senses, sometimes based on fact.  But it is largely a gut
feeling I've had about a number of Amiga products.  I get the feeling that
the designers of some of them were trying to get by cheap, and it showed (to
me anyway).

	For example:  MicroBotics Starboard "feels" right.  Everything ASDG
has done so far feels right.  CLtd. feels all wrong.  $C00000 RAM is *all*
wrong.  Mimetics sound digitizer doesn't feel quite right.  Future Sound
feels okay.

	None of the current crop of hard disk controllers feels at all
right.  None of the clock/calendar accessories seem right.  LIVE seems okay
(harmless, anyway).  DigiView feels good.  Mimetics' video board feels all
wrong (too good to be true?).  CSA feels odd (good stuff, but why so
expensive?).

	Note that these are all subjective reactions on my part, largely
unsupported by hard facts.

	What has this got to do with the price of pogo sticks?  Well, take
the $C00000 RAM idea, for example.  First off, it was a crude hack, executed
purely to save money.  All the $C00000 RAM boards I've seen "feel" cheap and
flakey, not to mention the fact that they're useless in the 500 and 2000
(yes, I know about Sprit Tech's new internal board for the 500.  It still
feels wrong).  These were designed for and sold to people on a shoestring
budget who needed/wanted RAM, but couldn't afford a properly designed setup.
So they went for cheap.  The high-quality manufacturer lost a sale, thus
preventing him from lowering the price of his board by economy of scale, and
the consumer lost, because s/he wasn't getting the best.  I think the
$C00000 RAM hack should have been shot down by Amiga the moment it was
proposed.  Oh well, that's 20/20 hindsight for you.

	The point is that, if you're going to go for cheap, you're going to
pay for it in the end.

	However, this doesn't address Mike's problem, who owns an ASDG rack
(done right).  I also own an ASDG rack.  This is why I'm electing to keep my
1000.  I can trade in my Mr. C for a 2000-and-1, and keep my old memory card
(and the SDP when it comes out (drool, drool)).  I firmly believe that some
brilliant hacker somewhere will come up with a daughterboard that will allow
me to use the new Fat Agnus when it becomes available (Dale Luck told me
he's going to fight for a pin arrangement that at least has a chance of
working in a 1000).  I can forsee no useful purpose for the video slot that
can't be addressed in another way (suggestions anyone?).

SillyMode (OFF);
StoryMode (ON);

	I finally met Dave Needle, one of the hardware types at Amiga, now
working for EPYX, working on some secret goodie.  I had a very long and
entertaining talk with him, during which, he related numerous war stories
about the birth of the Amiga, and the in-fighting between Amiga and
Commodore.

	Trivium:  Did you know that, as early as the very first round of
lay-offs at Amiga Los Gatos, the facility was already slated for closure?
Did you know that Commodore management was instructed to *lie* to ALG
staff, saying that everything was fine, and that they were merely cutting
costs?

	Trivium:  Did you know that ALG staff fought tooth and nail to *not*
have PC slots in the A2000?

	Trivium:  Did you know that there almost *weren't* any signatures on
the inside cover of the A1000, due to last-minute instructions issued by
Commodore?

	Trivium:  TRIPOS (AmigaDOS) *could* have been a stop-gap measure
i.e. a temporary DOS until a real one could have been written.  Commodore
elected to retain TRIPOS, saying that it was just fine the way it was.

	Trivium:  Did you know that Commodore absolutely refused to provide
development systems to third-party developers (including EA) on the basis
that Commodore wasn't going to support third-party development?

StoryMode (OFF);

	We have a great deal to thank the Amiga Los Gatos staff for.  They
*FOUGHT* for what we now call the Amiga 1000.  Commodore eventually chipped
away at their kingdom, took their design away, re-designed their machines
themselves (bungling it in the process (face it; there *are* functional
design differences)), re-packaged it, and sold them as the 500 and 2000.
The new machines don't even have the checkmark on them anymore.  Instead
they bear the Commodore "chickenhead".

	I bear no animosity towards the CATS staff.  In fact, I love them
(especially Carolyn Sheppner, for all her source code (the semaphore example
in particular)).  It's the egotistical management-type boobs I don't like.
In fact, after listening to Needle, I find it amazing that the Amiga ever
saw the light of day.

	One thing is certain, however.  It would have been much worse with
Tramiel at the wheel.

	Anyway, I'm keeping my 1000; I suggest you all do the same.

	It feels right.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape	ihnp4!ptsfa -\
 \_ -_		Recumbent Bikes:	      dual ---> !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o	      The Only Way To Fly.	      hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Work FOR?  I don't work FOR anybody!  I'm just having fun."  -- The Doctor