Xref: utzoo comp.sys.amiga:12869 comp.sys.att:2092 unix-pc.general:153
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!lll-lcc!lll-winken!gethen!farren
From: farren@gethen.UUCP (Michael J. Farren)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.att,unix-pc.general
Subject: Re: Request opinions on Amiga as front end to 3b1
Keywords: 3b1, amiga, silly idea
Message-ID: <577@gethen.UUCP>
Date: 14 Jan 88 14:18:28 GMT
References: <289@flatline.UUCP>
Reply-To: farren@gethen.UUCP (Michael J. Farren)
Organization: There's Unix there in Oakland
Lines: 36

In article <289@flatline.UUCP> erict@flatline.UUCP (eric townsend) writes:
>
>What I want is full-blown graphics/sound with multi-tasking, k&r c,
>and lotsa development goodies.  I have the latter under control,
>3b1's w/ full devlopment set are nice.

Whether or not you could do what you want depends very highly on what,
exactly, you want, something you don't state very clearly in your 
message.

If you only wanted a graphics terminal for your Unix system, I see
no reason an Amiga 500 with a good Tek emulator couldn't work (although
there isn't much support on the 3b1 for graphics).

If you wanted a Unix box with Amiga level graphics and sound, then
you are pretty well out of luck.  While this might be possible using
a 3b1 and an Amiga running concurrently, it would require massive
changes (or, at least, massive software) to both machines.  Somehow,
I doubt that you want to rewrite both the Unix kernel and Amiga's
Exec.  One possibility might be the A2000 with the 68020 board and
System V, but this is still in the category of vaporware.

If you were willing to compromise a little bit on your development
environment, the Amiga alone might suffice.  While it isn't Unix,
the OS on the Amiga is pretty good in its own right.  Or, you could
use all of the facilities on the 3b1 for development up to the actual
compiling and linking, then shove the source files over to the Amiga
via the serial ports, and compile and link there.  Or, maybe, if
somebody gets real ambitious, they could write a linker/loader that
would take the COFF files produced by the 3b1 compiler and link
them into a real live Amiga executable.

-- 
Michael J. Farren             | "INVESTIGATE your point of view, don't just 
{ucbvax, uunet, hoptoad}!     | dogmatize it!  Reflect on it and re-evaluate
        unisoft!gethen!farren | it.  You may want to change your mind someday."
gethen!farren@lll-winken.llnl.gov ----- Tom Reingold, from alt.flame