Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ut-sally!utah-cs!utah-gr!uplherc!sp7040!obie!wsccs!terry From: terry@wsccs.UUCP (terry) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Autoconfig for expansions Message-ID: <257@wsccs.UUCP> Date: 4 Mar 88 08:14:35 GMT References: <1408@sugar.UUCP> <507@xicom.UUCP> <2507@tekig4.TEK.COM> <1936@dino.cpe.ulowell.edu> Lines: 88 Keywords: autoconfig hobby Summary: Schematics In article <1936@dino.cpe.ulowell.edu>, Rich Miner writes: > The EE students in > our lab have designed the auto-configuration glue into several > boards; and it all worked the first time. I think encouraging > non auto-configuring hardware is as punishable an offense as > encouraging non multi-tasking software! Good. Mail the schematics to us and we'll do the same. Since no large software or hardware developer into money (There are some who are not) has decided to go into stuff for the Amiga as their premeire line, it is up to the students and little guys to go off an build/write nifty toys. While it is all fine and dandy to go off and flame about not being able to understand why people do not take the time to put all the niceties into Amiga versions of their products (Amiga-ize them, as it were), you totally ignore the facts: 1) A small company can _not_ afford to pay a programmer for a year write something for the Amiga, if it is to be a "break-in" to that market. This explains the lack of "Turbo-C" and "Turbo- Pascal" for the Amiga. Bordland can not afford to go off and blow a lot of time/investment into what is obviously a small- return market (compared to DOS). 2) A small company can not afford to go out and blow 3 or 4 motherboards making a hard-drive interface. Commodore is not giving the kind of support Apple gives to it's developers, hardware _and_ software. 3) A large company is not willing to enter what is basically a small marketplace. Hence no Western-Digital controllers for the Amiga. 4) A large company is not willing to invest time/money into providing software for a product which is not advertized. Face it, Commodore does not advertise. If they do, I haven't seen it (and I get most of the business/programmer mainstream magazines), so it isn't really advertising. I guess they figured that, since their stupid-commercials-that-made-you-puke-due-to- their-submoronic-estimate-of-your-IQ tv ads didn't work, advertising isn't worth it. (BTW: What *did* scare that guy so badly his hair turned white? Was it Commodores marketing department?) This is why a programmer-type at Micro-soft told me they hadn't ported Xenix... no built-in market/advertising channels. This basically leaves the people who hack on their own time and the small companies which have been informed by users how to do things, so they don't have to find out themselves over a period of 6 months how to do them... a small company can not make a return-over-a-long-time investment. Which brings us back to your flame. I have yet to see you post (or anyone else, for that matter) schematics or code for anything resembling a "helping-hand" to developers. While I am not a hardware developer, it does occur to me that a computer-readable hard-drive schematic posted here would encourage a small company to offer a fairly cheap hard-drive interface (I think almost zero developement cost would be an incentive for lower prices). For the touted ease with which you purported do these things, I have yet to recognize your name from and ad for a reasonably priced anything. If "it all worked the first time" is a correct statement, either share your skill or inform us of where to acquire some of our own... Commodore is certainly no help. It took some pirates to figure out 11k boot blocks, and they can afford a heck of a lot more time than any company expecting to stay in business for any extended period of time. I think taunting people who need to feed their faces prior to a 18 month product-works-to-testing-to-market turnaround "is as punishable an offense as encouraging non multi-tasking software". Students have more time to expend on these things. At _least_ bring your wonderously easily done projects to market, if nothing else. I think Commodore would enjoy finding out that a 'simple' DMA interface is possible; they hem-and-haw every time I ask them when theirs is due out. Also: Commodore, has it occured to you that Apple's success is due primarily to their willingness to give hardware to schools? I was told to my face by one of your representatives that you don't give an educational discount (I have an entire user group who heard it too), and he's one of your big 10. What the hell, he told us 1.3 definitely wouldn't need a ROM update either, and that he'd have techinical people at the next meeting (they didn't show), and that the 4 registered developers there would get their developer's kit updates "real soon". terry@wsccs PS: One of the guys I work with just bought a 68ns 30 meg hard drive with controller for his PC for $265.00 All standard disclaimers apply, as I am going to get *chewed* for this one...