Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!nuchat!sugar!karl
From: karl@sugar.uu.net (Karl Lehenbauer)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Self-modifying code
Message-ID: <2361@sugar.uu.net>
Date: 29 Jul 88 02:49:58 GMT
References: <1988Jul22.164129.5495@utzoo.uucp> <4912@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> <1988Jul26.024039.28579@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: Sugar Land Unix - Houston, TX
Lines: 35

> I.e., that the memory system is too fast for the processor to use fully.
> Can you say "imbalanced system"?

Henry's remarks are flames in the sense that they're kind of insulting when 
they don't really have to be, I think.  Anytime someone uses Mr. Rogers'
"Can you say 'xxx'?", they're being condescending.  I don't think the Amiga 
is imbalanced either.  The extra clock cycles are used for screen, audio 
and disk DMA.  Is that really imbalanced?  Would slower memory have been
better?

I think Henry's right that "best of all is a really fast CPU."  I don't
know what the Amiga people themselves could have done to make the 68000 
itself faster, though.  Maybe it should be "best of all is a really
fast CPU and a bunch of other stuff?"  I don't want my Unix system to
run really slow while drawing characters as pixels, either.  I want a 
blit card or something like that.  I guess I want both.

Whether or not blitters are worthwhile, the Amiga has capabilities in terms 
of realtime video generation (examples: various Videoscape 3D demos, NewTek 
demo, PD animations, etc) that can't be touched by anything within about 10X 
of its price, and can't be touched by a lot of big, expensive workstations 
because their operating systems aren't realtime.  Also, look at the cost of 
software.  Software for that $5K Targa board for your Mac II can run over $7K, 
fine if you're institutional, but kind of narrow to think that's the Minimum 
Acceptable System.  Should one expect a $550 machine to have a 68020?  (No,
a 32-bit RISC, someday)   My point is that whatever the theory of whether it 
should have a blitter, in practice there is a lot of cool software that does 
amazing things, cheap - a gestalt win.

I've done some programming on the Amiga and its system software is very
sophisticated.  It is hardly the work of people who don't know how to
program, as fun as it may be to stir up trouble by saying that it is.
-- 
-- 
-- Karl Lehenbauer, karl@sugar.uu.net aka uunet!sugar!karl, +1 713 274 5184