Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!labrea!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!cornell!rochester!pt.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!mp1u+ From: mp1u+@andrew.cmu.edu (Michael Portuesi) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Amiga & Mindset Message-ID: Date: 23 Aug 88 03:05:21 GMT References: <7958@cup.portal.com>, <594@cord.UUCP> Distribution: na Organization: Carnegie Mellon Lines: 41 In-Reply-To: <594@cord.UUCP> > *Excerpts from ext.nn.comp.sys.amiga: 8-Aug-88 Re: Amiga & Mindset N* > *Weinstock@cord.UUCP (2935)* > The processor was an 80186, and the system was semi PC-compatible. It > featured > outstanding color graphics, including a blitter. It came with a 2 button > mouse. Stereo sound was not standard but could be added as a relatively > inexpensive option. The system was arranged much like the Atari Mega STs, > with a main system unit and expansion units which stacked. I, too, lusted after a Mindset until the Amiga came out. Basically it was the only MS-DOS machine I could consider buying without puking and wretching all over the place. The Mindset came on the market in early 1984, about the same time as the Macintosh. It offered 320x200 with 16 colors out of 512 and 640x400 (I think; it might have been 640x200) with four colors out of 512. It supported NTSC standard video and offered interlaced scan. The marketing strategy was that they wanted to have the fastest Windows machine on the market, and they wanted to target graphic artists, designers, and other people who had a need for PC compatiblity and fast graphics. Given the fact that Microsoft Windows didn't appear on the market until two years later, and that they had little advertising, marketing and distribution, the machine didn't have much of a chance. The system was compatible at the BIOS level, and included software emulation for the PC-character based display so that programs that wrote directly to video RAM would still work (sound familiar)? The system was at least 90% PC-compatible, though it did run its own version of MS-DOS. It had two cartridge ports, and had non-volatile RAM cartridges you could plug into the ports. The only glaring problem I saw with the system was that it was only expandable to 384K RAM with the expansion options Mindset offered, and its expansion bus did not seem PC compatible. It was a cool machine, but there isn't anything it had that the Amiga doesn't offer in some capacity. In many ways the Mindset was an Intel-based Amiga. --M Michael Portuesi / Information Technology Center / Carnegie Mellon University ARPA/UUCP: mp1u+@andrew.cmu.edu BITNET: rainwalker@drycas "if you ain't ill it'll fix your car"