Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!amdahl!oliveb!amiga!jimm
From: jimm@amiga.UUCP (Jim Mackraz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Vaporware Everywhere
Message-ID: <2783@amiga.UUCP>
Date: 23 Aug 88 00:16:37 GMT
References: <6044@dasys1.UUCP>
Reply-To: jimm@cloyd.UUCP (Jim Mackraz)
Organization: Commodore-Amiga Inc, Los Gatos CA
Lines: 65

In article <6044@dasys1.UUCP> sterling@dasys1.UUCP (Sterling Brown) writes:
)============================================================================
)
)          I was flipping through an issue of BYTE magazine (year 84 I think)
)     a few days ago and saw an article about a commodore 900  machine.  This
)     machine was  supposed to run a UNIX compatible operating system using a
)     Z800 CPU.  When I saw this I was really surprised. 

That was a Z8000.  Now, I don't really know whereof I speak on this (perhaps
the few, the proud, the survivors can comment), but one angle on this
is that that product died when Commodore bought the Amiga.  I've heard
disagreement with this claim, but I just wanted to say that I got my
job at Amiga when a C900 windows guy refused to transfer from West Chester
to Los Gatos, but knew a guy who would fit in just fine ...

)	This machine looked
)     remarkably  like  an  amiga  2000  (colors and everything!).  What ever
)     happened to this machine?  Does anybody know?

Well, they still lurk about here and there.  Funny, the similarity between
the C900 and A200 cases.

)	And if Commodore already
)     had that  body design in 1984 why couldn't they put the Amiga 1000 into
)     it in the first place?

Perhaps because the words Commodore and Amiga didn't flow so smoothly
off the tongue in one word at that time as they do now.

You'd be surprised how many relics from C900 live on in the Amiga world
today.  (No you guys, I didn't mean to call you relics.)  It rears its
head not only in the case engineering, but in the A2024 monitor, and
god knows what else.

)          On a related subject, the August-88 issue of UnixWorld has  a news
)     segment on  page 18.   It says in September Commodore plans to unveil a
)     multiple operating system graphics  "personal workstation"  to complete
)     with the  Next machine  and low-end  Sun Microsystem  workstations.  It
)     also says that these 68020-based Amiga 2500 and 3000 machines will have
)     a 40 MEG hard drive 3 MEGS of RAM, and will sell for around $6000.  And
)     the operating systems will be: Amiga-DOS, AT&T System V Release  1, and
)     MS-DOS, all using a proprietary windowing system.

I think the unix is being done by another relic.

)          Lets just  see if  that is  true come  September.  I for one would
)     really LIKE to see it but doubt that it will  come so  soon.  Commodore
)     is still  working with  the operating  system(s).  If they have time to
)     work on  1.3, 1.4  (simultaneously), and  spit out  new hardware, HEY!,
)     MORE POWER  TO THEM!!   But  I hope  this is  not another Commodore 900
)     story.

I don't think it's another C900 story.  The A2500 is well known to be
an A2000 with internal expansion and a unix port.  You've seen it at
shows, it is larger than a breadbox.  Hopefully, software and hardware
will continue to be two separate but cooperating groups (probably will
if we don't refer to the HW guys as relics).

) \ Sterling L. Brown........ \                 /  "When I'm Programming    /

	jimm -- relic of the future.
-- 
	Jim Mackraz, I and I Computing	  
	amiga!jimm	BIX:jmackraz
Opinions are my own.  Comments regarding the Amiga operating system, and
all others, are not to be taken as Commodore official policy.