Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!thad From: thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Save your money re: FALCON Message-ID: <12991@cup.portal.com> Date: 28 Dec 88 06:20:39 GMT References: <12895@cup.portal.com> <10736@s.ms.uky.edu> <848@mailrus.cc.umich.edu> Organization: The Portal System (TM) Lines: 68 As much as I enjoy receiving email, enough is enough. I've received 28 emailings so far on the subject of FALCON not working with the '020 and '030 Amigas; 27 have been in agreement with my posting the "flame", and one was not. I literally don't have time to answer all the mail, but I did answer the "negative" correspondent and have included my reply here for your perusal; the correspondent's name is NOT among the others who've posted publicly and I've removed all references to that person in this reply: " It appears you didn't get the message re: Spectrum Holobyte. 1) they're located nearby Ronin Engineering (both companies are in Alameda, CA). Ronin are the makers of the Hurricane 68020 and 68030 cards for the Amiga A1000 and A2000; Ronin is very good about lending their stuff out on approval and/or for trials. 2) the Amiga programming guidelines were issued in May 1985 and have been re-iterated in EVERY edition of the ROM Kernel Manuals and related documentation and at EVERY Amiga Developers' Conference; even in the various Amiga magazines, BBSs, networks, Amiga MAIL (from CATS), etc. There is *NO* excuse for anyone today to violate those guidelines; criticism of EA on The WELL several years ago finally brought them to their senses ... the F-18 game, for example, DOES work on all Amigas. 3) people from Spectrum Holobyte regularly attend both BADGE and FAUG meetings; they *KNOW* the Amiga programming guidelines (which I hammer home at every opportunity: I chair the Technical Q&A Session of FAUG, and am on what is the closest thing to "staff" that BADGE can claim (the Speakers' Committee) ). 4) and, to paraphrase another saying: "Ignorance of the law is no excuse." :-) Face it: Spectrum Holobyte screwed up badly. And as others have attested (see the followup "I vouch for Thad's comments" posted in response to mine), your opinion is the minority opinion in this regards. Dealers *ARE* sending the damned game back because it won't work on the "hot rodded" Amigas in the store used for demos. This *IS* an important issue. I really don't care if YOUR Amiga has an '020 or not; in this area (Silicon Valley, where Spectrum Holobyte itself is located) many people even have a 68020 in their A500 systems; a 68010 is a very popular upgrade, and there are hundreds of 68020 *AND* 68030 equipped A1000 and A2000 Amigas. Someone has to point out the failings of companies purporting to "support" the Amiga; you've just made me realize that purchasers of crap products have been TOO SILENT and more pressure is needed (even for companies like Word Perfect). You're entitled to your opinions, but I believe your attitude is ridiculous. A 68000 computer (today) is ancient; even 68020 MPUs are typically used now for process control, and the 68030 (and soon the 68040) is the only MPU to deploy as the principal one in new design; even Apple and NeXT have seen the light, and Commodore has produced the A2620 020/881/851 card for the A2000 and is bundling it with an A2000 as the A2500. Open your eyes and look around. My "flame" (as you put it) is something that CATS itself should have published when they find companies that screw the Amiga and violate the programming guidelines and standards. Such standards, by the way, apply not just to the Amiga but to any 680x0 product as stated by Motorola in their literature. YOUR attitude reminds me of the people who say "it's OK" to use sub-standard building materials (remember Armenia? certain nuclear power plants? etc.) and/or release software with known flaws believing that 99% is "ok"; sheesh. :-( Sounds like a book entitled "UNUSABLE ON ANY COMPUTER" by Ralf Nadir (not "sic": see the definition of the colloquialism "ralf" and of the word "nadir"; the pun is intentional) should be published. :-) :-) Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]