Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!udel!mmdf
From: jwhitman@almsa-1.arpa (Jerry Whitman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Taking the plunge
Message-ID: <7277@louie.udel.EDU>
Date: 25 Jan 89 15:37:17 GMT
Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU
Lines: 65

I am about to take the plunge and acquire my own system, but there are a few
(would you believe several) issues I must resolve.

I am fully in love with the Amiga and have been since it came out.  I
recommended it to my son who is a CS major.  We enjoyed his A1000 a lot
until they (he and the A1000) moved away to UMC.  I need no convincing that
the Amiga is a fun machine, especially for one who likes to tinker on the
edge of technology.

So you ask, where is the problem?  Here it is!  I want a system that is both
a fun environment to tinker with when time permits as well as a business
oriented tool for doing more mundane "work?" functions.  I spend a good deal
of my day with a pumped up Z-248 (AT equivelant) with 2.5M, hard disk,
EGA/VGA, etc and a bodacious array of software to perform most functions in
mny different ways.  For any equivelant functions I would do at home I would
expect the same power/function.
  
My wife wants to use a computer strictly to accomplish
'house-hold management' tasks with little or (preferably) no computerese
required.  Even the mouse environment caused some adverse reaction.  The
environment on my Z-248 would suit her fine.
 
It would appear I could do all the necessary things with just a good(?) AT
Clone, but then I would not have a lot of the 'icing' that Amiga provides.
I particularly became addicted to the ability to multi-tasking, the good
graphic environment and the icon/mouse enviroment.

Putting these together it would seem I am asking for a A200HD with an AT
style bridge-board.  I realize the AT board is not out yet (RSN!!), but a
have a couple questions concerning that path:
1 - Does the bridgeboard environment give full functionality with VGA
adaptors?
2 - Can a multi-sync monitor be reasonably rigged so it can be switched
between a VGA card and Ami's RGB?  I do not need the cost of two hi-res
monitors?
3 - Is there any good clue to when an AT bridgeboard will show up, and a
proposed price bracket?
4 - Can the bridgeboard see Ami's expanded memory or would I need extra
memory specifically for it?  I am concerned how large spread-sheets and
data-bases would function here.

Concerning the HD element of the A2000HD.  (Auto-boot is mandatory!!)
1 - Is that configuration available only in 20 MB?
2 - Is it more cost effective to go the HD route or to add my own to a stock
A2000? 
3 - What is considered appropriate/required/minimum partitioning between the
Ami and the bridgeboard? (ratio, percent, cyl, etc).
4 - Can both environs access the same files?

One last off the wall question.  Which, if any, nulti-syncs will also
directly accept input from a VCR to allow direct viewing of pre-recorded
video materials.  This would be a nice spin-off since we wish to convert a
large library of slides and home movies to video tape before age gets them,
and we do not have and do not want a TV (even though it might be cheaper).

Thanks for your patience for this rambling, but when you can only have one
ya gotta make sure its the right one.  Any light anyone can shed on any of
these questions, plus anything else I should consider will be GREATLY
appreciated.  My E-Mail is JWHITMAN@ALMSA-1.ARPA.

Thanks for all the good info this group has distributed!!!!!

Jerry Whitman
USAMC-CSDA
St.Louis MO