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From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: A new Amiga from Japan?
Message-ID: <9307@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 11 Jan 90 23:46:56 GMT
References: <5366@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM>
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 69

in article <5366@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM>, waynekn@tekig5.PEN.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) says:

> So what make the FM Towns so great?  Well to large extent it is the same
> things that make the NEXT machine interesting.  

The only interesting thing about the NeXT machine was NextStep, Display
PostScript, and Mach.  The Software, in other words.  I thought everyone 
knew that.  And maybe the Frog casework, if you're a fan of mechanical design.

Everything else was already available in other PCs or real Workstations.  The
basic NeXT system (no harddrive) is too slow for most people used to high
end PCs or workstations (either of which cost less, including harddisk).

> Next thing we know people are crazy about the NEXT.

That's what marketing is all about.  Steve Jobs apparently knows which
buttons to press to get folks excited.  Some people can do that with 
computers, some with colored water.  The "what" seems far less instrumental
in attaining the desired excitement level than the "how".  And of course, 
the "bs".

>  * a C-Trace ray-tracer that has output as good and any Amiga ray-tracer. 
>    (One picture of 3 cats in a alley is really neat)

All they had to do was port QRT or something to obtain quality.  That's not
the issue with ray tracing programs.  The problems ray tracers have to
solve are 1) The User Interface Problem and 2) The Underpowered Computer
Problem (eg, even with a 25MHz 68030/68882, you can spend hours processing
each frame).

>  * A application note on using the FM Towns hardware and painting tools
>    to do cel animation.

If the animation actually works in real time, I'll be willing to believe
they have something you can't get on most PClones for less than a few
extra K$ for a TIGA board.

> Some of these programs really impressed me, and when I saw them I said 
> to myself - "There is no way I could ever get this working on my Amiga."

Where were those? I didn't see any listed.  You couldn't be doubting 
the ingenuity of Amiga people, could you?  

> I think a lot of programs were greatly enchance by the data avaible to
> the program on the CD ROM.  

Sure, CD ROM is a nice addition, but you can get those with standard
interfaces.  At least Fujitsu has their act together, supplying everything
themselves.  But if it's all custom, they're going to have some trouble
attracting lots of 3rd party following, especially these days, and in
Japan.  Especially note the trouble NEC's proprietary stuff is having
there now.

> Also the speed of some of the graphics just blew me away.  Some of the
> demos show very fast graphic drawing speed that seemed much faster than
> anything I've every seen the Amiga do.  

OK, so they're not using typical PC graphic hardware bottlenecks.  That's
at least a good sign from the technology point of view, but it's really
getting harder and harder to be nonstandard, at least at the high end
(I assume this isn't being packaged as a $1000 home computer yet).  It's 
nothing you can't get already with more expensive stuff, as you mention 
(SIGGRAPH and NCGA are chock full of PCs with TIGA stuff these days).

>                                          Wayne Knapp      
-- 
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Systems Engineering) "The Crew That Never Rests"
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                    Too much of everything is just enough