Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!venera.isi.edu!rod
From: rod@venera.isi.edu (Rodney Doyle Van Meter III)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Our friends on the inside (of the Amiga, not Commodore)
Message-ID: <12036@venera.isi.edu>
Date: 26 Feb 90 22:59:28 GMT
Reply-To: rod@venera.isi.edu (Rodney Doyle Van Meter III)
Organization: Information Sciences Institute, Univ. of So. California
Lines: 22


I know our friends on the inside are named Agnus (Agnes? I've seen it
spelled both ways), Gary, Denise, and Paula.

I know Agnus has something to do with the difference between chip and
fast RAM. Chip is the only memory that can be displayed on the screen,
is that right? What exactly does Agnus do?

Paula has something to do with controlling interrupts and devices?

Who are Gary and Denise, sprites and voice synthesis?

Besides the fatter Agnus, what does the Extended Chip Set provide?
Will ECS run with a system clock of 25-33 MHz?

Where did the names come from?

Has Commodore given any thought to an asynchronous system? What
tremendously hairy bag of ugly worms (to mix a metaphor) does this
open up?

		--Rod