🚀 go-pugleaf

> I understand through people who went to COMDEX in Las Vegas
> that Commordore didn't even show up with the Amiga.
> 
> Seems a bit odd considering the money put into their advertising scheme...

I have also heard similar rumors... including one that commodore has
filed for chapter 11... IS THIS TRUE???  Being a new Amiga owner,
I am somewhat interested in having this rumor discussed and cleared.
Perhaps Commodore Amiga would have some interesting and informative
comments to make?

Does anyone over at Amiga know when the DOS user's guide (and the
other "mentioned" documentation) will be available?  The hints
posted to the net as well as simple experimentation have revealed a
lot, but it would be nice to know what I'm doing/missing.

Will the clock on version 1.1 keep time???  Will the "real" version
of Textcraft allow you to change directories/disks with the "open"
command (rather than selecting the drawer the files are in along
with Textcraft)?  Will the V 1.1 Notepad allow you to print out the
fonts without doing a screen dump???

If you have answers to any of these questions, please post them, as
I'm sure many of us would be curious to know the answer.

Thanks in advance...


Warren Kring
Boeing Aerospace Co.
Seattle, Wa

"The questions above are not to be confused with me or my
employer...  my cat made me do it..."

In article <1886@islenet.UUCP>, jons@islenet.UUCP (Jonathan Spangler) writes:
> 
> Instead, people at COMDEX saw an absolutely fantastic display
> of the same bouncing ball demo running -- SIDE-BY-SIDE, mind you -- three
> machines: 520ST, Amiga, and Mac. All three were running the same ball demo. 
> Because of the speed difference, the ST was the clear winner, but not only
> becaue of the speed, but also the color which was much more brilliant.

   One (of the many) things ATARI didn't mention in their bouncing ball
display was that this is an EASY, EASY, EASY demo to do!  I'm pretty sure
(and don't you DARE call this bluff!!) that I could produce an acceptable
version of it to run on the Apple II!  Instead, ask Atari if 1) there's
enough processor bandwidth left while it's running to do a LOT of processing,
2) if there was sound to go with it, synchronized with the ball, and 3) How
long it took them to GET that display - I'd be willing to bet that they had
several of their hottest-shot programmers working on those, and do you really
think that they would bother to make the Mac version as pretty?
   The impression I get of Atari lately (and don't get me wrong, I basically
like Atari's stuff) is that they will stop at NOTHING to get the public to
believe in their superiority, and if this includes providing insufficient
information for a true, objective comparison, well, thats the way it goes.
Personally, I find this kind of marketing scheme insulting not only to
the technically competent people like us, but even more to those who can't
know any better.

-- 
           Mike Farren
           uucp: {dual, hplabs}!well!farren
           Fido: Sci-Fido, Fidonode 125/84, (415)655-0667
           USnail: 390 Alcatraz Ave., Oakland, CA 94618

In article <395@ssc-vax.UUCP> warren@ssc-vax.UUCP (Warren Kring) asks 
questions...
Commodore-Amiga has *NOT* filed chapter 11 - not even considering it.
We are manufacturing *LOTS* of computers, (not just Amigas).

Sorry, I do not have a firm date on updated DOS user's guides... BUT
the current stuff should be available to any dealer who orders it.

The clock (and date routines) got significantly better in V1.1.  You can
still be off about 4 seconds (or was that minutes, I forgot) a day.

The "real" V1.0 version of Textcraft will only allow you to access the
files in 1 drawer at a time.  Please address any "flames", product
enhancment requests, etc to Arctronics.  The drawer you get to List, Load,
and save using is the one containing the document you started with.
You can use >1 drawer, you just have to leave and reenter Textcraft to do it.

V1.1 Notepad prints just the text, no borders, in graphics (fancy fonts)
mode.

(-- Sorry for the long messages in the past, I'm trying to keep them 
shorter now.  BruceB. --)

In article <320@well.UUCP> farren@well.UUCP (Mike Farren) writes:
>   The impression I get of Atari lately (and don't get me wrong, I basically
>like Atari's stuff) is that they will stop at NOTHING to get the public to
>believe in their superiority, and if this includes providing insufficient
>information for a true, objective comparison, well, thats the way it goes.

Atari is not pushing superiority, only price/performance ratio.  If price is
your only concern, then clearly the ST is superior.  Having a mac/amiga/ST
side-by-side demonstration lets the buyer decide.  Atari's strong point is a
price around half the competition's.  Even if their comparisons are "unfair",
are they $1000.00 worth unfair?  No!  Amiga and Apple should stop pandering
"yuppie ads" and offer some substantive ads of their own if they feel 
mistreated.  Apple could stress their "superior" user interface, and Amiga
could stress its superior graphics hardware and multitasking software.

Paul van de Graaf		sdcsvax!sdcc7!ln63fkn		U. C. San Diego

> bruceb@hunter.UUCP (Bruce Barrett)
> Organization: Commodore-Amiga Inc., 983 University Ave #D, Los Gatos CA 95030

says

> Commodore-Amiga has *NOT* filed chapter 11 - not even considering it.

AT LAST, solid information from an unbiased source! Is it true that Commodore
told the bank that the check is in the mail? :-)

						Kevin Kinder
						ihnp4!ihlpm!kvk

In article <320@well.UUCP> farren@well.UUCP (Mike Farren) writes:
>> ... same bouncing ball demo running -- SIDE-BY-SIDE, mind you -- three
>> machines: 520ST, Amiga, and Mac. All three were running the same ball demo. 
>> Because of the speed difference, the ST was the clear winner, but not only
>> becaue of the speed, but also the color which was much more brilliant.
>
>   One (of the many) things ATARI didn't mention in their bouncing ball
>display was that this is an EASY, EASY, EASY demo to do!  I'm pretty sure
>(and don't you DARE call this bluff!!) that I could produce an acceptable
>version of it to run on the Apple II!  Instead, ask Atari if 1) there's
>enough processor bandwidth left while it's running to do a LOT of processing,
>2) if there was sound to go with it, synchronized with the ball, and 3) How
>long it took them to GET that display - I'd be willing to bet that they had
>several of their hottest-shot programmers working on those, 

Funny how Commodore never mentioned how easy the bouncing ball is to do, the
major problem being the actual data to do the colour table animation on (and
that's not really a problem). Since the animation just involves changing
a few registers every few frame times there is plenty of processing power
left over. Synchronising sound is just a matter of saying "well gee I'm
on frame X, lets make a noise". Note that the fact that the ST was doing it
faster implies nothing about the power of the machine 

Let's stop the demo war discussion, at least at the level of "well yes you
can do it but you had to work harder to get it done". 
Marketing hype is marketing hype, the ST and the Amiga are different, 
each with their own advantages and disadvantages depending on what your
needs/budget are. If you want real graphics power, buy an Adage/Ikonas.

Personally I own an ST, but believe that GEM sucks and that TOS should be
tossed (a 200K OS - good grief!) but it provides me with a cheap bit-mapped
display, a 68000 and lots of support hardware which can be used for other
purposes (like a real-time, message-based OS).

Dave Forsey
Computer Graphics Laboratory
University of Waterloo, Waterloo Canada.