Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    according to INFO magazine issue #11, pg 97, a c64 emulator is
    available from Software Kingdom for $149.95.
    
    "Hardware interface to connect 1541 or 1571 drive to your Amiga,
    plus software to make Amiga emulate a C64 100%.  Not multitasking
    (unfortunately), so you can run only one application at a time,
    which totally takes over your Amiga.  Available Mid-August."
    
    So... since Software Kingdom is not Commodore, that may mean legal
    trouble is Commodore wants to hassle them.  It hopefully also means
    that a C64 emulator could be developed by other companies, maybe
    even a multitasking version.  I've seen ads for very flexible
    controllers for 5.25" drives (how about having an emulator disk
    drive that can read/write/format C64, IBM, Atari, Apple etc.).
    
    How about a Apple emulator?  Must be easier to do than the C64.
    (that might grab some of the potential ][GS customers for Amiga)
    
    -Dave

    I bought my Amiga @ the Worcester Computerland.  There was one and
    only one salesman really into it.  Given the founder is trying to
    sell his share (Strange guy - Been sued and wants to run a power
    plant on a small Island) and asks high royalties from his chain
    stores - No wonder High margin IBM stuff is being pushed.  It was
    the store expectation earlier this year that the TRANSFORMER was 
    going to get the machine into the IBM realm.
     [Rumors of a new model doesn't help either]
    
    I've no regrets having bought my machine from them.  Compared to
    the Mac people I called before my purchase - they were a pleasure.
    

    My experience with computer salesmen has been mostly negative...I
    never met one who had even a vague understanding of the product(s)
    he/she was selling...the notable exception, as you said, was John,
    the owner of the Worcester Computerland. 
    
    The only knowledgeable, enthusiastic salespeople seem to be part-time
    college types.
    
    Oh well, a little help is better than no help, i.e Toys-(backwards)-R-Us.
                                                                       

     
    The store where a friend of mine bought his Amiga had a very god
    slaesman. Unfortunately, it is in Albany, NY. 8^( He actually evaluated
    programs before he sold them, and gave his HONEST opinion of what
    was better, regardless of the price. If you really wanted something
    that he didn't have a high opinion of, he'd still order it for you
    anyway. I tell you, this guy was weird!!!8^). 
    
    Roy

    I highly recommend the "MEMORY LOCATION" in Wellesley Ma. on Washington
    St. They sell only Amigas C64 & 128s. They are fun, knowledgable,
    have lots of software and best of all; have demo copies of everything
    they carry so If they don't know what a program does, they will
    let you try it and see for yourself.

      Has anyone "picked-up" one of the C-64 Emulators yet?? I'm
    interested as I plan on buying an Amiga in a couple weeks and
    I would think that the Emulator would be GREAT for my kids 
    (ages 8 & 5). Thanks for any info..
    
    
                                        ~Mike~

    Anyone actually seen the 64 emulator? I noticed that Abel now lists
    it as being available for about 80 bucks. I've got a 64 that I've
    never been able to part with through about 3 other home computers,
    but if a reliable emulator exists I might be persuaded to sell it
    to free up some desk space.

    I can't say anything about availability dates, but John Foust of
    Amazing Computing has reported that he HAS SEEN the emulator working.
    It exists, is real, and will probably be out real soon now.

    Re .-1
    
    ...But then again, who listens to John ("The Bandito") Foust anyway?
    (You can tell he is "The Bandito" because his spelling and grammatical
    errors are the same in all of his articles!)
    
       ...by the way, heard the one about the A4billion yet with the
       68030 in it and graphics chips that support neon monitors and...
       oh yah, there's that one about the A5billion with the array of
       transputing 78000 chips that run BASIC faster than even an IBM PC,
       oh yah and V1.3 of AmigaDOS which is software compatible with
       Unix 4.2BSD but will only be available in Europe, and and and...

    It seems highly likely though that he is telling the truth this
    time though... there have been rumblings of a 64 emulator for a
    long time and given the success of the 64 in Europe (England and
    West Germany in particular), it seems like that would be the logical
    place for such an emulator to originate.
    
    Imagine... an A550 which has 64 emulation in ROM... hey, someone
    call DigitalReview, uh, I mean "The Bandito"... I think I feel a
    new product comming on!!!  (It does sound like the 128's days are
    numbered, no?)

    re: .9  days of the C128 are numbered
    
    INFO magazine had a couple mentions of 64K of video ram in the
    C128D and some new 3rd party BASIC that supports it.  I don't
    remember the exact specs, but something like 640x192 color graphics.
    Cheap ram expansion should do interesting things to the 8-bit market.
    Also an 80 column GEOS might give new life to the C128.
    
    The C128 has always puzzled me.  I expected the next system after
    the C64 to something like the 520ST.  Instead CBM came out with
    a 80 column screen, keypad, and CPM.  Nice features but not really
    a next generation machine.  Then they tried to kill off the C64.
    Very strange.  Now they seem to think the C64 and A500 are the
    future.  Maybe the C128 and A2000 sales will surprise them.
    Guessing what the public wants can be very tricky.
    
    -dave
    

    Boy, I can't wait for the C'64 Emulator!!! Just think, one could
    attach/install the emulator to their Amiga, and run the great new GEOS
    operating system!  Then, we'd be able to use a mouse, bit-mapped
    graphics in 16 entire colors, manipulate windows, and have a disk
    transfer rate of 300 baud, which is much faster than one can type in
    data! 
                                                     
    Seriously, I had a chuckle over in the ST notes file, where people
    were so enthused over the CP/M and Atari-8 bit emulators for the
    ST.  Imagine wanting to emulate an obsolete machine at 20% of it's
    original speed!  Don't make no sense to me...
    
    Now the Magic Sac on the other hand, seems to fill a real niche.
    Seems that some ST peolple actually prefer it to the native GEM
    environment, especially since it runs about 25% faster than the
    genuine article.  I for one will give this thing a try when it becomes
    available.

                                                      

    
    
    	I have an ST and Have the Magic SAC. This thing is incredible.
    If and when it becomes available for the AMIGA I would recommend
    it 100 %.
    
    				Steve
    

    re: .12
    
    after hearing some folks raving about the MAC IIs at some MAC show
    in Boston, i was wondering.... any rumors about a Magic SAC that
    can support MAC COLOR?  Heard lots of claims about how newer mac
    programs would include color.  Seems a great waste of the potential
    of an Amiga or ST to just have a mac in monochrome :-)
    
    -dave

    Dave, I got to use a Mac ][ saturday at my brother-in-law's house.
    Is is indeed a very nice machine.  The color display is awesome.
    The most criminally insane feature of the Amiga is an interlaced
    640 x 400 display.  I know, at least it's in color, but the Mac
    ][ display is rock solid, even better than a mono ST. 
    
    Couple of comments on the Mac ][...
    
    Graphics are not any faster than Amiga's, maybe slower.  Moving windows
    around still feels a bit sticky, whereas the Amiga seems to glide
    as if on ice.  Of course it would be an order of magnitude faster
    on math, with it's built-in 68881 and double clock speed, but ordinary
    window shuffling was underwhelming.  I assume this is due to lack
    of a hardware graphics accelerator.
    
    The fan on the Mac ][ is louder than a car wash.  Seriously, this
    thing is really offensive.
    
    There's no off switch!!   We got it so severely hung up that we
    had to crawl under the table to pull the plug.  Hitting the warm
    reset switch didn't kill it enough.
    
    Lots of software was broken in minor or major ways, but Bob claimed
    that all the important stuff worked well. 
                                       
    All in all, Apple did an amazing job of providing an upgrade path
    to a real killer machine.
    
    Re: Magic Sac on Amiga
    
    David Small has contracted Jez San to help with some of the Amiga
    code.  The rumor mill has it that the Amiga Sac will be able to
    read/write Mac disks.  I wonder how they'll handle the display?
    I can't imagine a 640 x 200 emulation, since all windows would be
    taller than the screen.  Maybe a non-offensive color scheme in 640
    x 400?  
    
    As much as I am impressed by products like the Sac, I wonder how
    much it hurts the market for native development... I much prefer
    the multitasking Amiga inteface to Macs.  There's so many things
    you just can't do with a one-button mouse.   Sigh....
    

    Hi. I'm trying to decide whether to buy a 128-D or Amiga 500. Before you
    all say "this guy's crazy - get the Amiga", let me explain that I'm
    thinking of it for use by my kids (10, 7, 3). There's a wealth of
    educational s/w for the C64/128, not all that much (yet) for the Amiga.

    My heart and pocketbook say go for the Amiga 500/2002 monitor (~$900).
    The practical side says get the 128-D/2002/mouse/joystick/GEOS (~$750)
    since it has more educational s/w and I'm really buying it for the
    kids (besides, if I get an Amiga, the kids will probably never get to
    use it :-) ).

    Now for the question: The Feb 88 issue of Ahoy! magazine has reviews
    of 2 C64 emulators. "The 64 Emulator" by ReadySoft ($39.95) and
    "Go 64!" by Software Insight Systems ($69.95). They weren't all that
    impressed with either, suggesting that one wait a few months til
    better versions come out. Are any of you Amiga owners using either
    of these 2 emulators? I'd be inclined to go Amiga if I knew it could
    be used to run all the C64 s/w. Your impressions of these emulators
    or others would be greatly appreciated.

						-Dom

    There's no better emulator of a C-64 than a C-64.  Since games and
    the like tend to do weird and wondrous things with the internals
    of both the C-64 and its C-1541 disk drive, you'll *never* be able
    to make a perfect emulator to run on another machine.
    
    Get the A500 for yourself and find a used C-64 & C-1541 (about $100
    each) for the kids.  You can hook it up to the TV (especially if
    your set has monitor inputs -- NTSC composite video and audio) and
    sleep easier, knowing that sticky fingers and other forms of abuse
    can be kept away from Amy.
    
    [I love (and depend upon) my C-128.  I have no regrets about my choice
    of the C-64 and later C-128, but if I were starting from scratch, I'd
    do it as I recommend above.] 

The magazines (was in Amazing Computing, also) were right. I got the
GO-64 emulator and was VERY displeased. It's *extreamly* slow and 
has a hard time running C-64 stuff. We (my roomamate and I) tried 
to run Leader Board - GURU or blank screen. Tried some other ones
he has and all had trouble of some kind. Typing is a real aggravation
as you can easily type faster than it can read.

I'm sure they are both fantastic programming feats (as the mags state) but
are just not ready yet. Wait for later versions and better reviews...

BTW I got mine at the same time as the A500 (call it a selling feature)
and exchanged it 2 or 3 days later for the A501 ram expansion. Also,
I think the disk I got was bad. It would load some programs, and just before
running (or trying to at least) it would beat the tar out of the floppy
and then GURU...


John