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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:AMIGA NOTES
Notice:Join us in the *NEW* conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:HYDRA::MOORE
Created:Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5378
Total number of notes:38326

2795.0. "Amiga review from USENET" by WJG::GUINEAU (Only obvious to the casual observer) Fri Aug 04 1989 12:14

Article 37316 of comp.sys.amiga
Path: shlump.nac.dec.com!decuac!haven!purdue!decwrl!eng.umd.edu!smaug
From: smaug@eng.umd.edu (Kurt Lidl)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Amiga Review
Message-ID: <8908032135.AA05313@abyss.eng.umd.edu>
Date: 3 Aug 89 21:35:31 GMT
Organization: Merriversity of Uniland, College Purgatory
Lines: 51

From the July 31, 1989 issue of PC-Week (Hardware Section):

	Amiga Winning Hearts and Minds As Low-Cost Graphics Machine
		(By Evan O. Grossman)

	Long considered the non-conformist cousin of the PC, Commodore
Business Machines Inc.'s Amiga is starting to fill a niche in companies as
a low-cost graphics workstation.
	Citing the computer's superior graphics and audiop capabilities
along with the ability to run PC and Macintosh software through emulators,
Amiga advocates say the machine offers better presentation graphics for a
lower cost than its mainstream competitors.
	"We're a large company, but somehow our budget never is large, and
the Amiga is much less expensive than anything else," said Rich Gold, a
design project manager with toy maker Mattel Inc., in Hawthorne, Calif.
	A full-featured Amiga with color graphics and a hard disk costs
almost half as much as a similarly configured Apple Macintosh II, yet
offers better performance, Gold claimed.
	The Amiga line starts with the 500, a system with no expansion
slots that sells for $799.  The top-of-the-line Amiga 2500, based on the
Motorola 68020 processor, comes with 3M bytes of memory, a 68881 math
coprocessor, four Amiga expansion slots, three AT expansion slots and a
40M-byte hard disk for $4,699.
	Commodore plans to release a 68030 version of the Amiga in the
next few weeks, which will bring the computer's processing power in line
with the Mac IIx, sources said.
	Although most users called graphics the highlight of the computer,
they also use it with Commodore's IBM emulator card for word-processing
or spreadsheet applications.  The Amiga comes with three AT compatible
bus slots, and Commodore sells an 8088 IBM XT-compatible emulator card for
$799 and an AT board for $1,499.
	Even with full IBM emulation, Amigas are still reserved largely
for graphics tasks. At dairy-products maker Kraft Inc., the company's
three Amigas are not on its Novell network, said Kristal Lindstrom,
computer coordinator at Kraft's Springfield, Mo., office.  Kraft's Amigas
are used primarily by individuals who do graphics presentations, she said.
	The Amigas can emualte a Mac with the addition of the $199.95
A-Max cartridge from the Toronto-based Ready-Soft Inc.  The Amiga user
would also need to add a set of Macintosh ROMs and a Macintosh disk drive
to enable the Amiga to run most Mac software, including Aldus Corp.'s
PageMaker and Microsoft Corp.'s Excel, said a Commodore official.
	Commodore Business Machines Inc., of West Chester, Pa, can be
reached at (215) 431-9100.

[Re-produced without permission.]

-- 
==================================================================
==  Kurt J. Lidl  (smaug@bacchus.eng.umd.edu)	(301) 345-6243	==
==  UUCP: uunet!mimsy!bacchus!smaug		(301) 454-1526	==
==========="Amiga : The Computer for the Best of Us..."===========


T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
2795.1SMAUG::SPODARYKScaring the pedestrians...Fri Aug 04 1989 15:3486
    Here's a slightly edited review from a PC owning friend.  It's all
    in good fun... really!
    
    Steve
    -----
    
From:	INTER::HELMREICH    "NaC Publications"  4-AUG-1989 10:56:02.94
To:	SMAUG::SPODARYK
CC:	HELMREICH
Subj:	What?  you didn't read it CAREFUULY

From:	SMAUG::SPODARYK "Scaring the pedestrians...  04-Aug-1989 1015"  4-AUG-1989 10:17:37.77
To:	chadis,steve_h
CC:	
Subj:	Propaganda

             <<< BOMBE::DISK_NOTES$LIBRARY:[000000]AMIGA.NOTE;1 >>>
                                -< AMIGA NOTES >-
================================================================================
Note 2795.0                 Amiga review from USENET                  No replies
WJG::GUINEAU "Only obvious to the casual observer"   63 lines   4-AUG-1989 08:14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article 37316 of comp.sys.amiga
Path: shlump.nac.dec.com!decuac!haven!purdue!decwrl!eng.umd.edu!smaug
From: smaug@eng.umd.edu (Kurt Lidl)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Amiga Review
Message-ID: <8908032135.AA05313@abyss.eng.umd.edu>
Date: 3 Aug 89 21:35:31 GMT
Organization: Merriversity of Uniland, College Purgatory
Lines: 51

From the July 31, 1989 issue of PC-Week (Hardware Section):

	Amiga Winning Hearts and Minds As Low-Cost Game Machine
		(By Evan O. Grossman)

	Long considered the non-conformist cousin of the PC, Commodore
Business Machines Inc.'s Amiga is starting to fill a niche in companies as
a low-cost Atari 6800.
	Citing the computer's superior graphics and audio capabilities
along with the ability to run Timex Sinclair and other z-80 software through 
emulators, Amiga advocates say the machine offers better Battlezone graphics 
for a lower cost than its mainstream competitors.
	"We're a large company, but somehow our toy budget never is large, and
the Amiga is much less expensive than anything else," said Rich Gold, a
design project manager with Mattel Inc., in Hawthorne, Calif.
	A full-featured Amiga with color graphics and a hard disk costs
almost half as much as a similarly configured Atari with a game cartidge,
yet offers better performance, Gold claimed.
	The Amiga line starts with the top-of-the-line Amiga 2500, a system 
with no expansion slots that sells for $799. Based on the Motorola 6502 
processor, it comes with one game cartridge slot, and 2 joystick ports.
	Commodore plans to release a transistor version of the Amiga in the
next few weeks, which will bring the computer's processing power in line
with the Ohio Scientific Commander 2PC, sources said.
	Although most users called graphics the highlight of the computer,
they also use it with Commodore's PET20 emulator card for word-processing
or spreadsheet applications.  The Amiga comes with PET-compatible
bus slots, and Commodore sells an Univac emulator card for $799 and an 
ENIAC board for $1,499.
	Even with full PET emulation, Amigas are still reserved largely
for game playing tasks. At dairy-products maker Kraft Inc., the company's
three Amigas are not on its Novell network, they are not even upstairs.  
One of them is said to be used to stabilize the wobbly leg of the building's
water heater, said Kristal Lindstrom, computer coordinator at Kraft's 
Springfield, Mo., office.  Kraft's Amigas are used primarily by individuals 
who have nothing better to do, she said.
	The Amigas can emualte a Ms. Pac Man with the addition of the $199.95
A-Max cartridge from the Toronto-based Ready-Soft Inc.  The Amiga user
would also need to add a set of labels and stickers to complete the look.

	Commodore Business Machines Inc., of West Chester, Pa, can be
reached at (215) 431-9100.

[Re-produced without permission.]

-- 
==================================================================
==  Kurt J. Lidl  (smaug@bacchus.eng.umd.edu)	(301) 345-6243	==
==  UUCP: uunet!mimsy!bacchus!smaug		(301) 454-1526	==
==========="Amiga : The Computer for the Best of Us..."===========



    
2795.2BAGELS::BRANNONDave BrannonFri Aug 04 1989 17:1215
    re:.1
    
    better than the original article, but lacks the subtle humor --
      a great graphics computer that can also run spreadsheets and
      wordprocessing if you get the ibm emulator card.   Grrrrr
    
    But at least they are mentioning it and did have a color picture
    of the 500 and the 2000.  I wonder why they did it.  Articles
    like that justify CBM's putting those ibm slots in the 2000. Free
    publicity even if it isn't 100% correct.  Nice how they stuck
    in mention of A-Max at the end.  But still it portrayed the Amiga
    as a niche computer, not worthy enough to be on the corporate
    network.
    
    -Dave