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From: smith@NRL-AIC.ARPA (Russ Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: Hardware purchase advice request/any vendor
Message-ID: <8712021412.AA06839@nrl-aic.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 2-Dec-87 09:08:58 EST
Article-I.D.: nrl-aic.8712021412.AA06839
Posted: Wed Dec  2 09:08:58 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Dec-87 14:59:08 EST
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The ARPA Internet
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[Pardon the response to this list for non-IRIS material, but that's
from whence the original query came...]

[To Thomas Purcell:]

You may want to look into the Amiga 2000. It allows multiple (two...)
cards in it for IBM *and* Amiga processors which can run in parallel.
There very shortly will be a '386 card for the IBM-compatible side of the
2000. Right now I believe the IBM side is XT-compatible (with expansion
slots so inexpensive IBM-compatible peripherals can be added (such as
hard disks...)).

The Amiga-side memory can be expanded up to at least 8 megabytes. One can
install a 5.25" IBM compatible floppy disk drive which can be
read/written by the Amiga-side (plus it comes with a 3.5" drive). A hard
drive can be internally installed on the Amiga side.

AmigaDOS is a true multi-tasking operating system somewhat similar to UNIX
in that it has a heirarchical file system, etc. (it does not, however, have
memory management built-in). Tasks never have to be written to KNOW about
multi-tasking, for example, something that many available "task-switching"
systems for other machines need. Most everything on the AMIGA (except for
the system itself...) is written in C. There are extensive graphics
capabilities (with hardware chips to handle them and software packages to
access the chips). Commercial C compilers are available (and produce quite
good code (I'd recommend Aztec C)). The most popular wordprocessor
package, WordPerfect, is also available.

The graphics are definitely better than IBM *BUT* can *INCLUDE* IBM
(in fact, an "IBM window" can be displayed on the AMIGA screen...). Of
course, you could plug an IBM vga graphics board into the IBM side for
"high speed" graphics that don't use the Amiga monitor.

Resolution of the Amiga 2000 can vary from 320x200x5bits to 640x400x4 bits 
(actually, the 320x200 can use 6 bits per pixel, but that is a special
feature called Hold and Modify, allowing up to 4096 colors at once under
certain restrictions).

The system comes with 1 megabyte.

In essence, the A2000 is two different computers that are intimately hardware
connected. The Amiga side starts up the IBM side, then the two
communicate through shared memory. The Amiga side allows (indeed,
insists on!) multitasking. The IBM side is XT compatible. Both machines
run in parallel.

For the price range you quote you should be able to get a VERY fully
equipped A2000 machine complete with multiple megabytes of memory,
IBM compatibility, hi-res color monitor, hard disk (or two), printer,
and more.

The hi-res mode of the Amiga is higher (AND in 16 colors) than the Mac,
but there is NO Mac compatibility currently available.

Bells and Whistles: There is an Ethernet card available for the A2000,
allowing the A2000 to be networked to other Ethernet machines.

Russ 
JAYCOR
Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence (whew!)