| The new version of AmigaDOS (V 1.2) has utilities and commands to
configure virtually any floppy disk ever created into a usable device.
Regarding your choice of purchase, I am admittedly a tad biased,
but for just a little more money than the 1040 ST, the Amiga gives
you:
* Real stereo output with 4 voices, A/D sound sampling capabilites,
the sound has to be heard to be believed. The ST provides
a sound chip that is not quite as good as the C'64. Granted,
there is a MIDI port present, but it is not a great MIDI port,
and an Amiga MIDI can be had from about 6 different vendors
from $39.00 to $69.00.
* A color palette of 4,096 colors, and a zillion graphics modes,
including 640 x 400 with 16 colors, and a HOLD_AND_MODIFY
mode that allows all 4,096 colors on the screen at once in
any of the resolution modes. The Amiga also displays 32 colors
in lo-res mode, vs the ST 16 colors from a palette of 512,
and 16 colors in med-res (640 x 200) vs the STs 4 colors.
* Real multitasking, which has received rave reviews from everyone
who has used it. Great software really needs multitasking
to run smoothly.
* Built-in text-to-speech conversion.
* Command-driven operating system, with over 50 DOS commands,
which is accessible from the Workbench (Icon-oriented)
environment.
* Works with virtually every kind of monitor or TV set ever
created.
* Expansion bus, for connecting peripherals, extra memory, etc..
* 880 K floppys, vs 720 k on theh ST
* A real blitter chip, built in from day one. (Atari has been
announcing their blitter for over a year now).
* Cheap memory expansion boards are now available. For example,
2 Megs of fast RAM cost $525.00
* And on and on...
My point is that Atari is trying to make the ST more Amiga-like
with optional add-on Blitters and Sound cartridges. Why bother?
You can have it all right now.
Also, the Amiga has outsold the ST in the USA (100,000 to 60,000).
The ST still is more popular in Europe, where it was introduced
about 9 months before the Amiga. There are about equal amounts
of software for each machine, but the Amiga has the ST clobbered
in the graphics and sound areas. The ST has better word-processing
and business-type stuff for now.
Couple of more points...Atari kinda left out some important parts
of GEM on the ST, like GDOS, which they say will be available 'soon'.
For a more professional (and admittedly biased) review of the strength
and weakness of each machine, read the note called 'ST MYTHS' somewhere
in this conference.
All in all, neither Commodere or Atari has been very good at delivering
on promises, but lots of people feel that the Amiga has the superior
hardware today.
|
| re:.0 why junk the VT180? Hooking up the disks to the Amiga or
ST require some hardware hacking. Just run a null modem cable
between the VT180 and your new computer whenever you need files
off of a 5.25" disk.
Can the Robin read MS-DOS 360K disks?
The disk controller in the Amiga is mostly in a software driver
that uses the blitter and general purpose hardware, in the ST it is
a Western Digital chip. Since both use industry standard disk drives
the only real difference is the interface from the disk to the
computer. The Amiga uses a DB23 connector and the ST uses a DIN
connector - both not carried by Radio Shack. The DB23 can be made
by cutting a DB25 down to that size.
The new Wb 1.2 software on the Amiga allows you to tell the
OS about a strange drive configuration - that makes the software
side of hooking up the drive easier. Depending on how strange
the disk is, on the Amiga you could write your own disk controller.
You need to know more about exactly what the vt180 drives need -
can they be powered directly from an outlet or do they depend
on the Vt100 for power? Who is the manufacturer of the drive, etc.
I'm real curious if it can be done. I saw a dealer selling the
drives for $100 at the computer show in Boxboro. Very tempting if all
it takes to hook it up is making a cable.
-dave
|
| its a lot more than 6 pins in that Din, don't remember the exact
number. I think its 13 pins, but the ST conference is a better place
for that kind of info. I only wanted to make the point that both
computers use potentially hard to find connectors, and at least the
Amiga DB23 could be made from a DB25 connector.
-dave
|