| THE JAY MINER CONFERENCE.
This is a heavily edited transcript of a "formal" conference held live
in People/Link's AmigaZone Club on the evening of August 17, 1989.
Our special guest was Mr. Jay Miner, (PADRE) "Father of the Amiga."
Names of the participants are shown in parentheses by their
People/Link IDs or *handles. While the text here is not lengthy it
took a little over an hour in real-time to take place.
This transcript is Copyright 1989, The AmigaZone. All rights reserved.
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(CBM*HARV) IT'S NOW MY EXTREME PLEASURE TO INTRODUCE TO YOU A
MAN...WITHOUT WHOM WE WOULD ALL BE SITTING HERE TYPING ON
SOME OTHER KIND OF COMPUTER... MR. JAY MINER...
(PADRE) Is everyone on an Amiga? I just wanted to say, I am retired
now and not associated with Commodore anymore. And don't get
any of their Latest poop, except what I read in the
Mags. I can make some guesses though. I'm not sure what people
want to talk about so let the questions begin.
(CBM*HARV) MR. DJJ IS HANDLING THE QUESTION QUEUE TONITE. SO LET'S
BEGIN.
(DJJAMES) {bow}
(KEN BAER) Many people are using Amigas for lots of exciting things.
What are some of the things you've seen that really
impressed you, and what have you seen that you didn't think
could be done with the machine?
(PADRE) The best example of that is the new A1000 board for the new
chip set I think that is the greatest, and just last month I
was telling people I didn't think it could be done. Of course
the older one is the HAM mode I almost took it out of the
Amiga way back when. Also all the new Accelerator cards are
just fantastic.
(KEN BAER) What have you seen that made proudest?
(PADRE) Good question, I think the Ami Expo shows. I get so much
positive feedback There that I jus go all gushy inside. An old
man said I saved his life cause his wife died 2 years ago and
he almost committed suicide until he got interested in the
amiga.
(CBM*HARV) Jay...you say "almost took out HAM mode".. what or who
convinced you to leave it in?
(PADRE) The chip layout artist. he said there wasn't time to re-layout
the chip and taking it out would leave a hole, so best to
leave it in.
(JBURNES) Are you working on any new computers (multiblitter 3d?) if
not i'd like to buy stock in a startup comp. of yours if
you start
(PADRE) I am always thinking about the "next" generation, but its all
in my head right now. I will try to get you some stock if I
ever do anything about it GA
(CMI*BILL) Jay, were you involved in the chip design stage for the
2000? Specifically, the Gary chip and the Enhanced Chip
Set.
(PADRE) All the chip improvements so far (except the Address line
buffers in Fat agnus) Were done by me and the guys at Los
Gatos back in 1986. That includes the features on the enhanced chip
set, as I understand them right now. These were done by the guys even
tho they were sure C= was closing the place down. They were right. The
Gary chip is all Westchester however.
(JBURNES) Jay...are you reachable by usenet/uucp whatever?
(PADRE) I am on Portal which has Usenet access, but I don't remember a
better address, also I have my own BBS now the number is
415-967-2021, Its called The Mission
(DENNY) So do you think the Amiga has been a success? how has it
performed compared to your expectations?
(PADRE) It has definitely been a Success. It sold more than the Mac in
the same [period, and with far more competition. I just wish
wish that we could have gone after big blue right from the
start. C= wouldn't (or couldn't)
(MIKE G) Do you feel the Amiga is still ahead of it's time in the
current marketplace?
(PADRE) Lack of marketing and developer support has put us way behind
I think it is still the best buy by far, for a PC but most
people don't know we exist.
(TREP) Jay I'll understand if you decline to answer, but I've always
wondered if you or the Los Gatos guys made out OK financially
(PADRE) We all made out" to a more or less degree. I am doing all
right retired and have lots of toys. Farm, Big boat, fancy
car, etc.
(KINGARTHUR) I read an interview with you a while back, in which you
said some things about the amiga that made me worry. Do
you think the amiga's future looks any better now?
(PADRE) I like the new hardware and software, but C= just isn't doing
the PR and marketing that we need. I still worry that the big
2 are so far ahead in public awareness that we will get A
small piece of the action for as long as it takes for another
machine to come along and get in front of us.
(SKEEVE) Have you heard the rumors (supposedly substantiated). That
George Lucas is doing some C= commercials for Fall release?
(PADRE) Yes I have, cant say if its true, but probable. C= I hear is
planning . On a big ad camp. and its likely I dislike however
The idea of a big camp. for the 500, that Treats the Amiga as
just an artists machine and graphics. They are missing a lot
of features that would give us status as a real computer in
the public eye. This is what I hear they are doing.
(JBURNES) What would have happened to original AMY design if u guys
hadn't sold to C= and what did u think of bridge board
(PADRE) If C= hadn't come along, Atari would have taken us over in a
big way. They would have used the chips in something like the ST And
we would have (IMHO) gotten screwed. As far as the B.B. is concerned,
I never liked the idea of trying to be compatible. I like the card
slots and their format tho. That is the way I originally wanted to
build the Amiga.
(*PEG) Jay, a couple members of the original design team have
indicated you were going for a graphics workstation when you
designed the Amiga...... and that C= came along and watered the
design down for public consumption, so to speak. Is there any
truth to that?...
(PADRE) I had to make it look like a game because of the investors,
but under the hood,
(*PEG) And, are you free for lunch Monday or Tuesday? [grin]
(PADRE) I wanted a general purpose computer PC type. Or expandable to
that. (I will msg you on that) But C= did try to take the expansion
port out, and they did cut back on memory from 512K to 256 K (a big
mistake) I was successful on the port, but lost on the memory.
Other than that, they didn't really change much.
(*LOTTO) How did the term "GURU' meditation originate? GA
(PADRE) Well RJ and Dale used to sit in those funny tilted forward
chairs While the compiler was cranking, and they were always tired and
meditated a lot in that position. So we started calling them the
Gurus.
(CMI*BILL) Jay, If you were still doing new design work on the Amiga,
what would you be doing with it? Are there things you did while...
still with C/A that we haven't seen yet?
(PADRE) I would be designing completely new (but compatible) CMOS chip
set for the 3 Custom chips. with fill (32bit) chip memory to address 8
mb of chip memory, and faster with more colors, and built in
Framebuffer, and better blitter.
(ISEPIC) Mr. Miner I was wondering if you could...Tell use some
features that is not publicly known of the amiga..
(PADRE) No I really think they have all been documented. There will
however Be new solutions to problems, programming, and new cards from
time to time.
(DENNY) Some Chipset questions... 1) How easy will it be for CBM to
add more colors to the chipset? and 2) Was there ever REALLY a *2* meg
CHIP ram set under development? 3) WAS anything removed from the
chipset? (like HAM almost was?)
(PADRE) 1. its not easy, but its doable. 2. Yes the design we did in
Los Gatos had 2 megabytes of chip ram. I have no idea why C= reduced
that to 1 m!!!! 3. No I think HAM was the only thing, except for the
NTSC converter we removed to make room for 16 color 640 mode.
(MIKE-SPAR) JAY, what are your thoughts on the (rumored) A3000? What
should it have? Also is the upcoming 1.4 OS to your liking?
(PADRE) So far I like just about everything I have heard about 1.4.
The 3000? well I hear its a 32 bit machine, I hope they speed up the
clock too. That is what is needed, but I'm afraid It will require
redesigning the chip set in high speed CMOS, which will take a long
time, even if they have started on it. So the 3000 will prob have the
same clock speed, but 32 bits, and maybe added graphic cards.
(NY*JIM) All humbleness aside, Jay, do you think that there are people
as gifted and visionary as yourself and your former partners who are
capable of carrying on (and forward) the design of the Amiga
chipset, and do you think Commodore-Amiga will be able to get them?
(PADRE) Its not the people,There are thousands of them more talented
than me, its the situation. Prob is big companies have to be upward
compatible (like IBM and C= And innovation gets trampled there. small
companies don't have the resources to compete. That's the prob, not
talent. C= has lots of talent.
(KINGARTHUR) I'm pretty sure we've all heard the rumor about some
sort of buy out of Commodore by Hewlett Packard. How do you feel this
kinda thing would effect the Amiga and do for its future?
(PADRE) I've heard that too, and I doubt its truth. But if true, it
would be good I think. HP Would give some believability to the
computer (Amiga) and would help promote it (if true). However I don't
believe it because it doesn't seem to fit their line, and would be too
expensive.
(AMIGA*BOB) Was wondering what kind of Amiga system you have now
Jay....memory....peripherals etc....and what YOU do with your
Amiga at home (in addition to telecommunications)?
(PADRE) I have a 2000 with 6 meg RAM and 80 MB HD from GVP, also a
flicker Fixer(which I dearly love when it shows on my Zenith flat face
hi contrast monitor. I use it mostly for telecomm, but also am
learning C, and have all my personal stuff on it. I love to play
Dungeon Master, and Flight Simulators. GA
(KEN BAER) If Amiga Corp. had enough money way back when and not been
bought by one of the big boys, where do you think it would be
today?.....
(PADRE) I really think we could have taken a bite out of IBM's leg.
They were particulary vulnerable then, and the right software
development and PR could have set us up as competition. We had them
feature wise, and the Mac too.
(KEN BAER) And if you were able to carry out your original company
plans, what might have been the outcome judging from the way the
market has gone?
(PADRE) A large company called Amiga Corp, and I would have a yacht
instead of a boat. We should have shared in the market at about the 30
% level. But there were too many small computer companies going down
the tubes about then we just couldn't find the money. GA
(*BLACK STAR) I guess the only area Commodore doesn't have talented
people is in marketing!!!?
(PADRE) And PR (public relations)
(*PEG) The chipset you described for a future Amiga sounded wonderful,
Jay.... Have you ever talked with C= about that, and if conditions
were right, would you do it for them? And am I the only female here
tonight?
(PADRE) No I haven't, yes I would.
(CBM*HARV) AUDITORIUM MODE IS =OFF=
This ended the "formal" portion of the conference which was followed
by about another hour of informal chatting.
Participants:
PADRE CBM*HARV MAGELLAN
SILVERLOCK ELRADOR DJJAMES
KINGARTHUR AMIGA*BOB SKEEVE
DYANKEE TREP DAVID HAMM
JBURNES KEN BAER *JAY
NY*JIM JABERG *MIKE FERRARI
CMI*BILL K JESSUP JSGROENKE
*LOTTO ISEPIC DENNY
*PEG *DAN BABCOCK G KINSEY
JANET*MP *FORBIN AMIGA*JOHN
JBURNES MIKE G *NEWAMIGABUYER
MIKE-SPAR CRAIG*M *BLACK STAR
ANDROID *TOMW WRECK
LGREEN SRU808 *JIM
*PHAZE DAVID-C JJIRSA
72 different people participated. Those who did not speak at all are
not listed above.
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