Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    
    A) The Janus stuff can emulate CGA stuff, the best thing would be
    to run it on it's own screen, so you can get all the colors. There
    is no problem plugging in a VGA card and switching the monitor sources,
    however you'll probably have to built that switch yourself.
    
    B) They'll probably hang me for this, but...
    AMIX (Amiga Unix) isn't finished yet. You should contact CBM either
    in GB or the US to see what they can do for you /tell you. Right
    now only a few handfull of commercial developers (can) have it.
    And it requires the complete package right now, which consists of
    a B2000, A2620, big disk and the 150MB streamer.
    The reason for the delay(s) in getting AMIX out are X-Windows, NFS
    and Release 4 (not necessarily in that order).
    
    Just don't tell anybody I told you ;)
    
    <CB>
    

    
    Thanks <CB>, but can I ask you this.......
    
    Is it ABSOLUTELY and CATEGORICALLY the (current) intention of C= that
    they WILL eventually release Unix for Ami ?  and that (to the best of
    your knowledge, of course) it will not be shelved ?
    
    					Alan T. 

    Well, I can't answer for <CB>, but from what I've been reading
    and seen, Commodore Unix is for REAL.  The A2500UX is for REAL.
    This is not vapor, I have seen it, and there are no intentions
    of 'shelving' it.  Commodore has a lot riding on this system.
    It's their chance to finally break the Amiga into the workstation
    market, and (hopefully) they won't blow it.
    
    Back to .0
    
    An Amiga system comprised of...
    
    B2000+A2620( or A2630. Choose your weapon )
    MicroBotics HardFrame + Fast HD (Quantum 80s?)
    Ethernet Board (from Ameristar, soon to be the Commodore Ethernet board)
    X11 (from GfxBase)
    Amiga/DECnet or TCP/IP (from Syndesis)
    BridgeBoard, FlickerFixer, Multi-Scanning monitor
    
    Would probably do quite nicely.  Do you really need Unix?  An Amiga
    running MS-DOS (either in a WorkBench window, or separate monitor),
    running an X11 Server, and several Clients (something that PC DECwindows
    	can't do)
    and running AmigaDOS applications in it's 'native' environment, 
    would be very impressive!
    
    ~Steve (rambling again)
    

    
    Why not budget in another $500 or so for a full Macintosh emulation
    package as well? 
    
    Ed.

Re: .2

>    Is it ABSOLUTELY and CATEGORICALLY the (current) intention of C= that
>    they WILL eventually release Unix for Ami ?  and that (to the best of
>    your knowledge, of course) it will not be shelved ?

No guarantees.  Even if the company's future seems to be riding on it
(which isn't the case), even if they've shipped field test units,
even if the developers and company management swear its coming out,
to can't be sure until it's on the dealer's shelves

After spending about eight years at DEC, I've seen dozens of important,
close-to-being-finished, or even working products scrapped, even after the
company spent millions of dollars on development.  I don't believe
in anything until it's being sold to customers.

Personally, I'd be willing to bet small sums of money that Commodore
will sell Unix for the Amiga (I've seen one of the developer's
units).  But, I wouldn't get involved in something that would fail
if it wasn't made available, and I wouldn't risk looking like a
big fool to my boss (I look like a small fool all the time :->).

If Amiga Unix is that important, then hold off making any proposal
until it comes out.  If you can justify the purchase without Unix,
then go ahead (and include a "we'll need some more money to buy Amiga
Unix when it comes out" as a line in your proposal).

    
�    Why not budget in another $500 or so for a full Macintosh emulation
�    package as well? 

    Absolutely ! It's in there !!
    
    The major 'selling point' of this project will be the multiple
    operating systems;-  AmigaDOS, MS-DOS, MacIntosh, and probably a
    BBC emulator too (vast majority of people here are familiar with
    the BBC systems). I think that the AMIX OS would be the icing on
    the cake, and the clincher for some of the real techies but I don't
    foresee any great problem justifying the project without it. But
    I do see a problem justifying the A2620 without it.
    
    
    					Alan T.

    Re: .2
    
    If nothing goes seriously wrong, CBM will release AMIX. But keep
    Randy's words from .5 in mind, he obviously knows what he's talking
    about and my experiences are similar.
    As soon as a more or less bulletproof system for the shipping of
    AMIX is found (CBM can't risk a license "war" with AT&T) they plan
    to ship it w/o all the hardware.
    
    Regards,
    
    <CB>

My roomate was looking through the "Help Wanted" section in the Boston Globe
and he spotted an ad from Commodore looking for Amiga developers.  The add 
specifically mentions that Amiga Unix developers are needed.   They're also
taking resumes for Amiga OS developers and persons with Postscript experience.

Too bad all these jobs are in Westchester!