| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 67.1 | GENLOCK is coming... | LDP::WEAVER | Laboratory Data Products | Wed Apr 27 1988 18:47 | 7 |
| I am waiting for information on a GENLOCK for the ST, when I get
it I will pass it along. I suspect that this would offer higher
resolution color, but I have no specifics yet. Supposedly the
manual is in production, and I will get a copy when they first
become available.
-Dave
|
| 67.2 | a little more info | RDGENG::KEANE | | Thu Apr 28 1988 06:55 | 26 |
|
Heelo Mike,
re 67.0 High res monitor.
I saw a product demonstrated at the UK Atari show on Sunday last.
It was a 17 in (diag) mono monitor, apparently driven from an add-on
box plugged into the DMA port. It could display two A4 pages "full"
size side by side, and the software being used, Fleet Street Publisher
could edit either or between. The definition was extremely good.
Unfortunately the whole show was like a Zoo, and there was a queue
of people waiting to ask questions, so I didnt hang about, to ask
the salesman/demo details. There was a card on the monitor saying
it was near FCS but hadnt been priced yet!
So if I had known you were interested, I would have gotten some
hard facts, however, is there any other UK ST'er who went to the
Ally-Pally show and can add more details ???
Sorry if this just wets your appetite,
Cheers
Pat K.
|
| 67.3 | Any more info..pass it along.. | ASPEN2::BOIKO | | Thu Apr 28 1988 12:28 | 6 |
| 67.1 and 67.2 Both sound very good... If you guy's receive any more
info on HI-RES add-on monitors for the ST please pass it on, in
this note...
Thanks
-mike-
|
| 67.4 | More impressions | ODIHAM::BURNS_K | SWAS Basingstoke England | Thu May 05 1988 05:37 | 13 |
| I was also at the show in London (re 67.2). I had to wait so long
to get in that I had somewhat lost interest in the whole thing by
then. However I saw the monitor Pat is talking about it was about
the size of a VAXstation monochrome screen with an excellent quality
picture.
The only extra points I can add is that I believe that it
only improves the display of s/w which has been adapted to use it.
Also, from another stand I got the impression that it would be over
�1000 when it reached the UK.
One other point where was the Abaq which the pre-show publicity
had said would be on show?
Keith.
|
| 67.5 | More on the show! | RDGENG::KEANE | | Thu May 05 1988 06:17 | 38 |
|
Hi Keith ,
re 67.4
How about a new topic "What was NOT on Show"
There was advance publicity that the ABAQ and the CDROM would be
on show, instead of which was a line up of ATARI PCLONES, absolutely
nothing exciting, from ATARI, but there was a lot from developers.
However, Firstly. You complain about the queue to get in, I arrived
early to miss it. It does reflect the enormous interest in the ST
in the UK at this time.
Secondly, Disregarding all the cheap software and floppy
disk stands, there was some very good software and hardware on show.
The Kuma stand's scope interested me, although I was disappointed
they didnt have a transputer set up there. Also the SAM display, and
the presentation of the professional Database sofware, Company name
escapes me!, with the large screen demo.s. Robtek's OMNI RES program
was very tasty.
I was amazed by the number of people staggering around
with newly purchased kit, ST's, monitors and printers!!
To our colonial friends, I would like to impart the message
that the ST is not only alive and well in Europe, it is blossoming,
the amount of professional developement going on, both hardware
and software AVAILABLE is constantly increasing.
P.S. Regarding more info on the large screen monitor, I am trying
to get more info for you from Mirrorsoft. But the phone number I
have has been unanswered. Will try again
Cheers
Pat K.
|
| 67.6 | | BAGELS::BRANNON | Dave Brannon | Fri May 06 1988 18:27 | 7 |
| re: .5
out of curiousity, why is it blossoming? What happened to Archamedies
and Sinclair? I thought they were supposed to give the ST some serious
competion.
-dave
|
| 67.7 | Rundown on UK scene | RDGENG::KEANE | | Mon May 09 1988 05:31 | 56 |
|
Hello Dave,
Sinclair nearly went bust a year or so ago, he was forced to
sell his Sinclair trade name to Alan Sugar (Amstrad). Amstrad still
sell 8 bit Sinclair products, but the 16/32 bit QL is in dispute.
It is not on the market, as new, but there are some third parties
offering upgrade boxes with floppy disks instead of Sinclair
microdrives.
Sinclair however is still trading, and has marketed a new cheap
laptop the Z88. This is a suberb laptop, it has just got FCC clearance
in the states. If you get a chance to try one do so. IT is VERY
impressive. The machine is a black plastic case about 12 by 8 and
1 inch thick. It has a 80 charc by 6 or 8 (im not sure) line LCD
display. It can accept ROM EPROM AND RAM packs up to 256 K Bigger
coming. It runs on 4 pen cells. There is no mass storeage, but the
memory holds up on powerdown. (even when you change the batteries
!!). Full Qwerty keyboard. Built in Spreadsheet wordprosser and
Time manager Diary appointments etc. There is a serial port to up/down
load. This is the new age TIME MANAGER, electronic not paper. There
is also built in BBC basic. Price around 200 pound plus, depending
on discount ( 1 pound = 1.85$).
Acorn and the BEEB also went through a trauma. they marketed
a new BBC master, very good but expensive, and 8 bit. The new offering
the Archimedes is a Risc machine about 4 mips. It is very very tasty,
but the cpu is around 850 pounds, well outside the "Home market"
price band in the UK. Also there aint much software about for it
yet, although the base is growing fairly steadily.
Amstrad has taken the majority of the PC market in the UK with
a range of clones at ridiculously low prices. (40% market share
at the last count). He is also offering a couple of 8 bit word
processors and 8 bit home games machines. There are persistant rumours
that he is going to market a 16 bit m/c shortly.
Commodore are still selling c^4 and C128 8 bit machines and
of course the Amiga, again in the UK, Commodore didnt seem to know
how to market the Amiga, They are still pushing it as a buisness
offering, although the majority of the customers are the high end
of the home market (A500 is sub 500 pounds), who are taken in by
the "good graphics" of AMiga systems.
The reason I question this is that a lot of software for the
ST and Amiga is derived from the old 8 bit games, and some of the
conversions ressemble the original game of PONG. A real con job!.
There ARE some software houses that do use the capabilities of both
the Amiga and ST to the full, but you have to look hard for them.
So the reason the ST is booming appears to me to be on price,
until the latest RAM hike that was!. I bought a 520 ST, 1 MB disk
for 259 pounds in December. STFMS are (were) about the same, although
Atari have hiked the price by 100 pounds last month.
Cheers
Pat K.
|
| 67.8 | ?? | LEDS::ACCIARDI | | Mon May 09 1988 09:28 | 4 |
| I wonder why the A500 is so expensive in the UK? In the States,
a 1 meg system with monitor is about $900, which is just about what
an Atari 1040 costs.
|
| 67.9 | Amiga Who? | COMICS::KEY | The electric monk | Mon May 09 1988 10:21 | 15 |
| Re. .8
I wonder, too. You expect rational marketing decisions from Commodore?
The company that gave us the C16 and the Plus 4?? I think CBM UK decided
that the Amiga's capabilities were so superior to those of the ST,
they didn't need to indulge in a messy "price war". The sight of
STs selling by the truckload last Christmas has changed their minds
- the Amiga's price is slowly creeping downwards. As someone who
used to sell home computers, and suffered at the hands of Commodore
UK and their spectacularly incompetent repairs department, I'd be
very reluctant to buy a screwdriver from them.
Andy
Andy
|
| 67.10 | Jack Who? | LEDS::ACCIARDI | | Mon May 09 1988 10:27 | 4 |
| Don't forget who was in charge when the C-16 and the Plus-4 were
released. You guys got him now. :^)
|
| 67.11 | Don't forget *when* he quit | COMICS::KEY | The electric monk | Mon May 09 1988 11:43 | 4 |
| As far as I remember, Mr. T left CBM about the time the c16/+4 were
released. Deliberate sabotage?
:-)
Andy
|
| 67.12 | | BAGELS::BRANNON | Dave Brannon | Mon May 09 1988 18:44 | 24 |
| thanks for the rundown on the UK computer market. I actually saw
some company at a local computer show selling the QL and add-on
disk drive. Interesting how Amstrad is doing, I've been seeing
an increasing number of them lately, wondered how they were doing
selling a system with graphics similar to the ST, but with the
power supply for the system built into the monitor. Seemed like
a strange way to make a computer. (Well.. the Coleco Adam had
the power supply in the printer).
re: Jack T.
Consider how long it has been since Jack T. left CBM. Commodore
UK marketing is still screwed up? The US market went thru the same
thing, "quality computers for quality people, at quality prices".
But as Jack T. proved, the masses don't buy quality. They buy for
price/performance/compatiblity/whims/advertizing/whatever.
CBM finally did something about it - the 2000 for "quality" market
and the 500 for "price" market. Atari did the same thing with the
520/1040 vs. the Mega series. The next area is the "workstation"
market, the "only $7000 for that computer? I'll buy a bunch of
them with this purchase order". Good profits IF they can compete
in that market.
-dave
|
| 67.13 | Three HI-RES monitors/graphics cards | UTROP1::JONG_MARC | | Tue May 10 1988 04:23 | 23 |
|
About High Resolution screens:
1. Microvision Megascreen made in France.
1280*1024 ($3000) pixels, 19", black/white, driver software (includes
"bi-tasker", lets you run one program on the standard screen
and another on the big screen). Another monitor from the same
manufacturer has 1024*768 pixels ($2200). Includes graphics
card, driver software, monitor.
2. MatScreen/M110, from the German manufacturer Matrix. Res: 1280*1024
pixels, 19". Color optional, in color mode 832*560, 16 colors.
Emulation of standard ST resolution (640*400). Optional, assembler
and compiler software. Monitor included.
3. Megavision, made in Germany by Sang. Graphics card (color).
Hitachi HD63484 graphics processor. 1 Meg video memory. BITBLT
on the graphics chip.
Max. res: 800*600 non-interlaced, or 1024*768 interlaced. 256
simultaneous colors from a pallette of 262144 or via options
16 million. Includes driver software, C-libraries. Included driver
provides 720*540 pixels at 60Hz non-interfaced. 1024*1024 is
possible thru panning. Monitor not included.
Marc
|
| 67.14 | BCK TO THE ORIGINAL | RDGENG::KEANE | | Tue May 10 1988 10:28 | 11 |
|
RE 67.0 Request for large high res monitor.
I have checked with the firm demoing the high res monitor I saw
at the show. It is in fact the FRENCH product mentioned in 67.13
It is really good!, but very expensive!!
Cheers
Pat K.
|
| 67.15 | Still more info... | UTROP1::JONG_MARC | | Tue May 10 1988 11:18 | 9 |
|
I forgot:
There will a GENLOCK INTERFACE soon for the Megavision graphics
card. You can hook up a Eizo Flexscan 8060S to it or NEC Multisync.
Existing applications can be patched fairly easy to run with this
graphics extension.
Marc
|