----- Original Message -----
From: Uffe Holst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 1999 10:21 AM
Subject: [voyager] Re: Amiga upgrades
> Why don't Amiga users spend a little now and then?
As a recent inductee into the MS Hall of Shame, I'll be happy to answer that
question! I bought my brand new Gateway 2000 G6-400c for one reason.
To upgrade my Amiga to the same level of capability as the 400c would be
impossible at any cost. The hardware isn't even there. Not that long ago I
purchased a Picasso just so I could navigate the web using Voyager in more
than 16 colors! That single board cost only slightly less than half what my
new PC cost. Even with an '040, my Amiga runs at a snail's pace compared
to the 400MHz Celeron. The sound is substandard. Some of the important
filetypes used on the internet are not (and probably will never be)
available on
Amiga-based platforms.
Amiga users (at least a great many of us) are convinced that the Amiga is a
dead
or dying computer. We've been jerked and hung out to dry too many times to
believe otherwise. I've had an Amiga virtually since they were first
available
here in the Midwest (one of the first A1000s in Kansas City, in fact). I've
had
more arguments with PC people than I care to remember about which machine
is better. You know what? On most of my points I was wrong. Add to that
the
fact that we can't trust that the Amiga will be supported five years down
the line
(or even one year, for that matter). I'm fed up with the empty promises.
It's time
to start looking at the worst case scenario. I was going to get a 16-bit
sound card
for my Amiga. Why bother? My Gateway can do better than any such sound
card available for Amigas. I'd be pouring money into a machine which could,
in
a year's time prove to be defunct technology. For the same cost as that
upgrade
I could buy neat stuff for the PC -- and every dollar I spend on the PC goes
further than it would on the Amiga. About the only cost effective purchases
for
Amigas would be software, which tends to be less than equivalent stuff for
Windows machines (although some newer Amiga software is starting to see cost
bloat, so that advantage might be a thing of the past, too).
> I certainly can't find any excuse why people is using anything less than a
> 030 processor :) The Blizzard 060 for the A1200 is costing less than $700
> today in Denmark
And for an extra $200 you can buy a Pentium-class machine that will run
circles around your upgraded A1200 in virtually any application environment
you care to suggest. It will even have a monitor included in the price.
> The reason for no PPC software being available is definitely because
nobody
> is upgrading. If sufficient people upgraded to a PPC board then there
would
> also be a sufficient PPC user base to support development of PPC software.
I had really hoped that the PPC upgrades would save the Amiga.
Unfortunately
they were very expensive and there was no software written for them. As
time
went on there was still very little software, and then our "benefactors"
dropped
the bombshell that they were not considering the PPC as a viable upgrade
option for the Amiga. If you wanted to be next generation compatible you
had
better steer clear of PPC.
Now, before everyone gets out the flamethrowers, let me explain something.
My Miggy is sitting right next to my Gateway. I still use it (mostly for
DTP). I
*don't* use it for the internet (at least not very much) because my Gateway
has
spoiled me for fast access. My next major computer purchase will be
ethernet
cards for both machines and Siamese System software -- that way I can have
the
best of both worlds. In the meantime, I'm waiting for the NG Amiga to
arrive
(although I'm not going to hold my breath). If and when that happens, my
Gateway
will probably become my secondary machine. For now, though, I have to use
the
best tool for the job -- and in most cases that means a machine that can run
Windows.
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