Jim G: Good evening everyone Sorry I'm a little late getting strated this evening. I want to tell everyone up-front that this may be the last Amiga Forum that i host for a while. As many of you know, my job loyalty is to the magazines at Commodore and I'm spending more time on those duties and less time on the Amiga (sigh). As a result, many of you Amiga owners have progressed beyond where I can help. But for now, lets get started. We are starting with about 15 guests and as many questions.
QuestionHow Good is the Amiga "SIDECAR" option?
Jim G: Ah! The sidecar. This can most simply be described as a PC connected to the side of the Amiga. The niftiest trick it can do is allow you to run the PC portion in a window on the Amiga. When running alone it seems about as fast as the PC itself. When multitasking (in a separate window) it does slow down a little (still faster than the Transformer). Compatability is supposed to be VERY good. I've seen Flight Simulator (in color) running on it. The box contains a 5 1/4 Ms-dos drive and an 8088 to make it all go. Retail prices have been drifting around Commodore in the $600 range.
QuestionWhen is the Amiga Tranformer coming out?
Jim G: The Amiga Transformer started shipping from Commodore sometime in the beginning of April. You can either buy the 5 1/4" drive and get the Transformer thrown in ($250 total) or buy the trans. separately for $99.
Questionwhat is amiga??
Jim G: The Amiga I presume. It is a 68000 microprocessor based personal computer with true multitasking capabilities (more than one program running at once). It has a palette of 4096 colors for drawing on a variety of low, medium and hires screens. Low resolution is 320X200 with 32 colors available and hires is 640X400 with 16 colors available. The uer interface is icon based (like the MAC) and it comes with 256K RAM and a built-in 880K 3.5-inch drive.
QuestionHow can you call a BBs with the 1660 modem???Can you call with the Q-Link disk??? please answer.
Jim G: That's more up the Hotline alley, but it really isn't difficult. Just use a terminal package that supports the 1660 and use the modem to dial the number (not a telephone). The program that comes with the modem (higgyterm) is sufficient to get you started. no you can't use the Qlink disk.
QuestionWho is working on a BASIC compiler for the Amiga?
Jim G: Since quite a while ago when I first heard reference to this, I haven't seen any further mention. I think what may be more likely is a version of basic that compiles each line as you enter it.
QuestionAny word on the release date and price of the Amiga modem??
Jim G: They were waiting for some kind of cable last week and were all exciting that it was coming in on friday. They (ever wonder who 'they' are?) said that the 1680 should ship in about 3-4 weeks. Keep in mind that the 1680 is a 1200 baud modem and that any RS-232 modem will work with th Amiga
QuestionWhat is the "Going Price" of an AMIGA system
Jim G: With the current $500 rebate going (until May 31) the price of an Amiga and montitor is $1295.
QuestionWhat are the major differences in WB 1.2 than in 1.1, and when will it be released?
Jim G: Workbench (and Kickstart) 1.2 may actually never be released in the US. Their primary purpose was to support the PAL version of the amiga in Europe. They do work in the US but there has been talk of waiting for 1.3 before another massive field update. The major differences are in the speed of DOS finding icons (windows pop up faster than ever!) and Workbench can be used in Hires. Also there is a separate screen in Preferences for setting up the Serial port (baud, stop bits, length, Xmodem etc..). The version I've been working with is an Alpha test (thats before Beta for all you Greek scholars) and is 'subject to change without notice'
QuestionWhat does the price of the Amiga look like over the next few month?
Jim G: After May 31 it looks like it still going to be right up there at $1295.
QuestionWill there be a upgrade to those people who bought IBM Transformer to the new SideCar.
Jim G: No. The transformer and sidecar are unrelated products that simply try to accomplish the same means. It would be nice if there could be a way to use the 5 1/4 inch instead of buying another one (??)
QuestionAny word on Release of TextCraft Plus?
Jim G: Still in Beta test I believe. Textcraft Plus is being viewed as an enhanced version of Textcraft and not an upgrade. Therefore although owners will have the opportunity to upgrade, there will probably be some nominal charge.
QuestionHow can I get a printer driver for a Star Micronics SG-10? Which of the drivers provided should I use with a SG-10? Can I get the specifications for printer drivers so I can write my own?
Jim G: For now use the Epson (it works with the text at least.) If I'm not mistaken, there is an SG-10 driver now in the public domain. Commodore will be making available information on creating a printer driver. however, it will be a lot easier to find one than write one.
QuestionWny info on when Amiga Alive will be available?
Jim G: The info is available now. The unit itself though still seems to be a couple of months away. They have now added Hold-and-Modify to the list of features.
QuestionWill the 5.25 drive released with the software emulator be compatable with the new Sidecar?
Jim G: hopefully. I haven't actually asked anyone that yet, but it would only be reasonable. Right???
QuestionHow much is SideCar?
Jim G: Again, no prices have been set, but rumor is floating in the $600 dollar range. Some of us think that a 'buy the Amiga and get a free Sidecar' would work alot better than even the $500 cash rebate.
Questionwhat type of printer would you reccomend for the C-64?
Jim G: 64,64 everywhere I go. MPS1000 or the Okidata-120 are both nice. If you've got $1200 go for a Toshiba P351
Questionwill the AMIGA be able to run 64 prgs?
Jim G: Not unless someone writes a 64 emulator. WE ARE NOT DOING THIS!! (just thought I'd mention that).
QuestionWill the Amiga ever step up to a 68020?
Jim G: The board from CSA in San diego will let you do that know ( for a modest fee – $1400). As far as a 68020 based product from Commodore…..only the wind knows
QuestionDo you know the warrenty period on the Amiga? Is it 1yr. like the IBM AT?
Jim G: I don't think so. I'm pretty sure its a Commodore standard 90 days.
QuestionWhat is the update status on AmigaBASIC?
Jim G: I understand that Microsoft is just about done a revision and it should go into testing soon. That still translates to a good couple of months though. Ok. With 1/2 hour down I'm currently answering questions from 9:10 – please be patient. (21 guests – 39 questions)
QuestionIf you cannot spend the time on these forums, why not have others who have a better technical understanding of the Amiga, like the developers or those currently working on it, host the forums?
Jim G: Good idea. Now all we have to do is find one. Actually that is the idea. I'm currently looking if anyone is willing to volunteer.
QuestionWill the 25% student discount be applicable to the June 1 price of the Amiga?
Jim G: As far as I know, yes. I haven't heard of any plans to discontinue that program
QuestionWill there ever be a C64 or C128 Emulator out?
Jim G: Not from Commodore, however someone else may. The problem is that the easiest way to emulate the 64 is just to dump the entire operating system into some nice chunk of 64K of RAM. That would violate some copyrights though and couldn't be a comercial product.
Questioncan i use the q-link to call bbs's???
Jim G: No. The qlink programs are for use on Qlink only.
QuestionWho can I ask questions about the Amiga of that you cannot answer?
Jim G: Amiga technical support at Commodore. (215) 431-9180
QuestionWill there be an "AMIGA //" soon to come or will Commodore keep this one a while?
Jim G: Hopefully Commodoe will keep this one a while. When the Amiga was first introduced, we had a lot of people filling out surveys. Something like 60% of the people said they would like to buy one in 1-2 years! I think we should still give the A1000 at least until Christmas to get settled a (nd) moving.
QuestionAre there any CBM modems coming out that are Made for the AMIGA?
Jim G: Yes. The Commodore 1680 is a 1200 baud RS-232 modem which will be packaged for the Amiga. Mostly this means with a correct cable and a copy of AmigaTerm
QuestionA comment: the Transformer with 5-1/4" drive is on sale at Programs Plus here in Seattle but for $395! Where can I get it for $250? From Commodore?
Jim G: No not from Commodore. When we were in Nashville a couple of weeks ago it was available locally for something like $239 Shop, shop, shop!
QuestionWhen is Q-link coming out with a 3.5'' disk?
Jim G: Qlink? Commodore is considering one, but not before 1987. We want to give developers a chance to see it and play with it BEFORE releasing it.
QuestionDo you have any idea how good the Amiga versions of Jet & Flight Simulator are going to be???
Jim G: I keep getting press releases from Sublogic, and they haven't mentioned the Amiga for some months now. There's even a rumor they're considering doing it for the a*a*i s* first!
QuestionWhen will the Amiga's operating system be put into rom?…Still too buggy?
Jim G: No. I think it is decided to leave the O.S. on disk forever more. It really doesn't have as much to do with being buggy as just being adaptable and flexible.
QuestionIs CBU gonna make a profit pretty soon? (i own stock)
Jim G: If I knew that I would get ready to buy stock. We all keep hoping so. If you buy more computers, we make more money.
QuestionHow many Amigas sold to date?
Jim G: I still haven't heard a figure over 50,000. any of you with pocket calculators can figure out that if almost 40000 were sold by Christmas, and the number is around 50000, the numbers/month are not staggering. Again, I attribute that to the age of the Amiga (9 months) – that's 14 in dog years.
QuestionAny info on the Ranger?
Jim G: What's a ranger? 🙂
QuestionIs it possible to have a FULLY digitized song on the AMIGA, some what of the same as the digitized 64 songs???
Jim G: Sure. There is a company and I don't think that it's memetics that has a digitizer that just uses all the memory it can find. With 8meg and sampling 30000 times per second, you still have enough memory for, well 8,000,000/30,000. What's that? about 300 second or more than 5 minutes.
Questionwill a 1670 work on an AMIGA?
Jim G: The principal is correct but the edge connector is wrong. If you could step the +/-12 supply on Amiga serial port to +/-9 and wired a connector, it would probably work.
QuestionWhats the difference between a 1670, and a 1680?????? Got me!
Jim G: A 1680 is simply an idustry standard RS-232 Hayes compatable 1200 baud modem. There really isn't a lot of difference. It does have more of the Hayes command set than the 1670 though.
QuestionI hear of some EXELLENT prices somewhat around 600 Dollars, is this true or POSSIBLE ?? ( I am VERY interested in this offer..)
Jim G: For the Amiga? Not likely unless you've found some hot ones or someone trying to get rid of them.
QuestionI am still trying to adapt my 1670/1200 baud modem to the Amiga. I have the physical connectors/adaptors, but I stil need to ask about the power supply…. Do I need the +/- 9v connected to the modem? What purpose does the 9v. serve? Will just the 5v. source be enough? Can I use the 5v. source on the Amiga pins 14 (-5v) and 21 (+5v)? Thanx….
Jim G: No the 5 VDC is not good enough. The +/-9v is used some how in the modulation/demodulation circuits and apparently is necessary
Questionis the amiga total IBM compaitalbe???
Jim G: As is, not at all. With the transformer, only partly. The amiga is not an IBM clone. Truthfully it is much more powerful than the PC, although the PC obviously has a very large and powerful base of both users and software
QuestionWho supplies you with dates and times for product releases (no offence, but they consistently seem to be 'way off).
Jim G: I get them from the 'horse's mouth'. (Amiga Sales and Marketing). Of course I add at least a month to any date they supply me with. And as you have noted, I'm still way off.
QuestionIf they never release WB 1.2 what of the bugs in 1.1. Are we suppose to wait for another six-eight months? Does this seem fair to you?
Jim G: Even if they wait for 1.3, it sounds like it would be easily within the next 6 months. A lot of what Commodore decides doesn't seem fair to me, but I only work there.
QuestionUnabashed plug time… All Amiga owners should run, not walk, to their nearest store to get the newest Commodore Microcomputers. The Amiga Buyers Guide is the best resource I've seen yet. Congrats to all, Jim!!
Jim G: Thanks. And to follow that up, we will be publishing the Amiga Buyer's Guide twice a year for the next two years. Look for it again in either Sep/Oct or Oct/Nov. issue.
QuestionWhat makes the 13 inch Amiga monitor worth 495 dollars?
Jim G: It is an RGB analog monitor. This means that not only does it use a gun for each of the Red green and blue signals (as does the 1902) but it also fine-tunes each gun to one of 16 levels of brightness. These 16 levels rather than one is why it is analog and not digital (just on or off). If you take 16levels of red * 16 levels of green * 16 levels of blue you get 4096 – the number of colors available on the amiga. With an Hour down I'm on questions from 9:27 (est) (19 guests 45 questions) – I think y'all should hold off on the questions for a bit so I can catch up.
QuestionWhen Kickstart and Workbench 1.2 (or 1.3) are released, will current owners be upgraded for free?
Jim G: Certainly! That's apparently the policy for as long as we make updates
QuestionAre the 'SLOTS' in the 'SIDECAR' for both the Amiga and IBM cards?
Jim G: No. They are for IBM cards only.
QuestionSince they are un-related products, what of the Amiga Hardware Accelartor?
Jim G: Apparently the accelerator has been revised to the sidecar. I don't think that the Accelerator as previuosly described will ever come about.
Questionare there any AMIGA bbs's???
Jim G: Boy are there! I just saw a listing in the Space Coast Amiga Group Newsletter and it was almost two full columns! Look in the amiga alliance here on Qlink for a couple and then just follow the threads.
QuestionDoes Commodore plan to keep the Amiga out of the hands of the unwashed masses by not displaying it at June CES?
Jim G: Currently the plan is to take the Amiga to Comdex and the C128 and 64 only to CES.
QuestionI use the Espon printer driver with my 10X printer it works fine except for the graphics printing have they corrected this bug in WB 1.1?
Jim G: This isn't a bug. The Epson printer and SG-10 although very similar are not the same. In fact some of the enhancements on the SG-10 cannot be accesed with the Epson driver. When they get into graphics, they are even less similar and the same driver just doesn't work
QuestionAre there gonna be ANY adaptors for use with the AMIGA on 64 and 128 Soft.?
Jim G: I haven't heard of anything even close yet.
QuestionIs it true that PowerPlay and Micro are merging?
Jim G: Yes. Currently you cannot get a subscription to just one. As of January 1987 they will be combined completely into a single magazine. Probably called commodore Computers.
QuestionIs the MPS1000 printer totally compatible with current Amiga?
Jim G: yes. It is even directly selectable on the Preferences screen of the Amiga
QuestionThe AMIGA has MULTITASKING, How many prgs WILL it run???
Jim G: I believe that stack limitations put it at somewhere around 50 programs. However, memory limitations will probably shut you down much sooner. I've gotten 19 of the dots programs running simultaneously, but only around 6 clock programs.
QuestionWhat about the hard drive you mentioned at the CASE meeting any more news?
Jim G: Apparently it was NOT shown at comdex as we were told, and so there may have been some problems.
QuestionAre there any Amiga-only networks which can be accessed through services like UNINET & DATAPAC?
Jim G: Not amiga-only. BIX from byte has a very good Amiga sig as does Compuserve.
QuestionWhy won't Commodore make a 64/128 emulator for the Amiga?…Some of us don't give a whatever about IBM compatibilty.
Jim G: It would be a lot of work, and Commodore doesn't seem to feel that people would be willing to pay $100 or more to emulate a $150 computer.
Questioncomment: I would like to make a comment in the defense of Jim. I certainly appreciate your effort, and I feel the question that was asked earlier was OUT OF LINE and down right rude. Thanks Jim for your support.
Jim G: Thanks mark.
QuestionDo you know of any cheap source of extra ram for the Amiga?? I'd love to have another meg or so…
Jim G: Cardco has just released their 1meg card for the Amiga for $595. Is that cheap enough?
QuestionWhat all comes in the AMIGA Package? the Monitor, 3.5 Drive?. etc..
Jim G: The Amiga package is the computer itself, the keyboard (which is detatchable) 256K Ram and the buitl-in 3.5-inch drive. With the current rebate offer, you would get the monitor thrown in for free (until May 31). AmigaBASIC, kickstart, a tutorial program and Workbench are the disks included along with a very hefty BASIC manual and a rather skimpy Amiga user guide.
Questions the LCD really dead?
Jim G: Yup.
QuestionHow fast is DISK access? 8 bits ??
Jim G: About 250,000 cps. I don't know what you mean by the 8 bits?
Questionwill the amiga support lazer disk perifreials and video input to make a master game or something in this area??
Jim G: Sure. The expansion bus on the Amiga has just about every line of the computer available to peripherals. This means that a wide variety of devices can be easily made to interface to the Amiga. I have heard talk of people working on both laser interfaces and CD Roms.
Question3.5 in. disk for Q-link terminal?
Jim G: If that implies an Amiga version of Qlink you have a long wait. A whole lot of us have gotten no- where on that 1.
QuestionHow can I get the Fred Fish disks???
Jim G: you need to find an amiga user group with a public domain library. Jump into the Clubhouse under CIN here on Qlink and ask about a group in your area.
QuestionIs now a good time to buy stock in CBM?
Jim G: I think I'd be in trouble either way I answered that, so I'm not going to.
QuestionWhen do you think the AMIGA will fall under $ 1000???
Jim G: hopefully not for a year or more. Lets give all the early supporters a break for a change!
QuestionCan I ask a C128 Question too? I'd like to know how many C128's have been sold too.
Jim G: I've heard all the way up to 500,000. Somewhere between 400 and 500K is probably correct
QuestionWhy does Commodore think the Amiga is a "serious" business machine when it only has 256k of ram?
Jim G: The machine is only shipped with 256k. It is capable of accesing 8.5megabytes directly. This is much more than almost all other "seriuos" business machines
QuestionI heard COMMODORE has not sold as many amigas as they hoped. Is this true or no t?? Also, roughly speaking, how many ha ve you sold?????
Jim G: I think the numbers are starting to slip under now. But most of us thought they were too optimistic anyway.
QuestionKnow any one repairing sfd-1001 drives?
Jim G: I don't. anyone out there? Well, running down the last half-hour. I'm still back at 10:00 (est) but down to 15 questions
QuestionIs commodore offering some kind of STERE O monitor?? Is the 1080(?) the best one that one can buy????
Jim G: The 1080 is not the 'best' by far. It is the ONLY one that C= sells, but there are many better ones available (better also probably means $$$)
QuestionWhen will there be an IBM-GRAPHICS emula tor????
Jim G: The sidecar for the Amiga fully supports IBM color graphics
QuestionIs the AMIGA compatiable with anything on the market today or will CBM come out with something new?
Jim G: As is it is a totally new system. That is the reason that IBM emulation was pushed so heavily. It was something that people could relate to more closely.
QuestionWill the Amiga ever be Macintosh Compatible?
Jim G: From what I've heard it shouldn't be terribly difficult, but I haven't heard of anyone doing it
QuestionHow many TOTAL expansion drives can you hook up (Or DAISY CHAIN ) for that matter…
Jim G: 3 3.5-inch drive because they suck-up Amiga power. The 5 1/4 drives can be added to that.
QuestionHOW DO WE GET THE AMIGA COMPUTER?
Jim G: You need to go to an authorized Amiga dealer. The list is available here on-line I believe.
QuestionIn the most recent Amazing Computing, mention is made of a new 100 pin harware interface spec Amiga published back in November. What exactly does mean? I only count 86 pins on my machine. Is there a hardware change we'll have to live with?? I was one of those lucky C64 owners who had a 5 pin din… Please say it ain't so!!
Jim G: I don't know of any change in the actual hardware of the machine. Perhaps they are adding some pins from somewhere else (like the joystaick and paddle ports?)
QuestionIs the PC Emulator for the Amiga 100% compatible with the IBM?
Jim G: If you are refering to the Transformer, no. It is only claiming to be compatible with about ten PC packages. It may well work with many other, however it is far from 100%.
QuestionWhat's the address of the Space Coast Amiga Group Newsletter!!? Thanx…
Jim G: Don't have it with me here. give me an Emailer.
QuestionLook for an Amiga clone from the Far East costing much less than the Amiga. …Agree?
Jim G: haven't heard that one yet. Truthfully, the Amiga is based completely on three VLSI (very large scale integrated) chips. They are custom chips and would be extremely difficult to clone. NOTE: A birdy flew by and told me that the 100 pins are for "self configuring multiple boards".
QuestionWhat is the best COLOR printer?? In AMIGA-WORLD, they de-graded the OKIMATE- 20…I've seen the EPSON JX-80 and i wa sn't too impressed…How good is the OKIMATE-20???
Jim G: In color printers price is extremely important. Nothing can touch the Diablo C-150 in quality (or price) at $1295. The okimate-20 is nice because it actually transfers a waxy plastic to the paper which give the pictures anice shiny glowing look. The JX is much flatter. Its all a matter of preferences I guess (no pun intended)
QuestionWhat about the CMD, Sony venture for CD rom? True?
Jim G: None of the people I've asked could even confirm having heard that rumor. I think its Qlink specific.
QuestionTech-Star in Kent (near Seattle), Wash. repairs SFD-1001 drives, I'm pretty sure cause the sfd-1001 is exactly the same as one-half of the old 8050 CBM drive and they do repair old CBM's and PET's. Phone: 206-251-9040.
Jim G: Thanks goldy. Note: The sfd-1001 is exactly half of an 8250 not and 8050.
QuestionWhen will the name Commodore be put on the Amiga?
Jim G: It probably won't. Although Amiga was purchased by C= there has been an attempt to keep the indentities intact.
QuestionHow come CMD doesnt advertise the Amiga on tv anymore, last I saw was Chrismas time. Funky advetisment too!
Jim G: Lack of funds. Bad times hit and the high tech commercials had to go. Besides, from Christmas through July is the dry season for computers.
QuestionIs it possible to generate the built-in speech with music simultaneously?
Jim G: Yes. The built-in speech is rather crude in that it only uses one of the four channels. You can actually get much clearer speech if someone wrote a synthesizer using two or more channels. Well. I'm all caught up with 10 minutes to spare. any last questions?
QuestionDo you have any new info?
Jim G: I always have to wait all night for that one… There is finally what looks to be a very powerful database coming. Its called Aquisition and its from a company called Taurus in UK. In addition I've heard rumors of Digital Solutions (ie. Paperback Writer) getting pretty deeply involved in the Amiga. You also may want to gather together all of your best Deluxe Paint pictures and keep your eyes open. In addition to Cardco, Comspec out of Canada also has a 1meg board for the Amiga.
Questionwhat do you think of some of the new software packages like DPrint & VIP?
Jim G: I've never had a lot of use for Print Shop, but Dprint is PrintShop on the Amiga with everything you would expect. Fancy fonts, fancy graphics, lots of colors and Dpaint compatability. VIP is a very powerful spreadsheet that is actually a true Lotus clone. It is a straight port however and doesn't take advantage of the Amiga too well (no pull down menus or mouse control). The graphing capabilities are worth a lot to me though.
QuestionWhich is better? Digi-View or AmigaLive?
Jim G: amiga live is real time and digiview is not. Digiview cannot be used on a moving object. Amiga live also has quite a few other features, but digi-view will give a more photograph quality picture
QuestionDoes Symphony V 1.1 un on transformer?
Jim G: No. That was one they had problems with all the way. Well. I'm going to call it a night. Thanks all for coming, and maybe I'll see you next month. Maybe there's room for two amiga forums a month. One beginner and one technical? Til then. Enjoy yourselves!
CommentFramework does work and it is not bad.