GNU Development Possible?

[Kevin Klop]

>Is Amiga UNIX going to be sufficiently solid to enable me to get
>GNU EMACS, GNU CC, and other GNU software up and running, and to
>continue development of GNU Fortran (gf77) on it?  If it was and I
>decided to do that, the gf77 would be available for the Amiga
>sooner than most other machines (especially those not 680x0-based).

GNU Emacs, and GNU CC has already been ported to the Amiga Unix system,
as has ELM.  Probably others too, but those are the three that I know
for sure since I'm using them...


>I'm interested only in 68030-based machines, as powerful as
>possible -- though my 16MHz 68030 Mac is plenty fast for work under
>the Mac OS, I realize that an equivalent Amiga might be a bit
>sluggish running UNIX, so I'd like to get a 25MHz or above,
>perhaps with cache or a zero-wait-state (whatever that means)
>memory subsystem.  What are the available high-end models?  Although
>I've been told that the "fastest" Amiga is a model that is not the
>high-end but enhanced with an accelerator, I don't know how well
>this would work with Unix and such.

At the moment, I'm running Unix on an Amiga 2500/030, which is the accelerated
model that you're talking about, so the answer is, it works fine.

>I also know nothing about the availability of monitors on Amiga;
>is the architecture open enough to allow a variety of choices?
>Although color and gray-scale monitors can be lots of fun, I'd
>lean towards a solid monochrome display over anything fancy even
>if I were offered a choice without having to pay.  If I saw a
>color monitor that did B&W as well as a given monochrome, however,
>I might be persuaded.  What's the status of this kind of stuff
>on the Amiga?

At the moment, you have your choice of many models, including virtually all
Multi-Synch monitors, several high end color monitors (I'm partial to the
Zenith Flat Tension Monitors), and a 19" monochrome monitor from Moniterm
that is the equivalent of the monochrome SUN monitors.

Note that for some of these monitors you will need to buy a display card.
The Zenith requires a Flicker Fixer or Commodore display enhancer, and the
moniterm has its own display card.

>
>If I end up getting an Amiga, I might start writing some good,
>useful personal software on it for use under UNIX & X or perhaps
>even the Amiga OS, and releasing it as free software.  That's
>why I'd like to find a "personable" machine (i.e. like a Mac in
>terms of accessibility and affordability) not sold by Apple --
>so any efforts I expend making free software for it can
>benefit more users than if I get a Next, Sun, or whatever, since
>they're workstations with little need for personal software.
>I might end up doing primarily development software for a while,
>like Fortran and C compilers, however, so I'm not sure what is next,
>which is why I want it to run UNIX (aside from getting me through
>the remainder of gf77 development, if I get it in time for that).
>
>Anyone with good, definitive information on these topics, please
>email me or, if it's general enough, post a response.  I don't
>know if it's wise for me to say I'll post a summary later -- my
>needs are probably rather unique, since I'm essentially self-
>employed, doing the gf77 work as a volunteer, and hence plan
>to work on my Amiga full-time (except for when I'm doing
>contracts, when I'd like to be able to bring my Amiga along as
>a front-end development machine with my home-grown environment on
>it -- as I've been successful doing with my SE/30 in the past).
>I.e. I'm not looking for an evening/weekend-hack machine only.
>
>(Although I enjoy playing games on computers, I no longer spend

Obviously, working for Commodore, I use an Amiga every day for
most of my work.  However, before I came to work for Commodore,
the Amiga was my preferred working environment, even for writing
code for other machines.  Note, however, that the Amiga OS (not
the Unix OS, mind you) can take a while to come up to speed to
program - it's not as easy to learn Amiga OS programming as it is
to learn the basics of, say, MS-DOS programming.

>the availability of game software.  MIDI software, however, is
>critical -- I do have synths and use Pro 4 on my SE/30, and have
>some ideas for unique MIDI-related software to write for
>end-users that I'd like to pursue.  I believe the Amiga is an
>excellent MIDI machine with lots of good software.  If this
>belief is wrong, please correct me!)
>--
>

The Amiga makes an excellent MIDI workstation.  I've already
scored a movie using it, and it's my main composing station for
a multiple Synthesizer set up.  Essentially, I support your conclusion.

				-- Kevin --


Kevin Klop		{uunet|rutgers|amiga}!cbmvax!kevin
Commodore-Amiga, Inc.

	``Be excellent to each other.''
		- Bill and Ted's most excellent adventure

Disclaimer: _I_ don't know what I said, much less my employer.

>James Craig Burley, Software Craftsperson    burley at ai.mit.edu