Re: filmscanners: OT: Co-processors & Amiga

[Arthur Entlich <artistic@ampsc.com>]

Austin Franklin wrote:

 >> Most people who never used one are confused completely about what
 >> Amiga was.
 >> No, it wasn't a grown-up Atari,
 >
 >
 > Hardware/architecture wise it sure was.  The Atari was the first such
 > machine to have custom processors (four) designed specifically to handle
 > video and audio processing, as well as I/O.  It was truly 
revolutionary at
 > the time.  I agree the intended use was entirely different, but that does
 > not change the architecture.
 >

Actually, you are both right, and wrong.  Jay Miner worked for Atari and
developed their graphic co-processors.  He then went on to develop some
sound chips for Ensoniq and ultimately, took the ideas from both of
those to develop the specialized chips for the Amiga.  As to who owned
the Amiga design, it had a checkered history.  Atari bailed the original
Amiga developers out, and almost ended up owning it due to the contract
the Amiga team had with them.  In literally a last minute deal,
Commodore paid the loan back to Atari (Miner did not like working for
Atari and did not want their hands on his baby), and so the Amiga became
a Commodore product.  Soon after the purchase, Jack Trameil, who was CEO
of Commodore (a Canadian, and Canadian Company) was booted out of the
company, and ended up owning most of Atari.  He then tried suing to try
to get the Amiga "back" based upon both the original contract with Jay
Miner and the fact he had negotiated with Miner in the Commodore deal.
At that point Miner, who liked Trameil, realized that it was too late to
change hands again, and also Commodore had put a lot of resources into
the launch of the machine.  Trameil lost the suit.  Later on, Commodore
fell to the hands of some "businessmen" who sucked the company dry,
leaving it to flounder and die.

Sadly, Jay Miner died at a young age from kidney disease.  His lost
genius is a great loss to anyone who uses a computer today, as he was a
visionary in computer design.

Art

PS: I still own four Amigas, and two Commodore computers, which is why I
am now not so quick to buy the newest hot item on the market.