Amiga vs Atari - "back in the day"

[TheMagicM]

Sometimes when I drive home, I listen to reruns of Computer Chronicles, stuff I havent seen, to get an idea of how it was back then.

I ran across this video:

 Amiga versus Atari - Computer Chronicle part 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfyg1OYf14g

Stoneware a company that makes DB Master an entry level database had this reason why to support Atari first before Amiga and I wondered if it was a bs reason or was there any truth to it:

"...the Amiga when you develop for it, its very hard to use your dev investment for other machines, with the ST its much easier."  

To me it sounds like someone was paid to release their product for an Atari 520ST.

Skip to 1:00...

[IanP]

I don't know anything about programming on the ST but I believe TOS was close to other existing OS's of the era and GEM was already the GUI on some PCs.

[TheMagicM]

I don't know anything about programming on the ST but I believe TOS was close to other existing OS's of the era and GEM was already the GUI on some PCs.

yea but different architecture.

[guest11527]

Stoneware a company that makes DB Master an entry level database had this reason why to support Atari first before Amiga and I wondered if it was a bs reason or was there any truth to it:

"...the Amiga when you develop for it, its very hard to use your dev investment for other machines, with the ST its much easier."  

To me it sounds like someone was paid to release their product for an Atari 520ST.

Probably not. The Atari ST was a very classical (not to say "boring") design. IOW, developers didn't have to care about such annoying problems as "multitasking" and "I'm not the only application that requires memory". Also, it was used in a couple of places as a "poor men's Mac replacement" for the office (or home office), unlike the Amiga, which was always considered as an "advanced game machine" (unfortunately) and hence did not attract many professional customers.

[TheMagicM]

Probably not. The Atari ST was a very classical (not to say "boring") design. IOW, developers didn't have to care about such annoying problems as "multitasking" and "I'm not the only application that requires memory". Also, it was used in a couple of places as a "poor men's Mac replacement" for the office (or home office), unlike the Amiga, which was always considered as an "advanced game machine" (unfortunately) and hence did not attract many professional customers.

AAhh ok..that makes more sense.  I thought his quote was a slight to the Amiga.  Hearing it from a Dev makes more sense.

[IanP]

Stoneware were already in trouble when that report was made, they filed for Chapture 11 in April 1985 and closed July 1986. Macon Systems, the original developers of DB Master took back control of it, see http://www.maconsys.com/introduction/default.htm

[Pentad]

I don't know if you folks read Dad Hacker but he worked on porting CP/M-68k and GEM to the Atari ST. It is a great insight to the hurried and 'slap this thing together' attitude Jack had to getting the ST out the door. Pretty interesting.  Check it out here:

Part 1: http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=995
Part 2: http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=1000

All his articles on Atari:
http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?s=atari+st

[guest11527]

I don't know if you folks read Dad Hacker but he worked on porting CP/M-68k and GEM to the Atari ST. It is a great insight to the hurried and 'slap this thing together' attitude Jack had to getting the ST out the door.

Thanks for the links, it's a good read. And not unexpected at all.  

Then again, I doubt the story was that much different in the CBM camp. A halfway incomplete operating system, a rush to reach for something usable from Cambridge, a rush integration job.  

Well, if you look at the system, even today you see the trouble in Tripos and graphics the folks must have had back then...

[TheMagicM]

I don't know if you folks read Dad Hacker...

very interesting site.  Another thing I like doing is reading stuff like this.

[paul1981]

I don't know if you folks read Dad Hacker but he worked on porting CP/M-68k and GEM to the Atari ST. It is a great insight to the hurried and 'slap this thing together' attitude Jack had to getting the ST out the door. Pretty interesting.  Check it out here:

Part 1: http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=995
Part 2: http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?p=1000

All his articles on Atari:
http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?s=atari+st

Didn't sound like the Atari chaps had any fun at all - stress, fear, anger, frustration. What horrible foundations to build a computer on.

The Amiga was a different tale, and it shows.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I don't know if you folks read Dad Hacker

Looks like a great series of blogs, thanks for posting!  

[slaapliedje]

That poor guy at the end of the video looked like he hadn't slept in months...

What I took from the comment was that the ST in general was easier to code for because the OS was very basic.  Even now, after having played with MiNT vs OS3.9 with a bunch of patches, libs, etc in both, MiNT is a much simpler system (but far less powerful as well).  So there is always the trade off.  One thing that has always bothered me... why did the Atari STs have an MMU but no multitasking (until much later) yet the Amigas did not, (until later) and yet had multitasking from the beginning...

[Pentad]

I've read from other people that the Lisa development machine -what TOS was developed on- was terrible to work with. Slow, buggy, and crashed frequently.

However, I wish somebody would have saved one so we could see what one looked like. Even photos would have been interesting.


-P

[guest11527]

However, I wish somebody would have saved one so we could see what one looked like. Even photos would have been interesting.

I believe the Computer Museum in Sunnyvale, CA (?) should have one. If you have a chance, go there for a visit. I took lots of photos, but I'm not sure I have the Lisa somewhere on he pictures. I *do* have my machines (Atari and Amiga) (-: