CompuServe Messages

Roger, Memory requirements will be a major culture shock. We are use to the relative compactness of WB OS' ROM, RAM and HD requirements. OS/2, NT, and even Windows seems to emulate UNIX's penchant for the need of MASSIVE amounts of memory. I understand that although NT will operate with 8 MB of RAM, 16 is prefered!! Compared to what could be done with the early A1000 with 1MB of memory this is absurd (but what should we expect, NT/Windows was written by those rocket scientists that brought us AmigaBasic <ugh>)! BIOS is the firmware that boots up DOS, or NT, or whatever. It is the PC's most direct access (and used to be used heavily by game creators to circumvent speed problems with PC's in th eolde days – I don't know if they still "cheat"). The BIOS should effect you in the least, since your exchange of data will be at a higher level. The easiest approach is "SneakerNet" – just copy PC formatted disks back and forth between your Amiga and your Laptop (remember not to use 1.4MB high density disks, or atleast format them as lower density so that Amiga's CrossDOS will recognize them. You could also hook the serial ports together as a null modem and exchange data as if you were uploading/downloading thru terminal programs on both machines. The fastest (and most absurd possibility, is to get ethernet boards for both and hook them up as peers on a small network (then the speeds would be amazing). Again, the PC market is a regular "free-for-all" of vendors poping into existance, and winking out. There old out of date models still being sold, sometimes in the same places that sell new stuff. You can buy the next great wonder or a museum artifact! We're probably looking for different things in laptops to a degree. I'm interested in having access to text in a more mobile way, and am presently considering the Compaq LTE 4/25e, which not only has a 486SL/25, but features the only active matrix black and white large screen. The contrast is much nicer than in passive screens and the price is lower than an active matrix color screen. The compaq also has a docking base, which can be configured as a "second" base computer for interfacing with my Amiga. I also want to get a little experience with the PC world (just in case I have to depend on those machines). If your needs are a simple DOS tect device that inputs data and dumps it to your Amiga, don't let people "gee whiz" you into buying something twice the price that you really don't need. Next year the stuff their selling now will ALL look lame (and the next year, and the next…). As for a PC program specific to dumping data to an Amiga, I don't think there is such an animal. The best thing is to find Amiga programs that have compatible file formats to the PC Universe, and shift floppies with the data. SuperBase exists on both systems, WordPerfect used to, but some Amiga Word Processors can translate PC formats (how well, I don't know). Unfortunately, don't expect anyone from the PC Universe to court Amiga users (there's just too many of them and too few of us). The better approach is to investigate Amiga software producers for file compatibility in their products! Good Luck (to us ALL <g>)!!! // I'm gonna wait for \X/ the A5000! <G> -RSL-