CompuServe Thread

#Amigas Connected

17 messages in this thread
#38983From: David BuchanJan 19, 1994 9:20 AM
Has anyone seen or heard of a method of connecting two or more Amigas for co-operative multitasking with HIGH speed disk/file sharing ? (i.e not standard network speeds) Is there a RAID system working with AMIGAS perhaps ? Could AMIGAS operate on an extended high speed bus ? Is the new SCSI 2+ technology coming/has arrived for AMIGA ? We are looking at using AMIGAS in a multi-image processing environment, and would welcome any input. TIA. db.
#38998From: Michael MastJan 19, 1994 6:35 PM
Link-It! by Legendary Design Techologies will link two by either serial or parallel high speed. It also includes a Windows version to transfer and convert files in a few clicks of a button. Who needs a Clone when you got an Amiga! Motorola and Intel inside :*)
#39013From: David BuchanJan 20, 1994 8:33 AM
How high speed is high speed parallel ? I'm not an Amiga type person thingy – but I would assume a parallel interface was not up to at least 10 megs (say approx 2 meg data transfer). Rather, what I'm after is greater than current network speeds (Ethernet base carrier systems are 10 meg – you would be lucky to achieve 800k rates on a typical Ethernet topology.) I'm looking for a topolgy/architecture which compares to the internal data transfer rates of the Amiga. (Just because it's not done doesn't mean it cant be done) Isn't that an "Amiga Motto" ??? Is there a limit on adressable disk space by Amigas ? There is with DOS. OS2. Novell. Unix.
#39015From: Vic WagnerJan 20, 1994 12:20 PM
I've heard of people having multiple Amigas sharing one disk on SCSI. You'll need to get details on this tho. Limit on addressable disk space…yes, current limits are 2gig files (probably 2gig disks (also).
#39018From: Dale LarsonJan 20, 1994 2:36 PM
And it was flaky as all hell when I did it five or so years ago. Controllers eventually went bad, crashes were too common, etc., etc. If you kept all your cables to within spec (i.e., short), you should, in theory, be able to do this reliably. In reality, if you want networking, buy networking. If you're too broke to buy networking, you're too broke to have networking. As far as high-speed networking, I hear that some guys in Australia have worked on fiber-optic networking cards, but I think that they were Zorro-II. Zorro-II itself is going to put an inherent limit on just how fast you can go in practice. What in the world are you (not Vic) doing that requires better than Ethernet? What software do you think you are going to run on what CPU that takes advantage of it?
#39123From: SyndesisJan 24, 1994 2:59 PM
It's one of those typical trade-offs between cost, speed, and reliability. You can't get two without balancing via the third.
#39134From: David BuchanJan 25, 1994 6:49 AM
Cost ? Should be cool then. Investment/Return has as a component "Cost". db.
#39132From: David BuchanJan 25, 1994 6:47 AM
Realish time multi-task. One guy on background – one guy on foreground – input from other source Morph/Animate etc. Time is money – less time….. What was the phrase…. "Imagine a limit, go on, just try." db.
#39149From: Dale LarsonJan 25, 1994 7:10 PM
How in the world is Ethernet inadequate for this purpose? — Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing — INTERNET:dale@iam.com
#39185From: David BuchanJan 28, 1994 8:27 AM
Hi Dale. Only in respect to data transfer rate. Picture this. Multiple Amigas working in a graphics (sweatshop) workshop.. Currently, it would seem that RISC workstations would be the way to go to do realish editing/derivation of broadcast quality video. There is no good reason that Amigas cannot do this. Disagree ? Tell me why. Though not an Amiga operator in my waking hours (work), I have access to a broadcast quality video studio, where we have an amiga 1000 (?) and a 2000 – (the workhorse). I have seen the capability of this machine, combined with a dude (40+) who has been trying to convince me that Amiga is God. He is right. Risc (in graphics) is re-inventing the wheel. Amigas, given that they would be able to work in a workshop environment, would be amazing. What would the designers say …. ? Get hip dudes. Network at Ethernet Base Carrier = 10 meg / working read/write approx 720k. Real time video – dont fit in that eqaution. Disagree ? Please enlighten me. db.
#39186From: Dale LarsonJan 28, 1994 9:47 AM
>Real time video – don't fit in that equation. >Disagree ? Please enlighten me. Compression. Last I heard, though, you were talking about graphics and modeling, and now you've skipped to video. Either way, most commercial solutions use Ethernet and do just fine with compression. There are experimental networking systems designed for multiple real-time, broadcast quality digital audio and video streams. I doubt there are any affordable commercial implementations. What, exactly, do you want to do anyway? If you are talking editing of broadcast quality video, how does a special network help? How can multiple editors work together interactively on multiple workstations anyway? If you have digital video streams on hard disks spread across the network, you don't have to be able to view them in real time over the network to be able to get them to the local machine and edit them into something for output to tape. — Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing — INTERNET:dale@iam.com
#39202From: David BuchanJan 29, 1994 9:45 AM
Thankyou for your input. As you can tell we are just tossing ideas around at the moment, in the area of generating video image for film/commercial TV etc. Although economy is important, the ability to put together something say like the morphing in Terminator II, in a shorter time frame than currently possible, is our desire. My area of expertise is in Unix/Dos/OS2 networking, our video guys use Amigas in their studios, buried in the middle of horrifyingly expensive broadcast gear. After hooking them into our LAN they started literally gobbling disk space, hogging color printing etc and so we started talking to each other. I've convinced their most experienced guy to hook up to Compuserve and he will probably join this forum soon. Maybe he can outline our needs more intelligbly. Must fling, thanks again. db.
#39129From: Michael MastJan 24, 1994 9:16 PM
The Speed? About the speed of an average hard drive. I don't know of anything faster than ethernet cards for the amiga. Link-it! costs 59.95 and Creative Computers sells it. AFAIK there is no such limit on hard drive size except the physical limitations of the hard drive. Who needs a Clone when you got an Amiga! Motorola and Intel inside :*)
#39133From: Dale LarsonJan 25, 1994 6:47 AM
What is Link-it!? — Dale L. Larson, Intangible Assets Manufacturing — INTERNET:dale@iam.com
#39144From: Michael MastJan 25, 1994 2:15 PM
Legendary Design technologies programmed a program to transfer and convert files with a parallel or serial cable between Amiga and PC Windows or amiga-amiga or PC-PC. For example, you can tag several IFF files to be transfered to your PC and they will arrive PCX and they will have have modules for more formats as they appear. A high speed parallel cable is included in the price along with both amiga and Windows program. It is sort of like a GUI based twin express with so much more! Who needs a Clone when you got an Amiga! Motorola and Intel inside :*)
#39135From: David BuchanJan 25, 1994 6:51 AM
Thankyou for your response. Other responses indicate a 2 gig limit, should you wish to investigate. What is OXXI doing nowadays ? db.
#39025From: Jim SakladJan 20, 1994 10:32 PM
> Link-It! will link two by either serial or parallel high speed. Just HOW high-speed it it? How much money? Pass-through for serial or parallel port?