CompuServe Thread

Just my two cents worth (and with inflation, you know what that's worth)… The A3000 would probably be the platform to go with a year from now. At this time, however, much of what you will be wanting in the hardware line simply won't physically fit in a 3000. Depending on the date the grant is to be awarded, you should keep this in mind. At this time, I would opt for a 2000HD with a GVP accelerator (40 or 50 Mhz style.) A daughterboard for the GVP accessory is currently available, while there is none that I know of for the 2500. Your intended uses are all memory intensive, so the added 32 bit memory will be a big plus in going this route. Additionally, a removable media device, such as the Sysquest, will be invaluable to you. While you do not presently plan on preparing broadcast or instructional material in house at the present time, planning on the capability of doing so would be quite a benefit to you. Your students will very likely surprise you with the quality and creativity of their work, and being able to produce this work in a quasi-professional manner could be quite a bonus for them – not to mention the impact it could have with sponsors in the continuance of your grant or obtaining supplemental grants. Your equipment list looks like you are almost there in this matter, so consideration should be given to this matter. Video toaster is cute, and it does nice effects. However, it would almost certainly require a genlock (in any case) and a time base corrector to substitute for the frame-grabber/genlock combination. You might be better off considering the frame-grabber and genlock as a base line, and add the Toaster if the grant allocation allows for the added expense. I will leave it with others to suggest specific devices. (I would think the Impulse VD-1 frame grabber and the Supergen 2000s would probably suffice for your needs.)

Bill; Another comment here, beware, the toaster takes over the Amiga video when it plugs into the video port. Our engineering dept. had to make some major mods to our Omicron genlock to get the two working together. The toaster is by it's nature a genlock and has first dibs since it is in the video slot. A good basic system to support the full range of Toaster applications should include 33mhz 68030 w/math chip, 7 meg memory and a large hard drive or removable media. Keith

$.02 here as well; A2000 and 68030/882/4MB RAM, 8-UP/4MB of RAM (som eapplications cannot handle the 030 so when you need to disable it you still have 4MB otherwise you have 8MB of additional RAM….oh Yeah…Superfat Agnes 1MB motherboard is a MUST). Supergen 2000 (standalone model – has 2 video outs and a through and does not hog your video slot, but be careful plugging it in!). I also recommend a video mixer if you have the cash such as a Panasonic WJ-MX10. 2 Video ins (+ a key in), A/B roll, faders, stereo audio throughs and special effects if you need em!) Software; DeluxePaint III, Pixmate, Doug's Math Aquarium (or similar), PageRender-3D and AREXX (you cannot use subscripted variables with Page-3D's language so I pass them from Arexx script), AMIGAVISION, DigiPaint III and DigiView Gold and an HP Deskjet printer (spend a few $; the return on this one is worth it- every ink cartridge is a new print head!), Pagestream or ProPage (do NOT buy Publisher Plus, hehe) and CygnusEd. Also, I would get both an internal 40MB hard disk (for software) and either 1) removeable media drive or 2) BIG internal hard disk for data storage and, if possible, a tape backup unit. Format these at capacity; nothing worse than having 2 2MB spaces each on a different partition! (well, there are worse things….). Pagerender 3-D is an EXCELLENT math and video orinted program. It utilizes scripts and is VERY easy to animate basic geometric (and not so basic) 3-d figures, would be PERFECT for molecular modeling, etc.; dont be fooled by scuplt 3 or 4/d; I find them hard to use and TSilver (which, incidentally, I love) is not script-based (which i find a major drawback. Also, Internal modem and a CIS account!!! (There is also a LOT of stuff on the Internet if you can get there……). I would try to get GVP (etc.) to donate or loan Genlock and/or 68030 card and/or hard card if possible; especially if money is an object! -Best of -Scott M.