Subject: Amiga -> Intel
From: [email-masked] (Peter Ryan)
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 14:47:04 -0500

I'm a Lightwave user who has been using v3.5 on an Amiga for quite some
time and have registered for the v4.0 upgrade (this has yet to
surface I understand).

I have been working at getting a couple of animation projects up and
running over the past year or two and it still looks like one of them
may eventuate.  The problem is that back when I began budgetting all of
this, the setup I intended to use consisted of whacking a PAR board
with TBC into my A4000. Unfortunately things have changed with the
slowdown of the Amiga and it seems that the move to the PC platform may
be unavoidable.

My hesitation at making the move is: 1) I have used Amigas for 5 years
and have built up a software base I can use blindfolded. If I move to
PC I have to start from scratch.  2) The *cost* of buying a new platform
and software base.  3) If I set up an adjacent Pentium, the moving of
files between systems (assuming issue no.1 is solved by running both in
parallel).

My questions are related to the setting up of a PC system.
(Please note that I am in Australia and therefore use a PAL
system).

* There is talk of Win32, NT, Win95 and Win3.11... what do I need to run
LW 4.0, assuming I have a P120 or the like? Or rather, what is the
*best*?

* What is the equivalent PC RAM requirement to match 16meg RAM on an
Amiga (ie. what I call minimum)?

* Is it possible to live without Arexx? I live and breathe it with the
likes of ImageFX.

* Is there the equivalent of ImageFX and MultiFrame batch image
processors?

* Is the PAR on the PC as good as the Amiga version, which I have used?

* Now there is talk of the PVR which I haven't seen, what is the
difference? Is there are DPS home page or mailing list perhaps?

* It would be much cheaper to just stick an Amiga PAR into my machine,
should I still consider it? (I don't see any plug-ins for the Amiga
version of LW turning up, though).

If you had to spend the *absolute* minimum to set up a
PC with LW and a PAR + TBC, what would the system consist of? (Say
given a budget of US$5000 ie.AUS$7000 - note:  in Australia hardware and
software is a bit more expensive).

	Thanks for your time

	Peter Ryan ([email-masked])
	Sydney, Australia