Viking Has Landed

One of the things that's hampered the Amiga's usefulness as a desktop publishing and (AI) workstation is the lack of large-screen, high-resolution displays. The standard Amiga monitor flickers in the high-resolution interface mode, and it's not big enough to show a full page of text, much less the two-page spread required for desktop publishing.

Commodore is well aware of these problems and has had a large-screen monitor, the 2024, under development for more than a year. However, if you don't want to wait on Commodore, another solution to the problem is available now: the Viking 1- a 19-inch monochrome, 1008 × 800 pixel display from, Moniterm (5740 Green Circle Drive.

Minnetonka, Minnesota 55343:612-935-4151:$1,995).

The Viking uses a card that plugs into an expansion slot in an A2000 or A2500. The card sends four or six separate screens that are combined into one by a special chip in the Viking (you need to run the prerelease AmigaDOS 1.4 utilities supplied on the included Jumpstart disk for the system to work). This makes for a big, solid display that's great for desktop publishing and CAD. Try animation or even typing text, though, and the display tears up annoyingly.

Not all software works with the Viking 1, but Gold Disk's Professional Page and Professional Draw do, as do WorldPerfect and Aegis Draw 2000. Most other software, except games and a few applications that use custom screen formats, will default without problems to one of the standard Amiga resolutions. Software compatibility with the big-screen mode should improve with the release of commodore's enhanced Chip Set and Amiga DOS 1.4 later this year. Until then, the viking I is the only high-resolution game in town. If you are serious about desktop publishing on the Amiga, you should definitely check it out.