Computer Connection Supports Amiga
Users By Louie Dituri
Louie Dituri, owner of Computer Connection,
started this business in 1988 specifically to serve Amiga
owners. At the time, there were a number of other retail
outlets for Amiga's in California, but Louie quickly
recognized a need for quality customer support when he tried
to buy from his nearest dealer in Sacramento. Ever since that
experience, customer support has been the driving force behind
Computer Connection.
For fifteen years, Louie has been selling and
supporting everything Amiga, from software and peripherals
through complete, custom-programmed, Amiga-based applications.
His special purpose visual database, Property Master, running
on four networked Amiga 4000s, was one of the first systems
ever installed in a real estate office for previewing
properties--complete with multiple interior and exterior
views, flexible searching by neighborhoods, amenities, etc.,
and even a mortgage calculator! This was in 1991, shortly
before Commodore's bankruptcy and the unfortunate disruption
of supplies of Amiga hardware. At the time, other computer
platforms simply could not compete with Amiga's excellent
multitasking, inter-task communication, HAM-8 graphics, and
large SCSI-based mass storage.
A frequent collaborator with Louie on projects
like Property Master is Dr. Ray Zarling, a professor of
computer science at nearby California State University,
Stanislaus. Ray has similarly been an avid Amiga enthusiast
for over fifteen years. As a trained computer scientist, he
appreciates Amiga's elegance and efficiency, and to this day
uses a souped-up 4000 Tower as his main office computer at the
University, networked with Sun workstations and other high-end
machines. He and Louie have worked together ever since a
successful joint effort to install a 25-station laboratory of
Amiga 3000s in the Computer Science Department in 1989, which
was used for many years in Ray's university classes.
When the Commodore bankruptcy disrupted the supply
of machines for their visual database business, Louie and Ray
traveled to New York and bid against Escom, Dell and others
for Commodore's assets in that first bankruptcy auction. While
Escom ultimately prevailed that day, we can only wonder how
things might have been different.
During the lean, post-bankruptcy years, Computer
Connection focused increasingly on its Video Toaster business,
and eventually was driven to supporting Wintel equipment,
while through it all Louie's dream has consistently been to be
able to make a living helping people with their Amigas. But
now, looking back, even the lean years contributed to this
goal. With the AmigaOne in production, and OS/4 imminent, the
experience and connections he has cultivated with
industry-standard components and distributors, combined with
his long experience with Amigas, uniquely positions Computer
Connection to configure quality AmigaOne systems at
better-than-competitive prices.
This summer, Computer Connection is helping to fan
the excitement surrounding Amiga's first new hardware in a
generation. Louie has donated an AmigaOne G3 SE/600 MHz
motherboard, valued at over $600 retail, to be raffled at the
2003 AmiWest show to be held in Sacramento July 26-27! This
generous donation represents tangible evidence of the
excitement of our entire community. Each show attendee is
automatically entered into the raffle, with additional tickets
available for purchase. Entrants must be present to win raffle
prizes. Stop by the Computer Connection booth at AmiWest to
chat with Louie and Ray, and see some other surprises they
have up their sleeves for the show!
Web links: http://www.compamiga.com/
for Computer Connection's Amiga offerings; http://www.comp-connection.com/
for their PC and Video Toaster site; www.sacc.org/amiwest to
learn more about AmiWest 2003. |