stevel@dartvax.UUCP (Steve Ligett) (02/16/84)
Reading the sack of articles that DECVAX recently sent us, I saw many
questions about the Mac. Here are some answers/opinions: (First, my biases: I
own an IBM PC; use an XT, Lisa, and Mac at work. The Mac is my favorite.)
Serial ports: AppleBus will run on one port at 230kb. The other port
will run at a lower speed, such as for the Imagewriter. Initially, AppleBus
will share disks and laser printers. You may run either port at a higher
speed, if You can. The 230kb is all that is guaranteed to the unconscious
programmer. (The nine pins are GND, +5, GND, TXD+, TXD-, +12, HNDSK/CLK, RXD+,
RXD-. The +5 and +12 are signals; not for power.)
Imagewriter: The printer has about twice the dots per inch (144? vs 72?)
that the screen does. Output will show jaggies if the fonts you use aren't
available in twice the size that you use. (That is, if you use "12 point",
the "24 point" font will be used for the printed output if it's there.) The
output is good enough to send home to mom, though not as good as my (daisy
wheel) Oligetti on my IBM. But the Oligetti don't do pictures ...
Single disk systems aren't bad for single applications. Having MacWrite
and MacPaint on one disk with several documents is. The disks are a lot
easier to swap than 5 1/4" ones - they don't bend. (Buy two drives.)
What would a college student do with a Mac? Most of our time-sharing use
is word-processing; MacWrite/MacPaint would handle a large part of that work.
By fall, more complete word processing packages will be available.
Mac vs IBM PC: a single drive PC (w graphics) lists for $147 less than a
Mac (about the price of a b&w monitor and cable). A Mac gives you a lot less
hardware and a Lot more design for the money. A PC comes without an OS, a Mac
without a language. By summer, more Mac programs will be available than I
will ever need - and MacPaint will Never be available for the PC...
Steve; (linus or decvax)!dartvax!stevel or S Ligett/Kiewit/Hanover, NH 03755