davidl@orca.UUCP (11/15/84)
First, a few general Mac questions:
1) What stand-alone development tools are available? Naturally, I'd
like a stand-alone C compiler that supports the 512K Mac, with full
toolbox support, high-level graphics features, extensive debuggers, an
editor that knows about C, and UNIX compatibility, for not very much
money. How close to this ideal can I get? (I'd also consider other
high-level languages.)
2) What are the relative merits of the Imagewriter vs. other dot matrix
printers? I've been told that with Epson printer drivers now
available, the Epson line offers a cheaper, better alternative to the
Imagewriter. I currently have an OLD MX-80 F/T without Graftrax. Can
this be used?
3) If you had to choose between a 128K Mac with two drives and a 512K
mac with one drive, which would you pick? RAM disk would reduce the
need for the second drive in the Fat Mac (does the RAM disk software
come with it? If not, where does it come from?), but I understand that
a lot of software will not run on the Fat Mac. On the other hand, more
and more forthcoming stuff will ONLY run on the Fat Mac.
4) A question for Portland (OR) residents: Can you recommend any local
dealers to patronize or avoid?
5) A question for Tektronix employees: Have you had any problems going
through the Employee Purchase Plan? I'v heard that if you buy a Mac
through this plan and it goes belly-up, your dealer just sends it back
to Apple and you're stuck without it until it comes back. However, if
you buy from Byte Shop (which gives a not-quite-so-substantial but
still attractive discount to Tek people), you get full support,
including loaners. Is any or all of this true?
Please reply to me by MAIL. I will summarize responses to the net in a
few weeks.
David D. Levine (...decvax!tektronix!tekecs!davidl) [UUCP]
(tekecs!davidl.tektronix@csnet-relay.csnet) [ARPA]
(Tek M/S 61-261, phone (503) 685-2155) [REAL]