passaret@copernicus.crd.ge.com ("Mr. Mike" Passaretti) (12/08/90)
In article <22015@well.sf.ca.us> yoo@well.sf.ca.us (Young-Kyu Yoo) writes:
#
# First, the NeXT is easier to use in many ways than a Mac. I think it
# compares very favorably to an Amiga. You see, the NeXT hides Unix. No
# greps, no vi, no ls is necessary (but it's all there if you want to use it).
# [...]
Look, folks. The NeXT is a wonderful computer. So is the
Amiga. If you need UNIX(tm) right NOW! buy a NeXT or a Sun.
If you don't ever forsee needing more computer than you have
now, buy a *Station. If you aren't into hardware hacking, and
have no designs on making expansion products, buy a *Station.
Sparc, NeXT, I don't really care. You wil get UNIX and a nice
high-rez mono display and you can play 'till your heart's
content. But let's not argue the point.
If you want a bus, and want to do experimentation with one...
I'd go (and I did) with the Amiga. A NeXT or Sun with a bus
was just too bloody expensive. And even if they weren't,
VMEBus, NUBus, and SBus all are a little hairier to design
for than Zorro (Thanks for ZIII, Dave!). NUBus is neat.
I really like it. The implementations of it I've seen so far,
however, leave a lot to be desired. VMEBus I've worked with
a lot. It's good for a lot of things, but its got a lot of
hair on it. SBus is good too, but so far limited in scope
(mostly number of 'slots' wise). I work on SBus machines a
lot now. I thinks there's a lot of potential there. For
conventional business and engineering stuff, anyway.
I plan to put UNIX on my box RSN |-). That won't make it a
workstation. The fact is, the philosophies make them Amigas
entirely different computers in more ways than you think.
The Amiga was designed to do nifty stuff, not just code
and use, but "play" and "hack" as well. That's why I like
it. (Also a lot of why I bought it). The people who work
on it appreciate the "Nifty quotient". I can count on more
nifty stuff in the future. Just about any sort of media
production can be done cheaply and professionally on the
Amiga. Sometimes not both at once, but at least you can
get your feet wet without breaking your pocketbook. That's
the idea behind the machine.
Enough philosophy here...
Custom chips aside, the NeXT DOES have more co-processor power
that the Amiga for many things. That DSP is a big win. I
expect to stick one in a Zorro III slot RSN. The '040 is a
big win for speed. I expect to stick one in a processor slot
RSN. AND run my '030 if I'm lucky (And I haven't totally
misread the specs and schematics). A nice, slow, easy on the
pocket upgrade path. I couldn't afford to drop 7.5K on a box
right now, but by the time the toaster(grr)* and a few other
goodies are in there, I will have. The difference? I can't
do as many nifty things NOW! That's the price I pay.
Meanwhile, I can still do development work on the intended
platform for my software concept. And play MindWalker
when I'm burned out from that. I like that.
Ask the Mac 128 owners how they feel about the *Station
concept. Ask LC Owners how they feel about having to use
their only slot for a math chip. Most don't care. They can
do what they want NOW!, and the future will take care of
itself. Some do care, and they will get something that will
grow a bit. If it works for you, buy a (mostly)
non-expandable machine. If it doesn't, go for the whole
enchilada. Simple as that. If you like the NeXT, and can
afford a slab/cube/whatever get one. If you like the Amiga
and can afford a 1000/500/2000/3000, get one. Don't blame me
for making my choice. And don't assume I'm an un-informed
boob. And THAT flame goes out to both camps. Ahem. If you
want to educate about the capabilites of your favorite box, do
it with FACTS and not rhetoric. Thanks.
- MM
UNIX(tm) is a trademark of the folks who tried to trademark
the letter "D".
(grr)* means that anyone who develops a product like the
toaster without at least making sure it will FIT,
let alone work, in all models of a machine should be
shot. And the software should multitask properly too.
So there.
--
passaretti@crd.ge.com {whatever}!crdgw1!brahe!passaret