rkl@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk (10/18/90)
I'm reading this comparison of a Mac vs. an Amiga with a grin on my face. You see, I own both an A1000 and a Mac Plus and I can spot major flaws in both: Amiga ----- AmigaDOS is the slowest disk filing system (apart from the C64, which I hasten to add I never owned - what a pile of junk) I have seen. The layout of files is horrendous and even the FFS doesn't improve things by all that much. The much-vaunted multi-tasking is too unstable (although I only have Kickstart/Workbench 1.3 at the moment) - if one tasks crashes, they all do. The font handling is 'naff' and that's putting it mildly. No anti-aliasing. No decent Pascal compiler available. Pascal is one of the primary programming languages taught in academic environments, so please don't redirect me to Modula-2, which is far too restrictive (case sensitivity and all this IMPORTing rubbish. Macintosh --------- Vastly overpriced until this week. Lower cost models are B&W only with a small screen. Utterly, utterly hopeless for high-level language programming. Not easy to string together 7 zillion Toolbox calls just to get a circle on the screen. My suggestion (mainly for UK users) is to look at the Acorn Archimedes. If you're a programmer, you'll never touch another machine again. Even if you're a casual (!) user, the Archimedes has co-operative multi-tasking (and TRAPS system errors allowing other tasks to continue), inter-application communication and anti-aliased fonts. It also is rated at 4 MIPS for under 1000 pounds which is the same performance as the top of the range Amigas and Macs. The OS is beautifully cleanly designed and runs like the clappers. Oh, and the disk filing system is utterly sensational. Faster than the Macs or PCs and AUTO-DEFRAGMENTING ! Richard K. Lloyd, *** This is a MicroVAX II running VAX/VMS V5.3-1 *** Computer Science Dept., * JANET : RKL@UK.AC.LIV.CS.AND or * Liverpool University, * RKL@000010500211.FTP.MAIL * Merseyside, England, * Internet : RKL%and.cs.liv.ac.uk@cunyvm.cuny.edu * Great Britain. ****************************************************
dvljhg@cs.umu.se (J|rgen Holmberg) (10/19/90)
In article <1990Oct18.140520.2260@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk> rkl@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk writes: >I'm reading this comparison of a Mac vs. an Amiga with a grin on my face. >You see, I own both an A1000 and a Mac Plus and I can spot major flaws >in both: > >Amiga >----- > >AmigaDOS is the slowest disk filing system (apart from the C64, which I >hasten to add I never owned - what a pile of junk) I have seen. The layout >of files is horrendous and even the FFS doesn't improve things by all that >much. > >The much-vaunted multi-tasking is too unstable (although I only have >Kickstart/Workbench 1.3 at the moment) - if one tasks crashes, they all >do. > >The font handling is 'naff' and that's putting it mildly. No anti-aliasing. > >No decent Pascal compiler available. Pascal is one of the primary programming >languages taught in academic environments, so please don't redirect me to >Modula-2, which is far too restrictive (case sensitivity and all this >IMPORTing rubbish. > Kick-pascal is not only decent, it's actually very good and getting better. >Macintosh >--------- > >Vastly overpriced until this week. > >Lower cost models are B&W only with a small screen. > >Utterly, utterly hopeless for high-level language programming. Not easy >to string together 7 zillion Toolbox calls just to get a circle on the >screen. > >My suggestion (mainly for UK users) is to look at the Acorn Archimedes. >If you're a programmer, you'll never touch another machine again. Even >if you're a casual (!) user, the Archimedes has co-operative multi-tasking >(and TRAPS system errors allowing other tasks to continue), inter-application >communication and anti-aliased fonts. It also is rated at 4 MIPS for under >1000 pounds which is the same performance as the top of the range Amigas >and Macs. The OS is beautifully cleanly designed and runs like the clappers. >Oh, and the disk filing system is utterly sensational. Faster than the Macs >or PCs and AUTO-DEFRAGMENTING ! I have played around with an Archimedes too. Very nice machine, but I would like to have some software since I haven't got the time to write it all myself. In my very personal opinion macintosh will always be overpriced unless they a) change OS b) give them away Jorgen > >Richard K. Lloyd, *** This is a MicroVAX II running VAX/VMS V5.3-1 *** >Computer Science Dept., * JANET : RKL@UK.AC.LIV.CS.AND or * >Liverpool University, * RKL@000010500211.FTP.MAIL * >Merseyside, England, * Internet : RKL%and.cs.liv.ac.uk@cunyvm.cuny.edu * >Great Britain. ****************************************************
dewolfe@ug.cs.dal.ca (Colin DeWolfe) (10/19/90)
In article <1990Oct18.140520.2260@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk> rkl@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk writes: >I'm reading this comparison of a Mac vs. an Amiga with a grin on my face. >You see, I own both an A1000 and a Mac Plus and I can spot major flaws >in both: > >Amiga >----- > >[file system stuff nuked] > >The much-vaunted multi-tasking is too unstable (although I only have >Kickstart/Workbench 1.3 at the moment) - if one tasks crashes, they all >do. >[Other stuff nuked] Ohhhh, I'm gonna bite on this one. In some cases this may be true (pyro- technics and immediate flasing guru) but for the most part is not. Whenever a task held requester comes up, only one task has been stopped. Solution? Ignore the requester. The program is dead, but all the others are still going Nothing makes this more clear the the "suspend" and "reboot" gadgets in 2.0 where hitting suspend will stop the program and take the requester away. >Richard K. Lloyd, *** This is a MicroVAX II running VAX/VMS V5.3-1 *** >Computer Science Dept., * JANET : RKL@UK.AC.LIV.CS.AND or * >Liverpool University, * RKL@000010500211.FTP.MAIL * >Merseyside, England, * Internet : RKL%and.cs.liv.ac.uk@cunyvm.cuny.edu * >Great Britain. **************************************************** Colin DeWolfe dewolfe@ug.cs.dal.ca dewolfe@iris1.ucis.dal.ca
n074ev@tamuts.tamu.edu (Christopher Walton) (10/20/90)
One reason the Archimedes is so GREAT is that is uses a RISC processor!
If you want the MOST boring programming lifestyle, and wish to put waits
every other line in your code, then buy one and program on it! Otherwise
if you don't program, get one and, have no software! BUT the MACHINE itself is VERY good!
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Christopher Walton : n07ev@tamuts.tamu.edu
'To LIVE is to use an AMIGA!' : cmw1725@tamvenus.tamu.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------fhwri%CONNCOLL.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu (10/20/90)
The SRT program from Commodore's Carolyn Schneppner will also interecpt most
(not all) GURUs, and will suspend the offending program, allowing a graceful e
exit from the others. Multitasking is SO useful that it's amazing that people
STILL don't realize how useful. Case in point: I work here at Connecticut Colleg
in the computer lab on campus which has 5 Mac IIs and 3 Amiga 2500/20s. To
protect the Amigas from viruses, I simply start VirusX in the startup-
sequence. The Macs can and do get infected because there are few Mac virus
checkers that, like VirusX, scan every disk inserted while other tasks are
running. VirusX is automatic; the new version can even be invisible! The Mac
may have the edge in software (for certain purposes), but the Amiga is by far
the superior machine.
--Rick Wrigley
fhwri@conncoll.bitnet