paul@tredysvr.Tredydev.Unisys.COM (Paul Siu) (09/22/90)
I am trying to gather information on an article on Macintosh emulation. I note
that there has been a lot of interest in the Amax emulator. I have write up a
list of questions covering the emulator. It is a bit long, but I think it
pretty much covers most of the important areas. Please e-mail all data, the
result will be posted on this newsgroup. I think the result will benefit
everyone who is interested in Amax. I thank you for your cooperation.
1. SYSTEM SOFTWARE: Compatibility with Macintosh System Software up to what
version? Can you run Multifinder? How stable is it? Is there mention of
System 7 compatibility?
2. FLOPPY SUPPORT: Can it read Macintosh Diskette? What format can it read
400K, 800K, 1.44 MEG? Is a Macintosh disk drive needed? How is disk
ejection and swapping handled. What is the performance compared to an SE?
3. HARD DRIVE SUPPORT: What hard drives are supported? Can host computer
share data on the same partition or is seperate partition needed? Is
removable media supported? What is the performance of hard disk transfer
compared to a Macintosh SE?
4. VIDEO SUPPORT: Do you get a larger screen? Is screen redraw faster compare
to an SE? Is the picture correct in proportion (a circle looks round
instead of oval)?
5. SOUND SUPPORT: Is sounded supported? If so, is it clear or distorted?
6. PRINTER SUPPORT: Has anyone try to print to an imagewriter directly? Is
third party printer driver needed? Has anyone try printing postscripts?
7. OTHER PERPHERIAL SUPPORT: Has anyone try using a modem under Mac emulation?
Can it access any of the host computer's devices such as MIDI ports? Can
the Mac emulator use the built in system clock? Can it emulate Appletalk?
8. ACCELERATORS: Has anyone try to run it under an accelerator? Is there
any side effects?
9. SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY: Has anyone encountered incompatibility with software
except for games? with DAs? with Inits? with utilities in general? with
HyperCard? What about programming language and debugger?
10. RAM OVERHEAD - How much RAM do you lose under emulation for overhead? What
is the max RAM configuration supported?
11. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS: What do you need (mac disk drives, mac roms, etc),
and how much is it going to cost? What system is needed to run the
emulation? Name any hidden cost.
12. EASE OF INSTALLATION: How easy is it to install? How was the customer
service (in fixing existing problems)?
13. Anything else you can think of.
14. Have you or your parents ever been a member of the Communist Party? :->
Just a friendly reminder, please no flames about "spys from comp.sys.mac"