mike@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Mike Smithwick) (12/23/88)
[] Well, last monday I came to work, and there was this funny looking Black thingie in the lab with the words "NeXT" plastered all over it. Wow, I feel just that way I did when I first saw the Amy. . . Somehow, one of the guys here was able to get one one of the first machines for us. Briefly, it is >>>slick!<<<. The interface, NextStep is MegaParsecs beyond anything I've tried before (GEM, Windows, Mac, Sunviews, NeWS, EksWindows and yes, even our beloved Intuition). The 4 color gray scale display gives a much more polished look to the thing than the 1-bit machines like the Sun-monochrome systems, or the Mack. It's sure hard to go back to Intuition. It's kinda like going from the Amy to Messy-Dos. The Monitor is incredibly sharp, with an apparent pitch a bit finer than the Sun display next to it. A slightly negative note for you guys who bitch about the length of time the Amy takes to boot up. This dude takes well over 3 minutes to load the OS. I understand that the final release software should reduce the time however. (System 0.8 is what came with the machine). The NFS works wonderfully. The NeXT was talking to the Suns in only an hour, with a seamless link to the Sun disks, such that the Browser, Icon file windows, etc, all see them as other NeXt disks. The Browser is real pretty. It is a resizable file/directory lister, showing the entries in vertical columns. When it fills the screen, it gives something like 8 columns. The directories are indicated with a little right arrow. Click on one, and the files pop up in the next column. No more columns boobie? Everything just shifts left. Too many files pal? Up/Down buttons on the bottom of the column turn-on. While not an outstanding programming feat, it is wonderfully thought out. Just be careful on making a Browser for the Amy, otherwise you may find yourself talking on the phone with SJobs in a not to friendly fashion. InterfaceBuilder is along the same lines as PowerWindows, but much more sophisticated. The first version of the documentation sucks the air out of ping-pong balls, so I haven't been able to fully understand the thing yet. As you'd expect from Jobs, there are small little extras to add character to the box. Make a dumb mistake using the DigitalWebsters, and you get an error requestor with a silhouette of a little man giving you a raspberry and thumbing his nose. Mistype your password in the login window, the window jitters back-and-fourth like someone hit it with a sledge hammer. The interface objects are rendered in a 3-D fashion. Not just outlines, but using the 4 shades of gray, the objects take on a metallic, solid look with a light side and a shadow side. This gives the user the impression that they are controlling a solid physical environment, hence a greater feeling of power. When a window is moved, it is really moved. I mean the entire window! Not just an outline. The windows may be slid off of the screen. The Menus also slide around, and can be positioned anywhere around on the screen. The Task Icons are always infront of the windows, so they are never hidden. The much Ballyhood Display Postscript is surprisingly fast, although still falls behind the Amiga. There is a line-demo like the Amiga line demo, and is pretty slow in comparison. You also get a flight simulator called "Stealth", the updates aren't terribly fast, but the displays looks like real solid 3-D instruments. So, just a few randumb notes for all you gals and guys who've been breathlessly waiting for this thing. It is nice, but it aint in color(!). -- *** mike smithwick *** "Illiterate? Write for free brochure. . ." [disclaimer : nope, I don't work for NASA, I take full blame for my ideas]