paul@tredysvr.Tredydev.Unisys.COM (Paul Siu) (09/22/90)
I notice a lot of interest in the Spectre emulator. I am trying to gather
enough information to write an article about Macintosh emulation. The
questions posted are a bit long, but I think they pretty much cover everything.
All constructive data are welcome, yes, even Petre's, but note the emphasize on
CONSTRUCTIVE data. Answer as many as you stand, but please e-mail all response.
The result will be posted on this group. Thanks!
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.