UUCJEFF@ECNCDC.BITNET (04/11/89)
Why I bought the ST? I had been looking at 68000 machines for some time. One one hand, there was the MAC, expensive but relatively portable (good for gigs). I was even looking at some of the single board 68000s advertised in BYTE for $500-$1200. One had a Z-80 CPU on board with the 68000. I was even thinking about getting a 68000 board in a IIe. (This was 1985) Atari turned out to be the best because of the price and the MIDI ports. BYTE also praised it for being a computer that gives you all the strengths of the 68000. I was also looking at the Amiga, becuse I am interested in graphics. But price was a consideration. So I bought a 520 in the begining of 1986 and upgraded it to a Mega 2 last year. I have been happy with it and have had no serious problems other than the media change problem with the Chinon in the Mega. The dealer swapped drives with a non Chinon at no cost and everything has been going smoothly since then. I dont really have any attachment to Atari, if I win the Lottery I will probably get a micro Vax workstation and contract out a MIDI board. But those economic coordinates are not available for me now, so it is Atari. I like the fact that you can get some software cheaply in a lot of areas, but like others wish there was some more professional stuff around too. But programming all the interface chips is easy, so that is a plus. As for Mac vs Atari vs Amiga, there is no one machine clearly better, so why the holy wars? Jeff Beer, UUCJEFF@ECNCDC.BITNET, Chicago Illinois