nfrech@ALMSA-1.ARPA ("Norman R. Frech") (07/20/88)
> Date: 13 Jul 88 11:58:02 GMT > From: mcvax!ukc!mupsy!liv-cs!sqrkl@uunet.uu.net > Subject: Carrier Command is NOT the best 3-D game ! > To: info-atari16@score.stanford.edu Richard K. Lloyd, {backbone}!mcvax!ukc!mupsy!liv-cs!SQRKL writes: > > In article <1894@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk>, neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) writes: > > [Lots of (well-justified) bad-mouthing about Carrier Command deleted] > > > > On the plus side:It has the fastest,smoothest, solid 3D graphics I have ever > > seen on any micro. > > Ahem ! I think you've not seen Zarch on the Archimedes ! It completely > outclasses Carrier Command in all departments. I would like to see one of these mythical Archimedes machines. I know plenty of people who have PCs, Macs, STs, Amigas but I have yet to meet someone who has one of beasts. Are they restricted to England? Are we going to have a 'my Archimedes can beat your st with half a meg tied behind its back' wars? BTW: I got my Publishing Partner Professional update last week and eagarly booted it up. It looked really sharp, I start to work, and 2 bombs, 3 bombs, 4 bombs, more. What a disappointment. They say in an enclosed letter that they know of most of the bugs and are working on them. I guess we will have to wait for the upgrade to the upgrade. SIGH... Norm Frech ************************************************************************* "Verbatim regurgitation is against my principles" - Neal, The Young Ones. *************************************************************************
KEITH@SYSD.SALFORD.AC.UK (Keith Wolstenholme) (07/21/88)
Norman R. Frech <nfrech@ALMSA-1.ARPA>, writes: > Richard K. Lloyd, ,backbone-!mcvax!ukc!mupsy!liv-cs!SQRKL writes: > >> >> In article <1894@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk>, neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) writes: >> >> [Lots of (well-justified) bad-mouthing about Carrier Command deleted] >> > >> > On the plus side:It has the fastest,smoothest, solid 3D graphics I have eve >> > seen on any micro. >> >> Ahem ! I think you've not seen Zarch on the Archimedes ! It completely >> outclasses Carrier Command in all departments. > > I would like to see one of these mythical Archimedes machines. I know > plenty of people who have PCs, Macs, STs, Amigas but I have yet to > meet someone who has one of beasts. The Archimedes really does exist, in two forms the 300 series and the 440 (we're still waiting for the 410 - thats a 440 with 1MB and no hard disk). The 300's have been available from Acorn dealers in the UK since September '87. > .................................. Are they restricted to England? As far as I know, yes. A few machines might have slipped out of the country by some back door but I don't believe that Acorn is shipping overseas. They got badly stung when they last tried to enter the U.S. market, so they're probably a bit wary of trying it again ! > Are we going to have a 'my Archimedes can beat your st with half a > meg tied behind its back' wars? Probably ! The Archimedes is the better machine, more colours on screen, higher resolutions, sound is about Amiga quality and its very fast ! Acorn have a PC emulator (like PC Ditto) but it runs at about the speed of a standard 4.77Mhz PC (I seem to remember the authors of the program being reported as saying that it wasn't particulary well optimised !). The big drawbacks are: i) Price - twice the cost in the UK of the equivalent ST/Amiga. Acorn have a bad habit of perceiving their products as "Rolls Royces" and pricing them appropriately. ii) Software - limited market penetration = limited support. About Five word processors, a couple of spreadsheets, three games, all the languages available are from Acorn (I think). iii) The operating system. This has been designed so that people who are familiar with the BBC Micro will feel at home. The windowing interface helps. This may improve: - Computer Concepts have written their own multi-tasking OS for their applications (they are developing a DTP package amongst others). This OS (Impulse) may be available separately. - A improved version of the OS is under development at Acorn which, among other things, supposedly adds multitasking to the system. Overall, its a nice machine - but its 2-300 pounds too expensive ! JANET keith@uk.ac.salford.sysd ARPA: keith@sysd.salford.ac.uk PHONE: +44 61 737 7010 POST: 3-S, Computer Centre, Salford University, Salford, M5 4WT, U.K.
ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu (Lee Dickey) (07/23/88)
In article <KW.G9OY.210788@SALF.D> KEITH@SYSD.SALFORD.AC.UK (Keith Wolstenholme) writes: >Norman R. Frech <nfrech@ALMSA-1.ARPA>, writes: > >> Richard K. Lloyd, ,backbone-!mcvax!ukc!mupsy!liv-cs!SQRKL writes: >> [...] >The Archimedes really does exist, in two forms the 300 series and the >440 (we're still waiting for the 410 - thats a 440 with 1MB and no >hard disk). The 300's have been available from Acorn dealers in the >UK since September '87. > >> .................................. Are they restricted to England? > >As far as I know, yes. A few machines might have slipped out of the >country by some back door but I don't believe that Acorn is shipping >overseas. They got badly stung when they last tried to enter the U.S. >market, so they're probably a bit wary of trying it again ! > In January, I was in a shop in Hamilton, New Zealand, that was showing the Archimedes. It seemed to be a splendid machine, but was greatly overpriced at about 7 or 8 thousand NZ dollars. From what I could see, the Atari still offered better value for money. -- L. J. Dickey, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo. ljdickey@WATDCS.UWaterloo.ca ljdickey@water.BITNET ljdickey@water.UUCP ..!uunet!watmath!water!ljdickey ljdickey@water.waterloo.edu
KEITH@SYSD.SALFORD.AC.UK (Keith Wolstenholme) (07/26/88)
Lee Dickey <mnetor!utzoo!utgpu!water!ljdickey@uunet.uu.net> writes: >Norman R. Frech <nfrech@ALMSA-1.ARPA>, writes: > [...] > In January, I was in a shop in Hamilton, New Zealand, that was showing > the Archimedes. It seemed to be a splendid machine, but was greatly > overpriced at about 7 or 8 thousand NZ dollars. From what I > could see, the Atari still offered better value for money. I don't know what Acorns policy is for sales to New Zealand but I believe that they actually had some sucess with the BBC in Australia so perhaps they are prepared to push the Archimedes in that part of the world. I have just read an article in Computer Weekly about the Archimedes and the ARM RISC chip set. Acorns Dirrector of Sales and Marketing, Ian Laurence, is quoted as saying that "We (Acorn) would love it to happen (a US cheap workstation manufacturer using the ARM) because there is no way we could sell Archimedes in the US. The Americans are very parochial." ??? So it doesn't look like the Archimedes will make it to the US unless Acorn have a major change of policy. JANET keith@uk.ac.salford.sysd ARPA: keith@sysd.salford.ac.uk PHONE: +44 61 737 7010 POST: 3-S, Computer Centre, Salford University, Salford, M5 4WT, U.K.
rokicki@polya.Stanford.EDU (Tomas G. Rokicki) (07/26/88)
> ". . .there is no way we could sell Archimedes in the US. The > Americans are very parochial." Us? Americans, parochial? Where does that damned foreigner get off? Calling us parochial! Simply because the best computers, cars, and canned goods are made in the good old US of A, he things we are parochial! Jealousy, that's what it is. Hell, they don't even use proper money there; pounds indeed! Maybe some good old boys will learn him his manners one of these days. -tom
andie@aipna.ed.ac.uk (Andie Ness) (07/27/88)
In article <KW.G9OY.210788@SALF.D> KEITH@SYSD.SALFORD.AC.UK (Keith Wolstenholme) writes: >Norman R. Frech <nfrech@ALMSA-1.ARPA>, writes: > >> Richard K. Lloyd, ,backbone-!mcvax!ukc!mupsy!liv-cs!SQRKL writes: >>> In article <1894@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk>, neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) writes: >>> [Lots of (well-justified) bad-mouthing about Carrier Command deleted] > >The Archimedes really does exist, in two forms the 300 series and the >440 (we're still waiting for the 410 - thats a 440 with 1MB and no >hard disk). The 300's have been available from Acorn dealers in the >UK since September '87. > >> .................................. Are they restricted to England? > >As far as I know, yes. A few machines might have slipped out of the >country by some back door but I don't believe that Acorn is shipping >overseas. They got badly stung when they last tried to enter the U.S. >market, so they're probably a bit wary of trying it again ! They are not just available in England. We have them in darkest Scotland too! :-} --Andie. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ARPA: andie%ed.eusip@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk | How many Apple employees does it take andie%ed.aipna@nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk | to change a lightbulb ???? ---------------------------------------+ UUCP: ...!uunet!mcvax!ukc!eusip!andie | 3 - One to do it, ---------------------------------------+ One to copyright the method JANET: andie@uk.ac.ed.eusip | One to phone the lawyers if anyone andie@uk.ac.ed.aipna | infringes on the look and feel of | of the method -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
neil@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil Forsyth) (07/29/88)
In article <3409@polya.Stanford.EDU> rokicki@polya.Stanford.EDU (Tomas G. Rokicki) writes: >> ". . .there is no way we could sell Archimedes in the US. The >> Americans are very parochial." > >Us? Americans, parochial? Where does that damned foreigner get off? >Calling us parochial! Simply because the best computers, cars, and >canned goods are made in the good old US of A, he things we are parochial! Who needs Atari/Archimedes wars. When you look above you see we can have the real thing! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) Please count these before pressing any big red buttons. _____________________________________________________________________________ / "I think all right thinking people in this country are sick and tired of \ ! being told that ordinary decent people are fed up in this country with ! ! being sick and tired. I'm certainly not and I'm sick and tired of being ! ! told that I am!" - Monty Python ! ! ! ! Neil Forsyth JANET: neil@uk.ac.hw.cs ! ! Dept. of Computer Science ARPA: neil@cs.hw.ac.uk ! ! Heriot-Watt University UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!neil ! ! Edinburgh ! ! Scotland ! \_____________________________________________________________________________/