wayneck@tekig5.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) (12/14/87)
Well I saw Colorburst on the shelf Saturday and bought a copy. That
afternoon I played around with it. Now I feel that all the talk about
Colorburst is mostly hype. I'll try to be polite, but the kindness thing
I can say about it is that it is a ripoff. If the program had only cost $10
to $15 dollars I would have been pleased, but at $35 to $40 dollars I feel
that some people are trying to make a fast buck.
First is the author's defense, I have one of the earliest ST's. I doubt
if that make any difference, but there is always a chance I guess. Okay, so
why am I so upset? Here is why!
1) Yes, you can choose from 3375 colors, only from what I can see only
512 of them don't flicker. I played around with setting the background
colors to the new shades. Maybe I didn't do it right since the program
is VERY hard to use. The user interface seems to work only part of the
time. Anyway the color always flicker when ever I got away from the
basic 512 colors.
2) Yes, you can have 800 colors on the screen at one time, BUT ONLY 16
COLORS PER 4 SCAN LINES. That just doesn't cut it. Note Spectrum
gives you over 40 colors per scan line.
3) The editing program is awkward, slow and sometimes seems to leave my
computer messed up. Ugh! The user interface just doesn't work well,
the "Zoom Edit" mode were the colors are set is a horror to use!
4) For only $25 more dollars I could have had Spectrum 512! I blew it.
The floppy disk has a label on it that says "Serving the Software needs of the
world for over 6 weeks." and quite frankly the program shows it. So in the
case of Colorburst, unless it fits a very quick and special need, I say save
your pennies and buy something else.
Wayne Knappcmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (12/16/87)
In article <2246@tekig5.TEK.COM> (Wayne Knapp) writes: > Well I saw Colorburst on the shelf Saturday and bought a copy. That >afternoon I played around with it. Now I feel that all the talk about >Colorburst is mostly hype. I'll try to be polite, but the kindness thing >I can say about it is that it is a ripoff. If the program had only cost $10 >to $15 dollars I would have been pleased, but at $35 to $40 dollars I feel >that some people are trying to make a fast buck. Wayne goes on to describe the deficiencies of ColorBurst which have been deleted for brevity. His primary complaint is that all of the colors other than the original 512 flicker, this is due to the ST's inability to display more than 512 colors without relying on aliasing effects of the CRT. Look at the schematic, it has a 9 bit DAC, that's 512 colors period. I can really sympathize with Wayne's complaints but I have to wonder about the underlying reasons one would buy something like ColorBurst in the first place. Over the past 15 years I have talked to a lot of people who have decided to 'take the plunge' and buy a personal computer. Many of the saddest tales I heard came from college students who wanted one thing but could only afford another. The second saddest tales come from people who bought a computer, only to find out that either it couldn't do what they wanted, or once they had used it for a while they knew what they really wanted in a computer and it wasn't what they had bought. I don't know if Wayne is in this situation, however I do know that some fraction of the people reading this list are in the "I'm going to take the plunge" stage and maybe some warning/information will help them. So herein are some free guidelines for the computer buyer : * Write down on a piece of paper what you want your computer to do. Rank these in a priority order. Try to think of at least 10 different things. * Go out and look at as many computers that you can find, if you know someone who owns a computer of the type you are considering, take your list and ask them if they *have programs* that will do any of those things. Computers have this wonderful *potential* but try to see what actually exists. * When you have limited your choices, check out the hardware specifications for the computers you are looking at. Look at CPU speed, graphics resolution, disk capacity, expansion capability (check existence here too, since anyone can say "Sure you can plug an 8 meg board in this here plug." but what you need to know is "Manufacturer Glitz makes an 8 meg board available *now* to plug into this here port.") Something to remember is that if the computer you are looking at is new or an off brand the only expanision you may ever get for it is what is available today. Also look at sound capabilities and alternative I/O devices (can it support a Joystick? a digitizer? a mouse?) * Compare these things to what you want to do with your computer and see if those things require any "extra" options. Then price computers with similar capabilities. For instance if your list requires 640 X 400 color displays don't compare a $500 monochrome PC clone to an Amiga, compare a $500 clone + VGA montor/interface to the Amiga. Compare systems with as similar capabilities as possible. * Ask yourself, "How important is it that I have this computer now?" If you wait there will always be another computer or model that does more for the same price in about 6 months. If you can wait 6 months then do so, you will be happier. If you decide to buy a computer now, make sure your reasons are good ones, because if they evaporate under close scrutiny then when the new model comes out you will feel bad that you didn't wait. * If there other people in your life that have a computer, check to see how compatible your two machines are. If you like to program and share projects it is easier to do so if the your machine is compatible. * Most importantly, if some computer is 'close' but not quite what you want then DONT BUY IT. You are asking for trouble later on, simply because you will have invested so much money in it. This is the root of a lot of flames here on Usenet. Did you ever get into arguments in high school about which kind of car was better, like Ford, Chevy, Nissan, etc? I remember arguments like that well. The biggest problem was that if you owned a Ford and were arguing with a Chevy owner, neither of you could back down in good concience because that would mean admitting you had spent two summers worth of savings on an inferior car. When in fact, you had done no such thing. You had bought a car that you liked, and thus is the *best* in your *opinion*. Since there isn't a Car in a vault somewhere certified as the absolute best car in the world there is no basis for a valued comparison. Understand this, and agree to disagree, and your blood pressure will stay a lot lower. Some Don'ts when buying a computer : * Don't buy a computer on impulse, it is almost always the wrong computer for you. * Don't believe anything that a salesman tells you about 'other' computers. They probably know less about them than you do. * Don't buy a computer because someone says it can do something if there isn't a program available that does it. * Don't lie to yourself about how you will use this wonderful machine to make your life easier. If all you want to do is play games then be up front about it. It will save a lot of guilt feelings later. * Try not to buy a computer on credit, save your money and buy it with cash. Otherwise you may find yourself paying on the old one when the new model comes out. More guilt feelings. * Don't buy a computer to learn programming. If you ever want to program a computer you own, learn programming *first*. Then you will know when the programming environment a computer offers is usable. Anyway, this is a boiled down version of much of the advice I give people when they ask "Which computer should I buy?" Hope it helps someone out there from being burned. --Chuck McManis uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
wayneck@tekig5.TEK.COM (Wayne Knapp) (12/17/87)
In article <36598@sun.uucp>, cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) writes: > In article <2246@tekig5.TEK.COM> (Wayne Knapp) writes: > > Well I saw Colorburst on the shelf Saturday and bought a copy. That > >afternoon I played around with it. Now I feel that all the talk about > >Colorburst is mostly hype. I'll try to be polite, but the kindness thing > >I can say about it is that it is a ripoff. If the program had only cost $10 > >to $15 dollars I would have been pleased, but at $35 to $40 dollars I feel > >that some people are trying to make a fast buck. > > Wayne goes on to describe the deficiencies of ColorBurst which have been > deleted for brevity. His primary complaint is that all of the colors > other than the original 512 flicker, this is due to the ST's inability > to display more than 512 colors without relying on aliasing effects of > the CRT. Look at the schematic, it has a 9 bit DAC, that's 512 colors > period. > > I can really sympathize with Wayne's complaints but I have to wonder about > the underlying reasons one would buy something like ColorBurst in the first > place. ... (What followed was a good list of things to watch out for.) I'm afraid that I wasn't clear in my first posting. My complaints with ColorBurst aren't due to the limits of the ST hardware but are due to the program it's self. If feel the ST 520 is an excellent machine for the money. Actually the Amiga 500 is also becoming a fine buy. But this machines do have some limits. ColorBurst is limited by the machine it is limited by it's self. The program could have been great on the ST but I think it may have been just released too soon. The reason why the colors outside of the 512 flicked is due to the fact that the program was switching between the two color shades too slow. ColorBurst doesn't use any kind of dithering for new colors, but inside changes the shade every 60th of second. The two shades blend together and sometimes will give a reasonable inbetween shade. Only ColorBurst seemed to be either missing vertical blanks for color swithing or was using two shades that were two far apart in intensity, hense the flickering. I know it is possible to do what ColorBurst claims as I wrote (long before ColorBurst) a simple program that allows some of the same effects. The problem I have with the program is that is doesn't seem to be a reasonalbe working program. If it had done what it claimed, (which the ST can do) then I would have been happy. Instead the program is either buggy or just too hard to use both leading to the same problem. But one thing Chuck is sure right about, I should have looked before leaping. Wayne Knapp P.S. Actully the reason I bought the program was that I'm porting some Amiga amination programs to the ST. I been trying to decide what display modes to support. That is beside the basic modes. ColorBurst sounded great, but I was disapointed in what I found. The ColorBurst idea is great, if only the program was better. Oh well. So far I plan to do the following: 640 X 400 monochrome (Not at first - not too pretty either) 640 X 200 4 color (Very limited but better than monochrome) 320 X 200 16 color (Reasonalbe for simple cartoon style amination) Spectrum mode (allows some shading and a great paint program) ----------------------
bds@lzaz.ATT.COM (BRUCE SZABLAK) (12/17/87)
In article <36598@sun.uucp>, cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) writes: > * Go out and look at as many computers that you can find, if you know > someone who owns a computer of the type you are considering, take your > list and ask them if they *have programs* that will do any of those > things. The suggestions given are pretty good, but I would like to add that you should estimate the cost of buying the software you'll need, and factor that into the costs when comparing PCs. Also try and take into consideration the quality of the software as well.