[comp.sys.amiga.hardware] New MAC systems.

gilgalad@caen.engin.umich.edu (Ralph Seguin) (10/17/90)

In article <33530@nigel.ee.udel.edu>, Marc Barrett
<WHE46@ccvax.iastate.edu> writes:
|>    Hopefully the new introductions by Apple will be just what is
|> needed to kick Commodore in the ass and get them to start producing
|> a low-cost Amiga system with decent color capability.  Probably not,
|> though.  Commodore seems stubborn about color: they will go out of
|> business before they improve it.

I agree here, although I must point out that Commodore is doing
all that they can.  They are doing "all the right moves".
Sadly, they are just too far behind.  Another machine to really
look out for is the new NeXT systems.  These machines kick ass.
The low cost system is beautiful: 4 grey scale megapixel display,
100 meg drive (far too small of course, but you can add more 8-),
8 megs RAM, and NeXTStep, all for a pittance.  The color system
is more expensive, but is worth it.  All of these machines have
the ultimate GUI.  Forget Finder and Intuition, NeXTStep is simply
beautiful.  The only thing that is comparable is Open Look and
NeWS.

  I used some NeXTs when they first came out (actually a little
before they first came out), and there was no software available
for it.  Now, things have changed, there IS software available for
it, and furthermore the Interface Builder is sooooo easy to work
with.  You can have programs up and running in no time flat.

|>    Sure, you can get fancy color cards for the Amiga that give you
|> 24-bit color, but they are totally non-standard, work with very
|> little software, and cost extra.  The point of the two new color
|> MAC systems is that they give you better color capability than an
|> Amiga as standard hardware for a decent price, something that the
|> Amiga can no longer offer.  

I hope that Commodore has something to show that will make all things
switch around.  I am going to be getting a system within a year
or so, and if Commodore has something with a megapixel color display,
device independent graphics, UNIX, etc, then I will possibly buy
it.  The idea is, I'm going to try to get the most computer for
my buck (and right now, it just doesn't deliver adequate performance).

			See ya, Ralph

PS- Please send flames (and I know that there's gonna be a lot of
    them), to me via email, only post if it benefits the net.


gilgalad@dip.eecs.umich.edu       gilgalad@zip.eecs.umich.edu
gilgalad@caen.engin.umich.edu     Ralph_Seguin@ub.cc.umich.edu
gilgalad@sparky.eecs.umich.edu    USER6TUN@UMICHUB.BITNET

Ralph Seguin		| "You mean THE Zaphod Beeblebrox?"
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lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (10/18/90)

In <6823@sugar.hackercorp.com>, peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
>In article <1990Oct16.200318.28393@engin.umich.edu> gilgalad@caen.engin.umich.edu (Ralph Seguin) writes:
>> beautiful.  The only thing that is comparable is Open Look and
>> NeWS.
>
>Open Look? Barf.
>
>Open Look is just a style guide. It does nothing to solve the programming
>problem. NeWS is dead: Sun just plain dropped the ball by being greedy: if
>they'd given it away they'd have a home-team advantage now. What's the
>status of Display Postscript (the NeWS lookalike NeXT uses)?

If they gave it away? Let's see, the full spec was published and available, and
folks were encouraged to write their own implementations. Sun's source code was
available at a reasonable price (don't recall numbers), and you could buy NeWS
for the Sun for about $150 (that's in Northern Pesos, so US price was less).
That $150 bought you the Media, software, extensive docs, and 'right to use'
license. Greedy? Hardly.

-larry

--
It is not possible to both understand and appreciate Intel CPUs.
    -D.Wolfskill
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peter@sugar.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) (10/18/90)

In article <1990Oct16.200318.28393@engin.umich.edu> gilgalad@caen.engin.umich.edu (Ralph Seguin) writes:
> beautiful.  The only thing that is comparable is Open Look and
> NeWS.

Open Look? Barf.

Open Look is just a style guide. It does nothing to solve the programming
problem. NeWS is dead: Sun just plain dropped the ball by being greedy: if
they'd given it away they'd have a home-team advantage now. What's the
status of Display Postscript (the NeWS lookalike NeXT uses)?
-- 
Peter da Silva.   `-_-'
<peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>.