delaneyg@wnre.aecl.ca (Grant Delaney) (03/25/90)
A friend sent this on to me after reading recent comments on virtues of the Apple ][ vs the Macintosh. Jeremy is using Apple //es to do data acquisition on spectrometry. They reflect the feelings of of similar users at my location who fight off the unknowing who figure that only a Compac 386 can do the job. I say 'only' because the IBM or Mac could do the job. A Mac with the National Instruments software. We have both here as well. The point is that we should pick the computer that is easiest to use for the end user and the one that will do it most cost efficiently. I have applications that a Mac II has trouble keeping up with and I just ordered a IIfx to replace but then we are acquiring thousands of data points a minute. This I suppose shows that the Mac isn't only a graphics machine but that's only really since the Mac II came on the scene. We still have about 20 //es doing various task despite the push to move away and don't ask any of the users to give up thier ][ it won't work. ----------- comment from a friend ---------- Sounds sensible to me. I don't know the technical aspects of IIGS vs Mac that the poster discussed, but I have seen a lot of gee-whiz, what a great machine, if only I/we had one/ten, what great work I/we could do. Seems to me the Mac is wonderful for running prepackaged applications, but a horror to program for. Even I can program a II (I have gotten my hands on a IIe for data acquisition, as I may have mentioned). BASIC on the IIe is absurdly simple. Assembler is a bit tougher, but very compact and hellishly fast - I can acquire data up to 35kHz! In addition, it is ridiculously easy to interface the IIe to the outside world. The Mac would be a lot tougher. Consider the A/D boards - $385 for a 12 bit board for the IIe, $1350 for a 12 bit board for the Mac. The speed advantage of the Mac is irrelevant - my software is already pushing the hardware limit on the A/D. Anyway, I can get an accelerator card for the IIe real cheap as well. Another thing - the data acquisition software for the Mac costs >$1000, and takes a one week training course down in Texas to learn to run properly. As I said, it was easy to write my own software for the IIe. The only problem with using a IIe is trying to convince somebody that you can really do serious work with such a simple 'toy'. Jeremy (no signature today)