Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!netnews.upenn.edu!eecae!cps3xx!usenet From: usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit Subject: Re: get real Keywords: 8-bit, useful life, upgrade? Message-ID: <4904@cps3xx.UUCP> Date: 8 Oct 89 14:56:37 GMT References: <4398@wpi.wpi.edu> <4414@wpi.wpi.edu> <6383@tekigm2.MEN.TEK.COM> Reply-To: conklin@frith.UUCP (Terry Conklin) Distribution: usa Organization: Engineering, Michigan State University, E. Lansing Lines: 64 Really now folks, any talk of "upgrading" your 8-bit is seriously out of line. The Atari 8bit's capabilities are unique, as is the software that came with it and the peripherals. Too often have I heard talk of "upgrading." It seems worthwhile to note that you don't "upgrade" as much as "crossgrade" in that you can get a new machine, like a shiny new Amiga 2000 with 4096-color mode and 4-channel DMAing digital sound, but you still wont have M.U.L.E., or instant-on peripherals, or modems with term soft- ware built in. Ever try and build a diskless terminal? The Atari 8-bit with it's built-in TV support and built-in no-disk-needed option on the 1030 is GREAT for travelling. And these specifics aren't important. There will always be tons of programs that you have used and hardware options you have pu together on any quality machine that are more or less unreplacable. And 850 for instance - just try and find another machine with 4 serial ports. (5 if you add an R-verter) You can get it on an IBM clone easily enough, for a price. My suggestion is to KEEP your 8-bit when you get a new machine. It wont get any slower, and you can always use a redundant computer. You get all of it's functionality and the new machines too, if you even bother to get a new machine. You want "obsolete?" I'm logged on right now with a TRS-80 Model I, granted with triple-clock speed. It's been online as The Club BBS since 1980 - switched ON, running, with the world using it for over 75,000 hours. It still runs the board, and it's SITILL my primary word processor because, to date, no other computer supports the C-Itoh Prowriter in Proportional font mode properly! Likewise, no other computer has had binary/hex tools (like this term program I'm using, or disk editors) that came close. The machine serves a distinct purpose, as do the other TRS-80s, IBMs, Atari 8-bits and the Unix workstations that live here. (The Amiga is gone, sniff.) You could, of course, try and duplicate all the functionality on any single machine, but it' would A) cost a fortune, B) be limited by the constraints of the machine architecture, C) be real tough for more than one person to use! and D) probably never be as functional. Ever try and do 6502, Z80, 8088/86 and 680x0 development all on the same machine? Yeah right. Several of the same machine is generally kind of handy too. What one thing would I add if I could to this environment? a '386 Unix server, with a 16 port serial card and a good 300+ Meg drive that all the machines used as a centralizing resource. (I thought about doing it with another 256K XL and some 850's, but it's tough.) Sigh. Come on folks, if Hungary can vote out COMMUNISM, we sure as hell can cope with an integrated environment! Plan 9 will save the day! Terry Conklin conklin@egr.msu.edu uunet!frith!conklin The Club (517) 372-3131 The Club II (313) 334-8877 <<-- has all that quality Bob Puff stuff, by the way