Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!samsung!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!chrisj
From: chrisj@ut-emx.UUCP (Chris Johnson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Portable yes, Mac NO !
Keywords: Software BOMB
Message-ID: <21247@ut-emx.UUCP>
Date: 21 Nov 89 17:37:51 GMT
References: <2106@cs-spool.calgary.UUCP>
Reply-To: chrisj@emx.UUCP (Chris Johnson)
Organization: U.T. Austin Computation Center
Lines: 54

In article <2106@cs-spool.calgary.UUCP> sharp@ksi.cpsc.ucalgary.ca (Maurice Sharp) writes:
>
>     I just played with a portable.  One of the tests I like to do is
>Crystal Quest.  See how many critters you can get without bogging
>down the machine.  Well, version 2.2 CRASHES THE PORTABLE !!!! It
>does not crash SE, SE/30 or MacII types.  Modified ROMS huh ?  I guess
>it is back to the drawing board or find a fix time !
>
>	maurice
>
>Maurice Sharp
>University of Calgary Computer Science Department
>2500 University Drive N.W.			      sharp@ksi.cpsc.UCalgary.CA
>Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4	                   ...!alberta!calgary!sharp


Having had a chance to do considerably more than "play" with a portable
(I was loaned one for two days with which I could do anything I wanted), I
have to say that the above statements are rather rash and pointless.

The Macintosh Portable is a *real* Macintosh in every respect - right down
to the fact that developers that don't play by the rules when they write
software are going to create programs that are very likely to break, sooner
or later.  Just because some arbitrarily chosen piece of software (a game,
no less) crashes on the machine, does not mean that there's anything wrong
with the machine.  98% (or more) of the time, the problem is with the 
application(s), not the ROMs, not the System Software, not the machine
itself.

In running the Portable I encountered only two programs that crashed:
ScrapSaver 1.4 (an INIT), and NCSA Telnet 2.3 (an advanced communications
program).  All the other software I tried, including a suite of PD cdevs, RDEVs
and INITs, worked without a hitch.

I expect that relatively simple fixes to both ScapSaver (which I can live
without) and NCSA Telnet (which I missed) will eliminate the crashes.

Games, in particular, are known for violating developer guidelines - witness
all the games that had to be re-written when the Mac II was introduced, and
games like Falcon that *only* work with the Apple color card because they 
continue to do unusual and dubious things even in their current incarnations.
So, whether games work or not on a particular type of Mac or in a particular
release of the System, generally says very little about the quality of the
Mac or the System, but it usually *does* say a great deal about the quality of
the game itself.  (I should add that the few games I tried on the Portable
worked great:  The Idrow, Leprechaun and Shufflepuck.)

All in all, the simple fact that arbitrarily-chosen-program-X, crashes on any
make of Macintosh (Portable or otherwise) doesn't necessarily tell us anything
about the Macintosh in question.

I hope this helps,
----Chris (Johnson)
----chrisj@emx.utexas.edu