Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!umich!umeecs!msi-s0.msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve From: steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Re: Time for a New Computer: Should it be an Atari ST? Message-ID: Date: 24 Jul 90 05:43:02 GMT References: <1990Jul20.162017.21823@chinet.chi.il.us> <8488@mirsa.inria.fr> Organization: Otter Lake Leisure Society Lines: 62 X-Member-Of: STdNET [In article <8488@mirsa.inria.fr>, colas@avahi.inria.fr (Colas Nahaboo) writes ... ] > In article <1990Jul20.162017.21823@chinet.chi.il.us>, > megabyte@chinet.chi.il.us (Dr. Megabyte) writes: >> Several of my friends have recomended the Atari ST line as an "Upgrade" >> path from the CoCo 3. The reasons: > General problem: The atari ST is an endangered specie: It didn't sell enough > to get the critical mass to interest software companies. With no successor > (apart a vapourware TT which is already obsolete before being out), it will > be in the same situation as the CoCo3 in one year. That is a myth that needs deflating. I don't buy that argument against *any* currently available 16-bit computer (except perhaps the Apple IIGS, which has been abandoned by its mother). The standard business applications -- word processing, spreadsheets, database management, etc. -- are well covered. (How many word processors do you need, anyway?) What amazes me is the oddball applications that keep turning up. Restaurant ordering systems, point-of-sale terminals (cash registers), industrial embroidery machine controllers, telephone directory assistance consoles ... I keep hearing about STs in the oddest places. Why? Because any brickhead like myself can program them, and good programmers can really make them sit up and put on a show. The ST is not a hostile environment. There is a distribution problem. It is unreasonably hard to find the commercial software that is available. But that's doesn't mean it doesn't exist. > - Some specialized programs, such as calamus, are perhaps worth byuing an ST > for. But would you invest one year of your work on an exotic program, > incompatible with the rest of the world? Personaly I used my ST to do all > the drawings of my thesis with easy-draw, but it was a pain to translate > them to postscript for latex inclusion... I just converted a GEM metafile that had been created by Easy-Draw to PostScript this afternoon using Pagestream. > In my opinion, get a taiwanese 386 PC VGA compatible. That's the route I will > follow as soon as they will cost less than the price I payed my first ST, > about $1500 (now you have a 286 for this price). The original poster likes OS-9 and Motorola assembly language. PC clones have their places, but I sure wouldn't inflict them on someone with those interests. Crazy memory models, incompatible video modes, overpriced software, severe RAM limitations ... who needs it? If your boss makes you buy one, that's one thing, but for a hobby, why do it to yourself? The only excuse for a '386 box that I can think of is Unix, and Unix for a '386 costs as much as my ST. -- Steve Yelvington at the lake in Minnesota steve@thelake.mn.org