Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!inria!mirsa!avahi.inria.fr!colas From: colas@avahi.inria.fr (Colas Nahaboo) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Re: Time for a New Computer: Should it be an Atari ST? Message-ID: <8524@mirsa.inria.fr> Date: 25 Jul 90 15:37:12 GMT References: <1990Jul20.162017.21823@chinet.chi.il.us> <8488@mirsa.inria.fr> Sender: news@mirsa.inria.fr Reply-To: colas@avahi.inria.fr (Colas Nahaboo) Organization: Koala Project, Bull Research France Lines: 78 I guess that everybody not interested by this has already killed this subject, so let's go :) In article , steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) writes: > 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). I made the same bet against the apple IIGS. I had an apple II and seen the upgrade to the IIGS as a dead end. Want to bet with me on the ST fate? > The standard > business applications -- word processing, spreadsheets, database > management, etc. -- are well covered. (How many word processors do > you need, anyway?) Only a good one. Now for the question: cite one good word processing, spreadsheets, database for the ST. LDW power is only lotus-1 compatible, superbase pro is FULL of bugs and even clumsier to use than appleworks on my apple II, perhaps only wordperfect and calamus are true professional programs -- but where is word? > 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. Just because any hacker can whip up in one week some program that will bomb out just because the disk is write-protected (I've seem this many times) is not really meaningful. > 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. Agreed, the ST is a good hobbyist computer, that's why I bought it, but it IS hostile to the end user. A tolerable situation for a new computer, it can be fatal to it if it goes on any longuer than 3 years. > I just converted a GEM metafile that had been created by Easy-Draw to > PostScript this afternoon using Pagestream. My thesis was in French. You do you type accents in Easy-Draw? by hacking... And at the time, the ps output of publishing partner was really horrible. > > In my opinion, get a taiwanese 386 PC VGA compatible. > 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? I said a 386 !!! -- not a 286! Problem: this was true when I bought my first ST. Just because your ST stayed the same for 3 years doesn't mean the other computers didn't evolve! Look at a 386, this is now a real processor. I agree the 286 was a pile of shit. Moreover, the competitions for PC peripherals makes them often cheaper than STs. > If your > boss makes you buy one, that's one thing, but for a hobby, why do it > to yourself? My main use... games! Good strategic games or simulations are now made first on PCs... Good arcade games are made for consoles and perhaps the amiga. The ST niche is dying for the game enthusiast As soon as FTL and Bullfrog, the last good quality companies that develop first on ST/Amiga before PCs will develop first for PCs, my ST will have the same fate as my good old appleII, yet you see a lot of odball applications on the appleII still today :) Colas Nahaboo, Bull Research France -- Koala Project -- GWM X11 Window Manager colas@avahi.inria.fr Phone: (33) 93.65.77.70, Fax: (33) 93 65 77 66 INRIA - Sophia Antipolis, 2004, rte des Lucioles, 06565 Valbonne Cedex, FRANCE