Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!emory!auc!rar From: rar@auc.UUCP (Rodney Ricks) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Real System Comparisons (Amiga vs. no-name clones) Summary: MSDOS includes a (weak) sort program / Comparing to X-brand clones. Message-ID: <32463@auc.UUCP> Date: 1 Aug 90 01:22:05 GMT References: <13466@cbmvax.commodore.com> Reply-To: rar@auc.UUCP (Rodney Ricks) Distribution: usa Organization: Atlanta University Center, Atlanta, Ga. Lines: 77 In article eachus@linus.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus) writes: > > Dave you forgot the most important difference in pricing between >the two systems: software! How much are the IBMer's going to have to >pay for: > Amiga > Multitasking OS Included ... > Sort Program Included Aha! I got you there! MSDOS includes a sort utility, called, interestingly enough, sort! It's right here in this MSDOS manual. Hmmm, what's this under the Comments section for sort? '... cannot sort files larger than 63 Kb.' Uh, oh, well ... nevermind!!! :-) Now, to get serious for a moment, it seems that the people who say that you can get a 386 PC compatible for only 1500 dollars (or so) are always quoting the price for some clone from a company that; no one has ever heard of, has not existed for very long, and most likely will not exist very long. Also, equipment from these companies can be of VERY poor quality, according to a friend of mine who runs a business selling and repairing PC's. Many of those low-end prices are obtained by cutting all sorts of corners, like putting in power supplies far too weak to reliably run a hard drive and monitors with HORRIBLE dot-pitches. One company's low-cost VGA monitor listed a dot-pitch of .52mm. That's very, very bad, and that's from a company that at least some people have heard of, Packard Bell. I thought dot pitch was a typo at first! Also, there are often software and hardware compatibility problems. I wouldn't recommend these bare-bones, no-name brand PC's to a friend. Why? 1) Because I like to KEEP my friends. 2) Because I don't want to have to run around helping them when the thing breaks down, and the company leaves them with no visible means of support. One more thing. I call them no-name PC's because people always list their prices and an often long list of features, and almost never list the name. In many cases, they've probably forgotten the name. Of course, all of those things still don't make it an Amiga. You could offer me a choice between a 486 Compaq system at 25Mhz, Windows 3.0, a mouse, and "comparable" amounts of everything else, and I'd still take the Amiga 3000 system. Assuming its sort command can sort files larger than 63 Kb... > Robert I. Eachus > >with STANDARD_DISCLAIMER; >use STANDARD_DISCLAIMER; >function MESSAGE (TEXT: in CLEVER_IDEAS) return BETTER_IDEAS is... Hey, that's COBOL, isn't it?!?!? :-) :-) :-) --- Disclaimer: The 63Kb sort is from the user's guide of MSDOS version 3.2 for AT&T PC's (I'm working for the DeathStar this summer). The limit may have been removed in a later version, but I doubt it. --- Rodney Ricks -- "We may have come over here in different ships, but we're all in the same boat now." -- Jesse Jackson // \\ // Rodney Ricks, Morehouse College \/