Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!mailrus!ames!haven!uvaarpa!murdoch!astsun9.astro.Virginia.EDU!gl8f From: gl8f@astsun9.astro.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Intel, Motorola, Maybe we care and maybe we don't Message-ID: <1990Aug2.181348.10660@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> Date: 2 Aug 90 18:13:48 GMT References: <713@cvbnetPrime.COM> <4bf5fd1a.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM> Sender: news@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Distribution: na Organization: Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia Lines: 35 In article <4bf5fd1a.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM> rehrauer@apollo.HP.COM (Steve Rehrauer) writes: >Jerry, people who Just Run Code have no reason to prefer either line, assuming >equal software. Actually, we do, because the software sometimes isn't equal. MS-DOS machines have big problems with programs that want to use more than 640k. You can write such programs for people who own the right hardware, but it takes an extra effort. So programs like TeX which like lots of memory take extra effort to port. What's the result? TeX has been out for free on the ST for quite a while. If you have a big document, buy more RAM. TeX for the PC is available for free, but it has a severe memory limit. I don't know if a PD TeX exists now that breaks the memory limit, but several years back it didn't exist. So you have to split your document up into little chunks. The memory limit affects other programs, too. Maple is available for the ST... and 386 PC's. Not 286 machines, even though a 286 machine could have much more memory and CPU speed than an ST. I would presume that the reason that Maple was never ported to the 286 was that it would require a lot of changes to deal with the memory model. It was cheaper to just compile it on the ST and 386's than change the code. Yes, you can buy many other symbolic algebra packages for MS-DOS. But if you have written a bunch of stuff under Maple on your Sun and you want to take it home for as cheap as possible, the ST or Amiga can do it while a 286 can't. Please don't bother to flame me about the prices of 386 machines these days. I can read Computer Shopper just like you can. -- "In fact you should not be involved in IRC." -- Phil Howard