Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!rex!uflorida!mephisto!udel!udccvax1!brahms.udel.edu!don From: don@brahms.udel.edu (Donald R Lloyd) Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple2 Subject: Re: A low blow from Apple Message-ID: <14029@brahms.udel.edu> Date: 25 Sep 90 14:46:11 GMT References: <9009230630.AA24367@apple.com> <1990Sep24.032342.12923@utstat.uucp> Organization: University of Delaware Lines: 71 In article <1990Sep24.032342.12923@utstat.uucp> philip@utstat.uucp (Philip McDunnough) writes: >In article <9009230630.AA24367@apple.com> MQUINN@UTCVM.BITNET writes: > > >>>Why do people keep bringing up the Amiga? > >>Why do people keep asking this? It's obviously the closest, comparable >>computer to the GS. It's faster, has better 'supported' graphics and costs >>LESS!... although, the sound isn't as good, but I don't think that's why the >>GS is so much more. > >The Amiga500, which is the computer most bring up, does not have better >graphics. It does have graphics' coprocessors and, unless you are into >interlaced graphics' modes, it basically has similar graphics to those >of the GS. But it doesn't have Quickdraw, is hard to expand, has a small >educational software base, and is not for educational users a heck of >a lot less than the GS. It is based on the 68000 cpu which makes life >a lot easier.As for the sound not being as good, that is an understatement. Doesn't have better graphics? Let's see... they're faster, take up less cpu time, have higher resolutions available (even if they are interlaced), and have a larger pallette with more colors on screen at once. What's not better about them? As far as not having quickdraw, I don't see how that's an issue. Yes, a device-independent graphics library would be nice, if that's what you're getting at, and one is supposedly in the works. As for 'hard to expand,' that was once a problem, but isn't really any more. The only problem is it's relatively weak power supply, which is easily replaced. It can be expanded internally to 9 megs, and can be accelerated (currently) up to a 33MHz '030. Hard drives are a little more expensive than for most machines becuase they need an external case and (sometimes) power supply, but you'd have to get that to add an external drive to any system. Also, most HD controllers have space for a few SIMM's on them. If you really need expansion, you can get a card cage with a number of Zorro II (A2000-style) slots. Some even have XT/AT slots for use with the bridgeboard. Its educational software base is relatively small, but it is there, and is growing; it includes some noteworthy software such as Distant Suns. What kind of educational prices does Apple have for the GS? I've seen the list of Mac ed. prices at some point, but the IIgs wasn't on the one I saw. You may be right about there not being much price difference. Educational pricing for the 500 is $799 for a 1-meg, 2-floppy 500 with color monitor & AmigaVision software, $1200 or so if you add a HD w/space for 2 megs of RAM on the controller. As far as sound; yes, it has fewer voices, but the sound chip (made, if I'm not mistaken, by MOS technologies, a company owned by Commodore) can only access 64K. The Amiga probably has an edge as far as digitized sound, esp. with large samples, but the GS is better as far as synthesized sound. > >>>The other thing you are forgetting when bringing up the Amiga is the quality >>>of the people who work at Apple. > >>I'm not sure what you mean by 'quality of people'. Anyway, that doesn't change >>the price or speed of the GS or Amiga. > >The software/hardware people at Apple are first class. The same goes with >companies such as HP. I have a hard time drawing the same conclusion with >Commodore. although they probably have some excellent employees. > Up until 9-12 months ago, I had a hard time drawing that conclusion about Commodore. They had some brilliant hard/software people (still do), but the only purpose the management was serving was to take money away from the R&D budget. But Harry Copperman (former Apple guy) took over as president and turned the company around. Commodore is really starting to get serious. They've got an uphill battle, fighting not only against the competition but against Commodore's past mistakes/image. They're doing a tremendous job, given the relatively small amount of resources they currently have available (I believe I read somewhere that CBM makes about 1/4 of what Apple does on average).