Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!samsung!uunet!mcsun!ukc!mucs!liv-cs!rkl From: rkl@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: More on the Mac vs. Amiga (vs. Archimedes ?) debate Message-ID: <1990Oct18.140520.2260@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk> Date: 18 Oct 90 13:05:20 GMT Organization: Computer Science, Liverpool University Lines: 49 I'm reading this comparison of a Mac vs. an Amiga with a grin on my face. You see, I own both an A1000 and a Mac Plus and I can spot major flaws in both: Amiga ----- AmigaDOS is the slowest disk filing system (apart from the C64, which I hasten to add I never owned - what a pile of junk) I have seen. The layout of files is horrendous and even the FFS doesn't improve things by all that much. The much-vaunted multi-tasking is too unstable (although I only have Kickstart/Workbench 1.3 at the moment) - if one tasks crashes, they all do. The font handling is 'naff' and that's putting it mildly. No anti-aliasing. No decent Pascal compiler available. Pascal is one of the primary programming languages taught in academic environments, so please don't redirect me to Modula-2, which is far too restrictive (case sensitivity and all this IMPORTing rubbish. Macintosh --------- Vastly overpriced until this week. Lower cost models are B&W only with a small screen. Utterly, utterly hopeless for high-level language programming. Not easy to string together 7 zillion Toolbox calls just to get a circle on the screen. My suggestion (mainly for UK users) is to look at the Acorn Archimedes. If you're a programmer, you'll never touch another machine again. Even if you're a casual (!) user, the Archimedes has co-operative multi-tasking (and TRAPS system errors allowing other tasks to continue), inter-application communication and anti-aliased fonts. It also is rated at 4 MIPS for under 1000 pounds which is the same performance as the top of the range Amigas and Macs. The OS is beautifully cleanly designed and runs like the clappers. Oh, and the disk filing system is utterly sensational. Faster than the Macs or PCs and AUTO-DEFRAGMENTING ! Richard K. Lloyd, *** This is a MicroVAX II running VAX/VMS V5.3-1 *** Computer Science Dept., * JANET : RKL@UK.AC.LIV.CS.AND or * Liverpool University, * RKL@000010500211.FTP.MAIL * Merseyside, England, * Internet : RKL%and.cs.liv.ac.uk@cunyvm.cuny.edu * Great Britain. ****************************************************