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From: dvljhg@cs.umu.se (J|rgen Holmberg)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: More on the Mac vs. Amiga (vs. Archimedes ?) debate
Message-ID: <1990Oct19.030206.6952@cs.umu.se>
Date: 19 Oct 90 03:02:06 GMT
References: <1990Oct18.140520.2260@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk>
Sender: news@cs.umu.se (News Administrator)
Organization: Dep. of Info.Proc, Umea Univ., Sweden
Lines: 63

In article <1990Oct18.140520.2260@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk> rkl@anduin.cs.liverpool.ac.uk writes:
>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.
>

Kick-pascal is not only decent, it's actually very good and getting better.

>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 !

I have played around with an Archimedes too. Very nice machine, but I would
like to have some software since I haven't got the time to write it all myself.

In my very personal opinion macintosh will always be overpriced unless they
a) change OS
b) give them away

                                       Jorgen

>
>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.          ****************************************************