Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!well!yoo From: yoo@well.sf.ca.us (Young-Kyu Yoo) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Sorry Guys, There is NO WAY! Keywords: AMIGA 3000 vs NEXT Message-ID: <22047@well.sf.ca.us> Date: 8 Dec 90 09:22:09 GMT References: <14701@sdcc6.ucsd.edu> <21993@well.sf.ca.us> <16588@brahms.udel.edu> Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA Lines: 107 The questions just keep on coming, so here are some more questions and answers: >Where's the NeXT SVR4? SVR4 doesn't exist as finished product. SVR4 is what is keeping the Amiga 3000ux from going into official release. BSD Unix is just fine, thank you. And Mach is arguably the most advanced kernel around today (even taking SVR4 into account). >Where's the NeXT Video Toaster? The NeXT has the NeXTDimension. >Where's the large NeXT installed user base? I write software for the NeXT because I believe it will achieve a large user base. It is still a machine in its infancy in terms of the marketplace. Also the success of the NeXT is not measured in the numbers used for PCs. The Amiga has a user base of 2,000,000 (according to one poster). If NeXT were to achieve this figure, it would control 100% of the low-end workstation market. >What NeXT hardware is there with multiprocessing capabilities. I assume you mean "parallel processing." The NeXT, thanks to Unix, is a multiprocessing computer. As for "parallel processing," NeXT has yet to take advantage of the parallel processing capabilities inherent in Mach. But there is some talk about a parallel processing NeXT by the end of this year. We're talking multiple 040s on one board running in concert. >Where is the inexpensive software? Much of the most useful software for the NeXT comes free with the machin: a commercial quality wordprocessor, a revolutionary spreadsheet, the Digital Librarian, Interface Builder, Mathematica (for educational buyers), etc. NeXT software is comparable to Mac software in pricing. There are exceptions of course. There are outrageously priced high-end software packages for workstations and there are great low-price deals to educational buyers. Lighthouse Design is selling their Diagram! program for $10 to students. It retails for $249 (yes, you save $239! if you're a student). Informix is selling Wingz with better than a 50% discount to students . I think the figure is something like $150 for a product that retails at $700. There are over a half dozen ftp sites for NeXT freeware/shareware. Check out cs.orst.edu and nova.cc.purdue.edu in particular (I'm not sure about the purdue net address). >Any third-party software to plug into the expansion slots of those few >NeXTs which actually have them? There's the Ariel QuintProcessor which gives you five additional DSP chips on one board. There is Cube Digital I/O which gives you 64 channels of digital I/O, a Centronics-compatible parallel port, and other goodies. There's the Dazzl Model16/12 Analog to Digital Converter. There are also many products that take adge of the built-in NeXT DSP port, the two serial ports, the new SCSI-2 port, the built-in thin and twisted-pair Ethernet, the mic jack AND built-in mic, et al. >The NeXT Fred Fish collection? Don't know what this is. >The NeXT employees who spend a great deal of time answering just about... You'll see a few of them in the NeXT newsgroup. And if they're not there to answer your questions, there are many NeXT hardware/software developers in the NeXT newsgroup who will. They sometimes even make it over to the Amiga newsgroup :-). >NeXT-specific magazines. Currently, there is the NeXT User's Journal, Baran's Tech Letter, and the various newsletters of the over 50 NeXT user groups worldwide. Next month, the first issue of NeXTWorld will be out from the people who brought us MacWorld and PCWorld. For those more technically inclined, Nexus magazine is due out this month. >A NeXT developer's association? NeXT developer's SIGs are forming all over the country. In my area is the SIG formed by BaNG (the Bay Area NeXT User's Group) and BMUG for NeXT software developers. >NeXT Video Toaster? Frame buffers? Under $5000 color systems? The Next has NeXTDimension as I said. As for under $5000 color systems, the NeXT ain't a lower-end PC. It's market is a little higher. >All-NeXT trade shows? None of these yet. But we do get to see Steve Jobs special brand of dog and pony shows :-). >Mac or PC emulation SoftPC 2.0 claims to be 100% AT-compatible and claims to run MS-DOS software at 12-16 MHz 286 speeds. Not bad for an emulator, eh? As for Mac emulation, I don't think anyone's working on it. >How about an inexpensive version that everyone can afford? The NeXT is not a low-end PC. Do you want to play games, or do you want a workstation? At any rate, for $3000-$3500, a student can buy a NeXT for the price of a Mac SE/30 and less than the price of the Amiga 3000ux. Of course, I'd also love to see a PC-priced NeXT. But there's a price you pay for power and features. It's not the machine for everyone. But it is the machine I'm buying.