Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!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: <22069@well.sf.ca.us>
Date: 9 Dec 90 05:34:22 GMT
References: <23853@grebyn.com> <22055@well.sf.ca.us> <16654@brahms.udel.edu>
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 23

>   SoftPC doesn't allow you to plug in IBM graphics cards, memory, etc.,
>nor does it run on its own processor without slowdown of the "real"
>computer.

A NeXT comes with 8 MB RAM, mininum, plus virtual memory.  Adding on IBM
memory chips wouldn't be useful considering that PC software is designed to run
on systems with less than a 1 MB of RAM.  And heavy-duty AT apps take two, or
at most four MB of RAM.  As for IBM graphics cards, they may be useful for
some.  But the NeXT itself is much better graphical environment than the
PC, and it already comes with the hardware to take advantage of it
(though no color for less than $5000).   The NeXT has the SCSI and serial
ports for other types of IBM add-ons.  

True, SoftPC will take up CPU cycles.  But how many apps will one user be
running anyway?  And with 15-20 Mips to spend, you could run a fair number
of MS-DOS apps on a NeXT before large performance impact.  

One thing you will be able to do that you couldn't do on a traditional PC
or with a MS-DOS bridgecard, and that's run several MS-DOS applications at
once in separate windows on the NeXT. This is because SoftPC will run as
just another Unix process, and you can have multiple SoftPCs (Unix processes)
running at one time.  IBM PC owners, eat your hearts out :-).