Path: utzoo!attcan!telly!lethe!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!samsung!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!bronze!cica!travis!greg From: greg@travis.cica.indiana.edu (Gregory TRAVIS) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: A3000UX - Born to run UNIX SVR4 Message-ID: Date: 13 Feb 91 15:33:19 GMT References: <32530@auc.UUCP> <1512@pdxgate.UUCP> <1991Feb9.032953.14709@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> <1991Feb11.004357.24009@sugar.hackercorp.com> <44097@ut-emx.uucp> Sender: news@cica.indiana.edu (News System) Organization: Indiana University Lines: 92 Nntp-Posting-Host: travis.cica.indiana.edu greg@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Greg Harp) writes: [that the next might need] > 1) More serial ports. Agreed absolutely. However, I have the same dilemma right now with my A2500. That machine came with only ONE serial port and I can't find a satisfactory solution in terms of adding more. The ASDG board looks nice, but it's only 2 more serial ports - I need at least 4 more - and it costs $300. The Commodore board would be ideal, but it's $400 and people are unwilling (plus ca change at Commodore) to tell me if it'll drop DTR when the device is closed. I won't experiment on my own for $400 and I've already been burned by Commodore on the A2091. > 2) More than one DSP or just a faster DSP. Perhaps, but for what? > 3) Thick ethernet (What do thin -> thick transducers go for nowadays? $1K?) We needed this once for a NeXT that had to connect to a thinwire. I think it was about $600 and now that NeXT has an 040 board (with a thinwire connector) in it so we don't need it. >1 and 2 are available for the Amiga and 3 comes with it. Yeah, well. >Now the reason I get so hacked at the NeXT marketing scheme is that Steve >Jobs and his buddies see college students as open game for profiteering. >They try to sell the NeXTStation as a student's standalone machine, which >it simply isn't. They advertise a very low price for a version of the >machine that isn't even operable. You see, once they get their "catch" >then they can milk them for even more money in the future. That's not >honest business, and I expect that NeXT will eventually get sued by >someone. Whoa there Greg! I can assure you that Steve and his pirates are not "profiteering" off the average college student! Sure, they want to sell machines to them, but they're not engaged in some cynical conspiracy to defraud the average member of Alpha Epsilon or whatever. As to not being "even operable" I will agree with you on one point. The NeXTStation at around $3000 with the 105 meg disk is not usable as a standalone machine - one needs at least a 300meg disk. That's gonna raise the price to around four grand. At that price you get a very nice package that's ready to go out of the box. With an OK (at best) wordprocessor (WriteNow). And the stuff that's bundled with the system is the reason you need a 300meg disk - the full system is around 200 meg of "bundled" software. Let's look at the stuff I use on my Amiga at home: WP 4.1 (sigh): About $200 (I got it at a discount (yes, it's legal)) ProPage 2.0: $350 Manx C: $200 Dictionary: $ 50 TCP/IP $300 (inc. ethernet board) DeluxePaintIII$120 (I think that's what I paid) Sculpt4Djr $250 Hey, that's about $1400 right there. You can buy that extra disk with that and almost have enough left over for a NextLaser - try getting a PostScript printer for the Amiga for $1000, it's gonna cost you at least twice that. Now the approximate mapping for the NeXT machine for the same stuff (and I know GCC is available for the Amiga now, but it wasn't when I bought Manx). NeXT: Edit $included WriteNow $included GCC $included Dictionary $included TCP/IP+port $included Draw/Icon $included Radiance $Public Domain Even allowing for certain fudging on my part (I'm sure there is some) you can see that the NeXT makes up for a lot of initial cost with it's bundled software. I'm in a pretty nice situation. I use a NeXT all day at work (and I LOVE the machine (it's not even an 040 (yet)). And I go home and ignore my loved ones while I goof around on the Amiga. Ask me which one I couldn't live without and I don't think I could tell you. >Disclaimer: I'm an Amiga owner and developer. I like the NeXT line. I >just hate Steve Jobs and his business practices. Try getting ROM upgrades out of Commodore sometime... -- Gregory R. Travis Indiana University, Bloomington IN 47405 greg@cica.indiana.edu Center for Innovative Computer Applications This signature intentionally left blank.