Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!agate!ziploc!eps
From: eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Version 2.1 of the OS???
Message-ID: <1432@toaster.SFSU.EDU>
Date: 20 Mar 91 03:49:25 GMT
References: <422eeta@yoda.byu.edu>
Reply-To: eps@cs.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott)
Organization: San Francisco State University
Lines: 43

In article <422eeta@yoda.byu.edu> eeta@yoda.byu.edu writes:
>Yes, 2.1 is out... according to a NeXT rep I spoke with, the only real
>changes are to support color (on the color machines).  Other than that,
>though, he told me it was the same as 2.0.

It's got bugfixes that apply to ALL machines.

Some "known problems" with 2.0 are NOT fixed; for example, BIND
and sendmail are unchanged.

>                                            BTW, has anyone received a
>colorstation yet?

Yes!!  With ROM version 2.3 (v64), NeXT Software Release 2.1
(kernel compiled March 7) and 16MB RAM.  In "normal" usage
it performed comparably to the "plain" NeXTstation... until
I made the Window Server use full-screen 16-bit-deep windows.
Then it hurt.  Not as badly as an 8MB NeXTstation, but it was
not at all happy with me.  I'm going to speculate that 24MB
is a "reasonable" configuration--note that I've previously
only seen these machines demonstrated with the full 32MB
installed!

The color display only seems to be about 4 times slower than the
grayscale, comparable to '030 cubes.  Up close, the Italian-made
Philips "MegaPixel 17-inch Color Display" is decidedly inferior
to the Sony monitors we've seen in demos in that it lacks
"crispness"; in particular, small text is quite hard on the eyes.
The colors look O.K.  This is a machine I'd want to play video
games on... but certainly not try any finely-detailed work, and
not most DTP projects (except for the very final steps).  In
fact, for nearly everything I do, I would *not* want to use
this machine for any length of time.  It really impresses the
tourists though...

Mind you, I'm comparing NeXTs to NeXTs here; I'd take a
NeXTstation Color over a PC or Macintoy any day.

One bizarreness: it was impossible to "screw in" the Y cable to
the slab; the hex-shaped things next to the connector were
missing!

					-=EPS=-