Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!linac!att!princeton!shade!sksircar
From: sksircar@shade.Princeton.EDU (Subrata Sircar)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Get a NeXT!
Summary: MATLAB should be ported there now!
Message-ID: <9223@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 7 May 91 17:55:33 GMT
References: <9166@idunno.Princeton.EDU> <1991May7.003406.23010@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Sender: news@idunno.Princeton.EDU
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ptok@void.caltech.edu writes:
>If you're writing a thesis use TeX/LaTeX, it comes with the NeXT!  I wrote my
>thesis on the Mac using Textures (a very nice version of TeX), I switched it  
>over to my NeXT, it was painless (I had most of my figures in Postscript)   
>Also, the NexT runs TeX an order of magnitude faster than a Mac IIci...

As several people have pointed out, between TeX, Framemaker, emacs and 
WordPerfect, there is probably something that suits everyone's needs.  I'll
agree; I'm an emacs junkie myself.

However, I'm still going to (at least draft) write my theis in Word.  Reasons:
1)  There is only one NeXT with TeX easily accessible to me (in my lab) while
there are umpteen Macs.  I don't have to wait for the machine, and if I use my
roommate's I can work at home.  (The NeXT cluster here doesn't seem to have TeX
at least when a labmate of mine checked.  I couldn't find it either).

2)  I'm very familiar with Word, and can set up style sheets etc. in minimal
time.  I've only used TeX once before (I used emacs and Scribe to write my
undergrad thesis) and the startup time would be much greater.

3)  I don't really like the way TeX looks out of the NeXT printer.  Word seems
to give a much more solid feel (that's probably just me, using the wrong font).

>As far as number crunching goes, I did an FFT on my MacIIci and my NextStation
>the Next is 8-10 times faster!!!  Who cares if MatLab isn't optomized for the
>'040 (whatever you mean by that), the Next can still run circles around a  
>MacIIci (and a VAX for that matter). 

Yes, the NeXT is much faster (with an '040, which we don't have yet because we
haven't gotten our Allegro Common Lisp upgrade, which we must have).  However,
I need Matlab (specifically).  I do control design, which means I need LQR,
Kalman filter algorithms, Ricatti equation solutions, etc. on a regular basis.
All of that is provided (or has been written) in Matlab on the Mac; Matlab
doesn't exist for the NeXT.  I don't want to have to start over (although for
my thesis application, I am going to have to implement some of that.  This way
I don't have to wait to finish those before I can continue analyzing stuff.)

Matlab is one of the best products I've seen.  Our lab swears by it.  Mathworks
doesn't seem to have any plans to port it, which is a shame.  If they did, I'd
probably buy a NeXT.  Hopefully, when Apple brings out the '40 Tower Mac, they
will port it to that.  As I understand it, the matlab kernel is optimized for
each processor, and then the front end is built on.  Once they port it to an
'040, porting it to the NeXT should be easy.  However, they didn't do it for 
the '030.  Presumably, they don't think their potential market is large enough
to justify the expense (which seems wrong to me, especially since their expense
is a one-time thing - then you just keep up with the hardware upgrades), either
due to low NeXT sales or low need on a NeXT for this product.  Does anyone else
agree with me that Matlab and the NeXT should happen? or am I a lone voice in
the wilderness?  :<)

>a slicer/dicer...

Wait!  A slicer/dicer?!  That's it, I need a NeXT!  :<)

>If nothing else, give your roommate $$$ envy, get a NeXT, it's cheaper than a
>MacIIci!

Actually, here, if I bought a NeXTstation with 400M HD and upgraded it, it
would be more expensive than a MacIIci with 160M HD (>$5G as compared to <$5G)

>..well, o.k., the Mac has more games...

The real reason shows through!  :<)


Subrata Sircar | sksircar@phoenix.princeton.edu |Prophet& SPAMIT Charter Member
	I don't speak for Princeton, and they don't speak for me.
"May their souls rot in easy-listening hell!" - Johnny Melnibone, GRIMJACK #76
"I seem to suffer from irrelevant flashbacks." - Paul, PAUL THE SAMURAI #1