Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!sei.cmu.edu!fs7.ece.cmu.edu!o.gp.cs.cmu.edu!andrew.cmu.edu!rg20+ From: rg20+@andrew.cmu.edu (Rick Francis Golembiewski) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.emulations Subject: Re: IBM emulator Message-ID: Date: 23 May 91 17:18:01 GMT References: <1991May23.083822.10099@rulway.LeidenUniv.nl> Organization: Class of '92, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA Lines: 58 In-Reply-To: <1991May23.083822.10099@rulway.LeidenUniv.nl> breemen@rulcvx.LeidenUniv.nl (E. van Breemen) Writes: > All this talk about emulating other computers is stupid, you never > use them. The first reason why you will use such an emulator is to run > software which isn't on the Amiga (like PageMaker, WordPerfect 5.5 > or Turbo Pascal 6.0). The speed of these packages, if they work, is > to slow to be really usefull. This is not nescessarily the case, I've used AMAX on a A1000 and it gave performance comparable to a Mac SE, which is quite useable for wordprocessing. I've also run IBeM on my A3000, and it was very much comparable to an IBM PC. I wouldn't use it for running CPU intensive programs, but it ran ancient art of war descently. >Second you use an emulator if you can't buy the original computer. But >that means that you don't have money: the packages you want to run have >to be copied (piracy). For example, it is better to buy an IBM 80386 clone >(25 Mhz, 4MB, XGA, 40Mb harddisk) for $2000. It's not that I CAN'T go out and buy an IBM or a Mac... In fact I currently own an Zenith IBM compatable Laptop computer. However, if I only want to run a few IBM or Macintosh packages, then it is unreasonable for me to spend another $2000 when the machine I already own has the capacity to emulate both of those machines at a far lower cost. Especially in the case of the Macintosh which has the same CPU as the Amiga, and thus even a lowly 500 can do a very reasonable emulation of it in software. Also if I were to spend another $2000 or more on another CPU, then I REALLY wouldn't have any $$$ to spend on software. If I needed the speed of a 25Mhz 386 then the cost would be justified, but I don't and I'm sure many other people don't either. > I think it is a little arrogant to think that an Amiga can emulate >any computer. Well I don't expect to see a Cray emulator... but emulating an IBM PC, a C64, an Apple II, Z80, or a Mac is definately reasonable, especially for an accelerated Amiga (ie '020 or '030). >The programmers can better spend their efforts on programming >packages like PageMaker, Ventura, WordPerfect, Oracle, Dbase IV than waist >their time with emulators. For one thing I don't think that there are THAT many programmers working on emulators... Most of the work is already done (ie there is a emulator for just about every PC I can think of...) Although it WOULD be good to see more professional applications, PageStream 2.01 has lots of features, but is pretty buggy (and it's terrrible with refreshes). Excellence! has the potential to be a very good WP, but it has some problems such as the postscript output having a very strange aspect ratio, making it appear to be squashed (not very professional). // Rick Golembiewski rg20+@andrew.cmu.edu \\ \\ #include stddisclaimer.h // \\ "I never respected a man who could spell" // \\ -M. Twain //