Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbatt!cbosgd!ukma!sean From: sean@ukma.UUCP (Sean Casey) Newsgroups: net.micro.atari16 Subject: ST Evaluation Requested Message-ID: <4140@ukma.UUCP> Date: Sat, 2-Aug-86 05:29:02 EDT Article-I.D.: ukma.4140 Posted: Sat Aug 2 05:29:02 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 3-Aug-86 03:14:56 EDT Organization: The Leaning Tower of Patterson Office @ The Univ. of KY Lines: 110 Keywords: cd-roms unix monitors star-raiders foreplay sex I'm going to buy a computer near the end of this year, and I'd like your recommendations on the Atari ST's. I've been programming for about 8 years and I've been doing systems programming in C for about two years. I want to have: 1. A machine with a good C compiler, possibly running a Unix vari- ant, for doing development work. 2. A terminal emulator, so I can do my mainframe work from home. 3. A game machine - It's been too long since I've had access to good computer games! Anyone who answers any of my questions would have my sincere apprecia- tion. There are a LOT of questions here, but if you could answer any that would be great. - Sean GENERAL OPINION What do you think of it? Is it a toy or a serious machine? How does the keyboard feel? Have yours had any problems? PRICING What's the lowest price you've seen for a 1040 ST? MONITORS I see a lot of ads for "520 ST with color monitor". Does Atari make a "standard" monitor or are dealers pushing the cheapest color monitor they can find? I'm going to be buying a good Sony 27 inch television about the same time I get this computer. Can such a beast work with this computer? If I bought a nice Prince- ton Graphics, Amdek, Taxan, etc., would it look much better than the one(s) the dealers refer to? C COMPILERS What do you think of the C Compilers available? I don't know of any dealers nearby, so I haven't really gotten a personal look at any compilers. I have heard a bit of raving about Megamax C, mostly good. If you've used Megamax, Lattice, or Aztec C, I'd like to hear what your opinion is of the compiler. I will be doing some serious, hard core development work (in other words, I will be paid for it) that may be transferred to large Unix sys- tems. I'd like a compiler that can handle the same code that the portable C compiler can handle, and I'd like one that doesn't make me wait all year (this is supposed to be an 8 Mhz 68000, no excuses for slow compilers). I'm willing to pay good money if it's a good compiler. UNIX IMPLEMENTATIONS I've heard that OS9 has been ported to the thing, but the price for the OS and C compiler is about the same as a complete Atari system! Who's going to buy it? Not me! Perhaps you know if the price of the thing is coming down or maybe you've heard of a dif- ferent Unix port. Please let me know. BTW, I saw an ad in August Byte for a complete SysV port for the IBM AT for about $450. Not a bad price for a real SysV port with pcc, ftn77, text formatters, and manuals. CD ROMS Anyone making an interface for these buggers? The idea of having an online encyclopedia or dictionary or other various databases is very attractive to me. For the things to work, you've got to have DMA, ethernet, or some other very high speed data transfer. This means you've got to have hardware support. Is it there? Is anyone working on this? * SOAPBOX TIME * I saw an ad in Byte for a CD of public domain software that con- tained the equivalent of 400 or so floppy disks. Sounded great till I saw the price: $195. HOLY RIPOFFS, BATMAN! I'm sure that the media costs less than twenty dollars. They invent a fantas- tic new media for mass storage, one that brings possible vast software libraries to the average person at low cost, and instead of using it to place this software in the hands of users, these people jack up the price way out of proportion to the media cost. This stuff is public domain! Somebody ought to sue their asses for making a profit from it. * DOWN FROM SOAPBOX * STAR RAIDERS It's been at least three years since I last played Star Raiders, probably more. If it were released today it would still be one of the greatest games around. Is anyone planning on porting the thing to the ST series? It would be stupendously awesome with higher-res graphics and sound. I was even thinking of writing a simple version for the Adage 3000! Thanks for answering any or all of this. I've been involved with com- puters for a long time. Some of them cost more than I'll ever make in my lifetime. And yet I've never owned one. This is an important decision for me and I appreciate any and all help. Sean -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sean Casey UUCP: cbosgd!ukma!sean CSNET: sean@uky.csnet University of Kentucky ARPA: ukma!sean@anl-mcs.arpa Lexington, Kentucky BITNET: sean@ukma.bitnet