Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!lll-lcc!unisoft!hoptoad!academ!killer!elg From: elg@killer.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: Help requested in choosing a pc to purchase Message-ID: <955@killer.UUCP> Date: Tue, 2-Jun-87 00:24:07 EDT Article-I.D.: killer.955 Posted: Tue Jun 2 00:24:07 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 7-Jun-87 18:38:13 EDT References: <1711@ihwpt.ATT.COM> Organization: The Unix(tm) Connection, Dallas, Texas Lines: 91 Xref: utgpu comp.sys.amiga:5132 comp.sys.atari.st:3633 in article <1711@ihwpt.ATT.COM>, bad@ihwpt.ATT.COM (bill dwyer) says: > The pc we buy will be the center of a small startup company which the three of > us are starting. We would like to get all of the typical business type functions > of a pc such as spreadsheets, database management, inventory control, word > processing, etc. You can probably get all of those programs for either the ST or the Amiga, but they're likely to be of lesser quality than equivalent MS-DOS programs (at least, for spreadsheets and database management -- I've seen good WP software for both ST and Amiga). SO I think IBM compatibility would be a real plus. Jack Tramiel has been saying "Real Soon Now" for quite some time about IBM compatibility for the ST line. So has Commodore, although Commodore has actually shipped some IBM compatibility boxes outside the U.S. so we know that at least their stuff exists, even if they're not selling it here for some odd reason. > We will also definitely be wanting a hard disk, probably 20 Meg. IBM-compatible drives are real cheap. I've seen ads selling 20 meg IBM drives for under $400. Drives for the ST are semi-expensive (probably about $650-$700 for a drive). Drives for the Amiga are expensive (around $899 or so), for a very slow hard drive (all ST and IBM drives are DMA drives, while the less expensive of the Amiga drives aren't). > We also will be using the pc as a test center for signal processing products. So > we would like to be able to interface an outside product to the pc, and then use > the pc to analyze and/or design the products. I think you may be biting off more than you can chew here. There is very little process control software for any consumer microcomputer, so you'd probably need to write your own. There is a little hardware out there for the IBM bus that I've seen in electronics mags that might be useful, but nobody has done anything equivalent for the ST or Amiga. >. The main use of the graphics will be for CAD design > work, The Amiga will do this. Probably the ST will, although I don't know a package off-hand. So will the IBM PC with EGA or better graphics card. > So having a nice statistical package is another > desirable feature. I know of no such package for either the ST or Amiga. There's several for the IBM PC and clones, though. But the interface probably is reminiscent of punched-card days :-). > It would be very nice to be able to run background jobs > while doing tasks such as file keeping or word processing. Only one in the bunch that'll do it stock out of the box is the Amiga. You can buy Microport Unix for the IBM AT and run a single MS-DOS program while doing the rest of your stuff under Unix, but I'm unsure about the level of compatibility that would provide. Depends on whether your applications re well-behaved. You also have Double-DOS-like programs for both the ST and IBM-compat computers, but that really doesn't qualify as multitasking, since many programs don't respect the set limits. > We tend to lean toward > these new pcs because we would like the pc to be easily expandable so that it may > be useful for years to come. Upward compatibility with a 68020 board is very > nice, as may be the easy compatibility with IBM products. Another hardware item > we will want is a good modem. Additional software/hardware systems we may want > are speech and audio signal processing systems. Hmm. Well, here's my prognistication: Your main choice is probably between the IBM AT with a hefty hard drive and possibly Microport Unix if your applications are well-behaved and will run as the single MS-DOS process provided under Microport, or the (currently Real Soon Now) Amiga A-2000. If you chose the A-2000, many of your tasks would need to run on the IBM side of the machine, unless you were into serious hardware and software hacking (which I guess you're not, since you want to do a job, not play with the computer all day). The ST is probably out of it because it has about the same level of sophistication as an AT-clone, but with a hard drive costs the same and is slower and doesn't have an expansion bus for your data collection hardware to live on and doesn't have the hardware or software anyhow. I'll probably be screamed at by both Amiga and ST people, but I'd really have to recommend the AT. Unless you're a hardware and software hacker, you'd have trouble doing everything you wanted on the ST or the Amiga side of the A-2000, and why buy an A-2000 just for its IBM compatible side? If you think you can expand further with the A-2000 because of its graphics capability and ability to upgrade to a 68020, well, gopherit, but it really doesn't look like the most cost-effective solution AT THIS TIME (maybe sometime in the future, after the machine actually is being SOLD and has something to fill in the slots with, you might have something to look at). I guess it really just depends on how long you intend to keep the computer... the A-2000 is likely to be around long after the AT is obsolete, but it'll also cost a heckuva lot in the meantime, as you first buy your applications for the IBM side, and then upgrade them to the Amiga side as Amiga equivalents become available. After all, an AT clone costs barely more than an Amiga hard drive :-). -- Eric Green elg%usl.CSNET CS student, University of SW Louisiana {cbosgd,ihnp4}!killer!elg Apprentice Haquer, Bayou Telecommunications Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191 BBS phone #: 318-984-3854 300/1200 baud Lafayette, LA 70509 I disclaim my existence, and yours, too.